There's the rub: no morning sun in my yard and 9 large maples planted just on the other side of my fence, exactly where I need them to NOT be. I can't remove those trees as they belong to the neighboring church. It's afternoon sun or no sun at all. On the bright side, it has been far milder for the last week and we had more rain in one day (Monday) than we had over the last 2 months. So far so good. Odd though, because mid-August is usually the most severe part of the season for us regarding drought & heat. I shouldn't be surprised--lol--the rest of the year has been Bass Ackwards, so why should it be any different now? :)

I'm glad you enjoyed the results of a frankly, spontaneous effort! When I read E.O.'s thread, 'Ark', I was fairly confused--feeling I must have missed some previous thread on the subject but soon realized others must have *gotten it* and they responded in 'hosta-eeze', as a result! Then, a light-bulb went off in my head to reconstruct the whole story also in 'hosta-eeze'! So, that's how it was launched. It was great fun and personally gratifying to review *the real story* this way! I have re-read it a few times, (in the light of day) and I am amazed it just sort of *came together* as well as it did, using the 'hosta' names. By the time I finished it (last night/this a.m.) I was pretty bleary-eyed and just hoped it made some sense to some of you!!:o) Gillian, so glad it brought you out to post with us! I hope you will feel *right at home* here, and will continue dropping by to post some more with us! Thanks again! P.S. Connie, it started out on the *other side* but GW moved it over here, where they felt it more appropriate!! :o)

I live in one of those areas hit by the tornado. I was returning from taking my GD to the dentist. In a snap, the traffic got jammed so I took an exit to avoid what I thought was a wreck. Turns out that several others had the same idea and we had to skirt trees in the road and saw cars with windows blow out. It was raining hard and the wind was strong and I had seen dark clouds but did not actually see the funnel. I immediately realized that we had just barely avoided getting directly hit by the tornado. The worst hit area was near the hospital which is at that exit. There were sirens and emergency vehicles everywhere and emergency people on the run. GD and I were caught in the traffic for over two hours then had to take a very long way home because of downed trees and power lines everywhere. It was so quiet other than sirens and so unreal but it was very real. What should have been a 45 minute trip home turned into four hours. Thus far, 200 injured, one death and huge amount without a home, many businessses completely demolished. Neighborhoods are being evacuated, school closed tomorrow and the area is now in a state of emergency. Never been that close to a tornado before, hurricanes many,many times but there is hardly any time to react to a tornado. I feel bad for those hurt by all of this but I was ever so glad to get home to a standing house.

The storm fizzled out before it got here, Owasso just north of Tulsa. My nephew lives in Moore and my brother could not get thru to him for the longest time. When he finally got to talk to him all he could hear was every other word but got "we are ok we are ok"... house has damage, 50 yards away is total devastation...This is just so sad to hear about all the still missing school children, deaths and lost homes. Some people lost not only their child but also their home.... so so very sad.....