Hey everyone. Thank for helping me with the plant ID. It's stem is so thick almost like a trunk and the roots are impressive.

Ethan is in Gallup, near to Arizona, I think.

Nancy, I pickled the greek pepperoncinis. I can't wait to try them. That's what I've mostly been doing-- pickling stuff. And working on the garden paths, etc. I'm getting so close to being finished! Then, there's the pathway around the garden. That will be a huge job. The plan is to fence it, but I want a good walk way around the outside. Do you think 2 feet is enough? Or should I do 3?

Oh, I'm also going to make pimento cheese with your pimentos, Nancy.. Thanks for gifting me with all the nifty peppers. I've always stuck with the basics: bell, cayenne, jalapeno, and banana.

I made tomatillo salsa yesterday and am a little disappointed. My peppers weren't hot enough. And this recipe didn't have garlic. It's good, but rather bland. I like a little heat. And garlic for sure.

I haven't been as productive today. I feel like crap--have a headache. I'm hoping Pilates will help. I hate wasting a day off. Not that it's been a total waste.

Nancy, I just ordered a dehydrator from Kohls. It ran around $29 on sale and with a coupon code and store credit, I got it for about $25 including shipping. It hasn't arrived yet but I only plan to use it for drying some peppers and herbs. I'm not making jerky and based on reviews I think it will be more than sufficient. One review said they made jerky with it so it might be sturdier than I anticipate. Here's a link.

Nancy, I typed 2 long replies about those stinking flowers and lost them both (I hate this tablet).

I won't go into the long reply I had before, but this heat and dry weather has taken its toll on everything. I brush hogged one row of zinnias and 3 rows of purple hulls across the highway this morning. While we shelling the last of the peas Madge told me that there would be no more flowers. We plan on downsizing a lot, if it can't be done with a tractor, mower, or a sprayer, it just won't be done.

The rest of the zinnias across the highway look thirsty but are still blooming. That area will be planted in grain rye in a month or so.

Those of you who have Aji Dulce peppers, what are you doing with them?

Guy at Stringers said dig the potatoes, even though they aren’t dying back, so I dug around the ugliest one and got a handful of roasting sized potatoes. That’s dinner. This weekend I’ll dump all the bags, then get them r for green beans.

No heat index right now! 95 and I was actually comfortable watering tonight. Baby tomatoes were droopy until they got water.

Rebecca, I'm glad you have potatoes. Oh, and nicer weather too.

Larry, My zinnias still are blooming and look great....from a distance. Then, when you get closer and can see how bad the foliage looks, you realize how they are barely hanging on. I mean just barely, barely, barely. I'm watering but we're at the point now that it is impossible to water enough.

Jennifer, I'd make the path around the garden 3'. That gives you plenty of room to use a wheelbarrow, for example.

While today was cooler and I'm grateful for that, it still got hot, just not as hot as it has been.

I deadheaded and weeded three raised beds today and it was mostly deadheading as there weren't that many weeds.

Tomorrow I'm going to weed the asparagus bed. That thing is a nightmare waiting to happen.

I found tons of leaf-footed bugs on my watermelon fruit. Except for a couple that flew away too quickly, I snipped them in half with my scissors. It is enormously satisfying to do this.

While deadheading some celosia plants this morning, I came across a bee assassin bug lying there on a flower, waiting to catch and kill a bee. Well, I had my trusty garden scissors in my hand, so that bug never is going to kill another bee. Usually an assassin bug in the garden is considered a beneficial insect, but I'll never consider bee assassin bugs to be beneficial in any way. In case you aren't familiar with these, here's a document that describes them and what they do, and it also has photos of them.

Bee Assassin Bug

Along with the usual hummingbirds, birds, bees, butterflies and other pollinators, I was joined this morning by a cicada killer. That cicada killer worked so hard and looked forever for a cicada but never found one in the garden. Too bad it wasn't looking for leaf-footed bugs because we had tons of them.

Dawn

The only thing we harvested today were catfish--10 perfect-sized catfish about 14-16 inches long, and one larger 5 lb. I got the most, 6, but GDW caught the biggest. So we called it a draw. :) We took 7 to one of our neighbors and kept 4, enough for two dinners. We quit about 2, but going back to Rocky Point, had a rough time. With shorts and light T shirts, the weather was just fine until then, with a perfect breeze and cloud cover off and on. Getting back, we were careful, but still got hung up on a sand bar; lake's down about four feet. All we could do was laugh, contemplating our options. But we got out the trolling motor, raised the prop, and slowly navigated beyond it. Just one tiny nick in the prop. Garry always laughs, including $150 for a new prop each year. Seems like that's been the usual. But we agreed the tiny nick doesn't constitute the need for a new one yet.

We had intended to get out by 6:30-7 am, but didn't actually put the boat in until closer to 8. This was the first fishing since last summer, save for a brief unsuccessful 90-minute trip in April looking for spoonbill. As you all know, too darned hot, plus GDW not feeling well. It was so much fun, and a great success, fish-wise.

Celosia like the hot weather fine, don't they, Dawn! My zinnias are good. I'm much luckier with the weather (and humidity! Good thing/bad thing) than those of you, south central and west half.

Speaking of good bugs, I'm loving our predatory wasps! I'm seeing them doing their work.

Yeah, gotta have a 3'-wide path. We have roughly 2 1/2 feet between our raised beds, and only one wheelbarrow cart (YOURS, HJ, from Spring Fling last year--love it) fits in those paths.

Larry, that was so funny, what Madge said about the flowers! I got a good laugh out of that! You did good! You should get granddaughter back out to take a computer-buying trip with you. For the record, I got an all-in-one desktop Dell last summer for about $500. I REALLY like it. Screen is big. It's not portable, of course, and I still miss my laptop Mac (I also bought a cheaper Acer laptop for $300-$400, and I constantly am grumpy with it; but admit it works.) If you don't have to have a laptop, I'd happily recommend the Dell. Additionally, I have an Ipad notebook that I occasionally still use (it's probably about 8 yrs old), but I have a separate keyboard for it so I can type easily with it, if need be.

HJ, I'm tickled you like your new peppers. . . . maybe I'll grow more "different" ones next year just for you and others who like different ones. Like I said, me, will stick to what we eat a lot of, the bells. And I have enough jalapenos that definitely don't need any next year. I'm sorry you didn't feel good today.

