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kathyjane_gw

No Rain, Just Heat.....

kathyjane
11 years ago

Still clearing pile after pile of debris left from storm a couple weeks ago.

I keep having to make new piles because stuff keeps falling from the old Oaks as it dries up.

Still waiting for home insurance guy to check out damage from fallen Oak to kids' house next door-----can't move any of the debris 'til he checks it out----makes my fingers itch, seeing all those limbs and dried-up leaves in their back yard.

At least the timber was sold off from the lower drive entrance, but----again, itchy fingers wanting that debris GONE-----they were able to cut a hole just wide enough for vehicles to squeeze through, so they can use it. I guess the insurance guy is really doing double-time right now....

The little Shade Garden I planted for my DD along her picket-fenced backyard is partly spared by a stump holding up half of the huge Oak just waiting to smush the rest----I keep thinking of sneaking up there when they're not home and trying to snitch some of the Mothers' Day plantings from underneath the Oak that I planted in there over the years! ---What if I sneeze and that half rolls off the stump? ----Use what's left of me to fertilize a Sun Garden!!!! Guffaw!

In the meantime, it's just so HOT---no rain. I try to water what I can after the sun goes down---it almost seems like a futile effort. I've brought up load after load of well-rotted leaf mulch to help hold in moisture, but this is killing heat. I haven't even let any of the in-house cats outside---they're sick of being cooped up, but high humid 90's is too hot. The outside cats just take shelter and stay quiet.

The birds look forward to dips in the birdbaths every day.

So, how are you faring in your neck of the woods?

More storms?

Heat?

Any RAIN anywhere?

(Anneliese----you ARE north of us via 81! :o)

Comments (15)

  • lilosophie
    11 years ago

    July is always the hot, dry summer - temps go into the 90's and 100's, nights are cool and humidity is around 30% or less - that's the standard. So why am I wearing fleece sweats?
    Nature decided to treat us with a few days of pre-view to fall or remembrance of spring, there was even a bit of rain mixed in, daytime temp around 60 - 70. confuses the body!
    By Saturday it's going to be in the high nineties again, Fire weather.
    Hard on the garden, the tomatoes don't know if they are coming or going. Too hot and they don't set fruit, too chilly, and they don't either.
    It an interesting season, I will say that.

  • meldy_nva
    11 years ago

    Hot, and hotter. A "cool" day is anything under 88*.

    We (meaning at my house) actually have had some rain. The Dorecho only dropped a quarter-inch on my garden, but a storm last week put down 8/10", the most at one time in months. In spite of it falling in less than 1/2-hour, the mulch did a good job of absorbing it, so the garden got watered!

    I'm trying to imagine the future being even hotter and with longer droughts.

    The squirrels figured out how to dig (6+" down) under the netting: they ate all the blueberries and a great many of DH's tomatoes. He is now trapping and relocating them, but that doesn't bring back the fruit.

  • anneliese_32
    11 years ago

    Finally had some rain during the weekend, about 1/2", did not do much for the garden or the farmers and now it is hot again.
    Exchanged e-mail with one of my relatives in Germany. He sold his cattle off since his corn drowned in all the rain and the cool weather did not help any other crop. A friend here did the same for the opposite reason, his corn dried and went brown when it was knee-high.
    Have problems with tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplants, they bloom but don't set, despite that I water daily. Oh well, that's the joy of gardening, it's never dull.

  • mawheel
    11 years ago

    KJ, I didn't see your post till after I posted mine.

    I truly realize how fortunate we --(off I-81 around Martinsburg, WV)--are. So far, we have been spared power outages, uprooted trees, hail, etc., but we have had almost no rain, either. It seems to go north of us into MD or south of Winchester into the DC area. We got our water bill, today, and I'm afraid the poor flowers are going to have to make it on their own from here on out. Most of the usage was for outside, and our budget wouldn't stand it for too long. COME ON, NOVEMBER!!! lol

  • west_gardener
    11 years ago

    Ditto Lilo's post, except for the rain part. No rain here.

