Dorothy, I just finished harvesting the last ears from the fifth corn variety. I'm glad the corn is done because I wouldn't want to have to keep watering it in this hot weather. All 5 varieties produced really well, and the raccoons didn't get a single ear, which is really odd---almost unheard of---but I am not complaining. We've had lots of corn to eat fresh and have filled up a large portion of the largest deep freeze with corn-on-the-cob to enjoy over the next few months. It was a much better corn year here this year than the last two years, thanks in large part to the heavy rainfall we got during the last two weeks in May. Without that rainfall, I don't think our corn would have produced. I still haven't dug the last variety of potatoes. I thought they'd be ready to dig by Independence Day, but they weren't. They still were lush and green. They look considerably worse now, with grasshoppers and spider mites hitting the foliage, but still are green. I may dig them one day this week anyway. I have had grass clipping/leaf mold mulch a foot thick on top of them for the last couple of months and haven't watered them but once or twice, so not sure what I'll find when I do dig them. I expect the ground will be hard though. I do water the perennials to keep them going, and that keeps some of the annuals planted near them going as well. This year I planted cool-season annuals in the veggie beds I didn't intend to water, and planted the warm-season annuals in areas, like the pepper beds, that I did intend to water. So, when I water the veggies I intend to keep going, I'll be keeping some flowers alive too. The only cool-season flowers still alive are sweet alyssum, violas and nasturtiums, and with this heat and the fact they are in non-irrigated beds, I don't think they'll make it much longer. It is getting dangerously dry here now....the kind of dry where a spark from a mower hitting a rock, the hot rubber thrown off a tire when a vehicle has a blowout on the interstate or a tractor/bailer issue can cause grass or a hay field to ignite. It isn't a big everyday thing yet, but we definitely are seeing more grass fires occurring each week. It is likely we'll start getting busier and busier, so I'm trying to can everything the same day I harvest it so I don't fall behind. Right now, our back pasture is so dry that it hurts to look at it. I am getting ready to mow it down as low as possible in order to stop any possible wildfire that would come our way from the large, cedar-filled pasture adjacent to our property. I've just been waiting for the green milkweed to set seed, and now that this has occurred, I intend to get out early in the morning and mow it down. I am so disappointed that we are having another droughty summer. I didn't expect a really wet summer, but was hoping it wouldn't dry out as fast as it did. Back at the beginning of June our Keetch-Byram Drought Index number was incredibly low---near zero, in fact. Now, roughly 5 weeks later, it is over 350. For us, in a normal year (whatever normal is any more, who knows?), a KBDI near 400 would be more common at the end of August or early September. In a bad year it can be in the 500s or higher by early September, and that's the track we're on now unless some significant rainfall occurs. I'm not really expecting significant rainfall. We did have a tiny shower one morning last week and it gave us 0.21" of rainfall, which wasn't much, but was better than nothing at all. I'm scaling back my plans for a fall garden. I likely will start some cool-season seeds indoors for transplants this week for the fall garden, but then, if we don't get some half-decent rainfall in July, I likely won't transplant them into the ground. It is hard enough to establish cool-season plants in August in a normal year. In a drought year, it is almost impossible. There's always a silver lining somewhere.....I guess this year's silver lining is that the prickly pear cactus look really happy, and the zinnias (which do get watered since they are next to the peppers) look very happy, although with the zinnias, they only look happy because they are getting water. It took me three hours this morning just to harvest from the back garden, and I didn't even make it to the front garden. Both were watered, in part, two or three days ago and those parts look good. The parts that weren't watered don't look very good at all, but there's only so much I am willing to water. I'll spend the rest of today canning salsa and pickles, and then either this evening or early tomorrow, I'll harvest from the front garden, and either do more canning tonight or tomorrow. After this week, I'll likely have done all the canning I'm going to do. The pickling cucumbers have been doing great, but I can see the plants aren't looking as good now as they did even a week ago. You can tell the heat stress and summer pests are really starting to affect them. It is ridiculously hot and humid this week. Part of NE and E OK have heat advisories and excessive heat warnings. Seems like a good time to stay inside as much as humanly possible. We just put up the shade cloth over the hot peppers today, and may put one up over the main tomato tomorrow. The shade cloth helps, but when rain isn't falling, it does not necessarily help enough. Dawn

just wait for the college ones lol. my dh is working on an honors BS/MS in engineering and has earned admission into several prestigous honor societies along the way. well every one of those societies has sashes, tie tacks, cuff links, tassle additions, diploma covers on and on...he's not into much of it but i will make sure he has his tau beta pi stole & honor cords and a few other things. i'm planning to spend as much on his grad party as our wedding plus we're also doing that 3-4 week hawaii trip in celebration too lol. good thing he will be making 4 times as much $$ when he is done! ~ liz

We've got rain, that beautiful wet stuff falling from the sky, sometimes heavy, sometimes light, with a few dry breaks in between, this has been going on for several days now. This is the first significant rain since March, I'll never complain about the rain again, well at least not for awhile :). Never in all my years have seen a summer like the one we've just had, I'd never have thought I would so be looking to fall and winter. The unprecedented heat almost did me in. I just hope we have enough dry spells to put the garden to bed for the winter. Annette

Shucks! I wrote a long post, and uploaded many pictures and then my phone rang. When I had finished my call, everything was gone:( Try #2 Thanks for your kind words, Ingrid. Did you happen to read my message to you on the Annie Laurie McDowell thread? I’m still having my emails to you returned with the message, “ Unable to deliver your email because the recipients inbox is full”. I remember getting the same thing months ago, when I tried that g_g_g address. I did take some more pictures today, including some of Mel’s Heritage from a distance. These pictures don’t really give a good sense of how large he really is. I’ve begun to think of him as “a nosey guy”, as he’s always getting into everyone else’s business. His canes are everywhere! It’s been too hot out for me lately, but now starting to cool down. About 10F less during the day, and I’m planning on getting Mel’s Heritage under control. More canes will need to be attached to the fence, some will need to be attached to small stakes along the slope(for guidance), and a few may need to be cut back. WAY BACK! He’s already climbing into Duchesse de Brabant at the bottom of the slope, and many other roses. I really cannot believe how fast he’s growing. It’s amazing and I have never seen a rose grow so quickly. Felicia is also in bloom, and I love her. Alnwick Castle is lovely today, but the blooms will blow tomorrow. They just don’t last in the dry heat. Silver Cloud, a Ralph Moore rose is having a nice flush. Too bad my Irish Creme is still tightly budded. They make wonderful vase partners. Chartreuse de Parme has such a big bloom on this tiny bush. I’m sure new growth is on the way, only in the ground a week or three. Golden Buddha, a Paul Barden rose, is one of the rare roses that truly remains compact and short here in S CA. I wish it didn’t fade so much, but I do have it in full sun. Abraham Darby always seems to have at least a bloom or two between big flushes. That’s it for the moment. I will be back with some Bolero blooms. Not an OGR, but has DA type blooms on a tidy, compact plant. It’s always blooming in full sun and a great cut flower. Lisa