Haven't been on for a while but wanted to see how everyone was doing after the big deluge. Anyone heard from I think Gloria? I seem to recall she lives in Longmont. I hadn't realized how bad it was until I was coming home from work last Thursday evening from Denver and saw the St. Vrain looking like a mini Niagara falls! running barely under I-25. Fortunately for us, we're on higher ground and they evacuated folks in low lying areas to the Mead HS and a church on Rt.66. The St. Vrain is still running high and heaps of streets East of us are still closed. I hope everyone is safe and not severely impacted and hope to see some of you at the swap which i see hasn't yet happened so I am hoping this time to make it since I always seem to miss the Fall swap and I am certain I have some plants to share. Here's a bit of a laugh and smile in all the gloom, the fella and I found this large toad that must have gotten disoriented during the deluge and fell into our window well we think....we haven't a clue how long it's been there but from the looks of it, he's doing pretty good feasting on all the crickets down there. We took him over about a half mile to a "swampy" area and hopefully he'd be happier there!

We have also had the rains this summer - but it has been very cool also. The crops were looking great, but behind due to the cool temps. This could reduce the yields quite a bit. Then we got hit with some major hail last weekend. Ouch! We didn't have any buildings damaged - but major crop damage. Guess things were looking too good. Luckey we didn't have the building damaged that some did though. Lots of broken windows and siding damage in some areas close to us.

Kim, Why is the neighbor burning oil or tires? Is that not illegal in Texas? If someone does it here, we can call and report them to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. Hooray for the rain for those of you who got it. We have invisible sprinkles this morning. You know, the kind that fall about 8' apart from one another, so you feel a sprinkle, you stand still and look around you. You don't see anything and you wonder if you dreamed it up, but then you feel another one a few minutes later. Of course, these tiny sprinkles add up to nothing in the rain gauge, but perhaps they are a sign we might get rain later. Amy, I swear, I could hear your son's eyes rolling too. (grin) I only ran out of gas once in my life, and I sure did learn my lesson and never did it again. Perhaps your day for heavy rain is today....or tonight or tomorrow. Jay has had good rain. Michelle has had good rain. Jennifer finally got rain there at her place. We've had rain down here. Rebecca and Nancy always get rain (grin). It seems like it surely must be Amy's turn now. Y'all watch for severe stuff today. I started its own thread for that topic so anyone who comes to the page is more likely to see it. Dr. Forbes is supposed to be live on TWC from 6-8 pm Eastern time, and since he's gone to part-time, he's generally only live on the air when somebody is expected to get severe weather. While we are a part of that somebody today, there's other places at risk too. Dawn

Mexican Magic is one of the few Maryotts that do well here. It is distinctive and did bloom on good scapes this year. It has had some issues in the past and maybe will have more if the winters aren't amenable, but it adds distinction to the garden. Subspace Frequency was never a good bloomer here, and the blooms lacked substance for this climate.