Rebecca, I've not taken time to mess with the Aji dulces or the pimentos, yet. I've just chopped and frozen along with the few bells. They are prolific little buggers, though, aren't they! Also, glad you'll get some potatoes. If you have too many little ones, you could make smashed potatoes (no need to peel) with butter and cream, and freeze them. Keep em a little on the dry side, though. I used a batch last night for potato cakes, and they were a little too swampy. However, if the rest are, too, they'll still work---will just thaw, add some cream cheese to give them a bit more body. (They WERE delicious.)

Tomorrow's assignment, taking out the tomatoes, and I will grow just one Carbon for the fall; and maybe weeding a bit. That's it. And ordering the dehydrator. Thanks for the tip, Megan; I'll figure something out overnight.

Was distressing to hear about the wildfires, Dawn, and the Keetch-Byram Drought Index numbers . Sobering, indeed.

The stinking cute kitten was not happy GDW and I were gone for 8 hours today, and we paid for it this evening with hugs and smacks and wrestling matches and lovings. Titan, Tom, and Jerry were equally needy. AGGHHH! A circus, and I lightly napped off and on through the entire thing. LOL So thrilled to see how Tom and Jerry are with the kitten. Jerry was actually playing with him a bit this evening (and is right now.) Titan and Tiny Dude are great, gold. Tom is a little less friendly, but very hands-off. This is going so well.

Got to plan a get together with peeps in Tulsa in the next couple weeks--Amy, Eileen, and Rebecca! As always, enjoying all you friends!

Nancy, I am so glad y'all had such a good day on the lake. I think it is such a good sign that Garry finally felt well enough to go fishing.

Cats are so entertaining. Sometimes you can get exhausted just watching them zoom all over, rolling, tumbling, jumping, hiding, attacking.....especially kittens. I love how kittens can be playing like little maniacs one minute, and then collapse and fall sound asleep the next.

I'm up early, dressed and ready to hit the garden as soon as there's enough daylight to see and avoid snakes. Those leaf-footed bugs are on the watermelons first-thing every morning, and I've never even had them on watermelons before, so I want to be out there early doing my best to get rid of them. I don't think they can hurt large watermelons much but they are destroying the small ones as soon as they form.

We have one huge pumpkin vine growing on our compost pile. I've largely ignored it because I thought it probably came from a purchased Halloween pumpkin that was a C. maxima or C. pepo and that the squash vine borers or squash bugs would kill it soon enough. It has been setting pumpkins for a while now, largely hidden beneath its leaves. As it has continued to grow rampantly despite intense heat and very little rainfall, I finally decided it must be a C. moschata so I have been watching the shape and size of the fruit for a while now, and believe it is a Dickenson pumpkin. The first 2 or 3 pumpkins on the vine are approaching the maximum size for that variety and are turning orange. I'm surprised they have attained this size in these dry conditions and suppose that if I had been watering it regularly, they might have gotten even larger. It must be that the compost is doing a pretty good job sustaining them even though it is pitifully dry. These pumpkins are growing not too far from where we have cracks in the ground that are in the 1-2" width range. So, this weekend Tim suddenly discovered there were pumpkins on the vine. I guess he has walked by the vine at least a couple of times a day without noticing them until now. He was all excited "We've got pumpkins!" Never mind that we have some sort of pumpkin/winter squash every year and he doesn't seem to notice or care until I harvest them. Perhaps the pumpkins delighted him so much because we didn't plant the back garden due to developing drought conditions at planting time so he wasn't expecting any pumpkins. Compost piles, of course, always are full of surprises and there's also white zinnias and some verbena bonariensis growing in that compost pile.

At the western end of our county, one portion of the county has been showing up in Moderate Drought on the Drought Monitor for some time, which the rest of the county stays in the yellow Abnormally Dry category endlessly. Every time we think the Abnormally Dry area is progressing into Moderate Drought, it rains just enough at our Mesonet station to prevent that. So, this weekend, when we drove through our country almost to its westernmost county line, I wondered if we would be able to tell when we reached that Moderate Drought area. We weren't really sure, because it is dry all over, so it was just a matter of the degree of dryness and we were wondering if you could see the difference visually. Well, when we reached it, you could see it instantly. Suddenly the vegetation in the fields went from mixed greens/browns to nothing but brown....just like that. Like someone flipped a switch. Bam! There it was. I feel bad for everyone out there---it looks awful, and I can only imagine how frustrated ranchers, farmers and gardeners are with the lack of moisture.

Somewhat related to that, usually the average person here doesn't want a burn ban. People like being able to burn brush, burn trash, burn off fields of wheat stubble, etc. and hate (and sometimes ignore) burn bans. Well, lately, people are calling and asking if we are "under a burn ban yet?" with a hopeful tone in their voice, as if they're wishing for one. To me, that's a significant sign. The problem is that we aren't in Severe Drought so cannot even have a burn ban until that happens because of the way the burn ban statute in OK is written. It is much easier for counties to pass burn bans in Texas. A lot of local people here would argue that we are under Severe Drought conditions already based on what they see on their property and the surrounding countryside, and I would agree with them, but the Drought Monitor folks always seem to lag a month or two behind the real-time conditions we are experiencing.

I look at our garden and marvel at how green it is, but there's a steep price that comes with maintaining it in that condition. Every time that I think that I ought to stop pouring the water onto it, I look at all the birds, butterflies, bees, etc. in it and cannot let it die yet because of them. The only wildflowers I see blooming around us now are native sunflowers and some tiny clumps of frogfruit in drainage areas that still have some green to them. Everything else dried up and either died or went dormant weeks ago. I wonder if there will be any goldenrod or liatris blooming in August as usual, or any of the native prairie sage. I hope we aren't too dry for them, but think we may be.

The peppers are struggling so much in the heat and drought even underneath shade cloth that I think I will strip all the peppers off of them today just to relieve their burden. That will make it a bit easier for them to hopefully survive August and then produce well again in the fall.

I hope to be able to weed the asparagus bed today if I don't get sidetracked by something else. If I could get that area done, then all the raised beds would be weeded this week. There's pretty much no weeds in the garden except right along the fence line, where pasture plants and woodland plants perpetually try to invade the garden.

Well, there is enough light that I can run out to the garden now and kill some leaf-footed bugs. I'll never be able to get them all, but at least they're the main pest now, along with all the grasshoppers and crickets. At least I don't have blister beetles here yet, knock on wood, because in some parts of OK they are present in huge numbers now.

