Wow...

Wouldn't it be wild if you midwesterners swapped climates with us and Maryland became prarieland?!

Jeff

Teehee! We are actually considered "upper south" in Oklahoma. But, yes, I'd love to have your weather over ours. But, really, this is getting ridiculous here. We NEVER get this kind of weather. A good spring for us is no more than 2-3" max.

I have some seedlings of A. asperula (Antelope Horns) coming up, and I'm afraid they are going to bite the dust (or mud) here before long if it doesn't dry out. The malva already has bit the mud. But, honestly, some of the new spring plantings I did are loving it and getting nicely established.

I do feel for the folks who have lost homes, been evacuated, the farmers whose wheat crops are gone, and the loss of life.

Susan

At first I was real glad to see Texas and Oklahoma getting rain after the long drought, but I agree, it's beyond ridiculous, Susan! I was astounded to see that Marble Falls, Texas, got 18" of rain in one deluge! On May 3, 1978, when I was living in Gulfport, we got 11" of rain overnight, which is the most I've ever seen at one time. This was the same weather system that caused the May 3rd, 1978, flooding in New Orleans - I can't imagine getting 7" more than that! SURELY, things will soon improve!
MissSherry

Do I agree with the other Okie Susan. It's terrible. My front flower bed floods with lots of rain (waiting for husband to put in french drain!) and hoping my coneflower will make it through. It's got 3 buds on it...hoping to see blooms...if we EVER get sun.

I know the plants need rain....but a little sunlight would be nice too!!!

the OTHER susan
in oklahoma

I'm taking advantage of the soggy soil to remove some plants I no longer want, to make room for my milkweeds....eventually, when the weather cooperates so I can get them planted.

Other Susan: do you live in OKC? I live close to downtown, around the 40th and Classen area.

I have just a couple of areas in the backyard that flood when it rains really bad, one right down the middle from north to south, and the very northeast corner of the south facing backyard. I don't plant much over there, but have one raised bed. It's okay so far.

Right now I'm more concerned about my sister, Sally, who lives in Neodesha, Kansas (southeast Kansas). Their power is out, water is contaminated, and rivers rising fast. I can't get in touch with her; phone service, including cell, is out right now, too.

Susan

Hope that your sister is okay, Susan.

Thanks, Linda. She finally was able to reach me last night, but our phone call was disconnected in the middle of our conversation. I did discover they have nearly lost their home. It is flooded. They are staying with her son and his wife right now. They just got through putting down new carpet and ceramic tiling, after renovating the exterior last year. So, they had to pull up all the carpet and tile yesterday. A very kind group of Mennonites live in the area and were going house to house offering help to people affected by the flooding. They are to come today to help clean up. Isn't that great?

Sally sounded like she was still in a state of shock last night; hasn't really set in yet. They are safe, though, and the kitties are, too. She thinks they may have salvaged some of the furniture by elevating it on cement blocks. The wood furniture she thinks she can refinish eventually. I feel so bad for her to have lost so much, and yet she has saved a lot, too. But going through an event like that - no flood insurance. Why would they have ever thought they needed it - they're not in a flood zone. They have lots of friends and family in the area that I sure will help them out. I may try to go down in a week or so after the waters recede a bit. They have no safe drinking water right now; the water was shut off because of the Caney River flooding the oil spill into other rivers nearby. The sewer plant is shut down, too.

I know she'll be okay, but it's just so devastating. I'm sure those of you who've gone thru Katrina (MissSherry) can understand this.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for her.

Susan

I'm so sorry for your sister, Susan! Is the house structurally intact? I sure hope so! Flood waters leaves the nastiest, hardest to clean messes! You should have seen my house after Hurricane Camille in 1969 - nasty sludge 4' up the walls in my house, which was moved far off the foundation and hit our nieghbor's house.
Most of the people on the MS Gulf Coast who were ruined by storm surge from Katrina didn't have flood insurance for the same reason your sister didn't - they weren't in the flood zone.
Volunteers are still all over the coast here - it makes you feel good to know that there are still so many wonderful people in this country!
MissSherry

I heard from Sally again today, and they are busy to say the least, but safe. They finished ripping out new wood flooring they had just laid, along with the tile and carpet they did yesterday. They were able to cut the sheetrock 2' up from the ground and will replace that much of it. They are tearing out all the cabinets right now.

She said it all happened so fast, she couldn't believe it. They had no time to salvage much of anything, but she did get a box of photos. Her scrapbooks she's been working on for years, clothes in dresser drawers, shoes (100 pair; she's a shoe nut), and lots of other things are completely gone. She said her freezer in the garage was floating upside down!

Mother Nature is a force to be reckoned with, huh, MissSherry!

Susan

Yep, it sure is Susan! It's been raining here this afternoon - 1.6" so far. We've been having good regular rains here, I just hope it doesn't get out of hand or we go back to being too dry!
MissSherry

Miss Sherry,

I was living in Shreveport in 1978 and I remember that rain well! We got 14" dumped on us in one afternoon. As I looked out the kitchen doorway toward the street below, I could not see beyond the end of the carport. It came down in sheets like a waterfall. I have never seen anything like that and don't want to again. My back yard stood in 2 feet of water for two weeks. It was horrible. And the snakes. Terrible. The water in the street was a raging river flowing past our house.

In summer, every month a city maintenance guy would drive a truck slowly through our neighborhood up and down every street, spraying a fog of DDT to kill the mosquitoes, so they really weren't a problem. (I kept my children in the house when he came by, but neighbor kids chased that truck down the street playing in the DDT fog).

But they are a really serious problem here in Oklahoma right now. If the sun does actually come out for a minute or two, you can't stay out very long else the mosquitoes will eat you alive! They just ignore the Deep Woods Off on my exposed body parts and get me through my clothes where I don't have any spray or lotion.

My yard is a jungle and a mess. I cannot get into some of the flowerbeds to weed out the four feet tall weeds and grasses because it is so boggy and snakey and full of mosquitoes!
I saw a snake go into the flowerbed behind my patio last week, so I have not been going in there since then to pull grass and it shows it, too. If I see my cat Baby in there, then I will venture in. She ALWAYS alerts me to the presence of snakes, but so far none of them have gone in there and that is enough evidence for me.

I managed to mow this afternoon. Need to get after it with the grass trimmer now, but the bugs are so bad. Bummer!

And the butterflies and cabbage moths are thick this year and their caterpillars are eating everything up. My cabbage is ruined now and the beets went too - their leaves eaten with only the skeletal remains of what was there only a few days ago when I took pictures. I grow flowers, herbs and plants with sharing them in mind, but by golly, they are just pigging out like gluttons!

And on top of all that, nearly every pair of shoes I have are ruined! Boo hiss!

~ Annie