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I was babbling to (Pete's brother, sometimes-commenter) Drew on the phone the other day and for some reason mentioned that it's been warm and humid here, thus precipitating the smelly-lake part of the year. He expressed some degree of polite surprise at this, and I forgot: some of you live in parts of the country where summer isn't marked with a swampy stench arising from the large bodies of water surrounding your city, don't you? (Poor things.)

Much of this distinctive smell, and the astonishingly vigorous growth of the accompanying green scum and weeds, is attributed to agricultural runoff, invasive plants, and the cumulative effects of inefficiently-regulated contaminants. Though the consensus is that things used to be better, I also remember reading -- in Madison: A History of the Formative Years, maybe? -- that white settlers frequently commented on the offensive odor arising from the many swamps on the isthmus. It makes you rethink owning lakefront property, at any rate.

Anyway, uniquely associated with the stinky lake season is the yearly unveiling of the city's weed cutting barges, as pictured here. Two of them putter slowly around the lakes and saw off the offending aquatic plants, offloading them into a gigantic ramp which them dumps them into the back of a waiting truck. It's an awesome, and kind of awesomely gross, sight. Best of all, the City has set up a website where you can see the barges' patrol routes mapped out and even read daily updates on their progress. I'm not sure why you really need to know this information, but it's empowering to know that you have it nevertheless.

and that's why you all should live on the "big" lake. no stinky odor.

just terribly touristy drivers.

Maybe it's because I've been reading too much Harry Potter in prep for the next book, but you referencing "Madison: A History of the Formative Years" was such a Hermione moment that I laughed out loud.

Well done.

We do have some seasonal odors. Just now, our apricot tree is in producing bushels of fruit that's really not fit to eat. At least two pecks a day (I'm certain of that volume.. . ) fall to the ground and the dog eats them. Then the dog stinks too. Half of the back yard has that ridiculosly sweet-mixed-with-rotten smell of overripe fruit. Then there's the flies. This tree's so tall I can't cull the fruit without a serious ladder so this year I just have to wait for it all to fall off and get eaten by birds or the dog and watch it rot in the sun.

We've managed to eat two good, ripe apricots this year. Next year I will have it pruned better for fruit production.

Some other time I'll tell you about the "Sonoma Aroma"; I know nothing about it but it sounds funny to a newcomer to California.