Dawn

Nancy, I didn't bring the wheelbarrow last year. But, seems like we need to do 3 ft. paths around the garden's edge. Thanks for your input, Nancy and Dawn.

Rebecca, we grow these things--like peppers--and have no idea how to use them all up! I have tons of poblanos and marconis that need to be used as well.

When y'all freeze your bell peppers, do you just throw them in the freezer or do you prepare them in some way first?

Larry, I hate posting on a tablet too! My chromebook died, so I'm taking my laptop home everyday so I don't have to use the tablet. haha. I don't like posting from my phone either. I'm about to buy a new computer--just trying to decide if I want to pay cash for an inexpensive laptop or take the leap and finance a macbook. (I'll probably go with the inexpensive laptop).

Thanks for the info on the bee assassin, Dawn. Creepy. Did y'all see that green "June" bug that someone posted on FB? Is that a good guy or a bad guy? I saw one in my garden on Monday (and one on our walk) and didn't kill it. He was still there yesterday, hanging out. He is not on any plants, just walking around in some leaf mulch. I thought it was a scarab beetle and those are good luck, right? I used to have a charm--can't remember what happened to it. Maybe I gave it to someone.

Cats are very entertaining. Juno and Finn seem to be getting along, but there's a lot of fighting too. I think it's play fighting 'cause Juno goes back for more. But it gets loud. So far, no one is biting hard enough to break skin...so it's probably play. And Finn let Juno take over his food bowl this morning with his favorite wet kitten food. I put her in her room with her own canned kitten food, so he could enjoy his. It's his favorite. It's funny that he is still eating kitten food because he's huge, but only 8 months old. Has anyone tried the Clean Paws litter?

I'll come back with a picture in a bit. When I came in from Pilates, they were both in the top spot on the cat tower just looking at me. So cute. Tom took this pic and it's not as cute as how they were when I walked in...but my phone is never handy. AND all the animals get up and get needy as soon as I walk in. Not Tom. Not anyone else. Just me. I'm their slave. The slave of two dogs, two cats, 1 turtle, 13 hens, 2 chicks, a boy, and a man. And a garden honestly. Anyway, Juno still trembles whenever Tom touches her or picks her up. It makes me sad. My friend's husband was not very nice to her (the ones who had her before until she went to live with his mother and then us). I have not concept of being mean to an animal. I get hunting for food, harvesting animals for food...but to just be mean??? Why? Especially when it's a person that is generally very kind to people. So...she is a frightened of men.

I'll come back with Tom's pic of the cats.

Where's everyone other than Nancy, Larry, Dawn, Rebecca and I? Miss you all.

I just spent the last half hour typing up a post. UGH! ERRR! Maybe it will show up.

Okay. My post shows up on my phone so maybe it’s not lost.

How cute is THAT, HJ!! I'd say it's going well!!

New glitch with this forum. Now when I click on a person's comment, it takes me to the first post, not to the bottom where the person's comment is. Agghh.

HJ, our youngest boy was always skittish of men & very protective of me. We think the previous owner didn't treat him very well. But something happened in the last couple years & he's become so much more cuddly. He'll go up to men at the dog park, allow them to pet him, & he's gotten to where he has to sleep snugged up on my side of the bed.

Going back & forth on what to plant in the new bed. I still have some seedlings so I'm putting them in as I clear out the weeds, but should have some extra space leftover.

We're picking tomatoes. Nearly all are red. I got a few Cherokee Carbons, but no Gary 'O sena yet. There are Early Girls, Super Sioux, Arkansas Traveler, Heidi of course. A lot of BER on Heidi this year. I guess I've not watered properly. Ron is pleased with Ramapo. I guess it will be added to the must grow list so he can have his Jersey tomatoes.

I have 2 tiny okra plants the dog has not stepped on. The seeds I ordered from SESE came Mon, so I need to see if any are short enough DTM to plant now. Getting some cowpeas from the volunteers. I've not had great germination from the ones I intentionally planted this year. I intend to start some seeds tonight, and I'm going to have to water. I think the Golden Marguerite plant I bought has died in the heat.

I don't know where the bunny is (I think it's a bunny) that is driving my dog bonkers. There are 4 rows of beds parallel to my house. I let her out and she races around each row like a bat out of hell. Does a little "deer" leap as she turns the corner.

Dawn, I'm sorry about your weather there. I've never seen a bee assassin bug, I don't think. I'm not SEEING leaf footed bugs or stink bugs, but I see the damage they leave.

Rebecca, I'm shaking my head over the squirrels. Also Sharon and Jacobs critters. What a pain!

H/J, I can't believe you built a bed in this heat! Be careful not to over do it! Tell me how the pepperoncini pickles turn out. I didn't get any this year, but my plan was to pickle them for DH.

Jacob, I'm sorry about your potatoes! Hopefully the carrots will do better.

Robert, I'm sorry about your weather, too.

Larry, that's a heck of a lot of work to water!

Megan that's an interesting dehydrator. Tell us how it works. I got a fancy Excalibur last year. It works fine, but takes up so much space.

Nancy, glad you got to fish, and that GDW is doing so well.

Have a good week (what's left of it)!

Jennifer, With the Japanese beetles, I suppose for the people who have them in large numbers, they are horribly destructive. They can strip plants they like (which includes some fruit trees and grapevines) down to naked plants with all the leaves skeletonized or gone in no time at all. We don't really have Japanese beetles here---maybe I'll see one or two strays every couple of years. I'd like to ignore them, but I kill them just in case they have come here to our county to breed and start a new colony. I wouldn't want for our place to be Ground Zero for the beginning of this county's Japanese Beetle infestation. When people here on this forum first started mentioned Japanese Beetles about a decade ago, it was mostly folks in extreme northeastern OK. Now we see reports of them from a wider area, so I think they slowly are moving both east and south.

We do have an occasional Green June Bug, which isn't the same thing, and I ignore them because their numbers are so small. I do not mind ground beetles in general because they prey on lots of other insects, but I'm not crazy about June Bugs, Green June Bugs or Japanese Beetles.

Bell peppers don't have to be blanched, so you can just freeze them however you wish. I usually either chop them and then freeze them in portions I'd use in general cooking, or I slice them and freeze them that way.

