Yay! I'm thrilled for you, Dawn! It's about time you guys caught a break!

We caught 2" in our rain gauge here yesterday. Minor flooding on the Poteau River near Panama, according to the local weather alerts.

Diane

The long term drought forcast through June 2009 (NOAA) says you're right ... they have you listed as "drought likely to improve".

Brian,

I know, but I don't know that I trust them. They kept switching us to "likely to improve" all fall and winter. Then, when conditions didn't improve, they'd switch us back! It was very entertaining. I do think they are right this time though!

Dawn

All I know is that I could use a little time without any rain. We got at least two inches yesterday. I have water standing in the yard, the creek behind my place is full, and the fish pond I drained on Saturday is full again. Now I have to drain the dang thing all over again. Of course, draining it the day before rain was forcast wasn't extremely bright either :-)

On the plus side ... I did get work done on the raised beds I'm putting in ... but I need some dry weather to get them setup ... especially since I'm having dirt delivered next week. I know most people have planted a lot of stuff already but I've been taking my time. Last year, before I knew what bermuda grass was, I planted on 4/15 ... and everything sat there because the soil was too cold. So this year I'm in no rush :-)

Brian,

It sounds like your soil is totally saturated. If so, then your Keetch-Byram Drought Index would be zero, which just amazes me.

Rain misses us so often here that I don't plan my gardening around the forecast, but maybe you should--since rain falls there so consistently. : )

I have barely anything in the ground at all this year and I feel so far behind, but the cold nights have lingered for so long. To tell you the truth, the last three years early planting has not paid off, so I've been avoiding doing it. Even the potatoes have frozen back to the ground twice in recent weeks, so I might as well have waited and planted them now. By the time the foliage regrows yet again, it will be about the same as if I had planted them this week.

Our soil temps look great here, but yours do look a little cool still. Maybe by the time the soil arrives, your soil temps and air temps will be warmer and you can get busy planting after you get the soil in its proper place.

I hope you have annihilated all the surrounding bermuda grass. I have been digging it out from places where it has grown through the garden fence and into the veggie garden. There's not a lot of it, but I want to get ALL of it out as I go along planting. The veggie garden's raised beds have some fire ants too. I knew of them in at least 2 areas, but more have popped up so I am going to hit them later today with Spinosad.

I have had this veggie plot going in its current location for 10 years now, and the weeds/grasses that were such a major problem the first few years are probably less than 5% of what they once were. The bermuda, however, ALWAYS creeps in around the edges and I am trying to nip that in the bud right now.

Dawn

I'm de-sodding (if that's a word) the locations where the raised beds are going. I'm also mulching the area around them. And little by little I'm going to de-sod the rest of the lawn as time goes by. Rather than attempt to work the entire yard this year, like I did last, I'm doing it in sections. It's just me to do the yard work, remodel the house, survive my career (which can consume 60+ hours a week) take care of the dog, help my Mom when she needs it ... and if I'm lucky, have some kind of social life. So ... if it takes 5 years to get the yard the way I want it ... then it takes 5 years :-)

YAYYY! Dawn, great to hear it. We haven't been in drought as we got that 60" last year, but the rain stopped in late Sept and started up only slightly in Jan 09. This last week tho, we've had over 2" so we're soaked again. Sure hope it stays good for you.

Dawn, I'm watching the weather...you look like you are going to have wave after wave of heavy rain Thursday thru Sat. I hope it kills the rest of the drought for you!!!!

Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Did you get rain? I know you needed some.

Our forecast looks VERY POSITIVE so I need to plant like mad tomorrow if the soil is dry enough, and I am crossing my fingers that the raised beds will be dry enough.

Since it rained (and it has been barely any time since the rain fell) weeds and wildflowers are popping up out of the ground like crazy. I guess I'll have poppies and Indian Paintbrush after all, but no bluebonnets, although some roadside bluebonnets are blooming along our highways.

I hope the forecast bands of rain come. The local forecasters seem very sure of themselves. They'd better be right. If we get those waves of rain, I'm going to stop using the word drought.

Dawn

Yes, we got rain last week, about 1.5 inches. It's been good, but I certainly could use that on a regular basis for a while...all summer? :)

It sure does make pulling tree seedlings easier!

Lisa

Lisa,

Only an inch and a half? I was expecting you to tell me your rain gauge was overflowing again. I wonder if this means you are not going to have as much rain as last year?

If you want rain on a really regular basis, you need to buy a place next door to George, Carol, Ilene, Scott or Diane. Of course, that would mean a really l-o-n-g commute to your job. They get as much rain as you and I combined most years, even when I'm having one of those rare "rainy" years.

What kind of tree seedlings plague you? For me, it is pecan, oak and hackberry.

Dawn

Okay, all of you rain-deprived people: I am hereby ordering all rain to stay out of my corner of the state until after the weekend. That means you guys need to attract it away from me. We're pouring concrete (footers for next section of our home plus slab for the new chicken coop) probably Friday and I don't want anything postponing and/or screwing it up.

Do your best rain dances to draw it away from here! Don't disappoint me or I'll get cranky...

Diane

Dawn, I wish it was overflowing! I know it got kind of old last year messing with the rain, but it sure is better than drought!

I live right on the line of no rain and all rain :) You can see the forest of trees starting just east of me, and the dust bowl just west of me.

My seedlings are 90 percent pecan, but there's silver maple, crepe myrtle and few others. My neighbor has a giant pecan in her back yard and the squirrels take great pleasure in burying them all over my beds. I think whoever had the mimosa tree nearby must have gotten rid of it. Hallelujah!! The first 10 years I lived in this house I battled mimosa seedlings by the ton, and they always seeded themselves in the middle of the rose brambles!

Lisa

Diane,

If I was any good at all at doing a rain dance to draw rain here, do you think we would have spent Aug. 07 through April 09 in a state of drought? LOL Clearly, I am a failure at rain dancing.

On the other hand.....I planted one row (15 plants) of tomatoes in overcast, windy conditions on Sunday. I would have planted more, but didn't want to plant more than I could cover up Monday night when it froze. Within 3 hours of finishing that row, we had a tornado spotted by a trained spotter a bit to our southwest (it did no real damage and went back up into the sky), then we had rain, and then we had pea-sized hail (no damage), and then within 36 hours we had an overnight low of 35 degrees and ice on the windshields (plants were covered). So, apparently all I have to do to create "weather" is just put a few of my precious, spoiled rotten pampered tomato seedlings in the ground. Wish I'd known that months ago.

I've been planting more today, though, so the weather here should be wetter tomorrow and maybe we can hog all the rain and keep it from coming to you.

Lisa,

Well, I love mimosa trees and would have come and dug them all up and put them in my pasture if I'd known you had them and they were annoying you. : ) The hummers do love them too!

We had a silver maple in Ft. Worth that was about 35 feet tall and I hated everything about it, including its billions of babies, except that it shaded the whole west side of the house, including the kitchen and dining room, from the western sun.

If I don't watch the squirrels and the pecans, my garden will turn into a pecan orchard. Often, I'll be busy and sort of ignore the pecan seedlings for a few weeks and then have a hard time pulling them out. They root deeply very quickly.

I hope this week the wet stuff falls all over your place. You need some overflowing rain gauge activity. You know that if I get more rain than you for 2 consecutive weeks, it obviously is a sign of the end of the world. : )

I bet it rains on almost all of us. The system that is bringing rain is supposed to be very strong, very active and very large. (Sorry, Diane.)

Dawn