It was 59 F at my house Thursday morning. And still in the 60s Friday and Saturday mornings. No rain but the cool mornings are wonderfu.

Bon, google diy air conditioners. Buzzfeed had one recently that used a fan and a gallon of frozen ice. If it gets hot again it will give you a little relief.

Good idea. We had luck on the last hot day running water over the roof with the soaker hose to bring down the internal temps. I know it will tear it up, but.. you know.

The rain has continued to elude us (38 days, I think now, with no significant rain...but we got 0.01" on two different days) though some parts of our county got about .10 or .012" a couple of days ago. We got a couple of raindrops, but not enough to even show up as a trace in the rain gauge.

Even in the worst drought summers, including 2011, we normally get rain in the second half of August even if it hasn't rained for a month or more prior to that, so I'm counting on the forecasters to be right about the rain that's in our forecast for the coming week. Wednesday looks like the best chance for us down here in our county. I'm hoping rain falls....on the Fractional Water Index map at 2", they show us totally dry at 0.00. I'm sure we have deeper moisture but I didn't even bother looking at the maps to see what it looks like down deep.

The nice thing about no rain is that the grass isn't growing so we haven't mowed in 3 or 4 weeks. I might mow the actual lawn, but not the fields around us, before Wednesday. I've been watering the lawn to keep it green but it still has grown painfully slowly, although it is hard to complain about not having to mow for several weeks. The garden is terribly dry and looking really bad now, despite my efforts to water deeply at least twice a week. Sometimes, when moisture is scarce and the temperatures are intense, you just cannot water enough to keep a garden happy, and that's where we're at with that right now.

I'm hoping that El Nino will combine with all the other weather patterns in just the right way to bring us good rainfall in autumn and winter, but sometimes the other weather patterns interfere and keep us from getting that rain, so I'm not letting my hopes get too high. Because this El Nino began developing in spring, I was hoping for a wet, mild summer like we had with the 1996-1997 El Nino, and that didn't happen. Well, we had the wet part through earliest July, but we've paid a steep price for it since then. It is odd to have the ground so terribly dry after flooding rainfall, and the rivers and lakes still are very full. They hope to have things back to normal, or close to it, at Lake Texoma for the Labor Day weekend. It is sad for the folks whose livelihoods depend on the lake because many of those folks have had no real income for months now, and have tons of damage to their businesses on top of that. I suppose they probably are hoping for a dry winter to give them time to repair and replace everything, but I'm still hoping for a wet winter. (Hopefully a rainy one more so than an icy/snowy one.)

Bon, That's horrible news about the AC. It still has been awfully hot down here most days and I don't know what we would have done if the AC had died. It tried, you know, but the repair guy fixed what was wrong and kept it running. A friend up the road from us thinks hers is going out and needs to be replaced, but she hasn't called the repairman yet. She's afraid of what he'll tell them, but I reminded her that he fixed ours for a small sum of money (compared to the cost of replacing it) and that we had worried for nothing. Still, as HVAC units age, you know the day is inevitably coming when they will have to be replaced.

I hope y'all are able to stay cool. I grew up in a house that did not have central air (we had swamp coolers, which didn't seem to help all that much) and it wasn't that bad because we didn't know what air conditioning really was. Nowadays, though, I cannot imagine how you survive summer without it once you've had it.

If we don't get some significant rainfall this week, I don't know if my garden will do anything this fall. It is just barely hanging on, clinging to life, and hoping for cooler, wetter weather.

Dawn

Im glad u brought everythinG up because even the hugel bed is dry. I water and it perks up but were bone dry now. Didnt know if i was neglecting. Been watering a bit every 3 days and doesnt seem enough. Guess the bed isnt quite ready to hild moisture. I cringe for carol but pray for u guys when looking at the forcast. I bet carol eas just getting dryed out.

Srry typos. On the tablet. Rabbit chewed thru the ethernet extension. son grumbles when i borrow his computer.

