We have had some rain and thunder (perhaps more thunder than rain) and it is a lovely 64 degrees with no rain falling here right now. We're headed for a high around 70, so even if no more rain fell at all, it is going to be a really nice day. Our forecast gives us a 100% chance of rain today and a 30% chance tonight, so I'm hopeful. We've been in drought for so many months that it is getting ridiculous, but if we could get 1 or 2 of those big rainfall days like Larry gets, we might finally make it out of drought. That's a really big 'if' though. The storms look good on the radar, but they are patchy and we're apparently in a dry slot right now. Autumn rain that falls between Sept and Nov is our best chance for making it out of drought, so I'm hoping for lots of rain. I was in my back garden killing squash bugs yesterday and, despite having decent rain the last couple of weeks, there's new cracks in the sandy soil back there. By new, I mean they just appeared yesterday......it aggravates me that an area that receives irrigation and that has received probably 13-15" of rain since the beginning of June still is cracking. The grass greened up a little and we have helenium, liatris and goldenrod blooming in the fields, so it looks kinda nice out there right now...if you just ignore the cracks in the ground.

James, Winter arrived here last week, and I was wondering how much longer it would be until it arrived there at your side of the state. I was ready too, having harvested all I could, but I agree that it is a very melancholy moment when you look at the frozen, dead foliage that was so green and lush only the day before. Sadly, all good things must end, but we still have fresh tomatoes on the kitchen counter and it is almost December so that's not too bad now, is it? Like you, I'll be out cleaning up the garden after Thanksgiving, which I much prefer to hitting the stores for the Black Friday weekend Christmas shopping. I need to get it done this weekend because our weather turns quite a bit colder next week. How lovely that everyone is home for Thanksgiving and I hope y'all have a lovely time together. Dawn

Darn you, LindaC! I read your post at work today just before going into the lunch room and discovering someone had brought in a garbage bag full of tomatoes for public consumption. After consulting with my co-workers, I ended up taking the lions share home to slow roast and turn into cream of roasted tomato soup. I also decided to make some pesto while the tomatoes were roasting. My plan was to make some grilled cheese sandwiches with a good schmear of pesto in each to accompany the soup. I have some serious cuts on both my index fingers, so I asked for and received my husband's help in de-stemming / de-bugging the fresh-picked basil. I also had him re-fill the pepper mill. This is the part where I now blame you for starting this thread and getting me craving the soup: while stirring the soup and grinding pepper into it, I noticed my husband hadn't killed or escorted outdoors all the bugs, because there was a very large Daddy-Long-Legs on the spoon with which I was stirring the soup. Now, I'm not afraid of creepy-crawlies, but I didn't want to eat Cream of Spider soup, so I spastically flipped the spoon around in an attempt to keep Daddy from jumping into the pot. Because both hands were full, and because I have a limited attention span, I accidentally set the pepper mill into the simmering soup pan while juggling the spoon. I fed the critter, complete with roasted tomato sauce, to my (very appreciative) dog, realized my pepper mill mistake, removed it from the pot, and attempted to rinse it out in the sink, soaking all the internal peppercorns in the process. I shook the mill hard, but only managed to evenly disperse the water within the mill in the process. I attempted to continue grinding, but only got paste... so much for the pepper. Anyway, dinner was wonderful in spite of everything... Definitely one of those meals I dream about all year long... sans Phalangoidea, anyway. I really want a drink right now, but frankly I'm a little afraid to make myself one... who knows what other culinary ineptitudes doing so may uncover! My point is: I really wish you'd think of the possible ramifications before starting a thread like this... (P.S. If you let peppercorns dry out in a bowl overnight, is it OK to put them back in the grinder? Just wonderin'...)

I live where it's hot, humid, and horrible most of the year. If you dress according to the calendar, you'll burn up. We've worn shorts on Christmas day before. It will be 100 degrees today, and high school football season starts tonight. Maybe it'll cool right on down to 90 degrees by game time. There will be people wearing football uniforms running around outside and people wearing band uniforms walking around outside. No problem. They've been practicing during the middle of the day anyway. Knock yourself out. Maybe we'll have actual fall weather come January or February.