Thank goodness you are ok. I know we had so much rain all spring and summer and the places here that usually look like desert were so green then no rain for the last several months and all that grass has died and dried out and is a fire waiting to happen with the high wind all it takes is a hot car exhaust pulled over on the shoulder or a lit cigarette tossed out a window to start it.

Bon, Thanks, I am tickled to pieces. This rain brings our unofficial rainfall total for my part of the county up from about 0.89" this year to about 2.5". Woo hoo! It still is pitiful for year-to-date rainfall, but not as pitiful as it was a couple of days ago. Did you get rain? Thanks for posting the fire warnings. I have been too busy at fires to even think of warning everyone here about the worst fire weather. The rain dropped us from "Very High to Extreme" fire danger for today to only "Very High". That's a pretty good improvement for only one rainy day. I am afraid that with all the wind, the dry and dormant vegetation will dry out too quickly and the fire danger will be too high again far too soon, but at least the rain and improving temperatures should get everything greening up more rapidly now. Dawn P.S. There's a Red Flag Fire Warning up for the OK and TX panhandles and a Fire Weather Watch for some counties in western OK for tomorrow. How in the world can we go from rain and flooding on Sat/Sun to very high to extreme fire danger on Monday? I think Mother Nature is on a wild rampage this year. Here is a link that might be useful: NWS-Norman Weather Office Webpage

Paula, Thanks for the update on Seedpapa, Seedmama, the Seedhome and all the little Seedlings. I am so grateful no one was hurt and also grateful the firefighters were able to save the house, and also that the evil bermuda grass may be burnt beyond repair. I share Seedmama's concern about the heat's effect on her garden soil. Most likely the organic matter in her soil may have burnt up (I'll look at her area's Keetch Byrum Drought Index number to see how dry her soil was, and that will give us a clue) so she may need to replenish with compost or other soil conditioners, which may be tough if the compost pile burnt up. How deeply the soil was affected also depends on how fast the wind pushed the fire. If the fire was pushed very quickly by the fire, then it sort of skimmed along the surface in a faster manner and might not have burnt the organic matter that is deeper below the surface. I hope Harrah has a community compost pile that did not burn so she'll have ready access to compost. On the bright side, if she had any soil-borne diseases in her soil, they may have vaporized. One immediate after-effect of wildfire is often a quick green-up of the burned area, which relates partly to the carbon released by burning I think, and also to the water poured onto the ground by firefighters. Also, the heat from some wildfires can cause native seeds to germinate, so that could be a plus if you're looking to regenerate a native grassland, for example, but maybe not great for a vegetable garden site. I hope Avidchamp's place is OK and that he and his family are as well. We don't get a lot of detail in the news coverage down here so I am wondering about Keith as well in Midwest City. Were there fires near Midwest City today? All is well in our county at the present time. I think firefighters might still be out at one or two fires, but the wind has dropped a lot and no fires are raging out of control here. You know, Paula, we always say life here is never dull, but sometimes the speed with which things happen still shocks me. When the fires starting breaking out today, it was like popcorn with new ones popping up every few minutes. It was just crazy! As for the earthquake/tsunami, the video footage is so horrifying. I know we have earthquakes here, but I "think" we are safe from tsunamis. This is Oklahoma, though, so you never really know what to expect. Dawn

Gayle, I haven't found many books specific to Oklahoma, but then I am way down south in southern Oklahoma and we don't have a lot of bookstores here either. Two books I purchased from a bookstore in OKC in the late-1990s and used quite a bit were by Doyle McCoy and were published by University of Oklahoma Press in Norman, Oklahoma. They were: Roadside Trees and Shrubs of Oklahoma, and Roadside Wild Fruits of Oklahoma. They had copyright dates of 1981. I don't know if they are still available. Here's some other books I used. You will notice that many of them have the word 'Texas' in the title. They have been just as useful for me here in Oklahoma as they were when I lived in Texas since the prairie plants are virtuallly the same. They include: National Audubon Society Nature Guide: Grasslands by Lauren Brown, 1997, 3rd printing, Alfred A. Knopf Wildflowers of Texas, 1984, Shearer Publishing, Bryan, Texas The Grasses of Texas, 1975, F. W. Gould, Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas Texas Range Plants by S. J. Hatch and J. Pluhar, 1993, Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas Taylor's Guide to Natural Gardenimng, by R. Holmes, 1993, Houghton, Mifflin. Wildflower Handbook, The National Wildflower Research Center, Texas Monthly Press, Austin, Texas, 1989 A Field Guide to Texas Trees by Benny Simpson, 1989, Texas Monthly Press, Austin, Texas Texas Range Grasses by B. C. Tharp. Probably out of print. Mine is a very old edition from 1952. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines of the Southwest, 1960. Probably out of print. I got mine at a Half-Price Books Store in the D-FW area. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas. The following books are by Sally Wasowski and Andy Wasowski. They all related to landscaping with native plants. I love them. The Wasowskis may have more current books available also. Native Texas Plants, Landscaping Region by Region, 1989, Texas Monthly Press, Austin, Yexas Native Texas Gardens, 1997, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, Texas Landscaping Revolution: Garden With Mother Nature, Not Against Her, 2000, Lincolnwood Contemporary Books My FAVORITE native plant book is not a book. It is the Noble Foundation Website. In case you are not familiar with it, the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation is based in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and does amazing work with native Oklahoma plants and agricultural/horticultural issues. They usually have books available on their website too. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Noble Foundation Website, Grass ID Page