The yin-yang photo of the cats is just too cute. I'd say they definitely have accepted each other as adopted siblings. That doesn't mean they won't have days where they act like they hate each other---but I bet they mostly will play together and love each other.

Tiny Baby, who came to live with us in the Spring of 2010 I think, never has liked men. If I am gone somewhere and he is outside, he almost never will come in for Tim or Chris---and he has been this way forever, so we assume that somewhere in his first few weeks of life before he found us, the male in his life must have been mean to him or at least frightened him and he's never gotten over it. If I'm leaving the house and don't expect to be back before dark, I always try to get him indoors before I leave. Otherwise, he's going to be sitting on the porch waiting for me when I get home---shining like a white beacon of light in the darkness. He'll run right in the door when I open it though, like he's been waiting and waiting for me to come home and let him in. I always tell him "you could just come in for dad, you know", but he's having none of that.

Jen, I think y'all finally overwrote his bad memories with good new ones and he must have decided he can trust men now. That is awesome. Some animals just never reach that point.

Amy, Hooray for the tomatoes! Ours are nearing the end of their production, other than SunGold which continues setting fruit. None of the others have set fruit in ages. There's still a few plants with fruit on them, but as they ripen and I harvest the last ones, I yank out a plant. This weather is not being kind to them.

I hate this weather. I am just so over this summer heat. Unfortunately, it isn't done with us by a long shot. Today's forecast high was 99, but y'all know that the temperatures didn't stop there. Nope. 101 @ Burneyville, and 103 @ our house. So, tomorrow's forecast high is 101. I guess we should be expecting 103 and 105. Several of the fire departments at the western end of our county sent trucks and personnel to the county to our west to assist with a large grass fire. They're quite a bit drier over there in Jefferson County than we are we are, and mostly grassland (the trees mostly end in our county) so they are having some difficult-to-control fires there. I feel bad for them. We're only lagging maybe a month behind them, though, so trouble will be here soon enough if significant rainfall doesn't occur.

I don't even want to work in the garden tomorrow, but I'll do it anyway. At least I'll harvest and water container plants. Beyond that, who knows? Maybe I'll find some more leaf-footed bugs and stink bugs to snip in half with my scissors.

It appears the first watermelon is ripe and ready to pick. Its tendril is brown and dried and I get the 'plunk' sound when I thump it. I'll leave it a couple more days just to be sure. Sometimes icebox melons aren't quite as ripe as they appear so it never hurts to leave them on the vine for a couple more days.

Dawn

HI I am here I feel like I just posted but I guess that was last week. Same ol same ol. I am going to convention in ft worth next week and helping my mom move the last trip to my sister's. Mom is not excited and I tell her same as she tells me you can't change it, pity party is over. I hate to see her so distraught. I have seen older people in a heartbreaking situation just give up and die. They just don't habe one last fight. Hopefully my nieces and nephews will help cheer her up. I my garden looks so good right now and I even have squash and melons coming.

Keep up the stories it is like a lifeline.

Driving me nuts now about where the garden cart came from, from last year's spring fling. I need to know, because it is the best cart EVER!! And I can't thank that person enough! I was so sure it was you. It's not a wheelbarrow at all, rather a cart. Whoever it came from said they got one for themselves, too.

Looks like your post showed up, HJ. :)

Megan, since I usually order from Amazon, and had checked several reviews, ended up with the Presto, which is what my nearby friend has and likes. (And it was pretty cheap, too.)

Have renewed respect for you, Dawn. Pulling the tomatoes out wasn't all that easy. Loppers and scissors. All out except two.

I'd say I have become a butterfly gardener, Lisa. Butterflies EVERYWHERE. There were 8 just on the lantana bush this morning. Black, spice bush, a couple giants earlier, and tiger swallowtails; what must be a fritillary, and I don't know what else yet. Oh, and the hummingbird moths. Haven't seen any viceroys or monarchs this summer.

I lost my post of earlier today, too. I'll get this posted. Gotta go out and enjoy moonflower vine for a little while.

I thought Bon brought the cart. I have one it is awesome

No, Bon didn't make it that year. She was having troubles with car, and GDW and I even offered to go pick her up. GRRR. I miss her and only knew her for a short time.

I just KNOW it had to be HJ. She was talking about it before the event. She said she was so excited about her SF present. That she'd scored bigtime on these at Lowe's or Home Depot and so had one for herself and one for the SF. Okay, but she has denied it. But maybe cuz that's because she thought I meant wheelbarrow. Not. Really, just a "cart." So now, if it WASN'T HJ, I need to know who it was because I LOVE my cart! LOLOL But good try, Kim.

We had company this afternoon. Tom and Jerry (Jerry to a lesser degree) always disappear when company comes, but Tiny performed circus antics for our company. Ha!

Oh, got a ton of weeding done today and have a ton more to do. But it's going nice and easy. Lots of greens for the compost.

Dawn, your pineapple sage is in full sun, right? I'm having a hard time with the two smallish ones I got in May. I have to keep a close eye on them because of wilting.

I've been exchanging notes with a lady who is an admin for Wagoner Area Lost and Found Pets and Animal Advocacy, after I'd been posting with them, first about our little fox, and then with Tiny Dude. She is a sweetheart, and she and the other admins on that FB page spend a lot of their personal time with the group, just as many of you do with our gardening groups. They are so dedicated, and have helped me by providing tips and resources for relocating two of the unfortunate critters who've shown up here, and now we have our Tiny Dude, who were are NOT relocating. I promised Garry no more than 3 cats. And I pray daily no more show up here. Because even I know our limits. I hate it when these creatures show up at our house, because it's gonna cost money. The ugly sweet starved bulldog last year, the exquisite little fox this year. And yet, I won't turn them away. I'll do my darndest to see they will be safely taken care of. So I get them to that place, and then feel guilty because all these places, of course, need donations. LOLOL.

Depressing stuff, though. . . we stopped by Whitehorn Marina yesterday while fishing, and were visiting with the folks there. I mentioned the kitten, and they all said there were dozens and dozens of kittens running around down there. So sad. These were not anyone's claimed kittens, just kittens that are or will be feral. And so it is.

Kim, It is so very hard for older folks to give up their independence by moving in with a family member so I understand your mom being upset, but she does need to just get over it and get on with living.

I hope you have a nice time at the convention in Fort Worth. Hopefully the weather will be milder for this trip because they've been so hot and dry there this summer.

I'm glad your plants are doing so well. Is someone going to water them for you while you're away?

