Certainly no expert on this, but I can't see how a desiccant would benefit a pile unless you had a continuing problem with excess moisture and were getting ongoing anerobic digestion. Maybe someone else can recomend whether it is even a good thing to put this in the pile as the chemistry of the desiccant may have an adverse effect? Doesn't sound good to me. hortster

Momofsteelex3, That's an incredible amount of rainfall. If there is anything at all that Oklahoma gardeners have mastered, it is the art of dealing with the weather. When I moved here, someone in Texas told me that we only have one season in OK--the "hot" season. After living here a while, I told them that we do too have all four seasons, and some years it seems like we have all 4 seasons in the same week. When we lived in Texas, the biggest challenge was the hot summers. Here, every day in spring seems to present its own challenge---anything from wildfire to strong winds to hail or floods, lightning or tornadoes, derecho winds, microbursts, etc. One think about OK weather is that it never is dull. I'd never even heard of thundersnow, derecho wind or graupel before we moved here. I have used pots and pans before to protect plants from hail, even though it meant I had to wash a ton of pots and pans the next day. This explains why my garden, which sits about 100' feet from the roadway always looks like a redneck garden....I've covered plants with lawn chairs and other patio furniture, the white folding tables used to hold flats of plants in normal times, pots, pans, trashcans and cardboard boxes with bricks orconcrete pavers on top to keep the wind from flipping them over, 5-gallon buckets, baskets, cat litter buckets, old quilts, sleeping bags, etc. One day I had so many tables, chairs and quilts in the garden to protect plants from hail that a neighbor asked me if I was decorating the garden for a garden party. I also used handfuls of chopped/shredded autumn leaves or hay placed strategically on top of and around plants to protect them from late freezing weather or hail. Sometimes I have completely buried potato plants in hay and straw mulch prior to a hard freeze so the foliage wouldn't freeze back. It is amazing what the weather here will cause you to do. Hail certainly is nothing to take lightly in this state and some years we have a whole lot of it. I'm thrilled for all who got meaningful rainfall, but hope the damage doesn't take all the fun out of getting the rain. Larry, We still were at 76 or 77 degrees around midnight after reaching a high of 86 degrees at our house yesterday. I had rototilled the back area where we're building the new garden in advance of the rain to take out all the weeds that have sprouted since last week's rain and then I mowed the lawn grass on a hot and humid afternoon hoping to get it cut before the rain arrived. Finally wind and rain arrived here sometime after midnight and maybe it even was after 1 a.m., but I don't think any hail fell here, not even small pieces. It currently is very windy and only 44 degrees which is a big change from yesterday. We got less than an inch of rain (about 0.85" in the rain gauge) but are getting lots of wind. This afternoon I will cover up the plants that are in the ground to protect them from the overnight low temperatures....and then next week we'll have another very cold night/early morning and I will do the same thing all over again. I never thought floating row cover was worth the bother when I lived in Texas, but I use it like crazy here for plant protection during late cold spells. This year for hail protection I have put hoops over all the beds as they are planted. Then I attach deer netting to the hoops and leave it for the first month or so. That gives the plants a chance to get established before hail pounds them into oblivion. Older and more well-established plants can bounce back quickly from hail for the most part, but younger smaller ones cannot, and plants like corn cannot if their growing tip is broken off. Last year we had hail here at our house 11 times, though it never was really big hail, so I have taken a little time to give the plants more protection early in the season this year. I'm waiting for one of y'all to get rainfall that breaks my garden's rainfall record of 12.89" in 24 hours from April 29, 2009. If we'd had to give a name to the garden that year, it would have been "A River Runs Through It" but for us it was a welcome river as it instantly took us out of the drought that had affected us for most of 2008 and all of 2009 until that point in time. It is rare that you get enough rainfall in one day to end a drought. I'm going to link the rainfall map for the last 24 hours that shows rainfall recorded at the OK Mesonet stations. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: 24-hour rainfall accumulation

Undies in a photo - tacky - lol! Has there been fireworks in your neighborhood? My dogs try to get under the computer desk when there is. You are looking good!

They mate in late February. Tulsa Audubon society used to have an event where for when they were displaying at Oxley nature center. Tulsa might just be at the crossroads of breeding and non breeding territory. Tall Grass is probably in the breeding territory. They have a spectacular display. Where are you Scott? The breeding range was in the north east corner of the state, non breeding south of that but still east. If you're not in those areas you could have a rare siting. You can go to Ebirds and post the siting if you want.