I think I'm going to take the tomato sun shades down today. That may jinx things, but the tops of the plants look pretty full, so they should shade themselves now till september.

I have been watering my gardens every day via drip irrigation for about an hour. I have a lot of winter squash plants being ravaged by SVBs right now and they require a ton of water right now due to how large and expansive they have gotten. I am hoping to take a day or two off when this weather comes around, so I am keeping my fingers crossed here in Durant.

Our chances of rain here in SC OK are increasing, so I am feeling more hopeful! Hang in there, kfrinkle, because I think your county and mine might get some beneficial rainfall about the time we are hitting the 6-weeks-without-rainfall (0.25" in 24-hr) benchmark. I think today is either day 39 or day 40.

Bon, August is the place where spring garden dreams go to die. Hang in there! This cold front that is coming will help a lot, I think.

It was so dry yesterday that it was ridiculous. We started out in the low 70s around sunrise and with 98 or 99% relative humidity. It felt so nice early in the day! By noon our RH had plunged over 50 points and the temperature was rising quickly. We bottomed out at 99 degrees with a Dewpoint of 48 and a Relative Humidity of 20%. That was the lowest I think our Dewpoint and RH have fallen this summer. By mid-afternoon my skin felt like it was cracking.

I'm completely over summer. Don't want any more of this heat and dry air! The garden looks very unhappy and I don't care. I not going to water it. I'm holding out for the Wednesday rainfall.

Today, two TX counties across the river from kfrinkle and I (Cooke County and Fannin County) implemented a burn ban, and a third (Grayson) has it on their County Commissioner's meeting agenda for today. I believe all 3 of those counties are a bit drier than we are. Usually by the time my county commissioners implement a burn ban for us, I've already given up on watering, closed the garden gate and walked away to let the garden wither away in the heat and drought. I'm not to that point yet but if the rain misses us this week, I think that's the end of the 2015 gardening season for me.

Dawn

It is a little warm today. Wind is nonexistent. I worked all morning in my two new beds sweat was running in my eyes regardless of the handkerchief around my head. I have been watering the lawn all week. SW OKC is on an odd even day restriction which is fine it just takes forever to cover my huge yard. I planted two orange coneflowers in the front bed this morning and it was dry.two inches down and it was watered last night with the lawn. We need rain now.

Ready to transplant the daylillies, I will start tomorrow morning and pray the rain and cool temps get here.

Walking thru Home Depot and bought a beautiful coreopsis, just need to find a place to put it. At this rate I will fill up my new beds before I transplant the daylillies, imagine that. I know none of you guys ever do this. HA HA

i am ready for cooler temp and rain, but I hope we have a long nice fall before the COLD weather moves in. I'm still worried of what the El Nino will bring. I don't do ice and snow, even if snow is good moisture.

Realize we have all been watering and battling the heat. Hope everybody gets a cool down and a good rain.

There was a rainshower today that was stationary for quite a while and it dropped rain across the river from the SW corner of our county. We watched those towering clouds for hours trying to will them to come our way and drop the rain here. Sadly, it didn't work. We've hit 99 degrees the last two days, but today was a lot more humid. I hope that is a good sign. If we get the cooler, wetter weather in a couple of days I'll be out there weeding like a maniac in the nicer weather.

We mowed around the house today and I drove Tim and Chris crazy by telling them that we weren't going to mow the fields. It has taken such a long time for them to make any new growth and there's a few new wildflowers (albeit very short ones) starting to bloom. I want to be sure the wildflowers aren't mowed down because the butterflies and bees need them.

We have this discussion every year. Every. Single. Year. You'd think by now they'd understand that we need to leave the flowers blooming for the butterflies----especially for the Monarchs when the migrate----and for the bees. It isn't that they don't care about the little flying creatures----but they are obsessed with mowing, mowing, mowing.

stockergal, i need to hijack the thread and ask a question. How long did it take you to get over that bout of flu? We are all sick with probably the same.

chicken coupe, it took me about 3 weeks total. It would seem to get better then in a couple of days it would rebound back. I hope you guys get over it sooner. It was bad news. The doctor gave me an antibiotic that would kill an elephant, I think that was part of the problem, when I threw it away I slowly got better.

good luck

The flu is going around up there? Do y'all mean the traditional upper respiratory type infection? Or, maybe, some sort of long-lived stomach bug? So far, neither one is making the rounds here and I am hoping that our luck holds.