Nancy, Maybe post a photo of the cart and see if it rings a bell with anyone?

It always is hard to take out the tomato plants, isn't it? I hate it. It makes me think back to the day I planted them and how the start of the planting season always feels so fresh and new.....and then a few months later it comes down to this.....removing plants that are old, tired, pest-ridden, diseased, tired, worn out, etc. I just remind themselves that they did their job, it is over and we are moving on. In some ways it is like saying good-bye to a friend though.

I love the way the butterflies show up. If you plant flowers, they will come. And, if you plant host plants for their caterpillars, they will stay. It always amazes me when August rolls around because by then the garden has more butterflies than flowers.....and it isn't because there aren't a lot of flowers---just that the butterfly population peaks. About the time I'm feeling awed by the butterfly population's huge numbers and the wide variety of colors, patterns, sizes, etc., then the hummingbird migration kicks in and I go through the same thing with the hummers. Migration time is our best chance at seeing some of the types of hummingbirds that usually aren't seen in Oklahoma.

I miss Bon too and hope that she and her family are well, wherever they are and whatever is going on in their lives.

Tiny sounds more adorable and precious by the day. Kittens put on such a show when they are playing. He sounds like he has a very outgoing personality.

My pineapple sage is in full sun. I have to keep it well-watered. It did very well in the same bed for the last 3 years, but they had a lot more rain than we've had this year. It is only about half the size it usually is. I'm just trying to keep it going through these awful dry conditions. Some years are rougher than others, and this is a really rough one in terms of lack of moisture and extreme heat.

Feral cats are everywhere. This would not be such a problem if everyone had their females spayed, but they don't. We always do. The last thing we need is more cats.

In just a couple of minutes I'll head out to the garden to do whatever work I can before it gets too hot. It is amazing how brief the cool morning air lasts. I wish it could last a couple more hours, but once the sun is up in the sky, the temperatures can escalate really quickly. I've noticed that most of the rabbits that were waiting for me in the early morning hours when I go outdoors, hoping to steal some hen scratch or deer corn, are gone now. Instead of seeing 6 or 8 when I go out every single morning, now I only catch a brief glimpse of 1 or 2. I guess this means the predators are eating well.

I need to deadhead a lot of catnip and cut it back really hard. I've been trying to do it in stages because the bumblebees love it so and they hate when I deadhead it, even though I wait as long as possible. Next to comfrey, it is their favorite flower. I try to let it stay wherever it pops up and I let it bloom as long as possible because the bees adore it, but I've got to cut it back before it goes too much to seed and dies back. After I cut it back hard, it is back in bloom in a couple of weeks, but the bees are unhappy about me cutting it back anyway. There's plenty of other flowers for them, but they like this stuff so much. I'm hoping they'll be distracted by all the sunflowers in bloom now. The real key is just to hit the garden early and cut it back before the bees show up.

Y'all have a good day and stay cool. They've lowered our forecast high from 101 to 100, which just makes me laugh. Usually when they do this, we go higher than forecast, not lower, but then that's the story of our life here in the summer.

Dawn

You are right. Bon didn't come the last 2 years. Maybe you can go back in the threads and see.

I just typed a several paragraphs long post about all the nonsense, non-garden drama beyond my control that has me wishing for more weeding and digging to do in my yard. Momma needs some cheap therapy. LOL But if I can't do anything about it, no need to bore or burden y'all with it. The only part of the drama that I really had any part in was because I DID put on my big girl pants and dealt with a bad situation - so my usual "put on your big girl pants" self-motivation speech doesn't feel appropriate. Must be time for some superhero underpants! LOL

Last week's heat revealed that my hose timer has malfunctioned. The whole garden wasn't impacted - just the tomatoes. Just. There were a couple Sungold and a Cherokee Purple that I planned to hold over for fall. The sungolds might make it but the Cherokee is a loss. The heat last and intense sun also scalded most of my bell peppers and many greeks so I need to trim those and hopefully get more production out of the plants. Most of my peppers came from Bruce but I have 3 plants that are purchased bells. They are doing just awful! My MIL has the same plants and hers are as well. Makes me feel better that it's not just me but still puzzling. In past years she's done so well with peppers that you'd think she could grow them blindfolded. I don't know if it's the variety or if we bought some that were exposed to too much cold early in the spring, but not knowing more about early growing conditions is another reason grow lights will be on my Christmas list this year.

Regardless of all the drama in life and the garden right now, the Rosalind Creasy book came yesterday. I didn't have much time to look at it before bed because I did get some quality girl time with my daughter and goddaughter last night. I'm grateful for that. However, I was considering playing hooky this morning as a result of the pages I did manage to flip through before dozing off last night. Nancy, if you ordered it too - you won't regret it.

Tulsa area folks - What are the odds of a Friday dinner get-together? I'll be working out of my company's Tulsa office Friday afternoon and would have time for dinner before getting back on the road. Speaking of Tulsa, happened to the rose garden? I don't know why that suddenly popped into my head but I was very sad to see its condition last summer. I remember visiting it with my grandparents as a girl, after going to the Gilcrease, and feeling so very cultured. ;)

Just as I was ready to hit "Submit" I heard what sounded like ducks migrating!?! They were out of view before I got to the window. Surely I'm mistaken, right? It's what - 2 months early. I know our weather has been off this year, but...

I DID order the book Megan, but won't be here for a week or so. I'm looking forward to it. I am bummed that I can't make it up to Tulsa to see you tomorrow. We have 3 Tulsa trips scheduled in the next week and a half, so a 4th one, not good timing. Maybe some of the genuine Tulsa folks can make it. How often to you have to be in Tulsa because of work?

Ha, Kim--I spent probably at least an hour this morning trying to find proper thread from last year about the gardening cart. Interesting and fun reading, but didn't fine that particular post. And good idea on your part. Maybe I'll revisit this evening. I was a bit annoyed that the posts from the past are chronologically jumbled up a bit.

Our five-day forecast is for 80s--between 81 and 89. WOW. It's 82 right now. Like heaven. I am so sorry all of you aren't having the exact same temperatures!

I love the black and bloom salvias, but they aren't getting quite enough sun where they are, so they may be part of my plant reorganization plan this fall.

I am sorry for your Mom, Kim. I hope she gets along well with her sister? Bless her heart.