  • gandle
    11 years ago

    Our temps when you arrange them in a row look like binary code. The daytime highs that is. 100, 101 101, 100, 101 and we even had a 110 and more of the same predicted. No rain of course. Fortunately, all the farmers around here do have irragation but it would be hard to imagine the costs of running those diesels night and day. Happily, son does have irragation rights out of the Loup river on 1 of the farms but all the others are powered by diesel engines. Luckily, corn is over $7:50 a bushel now and probably will continue to climb because of the drought. 3 years ago it just barely made $4:00 a bushel. Be nice to have a couple of hundred thousand bushel in storage right now.

  • anneliese_32
    11 years ago

    It rained left and right and up and down but not over us again. It gets agravaiting when you can see the clouds, hear the thunder and you have blue sky overhead.
    Kathyjane, I am west of you via 64.
    The weather report said 70% chance of storms, going by previous experience, that is 7% for us.

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    11 years ago

    Moderate drought (the entire state except West, which was severe drought), then so much rain, we had a rock slide this week. And it's been so hot and dry, my thumb tips are peeling. I keep drinking water and keep drinking... yet, they're peeling. Well, I am a bird (robin), so maybe I'm molting.

  • Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
    11 years ago

    We had 100's last month but for some reason, the heat that should be here now is up north. Enjoying the break of mid-90's although the humidity is, as usual, near 100% most of the time. Air you can wear!

    If it rains next month, that may put this area out of technical drought, but... the incidences have been very infrequent and when over 2" of rain falls in about 30 minutes, most of it just runs away (and some of the plants that were so dry are now FLAT too.) It is better than the almost 3-month stretch of no rain (or even clouds) at all last summer.

  • Janis_G
    11 years ago

    We've had thunderstorms and rain almost every day for a couple of weeks now.
    Today was hot and dry but as much as I hate the storms we need the rain.
    The humidity is terrible. If I were to see a sweat suit, I think I would melt into a big puddle on the floor.
    Lilo,I can't imagine wearing sweats in the middle of July.

    The gardens around here must be okay.
    I made a couple of tomato pies last week and have eaten more
    than my share of tomato sandwiches.

    K J, stay away from the tree!

  • anneliese_32
    11 years ago

    Got some rain during a small thunderstorm but it was also pretty windy last night. After my morning ramble I went to the back of the house to check if some of the tomatoes needed additional water, they are in pots against the backwall and under the overhang. I don't think I need to water them anymore. They were blown over and most of the stems broken.

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    11 years ago

    ...to flooding. A man had to be rescued from his truck overnight due to flooding on the east side of town. How do you go from drought to flooding in a matter of weeks?! And now my fingers are peeling. ugh I love summertime and the pool. Lemonade and family reunions. Picnics and fireworks! I'm not trying to wish it away, just wish it'd cool it a bit.

  • gmatx zone 6
    11 years ago

    No rain and it is predicted that our severe drought will continue until after Halloween. We have had a total of 7" so far this year (thank you Lord) but are currently over 4" behind what is normal for us. Seven inches is the total of what we received last year, so hopefully we will do a little better this year. Have been looking around to get additional hay lined up for the cattle. Even though south Texas has gotten rain this year and had good hay crops, the hay is still as high in price as it was last year. We try to keep a year's worth of hay on hand. Sure hope we don't have to sell any of our few cows off as we are just now getting our own Beefalo calves on the ground.

    The temperature in the Texas Panhandle is about like Gandle said - looks like the binary code! I can only imagine the discomfort of being outside up in Nebraska and other places with the humidity added to the temperature. At least our humidity is very low most of the time.

    Everyone stay safe.

  • gloriam
    11 years ago

    We had a thunderstorm here in PA last night, It rained as my grandson said cats and dogs. It was truly horrible driving home all alone. Dropped my daughter off first. We needed that rain so bad. This was the second time this week that we had thunderstorms. My husband helps a friend out in the summer cutting grass but this has been a poor summer. He isn't making any money.

  • gardenkat
    11 years ago

    It's rainy season here in Guatemala, but you'd never know it. We haven't had rain in three weeks except for a couple 10-15 minute sprinkles. (As opposed to hours of rain most days this time of year)Good for the tourists, bad for the farmers.

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