Whichever one is making the rounds----I hope everyone is feeling better.

Stockergal, I agree with you about antibiotics in general. Sometimes it seems they hurt as much as they help.

The amount of rain the QPF is forecasting for us is decreasing daily as the cold front approaches. That is depressing. I hope the QPF is wrong. Any rainfall would be good and wonderful and much appreciated but if we just get a half-inch or so, it won't make much of a dent in the current dry spell. I was (and still am) hoping for enough rain to keep the current dry spell from progressing to drought.

Dawn

Upper respiratory. Eyes, ears, nose, throat, lungs. Wow. Can't remember the last time I was this sick. I don't have time for it.

Egads, I hope whatever that is stays off of Southeastern's campus. I got something from filthy students this spring, first time in a decade. :( Feel better!

It is extremely contagious. We know exactly from where it was contracted. Wash. Rinse. Sterilize. Repeat.

I was the only one in the house that got it, but my grandson was on antibiotics for strep so he was safe. Mine was upper respiratory. Coughed continuously and ran a low grade fever for several days. I am surprised nobody else got it.

Ugh. Upper respiratory infections in the summer are absolutely the worst thing. I hope you all are feeling better. It sounds like it was a awfully contagious and strong, persistent infection. I haven't heard of any of that going around here this summer, so maybe kfrinkle and I are safe for the time being down here in southern OK. Y'all please take good care of yourselves so you don't have a relapse.

The small break in the heat finally arrived here today. We still hit 99 degrees yesterday which was immensely frustrating and left me wondering if the cooler weather was ever, ever, ever going to arrive here. It is here today. Our high so far today is 75 degrees and we have a whopping 0.10 or 0.11" in the rain gauge. We're hoping for more. Actually, we're hoping for a lot more, but more realistically expecting only a smallish amount. Every run of the QPF has trended towards less and less rain for us, so I solved that problem this morning by not looking at the QPF. That way, if even less rain is in the forecast than was there yesterday, I won't know it has changed.

I'm hoping the cool weather gives the plants a break from the heat even if we don't get much moisture and I'm sure the heat will return all too soon. It is too early in the year for the true autumn cool-down to be here already.

It was so cool this morning I opened up the house and it is wonderful. We have about 1/2" in the rain gauge. I doubt if we get anymore but the drink and cool breeze was nice. They are saying we could get more rain on Friday and Sunday. I sure hope so because this 1/2 won't go very far.

We got a decent rain at school this morning (just north of Seminole), but mostly some light sprinkles at home (about 10 miles east of Seminole.) I took a couple of classes outside to play some review games and the kiddos were complaining that it was too cold. Tough noogies, lol. I sure hope we get more here at home, but the cooler weather is welcome, regardless. I hope everyone gets some relief.

If you look at the Mesonet for our county it shows they got 2.4 inches but we had already had an inch in Grove before it recorded anything at the station. TV news said Grove got 4 inches. I believe it......we got a lot of rain. About an hour into the rainfall, I remembered that my new rain gauge was still inside.

And I thought my garden was a jungle before the rain. LOL

It has been so cool. Since yesterday eve? I know I had to put on a sweater and in the night make sure the kids were tucked in. I'm glad it cooled down for some and wish everyone the perfect amount of rain. We can wish. Right. Fever broke so I was able to leave incubation and take a stroll to find several ripe tomatoes on neglected vines. They're doing great and I beamed with pride. That really cheered me up until I got indoors and found myself without energy to prep the fruit sauce beneath the mound of dishes. lol I can stick them in the frig (blasphemy!) until I'm ready.

