Good Morning Y'all! We hit the rain lottery this morning and I hope some of you also got rain as well. Shortly before daybreak, we awoke to massive thunder and lightning and a fairly heavy, though short-lived, thunderstorm. I lost track of the time because the storm kept knocking the power out, but we probably got rain for a half hour at the most. The rain gauge has right at 1" in it today, although the Burneyville Mesonet station has only 1/4 that amount. The last two times it has rained, we received less than Burneyville, so I think it all averages out about the same. Scott, I keep thinking of all the rain you've had the last few years and 20" is just astounding. I'm more or less getting your rainfall and you're getting ours. It is a crazy, mixed-up year, not that I'm complaining about the rain because I am not. : ) Jay, I am sure you're right about your coworker's plants. I just bet they were stressed and it is merely coincidental that the disease showed up shortly after the hornworms. I hope he "chills" and gives his garden a chance to rebound because I bet it would bounce back and start producing better. I feel like he is getting disgusted with it because it isn't doing as well as it normally does. Or, maybe he's just worn down by all the effort it has taken to get it this far and just feels like throwing in the towel (or the trowel!). There are years I just give up and stop watering and let the garden go because the water bills climb to astronomical levels. This is the primary reason I've begun raising about a third of my tomato plants in containers---even if I have to stop watering the big garden, I can keep the containers going, assuming there is no water rationing, and we haven't had water rationing with our water co-op since we've been here. With our heavy, thick, dense clay soil, once it is really dry you can't even water it enough to make a difference. The water rolls downhill on the surface of the soil or it seems to soak in, but then that area is totally dry again the next day. My amended and improved beds are only slightly better. So, I know there are years that I "win" and keep the garden in full production all summer, and there are years Mother Nature "wins" and I abandon the garden to her, and there are in-between years when the garden merely survives but is not spectacular. This is actually turning into a spectacular year in terms of production even though I've fought some pretty wicked weather on and off since April, and plant disease as well. I have high hopes for the fall garden simply because rain continues to fall at least once every other week or so, and sometimes more often. There's a young woman out near the river NW of us who grows tomato plants like you describe. She tills up the soil and plants them, and after that, the plants are on their own, surrounded by towering weeds and grasses, and covered in fruit--and they get no care whatsoever. One year her dad told me that her plants looked better than either his or mine and had more tomatoes. I just rolled my eyes and said something like "Well, that just figures". Maybe you and I should try that method? There is a garden a couple of miles south of us that the gardener "abandoned" in May after we had about 18 or 19" of rain in 5 weeks. All the other crops were overtaken by the weeds or rain, but the tomato plants--with no care and totally surrounded by weeds--are 5' tall and loaded in fruit. This all sort of fits in with my theory that slightly stressed plants outproduce unstressed ones, which is one reason I water as little as possible---not quite dryland style, but close. I am going to start a new thread about today's/tonight's weather forecast because the forecast I'm listening to on the weather radio warns of the possibility of strong storms tonight/tomorrow that could bring down power poles. (I thought I heard that wrong, but I didn't!) I think maybe everyone needs a 'heads up' in case they're expecting today's and tomorrow's storms to be just another summer rainshower. Dawn

I've never posted on a TGIF thread before but I played hookie today so I could have a nice 4 day weekend. My weekend started last night. I bought that 5 minute artisan bread book and made a batch of the dough for today. I have only made bread in a bread machine prior to this. It mixed up easily in the mixer. Today I pulled it out and touched dough for the first time ever. It was a sticky mess. LOL I couldn't get it round so I plopped it on the peel. Then I decided it was way too flat so I picked it up and kept adding flour trying to get it round. What an amusing experience. I had flour all over my slippers and the dog by the time I was done. It wound up being the height off a ciabatta in the middle. We ate it for lunch even though it looked a little silly. The good news is I have a bowl full of dough in the fridge to keep trying. Any tips? Today must be a day of firsts. I have never had chili before because I am not a big fan of beans and I have only recently started liking spicy foods. I just made the RR chicken chorizo chili and it is simmering away. I can't wait to taste it. Clinking with an amaretto on the rocks from sunny S Florida. I may have to hit the hot tub ater dinner. Don't worry, I will be thinking of you freezing people the whole time. :-> I remember what zero felt like. Brrrr!!!

They'll look great with an antique farm table. I really like the black on the chairs. It provides a nice contrast with the honey stain on the seat. We bought Windsor chairs that match our dining table but the store only sold all brown or brown with hunter green. We picked the green but I would have preferred the black - it's just a classic look. And you got a great price.

OMG, BEDBUGS!!! Well, they had a Hoarders show where they had to clean out the whole house because of infestation of those. The family lived in tents out in the yard, up in Massachusetts, and it was getting to be late September, with first frost coming around mid October. The house had to be cleared out so exterminators could tackle the problem. But Mart, I like BOTH tan chairs. Maybe you can get him to lower the price a little by buying both chairs. And PAINTING the fabric would be easier on the lighter colored chairs. I think you will discover everything dark is not a good idea. Keep the space evenly balanced. Naturally the loveseat is a good option for a smaller space. And by having two chairs alike, you open up more possibilities with arrangements in the future. Get them both. Don't sweat the color of the sofa or the chairs. You can get yourself some painter drop cloth canvas which is heavy duty and cheap, and then with a GLUE GUN and fabric glue sticks, can make some washable slip covers. Or just throw them over the furniture and pin them in place. The reason I have simple loose cushions on my living room furniture is so I can strip off the dirty covers and wash them easily. Two little dogs and parrots take a toll on furniture and tidiness! Such slip covers will look very casual and comfy and BEACHY most of the year. Lose them in the winter when dark colors is good. But I like the way your fireplace goes up up, quite modern. The pair of chairs facing it, even from across the room, is a classic setup. They will help direct traffic AROUND and not through the middle of the room. To combat the "dark hole" look of the wood blinds, I'd think about a swing arm drape on each window. The whole wall is so symmetrical that treating them as a single unit, one left one right, with the drapes tied back low left and right, would further call attention to the symmetry. The dark blinds would make it possible to keep down glare from the windows should you one day choose to mount your TV above the fireplace. Yeah, you can put a flat panel up there and build a sort of furniture box with folding doors to cover it when not in use, I suppose. But the box even if left open could give you a way to hide wires, you will also need a DVD unit there, or a cable box whatever. Unless you have what they are calling a MAN CAVE space. I think that is ridiculous term myself. What happened to COUCH POTATO? Oh well, that just slipped out. Sorry. :) Been watching DIY channel, and it is heavy with testosterone and a lot of hollering, not at all laid back, like being at boot camp.