Guess What? Rain and Rainbows

15 years ago

OK, y'all, I can't whine about how dry it is for at least the rest of this week because.......it rained!

It rained and then it stopped and then it rained some more.

We weren't even home! I'd gone to Ardmore with Kristine (DDIL2B, which means Dear Daughter-in-law to be) late in the afternoon to run some errands and shop for a baby shower gift, and it rained while we were gone! Yippee! It actually rained on us for a minute or two as we were headed north into Marietta, but it was brief and we were a couple of miles from home, and it didn't look like it was raining back in the direction of the house.

On our way home from Ardmore a couple of hours later, we saw two rainbows somewhat east of I-35 but still in the sky over Love County and they were gorgeous! The skies were REALLY dark, so we were really hopeful!

We got 1.1" here at our house and have puddles everywhere. So, all of you who joined me in praying for rain for poor old dry Love County, thank you!

What a relief to see some moisture on the ground! (I wouldn't mind getting another few inches, of course.)

Dawn

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Comments (15)

caroline_2008
15 years ago
Prayers do work, sure glad you finally gotsome rain :=))
MariposaTraicionera
15 years ago
Prayers and rain dances, LOL

I'm so happy for you Dawn, so now maybe it will move up my way?
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rjj1
15 years ago
Glad you got rain. Got a shower here a few days ago. Just enough to delay the grass from going dormant for a day or two. :-)

randy
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
15 years ago
Caroline,

I know they work and I am grateful for every prayer. If I'd been home, I would have been out in the rain doing a happy little dance to celebrate too!

Mari,

I hope y'all get some rain. Everything dries out so quickly in the summer.

Randy,

It is amazing how semi-dormant almost-brown grass can perk up and green up after a little rain! The pastures were just brown and crispy, so I hope this moisture perks them up as much as it perked me up! Our empty pond didn't accumulate any water, so I'm assuming that whatever fell in the pond soaked into the dry, cracked pond bottom.

It has been dry enough here that "fenceline trees" that get no irrigation from landowners have yellowing, falling leaves. (sigh) Every inch helps, but we're still officially in a moderate drought and I think it would take at least 10" of rainfall to get that designation removed.

I hope more rain falls, but am just relieved and grateful we finally got some measurable rainfall (our last two rainfalls previous to yesterdays were each 2/100s of an inch, which doesn't help a lot!). We're up to a tad over 15" for the year so far, which isn't a lot....but 15" is better than 14".

Dawn
ilene_in_neok
15 years ago
Hooray! Prayers do work and they are more likely to be answered when several pray together for the same thing.

We are being blessed with cool nights, about 68 degrees. They are wonderful, especially at this time of the year. I can run the attic fan and get a little bit of canning done. By the time we close all the windows and turn the a/c back on, the jars are on the counter cooling off and the canner of hot water is out on the back porch. Mesonet says we're going to have several of these cool nights. Usually in late July, we are really heating up, having 100 degree days and all the grass is turning brown. This has been a really strange year. --Ilene
devilwoman
15 years ago
I'm so happy for you! I sure wish we'd get some more, but I guess I shouldn't complain. My new little "elf" rain gauge in the backyard showed about .7" one day last week and another nearly .5" over the weekend.
bubbadillo
15 years ago
Hello Okiedawn. We live out on the "West End" of Love county and didn't receive a drop. It clouded up, thundered and the wind came up but it just missed us. the day before Nocona and St.Jo texas received 3 to 4 inches. We are about 20 miles north of St.Jo (as the crow flies) but didn't get any then either.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
15 years ago
Ilene,

Is this not the oddest of weather years? For all our drought issues here, we haven't been that hot yet either. (That's a relative statement--in that, we are very hot, but not as hot as MOST drought periods.) We have had some very, very hot days with high heat indexes up to 110-112, but we've also had plenty of days with the highs in the low to mid-90s (although the heat indexes on those days have still gone up to 100-105) and nights in the low to mid-70s, and even a few nights in the upper 60s too.

If normal rainfall were occurring, overall I'd consider it a "mild" year so far.

For us, the worst heat is the last week of July and first two weeks of August. We are cooler this week....expecting highs around 92-96 and lows around 70-75. Still, on the noon news, they said we could expect the heat index to be around 105 most afternoons, but I just get around that by staying inside as much as possible in the afternoon hours.

Debra,

We all (well, maybe not Scott over there in the rain belt) need more rain, it seems, no matter how much is falling.

How in the heck did the early Oklahoma pioneers who mostly had to raise their own food manage to do it? If we had to raise all our own food now, could we? The weather certainly wouldn't make it easy.

Dawn
jessaka
15 years ago
I wish i could have given you some of our rain. Tahlequah certainly has had enough--twice the normal. At least this year my plants didn't drown and rot. I have learned a little since i lost almost everything last year.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
15 years ago
Jessaka, Y'all have received an extraordinary amount of rain both last year and this year. I cannot even imagine receiving that kind of rainfall here. (Although I wouldn't mind it terribly much if it happened!) I remember all the problems last year with so many of your plants drowing, so I am glad this year has been better although still wet.

About the only good thing that I can say about a drought is that it tends to end in massive, torrential rainfall that leads to flash flooding but which, at least, tends to refill the ponds and creeks. That's why I always joke that our seasons here are Drought, Drought, Drought and Flooding, because we seem to usually have one or the other or even both in the same year. Our rainfall always seems to be at one extreme or the other....Too Much or Too Little, but NEVER "Just Right". LOL

I've noticed that when rain does not fall for long periods of time in the summer, everyone here.....people, pets, and even wildlife.....seem to get "depressed". EVERYONE'S in a good mood today.....you should have heard all the birds singing early this morning!!!!

Dawn
ilene_in_neok
15 years ago
Yes, I have noticed a drought makes everyone grumpy.

DH's father was a sharecropper and his mother grew food for them to live on throughout the winter months. There were 11 children to feed. She would throw her dishwater, bath water, anything she could get her hands on, out onto the garden. They always had a well so they had to draw their water. It's no wonder women in those days didn't live very long. Can you imagine being 8 months pregnant and trying to keep a garden alive? I can't imagine having no air conditioning, running water, and all the other conveniences and still being able to get "in the mood". That would be perfect birth control for me! But I guess in those days, women didn't have rights and it didn't matter whether she was "in the mood" or not.
soonergrandmom
15 years ago
Ilene, You are too funny. Maybe they were just taken advantage of while they were down on their knees praying for rain. They may have been too tired to get up and fight. LOL
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
15 years ago
Bubbadillo,

You have my sympathy! I hope y'all get some rain soon, although it doesn't look very likely, does it.

I'm in the Bomar/Shady Dale area and we have been very dry this year, but y'all are probably even drier than us.

Dawn
scottokla
15 years ago
Good new for me. It looks dry enough to finally mow the extended lawn with the tractor this weekend instead of the riding mower. That will save a couple of hours.

Sorry to rub it in.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
15 years ago
Scott,

Our "extended lawn" is dry, brown, and crunchy so we've mowed it down very short so it can decompose instead of burning when someone tosses a match or cigarette out a car window.

Have fun mowing. We'll get to mow again one of these days when the lawn resumes growing. Go ahead and rub it in...if I'd had your rainfall for the last 15 to 18 months, I'd be rubbing it in too. Just remember, one of these days, the worm will turn........I think. LOL

Dawn

Guess What? Rain and Rainbows

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