Thanks for your reply, stockergal. It was very helpful to know what I'm dealing with. I took some mucinex and halted the phlegm factory which appeared to be causing the infections and subsequent fevers. When you mentioned worthless anti-biotics, that gave me the clue. I've had something like this once before. It's just a stupid cold. A nasty cold that can bring an elephant down with indirect infections mimicking the flu. Now we're all holding steady with tolerable head colds. Remember this if any of ya'll come down with it:

Guaifenesin

Drying up the mucus is key to avoid infection and fever and diaphragm-bruising coughing spells. I don't know how you were working under all this, stockergal.

I made home made chicken soup with fresh herbs and spices from the garden and home made bone broth. I stuck a fresh mater in there, too. I'm really proud. Really proud. Appreciate the gardening support that got me/us here. What it's all about, right here.

The cool was really beautiful today.

14 day forecast looks cooler than normal.

We had 3 1/2 inches in the rain gauge yesterday. Had to dump water OUT of the plant trays.

Bon, I'm sorry you are sick! I think I had something similar the beginning of the summer. Feel better.

If I didn't know better, I'd think fall was here. Sure feels like it.

We only got that 0.10 or 0.11" that was in the rain gauge early yesterday, but today's and last night's cooler temperatures are really nice. The garden is full of butterflies and they seem to be enjoying the mild temperatures today. We have a slim chance of rain over the next 3 or 4 days, but it is a pretty slim chance and I'm not expecting that much rain, if any at all,will fall here. Still, I think the cooler temperatures will keep the fire danger lower for a couple of days or maybe more, and we'll take relief in any way we can get it. Since it didn't rain, I watered the garden today and I'm hoping the water bill won't be too awful when it arrives.

Carol, My garden was a jungle back when raindrops were falling from the sky in larger quantities, but it is slowly turning into a desert. I hate to think what it would look like if I hadn't been irrigating it some. I probably should water it more, but I'm not inclined to water a lot this late in the season. This year reminds me of 2007 when it rained like crazy in spring and early summer and we had flooding....and then it stopped. The rain just stopped. I don't like it now any more than I liked it then, but we'll hang in there and do the best we can to keep the plants alive.

I'm not worried about most trees or established shrubs or even most perennials, but newer herbs and flowers, particularly annual ones, aren't looking too good. Some trees are dropping a lot of leaves now, but not tons of leaves like the did in 2011. There are a couple of cottonwoods shedding more leaves than they usually do in the worst summer heat, and all the honey locust are rapidly become naked trees. Even some of the post oaks are dropping leaves, which isn't normal for this time of the year. The peach and plum trees are looking pretty ragged, but their foliage is only turning yellow and wilting. It hasn't started dropping yet. I have watered them weekly, but they're in the fast-draining sandy soil so it may not be enough.

Tim and Chris were doing some digging today related to Chris' house that he's building and the ground was rock-hard and totally dry (nothing like digging in concrete clay!) at least 6" down. Below 6" down, it was totally dry to the touch, but not quite as hard. I don't remember how deep they were digging---maybe 24", and it was dry clay all the way. The gas-powered auger couldn't cut through the clay, so they used post hole diggers, man power and shovels to get rough holes dug, and then used the augers to clean up the holes and make them round and smooth. I told them they should have dug it 4 or 6 weeks ago before it dried rock-hard. They didn't find my suggestion especially helpful. Why are men so grumpy when they're digging in rock-hard clay? Ha ha.

Bon, You may not hear it from way down here, but I silently cheer and do a fist pump every time you harvest a tomato because I know how hard you've worked to get to this point! Harvest time is when all the work pays off.

It did feel like fall this morning, but it will not last. When we have that first cold front that cools us down in August, it never lasts. Maybe, maybe, maybe, though, we are done with the 100+ temperatures and now we'll be able to coast into September with highs in only the 90s on hot days and the 80s, or 70s, on cool days. For some of us in the hotter, drier parts of OK, I'd say a return to the 100s is not out of the question. It depends on what the weather is doing. Some years we've had the 100s even well into September so I try not to get my hopes up too high when we get a little break in the temperatures.

