Dottie, I know about the car washing thing, but my understanding is that one must wash one's car then take it out on rain-slicked roads for a good mud rinse ..... and given the price of gas that joyride just wasn't in the cards! We got a teaser the other night, not enough to even register in the rain gauge. but the thunder brought back memories of times long past - i.e. real rainstorms :o( I have no lawn area, thank goodness, and water by hand (to ten or fifteen count at the base of each plant/shrub 'bout once a week). Water restrictions have never affected or bothered me - hope this year is the same. I don't overdo. What does bother me is that water conservaion should be practiced by all, all the time - not just to make good press copy. As much as I love seeing homes w/rolling, lush lawns, they are ecologically soooooo unsound. Off my soapbox now ......

You could do double duty...pop a couple seeds right next to it in case this one doesn't recover. If it does recover, just pull the new seedlings. Regarding your porch idea until the storms subside...not a problem at all. Kevin

+ 1 to Grohe. Ours have 9.4-inch diameter but still provides plenty of water coverage. Also, the pressure is good so it's just enough for my GF to wash her hair and rinse out shampoo. Also, as far as I know, rain shower showerheads are useful if you're trying to cut your water usage, so your 5 minute shower wouldn't be consider as a guilty pleasure. That's a good choice! Here some articles you might find useful. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-16/best-shower-heads-high-pressure-rain-shower-and-eco-friendly https://wisepick.org/best-rain-showerhead https://www.grohe.us/en_us/bathroom/water-saving-innovations-shower-heads/

Jennifer and Nancy, Well, I started the new week's thread right after I said that I would, submitted it, and it disappeared. The last time this happened, it showed up after about 24 hours (why? I wonder?) and only after I typed a whole new replacement thread. So, then we had two for that week, though everyone mostly kept posting on the second one. This time, I thought I'd wait and see if it shows up today before I type a replacement one. Let's just keep chatting here for the rest of today to see if it pops up. These weird glitches are driving me crazy. I hate spending all the time to type something only to have it disappear for a half-day up to two days before it reappears. Jennifer, I hope your foot is healing and that Peggy is doing better. Nancy, Wait a minute, woman! I think you're better off just staying in Oklahoma and learning to live without Heavenly Blue MGs than to move back to Minneapolis for the summers which would separate you from GDW. Who would get custody of Tiny Dude? Would he live in OK most of the year and then travel to Minneapolis with you for the summers? Would he be able to sleep at night if he was missing Garry? Would he need counseling to help him adjust to the changes in his young life? Poor kitty. His world would be torn apart, all because of Heavenly Blue MGs. lol. While I think Heavenly Blue MGs are delightful flowers while in bloom, I could live without them. Kitty lived such a long and wonderful life. I think we are fortunate indeed when we have an animal companion who is able to be a part of our lives for so very long. Tuxedo cats are the best---our beloved Emmitt Smith was a tuxedo cat, and he really was Emmitt Smith II, replacing a previous Emmitt Smith we had when we lived in Ft Worth, who also was a tuxedo cat. I just love how tuxedo cats always look like they are dressed up in their formal best with someplace to go---even if they are only going out to the garden to sleep in their favorite sunny or shady place, or maybe to chase butterflies. Daff sounds like she was so special and so happy to be rescued and loved. I know that you must miss her. Perhaps she is Tiny Dude's guardian angel. We have had cats like Tom before who do experience great anxiety over many things---I think it is just their nature and we do have to work with them so they can relax a bit and become a bit more comfortable. Mostly I just leave them alone and let them be, though it can be a trial to get such a cat to the vet, or to get them to allow someone else to feed the if we are out of town or whatever. I agree that each cat is unique and special like snowflakes. Well, snowflakes with claws. Tim went outside and mowed the yard late yesterday. Nobody (meaning me, I guess) went outside and helped him by using the string trimmer to cut down the tall grass and weeds that the mower couldn't reach. I really should have done that, but I was tired and took a nap instead. A couple of days ago a friend of ours posted a photo of a timber rattler that she and her 4 year old son almost stepped on when leaving a friend's house. It was scary how close that snake was to them, and reminded me that this is the time of the year that we really need to be careful here. Having that snake photo in my mind might have played a role in my choosing a nap instead of helping with the yard work. I did go out later and fill up the Mr. Turtle sandbox that we use to provide water for the deer. Then I made a big puddle that Augustus would have been proud to wade in, so that the birds and bunnies would have a source of drinking water and bathing water. It is so dry again, although at least it still looks nice and green. It is just that the ponds and creeks remain low, since that 1.5" of rainfall we got a couple of weeks ago is long gone, the mud is gone, the soil is dry again......(sigh). I'd love to have more rain again sometime soon but that doesn't seem real likely as our year-long dry pattern seems to be continuing. We're getting mixed signals from the El Nino that is supposed to be developing for Winter 2018 and that is starting to concern me. I was counting on a rainy winter to leave the garden soil in better shape for next Spring and now I'm not so sure we'll get the El Nino or the plentiful rain it normally brings us here. On the other hand, as much as we need rain, I sure don't want to get half a year's worth in 2-4 days like some parts of North Carolina have received over the weekend from Hurricane Florence. The flooding there is so horrendous, and I cannot even imagine what it must be like to be there surrounded by rapidly rising water. I think I'd rather have a hot, dry, half-dead garden than a flooded one. We're supposed to be back in the 90s beginning today, though we already did hit the 90s on Friday or Saturday, or maybe both, so it isn't like the 90s have been totally gone. I think we're losing more of our cloud cover now, if yesterday is an indication of what this week will be like, and we'll be back to our usual warm and sunny September conditions. I'll be glad when we make it to October, which usually is when our real cool-down occurs here. Actually, last year the long run of temps in the 90s finally broke about 5 or 6 days before the end of September so we began to cool down a bit earlier. I also feel like I'm not adjusting to the shortening daylength very well. It keeps catching me by surprise that sunrise is occurring later and later while sunset is occurring earlier. I don't know why---it happens every year. I suppose that I'm not quite as ready to let go of the sunshine as the heat. Some people are even more ready for autumn weather than I am. When we were out shopping and running errands on Saturday (high temp maxed out at 90 and heat index at 99 so it isn't like it was a cool, mild day), I saw a young lady in probably her 20s who was wearing black leggings, black boots and a black-and-red buffalo plaid checked shirt that had long sleeves and looked like it was made of flannel. She must have been in the mood for autumn weather (I can relate) and chose to dress for the weather she wanted instead of the actual weather we had. We were down in Denton and I was thinking that maybe she was a college student who was new to the area and was used to having autumn actually feel like autumn. I bet she was feeling pretty warm in that outfit. Sadly we cannot force the cooler weather to show up here until it is good and ready. I love boot weather and flannel shirt weather but that sort of weather isn't here yet. I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival. The only thing new in our yard and garden appears to be a bunch of mushrooms or toadstools that popped up after the rain, and now they're already drying up in the heat. I'm starting to see a few hints of wild goldenrod blooming here and there, though I haven't seen any on our property. We have some---but it is apparently too drought-stunted to bloom. The ones I am seeing in bloom on property near us are not tall like they normally would be, but at least they are blooming. I noticed last night that the loud drone of locusts, crickets and grasshoppers is greatly reduced over what it was 2 or 3 weeks ago. The quieter evening was nice, but mosquitoes are out in force here now. Have a great day everyone. Dawn