Good idea, Dawn. Posting a picture of the handy dandy cart, which is narrow enough to get through the raised bed paths, and deep enough to hold a lot of stuff!

Ha Nancy it's raining here so I searched under spring fling threads and never found it. Certainly someone will pop in to solve the mystery. I was thinking it was Dale and Carrie because they use them in their garden. I use mine for so much I can't imagine what I did before.

Ooh and that kitty.

With a forecast that is calling for cooler temps and possible rain I went back to the garden this morning and planted zucchini and squash. My new green beans and Purple Hull peas are blooming. I decided to take drastic pruning action on the okra. It hasn’t produced even one pod so I thought “ what is the harm?” I cut off several of the largest leaves on the tops so I can see the area on each plant where there SHOULD BE blooms and okra pods. In case it starts producing I won’t miss anything. The only tomatoes I have still making are Porters and Sungolds. My yellow peppers are turning beautifuly. Still have a couple of cucumbers that are blooming but made nothing yet. I complain regularly about the rabbits and squirrels eating and damaging my garden- sic the dog on both. That said I have a nest of bunnies in one of my raised beds where I have lavender and other herbs. I carefully water around the bed so it won’t flood their hiding places. Sigh.... what else can I do?? Lol. I’ve been gardening for 60+ years - doubt I will ever give it up completely as long as I am able for even short periods of time and raised beds. Hope we all get cooler temps and beneficial moisture the next few days.

Thank you for bringing up okra. I had to pull my plants so I'm not growing it this year, but sounds like I'm not missing much. You're not the first I've heard complain about it this season. In looking ahead to my new garden/edible landscape, I'm curious about the shorter varieties of okra. Hadn't even thought of that but already noticed one mentioned in the Creasy book and it has the potential to solve the site issues I was wrestling. Most years okra is a must in my garden so I was mentally blocked being unable to settle on a satisfactory location for it. Does anyone have suggestions on varieties that tolerate our weather? I would prefer an heirloom/OP but won't rule out a hybrid.

Today I'm planting three Southern Exposure Seed Exchange okra varieties. Jade, Burmese and Evertender. The Jade, in particular is meant for late plantings. The burmese is supposed to start bloomming at 18" in height, and Evertender, just because. I had planted okra weeks ago. There are 2 Stewarts Zeebest that might be 4" tall. If the other locations germinated, they haven't been noticed. Too many things taking up beds too late in the season. Not doing potatoes in the beds again. If DH wants to do potatoes that way, he can build another bed! I keep threatening not to plant onions or garlic, too. Wouldn't have mattered this year, can't seem to get anything done.

Dale did post on FB about that cart. I went and got one myself because of his post. I like mine, too.

I do think maybe Dale and Carrie brought the cart, but I'm not sure.

I read everything but am feeling too tired to comment much. I'll try to comment in the morning.

We had a ton of fire activity today that kept everyone busy, and the day included wrecks on the interstate (pretty much three of them at once), a grass fire started by one of the wrecks, a cattle truck, deceased cattle, a cow from that truck, I assume, on the loose seeking her own safety before she eventually was caught on a different highway (her Beach Boys song would be "I Get Around"), two businesses on fire in town, a ton of firefighters and cops who got way too hot, and then everyone clearing from the last fire to rush to various overpasses over I-35 to set up law enforcement and fire department vehicles and flags to honor the funeral procession northbound on I35 of deceased Dallas police officer James Givens as he was transported to somewhere (maybe in the Norman or Purcell areas?) in Oklahoma (he originally was from OK) to his final resting place. As far as I know, the first responders in Love County had people, vehicles and flags at every single overpass. Love County lives its name. You bet I'm proud!!! Except for that, nothing at all happened here today.

Did I mention it was hot? Forecast high: 100, then lowered to 99 by the NWS. Actual High: @ our Mesonet Station: `104, @ our House: 105, @ our truck in town at the fire: 109, @ our fire station 106. I want to know why our weather cannot just behave itself and hit the high temperature that is forecast by the NWS and then stop there and go no higher. Why? Why? Why?

My garden looked like crap when I got home shortly before dinner time, but I had watered it well this morning before all the trouble started, so I think it will bounce back overnight.

A cloud deck moved in and gave us cloudy skies around dinner time, and they were a lovely gray as if they might have rain in them. Well, they did not.

Cutting off okra leaves is an old-style way to shock them into producing. I don't know why y'all's okra is not producing. Mine is producing like mad and we have been hotter here than most of y'all up there. It doesn't make any sense to me, but it has been a weird garden year all the way around.

Gary McManus made comments on the Mesonet Ticker that validated everything I've been saying about drought conditions here. More about that tomorrow.

Megan, My favorite dwarf okra was a red dwarf hybrid variety called Little Lucy. Unfortunately, it was dropped from commercial seed production almost a decade ago and I haven't found a truly dwarf successor yet that is nearly as attractive. Some varieties sold as dwarf varieties aren't really dwarf---just somewhat smaller than standard varieties. Burpee's Baby Bubba is a dwarf plant that produces good okra and produces heavily, but some people have gotten full-sized okra plants from it (I did not when I grew it), which makes me wonder if cross-pollinated seed got into circulation in at least some years. Lee is a so-called dwarf variety but it still gets 4-5' tall. Cajun Jewel and Blondy both remain pretty dwarf.

farmgardener, This is just one of those years, isn't it? Hopefully the cooler weather and the rain materialize and we all get both cooler and wetter weather. The forecast certainly looks good and sounds good, but who knows if it will happen? I think the further south and west a person is in this state, the less likely good drought relief will occur, but I hope I'm wrong about that.

I have let bunnies stay in my garden and grow and mature and they've never been a problem to work around for long. There's not much else I'd let stay in the garden except for turtles, toads and frogs, all of which eat lots of insects, but I cannot expel baby bunnies either.

Kim, I'm glad you got rain. We have a good chance in the Sun-Mon time frame, but I'm not going to get my hopes up too high because we have had similar forecasts completely fail in the past. If this rain misses us, drought conditions will continue to develop and deepen at an astonishing rate, to I'm certainly hoping and praying for rain. Cooler temperatures just would be a bonus, but if we can only have one or the other, I'd choose the rain.

Amy, I hope your late planting of okra does well. It ought too if y'all just stay hot long enough. I know that most years my okra continues producing until at least late October but it just depends on the weather. Once the weather gets cool enough at night, the okra plants just start dropping leaves instead of producing pods. Somehow, with all this summer heat, it seems impossible to even think that autumn will cool off early enough to be a problem for fall crops this year. (And, because I said that, we'll probably get a September freeze here to prove me wrong.)