Any break in the weather is good, but sometimes those cooler spells just don't last nearly long enough.

Dawn

We reached 49 here at the house right before sunrise. The morning, well the whole day has been beautiful. I am hoping for more rain this weekend. Southern oklahoma should do better this time around with rain. My grandson and I ate breakfast on the back force this morning and it was so nice. We eat out side all the time but the mornings have not been near as nice. I had butterflies all over the place today.

The trees and shrubs all still look good here.

Cleaned wheat today and put the trucks in the barn, that will be the next major job. We usually plant the first of September, we will see what the weather does.

Breaky on the porch. What a wonderful idea.

Wow. Forty-nine degrees in Oklahoma in August sounds heavenly.

Southern OK had better do better with the rain this weekend. It would be hard to do worse! (grin) Our average rainfall in August is around 2.67" and at our house we've had 0.13", so Mother Nature owes us some rain. (I'm sure she'd say she sent us our August rain back in May.) We're now at about 42 days without having a single day where 0.25" of rain has fallen at our Mesonet station or at our house. The counties across the river have been much drier and are now dangerously dry and many of them have burn bans in place, including the counties where my family lives in the Fort Worth area.

Our KBDI has gone up almost 200 points just since August first (which is mind-boggling) and we are a lot drier than I'd like, but I wouldn't even really say we have reached the point yet of being dangerously dry. We're what I call crankily dry where everyone is cranky because it hasn't rained very much. Some people here in our neighborhood have told me they are almost afraid to leave their residences/farms/ranches for fear fire will break out while they are gone, but I don't think we are dry enough yet for that to really be an issue. I hope I'm right about that.

It is cool here this morning but awfully humid. I'd like to think that means some rain is headed our way. As for the prospects of getting good rain? I'm just not feeling it. If we get more than a quarter-inch on any given day I'll be surprised, and if the rain totally misses us, I won't be surprised at all.

Usually at this time of the year I'm hoping a tropical storm or hurricane (a nice wet but not so dangerous one) will hit the Texas or Mexican gulf coast and send us a big plume of tropical moisture, but after all the flooding and damage from the remnants of Tropical Storm Bill a few weeks ago, I am not hoping for that this year.

Since it is not raining and I'm only providing minimal irrigation (on purpose), the melons taste great, so at least this dry spell has given us great melons.

A little warmer today. Humidity has returned. Woke up to thunder booming, no rain, not sure what that was all about. I doubt if we get rain today but sat into Sunday looks good.

My sister brought me two dozen fresh eggs this morning!!! YES. I am going to enjoy every last one.

Dawn, I agree we will need a low pressure system off the gulf coast to get a good soaking rain. These fronts from the NW are to hit and miss. Yes,I am a little scared to say that because Bill is still on my mind. You would think those snakes would eventually have a heat stroke. HA I don't even look at the drought monitor ignorance is bliss. Ha

chickencoupe, how is your group doing with the upper respiratory? And yes breakfast on the back porch with my grandson is heaven. You do understand we are not quietly sitting and eating. We are shooting the dogs with water pistols,working in the sand pile, jibber jabbering about all things worldly and occasionally we take a bite!!HA HA. Love every second.

Amyinowasso, 3 1/2" I would be doing the happy dance. Here I was bragging about our 1/2", that will teach me. Ha

hope we all get a good drink this weekend

The temperature drop is nice but the rain can stop anytime now. This week we had a 4 inch rain in one night, followed by 9/10 a few nights later and now another 2.5 inches this morning. The weeds will reach the sky.

Carol, I've been thinking about you yesterday and this morning and was wondering !! I know you got more rain in May than we did and are probably swimming again.

We didn't get a drop here. The wind change is nice.

soonergrandmom, could you send us a few inches. Please!!!! Ha

I would be happy to share a little rain. Looks like the Grove official amount was more than the Mesonet reported again. TV says we got 2.9 inches.