Megan, Ducks migrating early wouldn't surprise me, not because of any specific reason, but just because sometimes weird stuff like this happens. A few years back, Tim and I saw geese migrating early....around Labor Day, whereas most years we see them in November (and not necessarily real early in November either). Of course, we both decided we were losing our minds....but there those geese were, on several days, flying south. Then Jay, who lives in SW KS, said he saw them migrating at the same time we did, so I decided all three of us couldn't be losing our minds at the same time. Right?

Our hummingbird population has been so heavy for the last couple of weeks that I have wondered if they are migrating early. We always have a lot of hummingbirds here, and normally it is easy to tell when their population is spiking in August as they head south, but this year, there's been so many in mid-July that I don't know what to think. Either they are migrating south very early or we have a local population of them that is significantly larger (let's say four times as large) than what we normally see. It could just be that the local drought conditions have dried up a lot of their native food sources and that's why we are seeing so many, but it sure does make me wonder. Even in past years when summer drought was much more severe than what we have now, I did not see hummingbird populations like this.

All summer long I have complained loud and long to anyone who will listen that our real-life drought conditions are much worse in person than you'd expect based on any scientific measurement.....rainfall data for the water year, the calendar year, the warm growing season, soil moisture measurements at various depths, whatever. Partly this is because so much of the data is based on Mesonet station rainfall data, and our Mesonet station has had several inches more rainfall than most other parts of our county. Also, it partly is because a huge amount of our rain (almost 9") fell in February or earliest March, which gives us a higher rainfall total for the year, but not much rain during the growing season itself. I've also complained that the Drought Monitor is lagging so far behind and not accurately reflecting what we're seeing here. It has gotten to the point that I feel obsessed with the subject---why is it so horrifically dry here and so awful and none of the data picks up on it in a timely manner? Well, in yesterday's Mesonet ticker, Gary McManus expressed some of the same thoughts and concerns. Keep in mind, his folks only report the data collected here and send it to the U. S. Drought Monitor folks who issue the weekly report, and they have no control over whether the personnel there move any given area into a deeper stage of drought at any given time. I just was relieved to read his comments (which he illustrated with a photo from Delaware County of a pond area that appears very deeply in drought....I would have guessed Extreme Drought at best from the photo) but which was in an area that the USDM had classified at that time as only being in Moderate Drought (it advanced further into drought on the monitor issued yesterday). So, I feel somewhat vindicated.

It nearly has driven my mad that our real-life, boots-on-the-ground conditions are not being accurately portrayed in the USDM and elsewhere. I have been through enough droughts here as a serious gardener that I know exactly when things here get bad, or go from bad to worse, and we've never had cracks in the ground 1-2" wide while only "Abnormally Dry" or only in "Moderate Drought". So, why is it happening this year? It also is driving our fire chiefs and other fire personnel mad because the OK burn ban law was written so that a county cannot legally declare a burn ban unless it is in Severe Drought. Well, our conditions here have seemed like Severe Drought to us since at least early June, but on the drought monitor we remain only in Moderate Drought, so no burn ban. Everyone here was rooting for us to go from Abnormally Dry on last week's monitor to Severe on this week's, but I knew it wouldn't happen---a two class degradation in one week is rare on the USDM. Now, let's say it rains an inch in the Sunday-Monday time frame. That one inch of rain will temporarily green us up a bit, but will do nothing to mitigate the current drought conditions. What it will cause is for us to remain in Moderate Drought another few weeks as far as the USDM is concerned. So, while we need rain, I'd almost rather not have it fall this coming week----we need to advance into Severe Drought on the USDM so we can get that burn ban in place. If y'all are reading this and think I'm losing my mind over this heat and dryness, maybe I am.

Yesterday was the hottest and most miserable I've been at a fire since the summer of 2011, and believe me, as bad as this summer is, it is nothing like 2011. We had people down, sick from the heat, when we first arrived at the structure fire yesterday. We had fire rehab people (the very folks who are trying to ensure firefighters are drinking enough and cooling down enough to avoid a heat-related illness) who were overheating and having to retreat to vehicles with good ACs or to their homes or fire stations to cool off before they could return to the fire. Luckily we had enough fire rehab people on the scene that we could sort of tag-team it, with the fresher, less hot folks who arrived a few minutes later able to take over for a while so the overheated ones who were first on the scene could cool down, rest, and regroup. Once you get that hot though, even if you get yourself cooled down and rehydrated before you truly have developed heat exhaustion, you still feel like crap for the rest of the day and sometimes for several days. We had tough firefighters who never let themselves get too hot and start feeling sick who were down, either sitting in the shade or in the ambulance being evaluated when we arrive, and I was shocked how quickly that they had reached that state.....and it is nerve-wracking when the toughest guys go down in the heat. You feel like you're fighting a losing battle to keep them healthy and safe, while at the same time you feel yourself developing heat-illness type symptoms. We had to call out extra personnel because the ones on the scene was just too hot to continue working. (Not that they let it stop them, but we needed more people or we likely would have been sending FFs to the hospital.....). So, I guess yesterday was the bad fire day we dreaded all summer.....undoubtedly made worse by the fact that the very same VFDs kept having calls all morning and into the afternoon, so no one really got to cool down....and that includes police officers and probably the medics as well. Everyone was just too, too hot. Our main hope (maybe our only hope at this point) is that yesterday was an anomaly and that the rest of the week and weekend (ahead of the rumored cool down) won't be so bad. So, now I'm through whining about it.

I'm not going to work out in the garden today, and yesterday's exposure to the mid-day and afternoon heat is the reason why. Honestly, if every day from this point forward is like yesterday, I'd stop watering and let the garden go ahead and die. There's only so much I can do to keep the garden going in the face of immensely bad heat, and I already feel like I'm straddling that fine line between keeping on and just stopping. When the July water bill arrives next week, it might push me over the edge and I might just stop watering anyway despite my desire to keep the flowers go for the hummingbirds, bees and butterflies. I have been fighting this heat and this drought so hard, and in the garden it appears I'm winning the war, but you can only fight drought for so long. Inevitably, if the drought continues, it will defeat the garden and the gardener. I'm about to that point of defeat now.

Dawn

I'll be getting on the road shortly and don't see anyone taking up the offer for a dinner get together so I'll have to catch you all next time. Nancy, I don't work in our Tulsa office often. I can sometimes work it out so it coordinates with a personal trip to Bartlesville, which is what I've done this time. We used to make it to Tulsa a lot more often because the hubs has a big group of friends in Tulsa that we would visit for a weekend but he works on Saturdays now so those don't happen unless planned far in advance. However, I'll try to give a little more notice next time I'll be in town.

BTW - if this is right about the next couple weeks, I can definitely live with it! We've all seen far worse starts to August in this state.

http://aarontuttleweather.com/2018/07/26/is-the-extreme-heat-gone-for-good-the-weekend-and-beyond/

I wanted to take you up on it, but I work tonight. ;(

These posts are showing up weird for me. Some from yesterday did noy show uo last night but they are there now.

Pickedpeas okra and cukes this morning. I have never picked knee high okra. After bending over for 2 1/2 hours I gave up.

Came home mowed and cleaned yard. Saw this beauty at the neighbors and picked it. The scent is beyond heavenly

Hi Everyone! Nothing new in the garden (that I know of--haven't really looked at it today). Been busy with less interesting things. Hope everyone is doing well.

Going to backread now.

Kim, posts show up weird for me too. And different between my phone and laptop.

Megan, hope you have a great trip!

Dawn, I'm so sorry your weather is so awful. I feel guilty now that our weather was wonderful yesterday and not bad today either. Hang on until Monday before making decisions. Maybe you'll get some relief then.And I sure hope you're getting some rest from your crazy day.

If anyone else posted, I'm not seeing it. The forum is odd this week.

I used to have one of those carts. Saw it at a yard sale & the lady gave it to me. Unfortunately it didn't make the move (hope the new owner appreciates it) & I haven't found one in my price range since. They always sell out before making it to clearance.

I finally finished digging out the grass in the new bed. Took me a week in the 100* temps to do 2/3 of it, then another week to finish the other 1/3. I'm going to grow something I can till under as green compost, hopefully that will help improve the almost clay soil. And I did my best to put a dent in the next june bug population. I'm still too squeamish to squish them by hand, so I drowned about 4 buckets worth.

Weeding. Story of my life. Watering. Medicaid application for Mom almost completed. GREAT anxiety attacks ready to blow full-blown. But got two Wyoming Medicaid angels in a row. I can DO this. I refuse to pronounce GDW cured, but he's running circles around me, which has never happened before. I am so thrilled he is himself. So thankful! Little spanky cat, Tiny Dude, is a riot. And apparently Tom and Jerry and Titan might be rolling their eyes, but are almost kindly toward him. Last tomato to go, George's Baker Family Heirloom.

I haven't done much weeding, the garden is pretty much weed free. I have not taken any tomatoes out yet, but many should be because not many fruit left to ripen and no new fruit set in many weeks.

We got a very small amount of rain this morning, but not enough to wet the ground. Last night just before dark I drug the cultivator through the area I want to plant turnips to create grooves for the water to stand in to reduce run off. But if this is all the rain we are going to get I just wasted my time.

I have been on the phone a lot the past few days trying to find out who dropped the ball on me going to Joplin for test. It looks like SPARKS urlogy in Ft Smith screwed up and I have wasted 3 months. I told them I was going to hand carry the paper work to them and then call Joplin to make sure that Sparks followed through. If you arare going to be sick, do it some where other than Ft. Smith. I try to go to Fayetteville when I have a choice, but that is too far to ride or drive when you dont feel well.

I managed to pick a bunch of veggies to send to poor family's in Ft. Smith. I always feel good to give to those who need a helping hand, you never know when the shue may be on the other foot.

Today's plan was to get rid of all the freeloaders (plants I've been watering all summer with little to no produce) then plant the new bed Only they must have found out because I swear tomatoes formed overnight half ripened. So instead I pulled the trombocino squash I had growing (only one squash on it so no big loss)that was covered in aphids, spider mites & squash bugs. Then pulled or pruned the tomato vines & beans that were out of control, planted some of my tomatoes & basil I had left, & drowned about 100 more june bug worms. Now I'm in for the day, to play with the puppy we're babysitting.

Larry, my blood pressure just spiked reading about your medical situation. Fit to be tied for you. AGGHHHH!! Thinking and praying for you. Other words just fail me.

We have a chance for rain over the next 3 days. I'd like to see it materialize on one of the days. All my Wyoming friends have been posting pictures of the hail that moved through their state yesterday, leaving a lot of damage in its wake. The hail seemed to be large, everywhere, ping pong ball sizes. Ouch. Feeling for them.

Aha. I see a couple of Monarchs have found their way to the flower beds. And now know the difference between the Viceroys and them. Love learning new stuff.

It's hotter than it's "supposed" to be here today. I didn't get out earlier to work, and now is not the time to be doing it. So.

Dale and Carrie, if you happen to check here, apparently I have you two to thank for my splendid little garden cart! Thanks for enlightening me, friends.

I'm really enjoying the Gamba peppers in the garden that are producing so well. Though not as large as the bell, fabulous taste. The red ones are slightly spicy, and nice and sweet, especially stir-fried. They also are very thick-walled. A winner.

Haha, Jen regarding your plans to yank the freeloaders. Yep, they must have intuited your intentions. Good for them. Isn't it about time for your visitor puppy to be going home?

I was thinking this morning that it has been hotter than actually reported, and then I read your post above, Dawn. I totally agree. Of course, I didn't realize until Megan first mentioned it, that the reported heat and indices were based on shade. Wow. So no WONDER we weren't getting out in the sun to do yard work!

Kim, GW has been flaky for me the past two days, as well. And where are you picking okra and cukes? Did you grow some in containers? As always, thinking of you.

Just in the short time I've been writing this post, the clouds dropped down, and we have the hint of rain, with lots of thunder; NOW it's not to hard to get out there, so maybe I will, and hope I get chased up to the deck because of rain.

Happy gardening, all.

It's a good 'un! Hahaha, it was just a small very localized storm. Totally missed Wagoner, but went right over us. Thank you! Exactly an inch in 30 minutes. WOW.

Nancy, the puppy (8 week) goes home tomorrow & the 100# lab Tues. We also have a husky that's been coming for daycare & he'll be back Mon. We've had a full house this week.

Jen, I bet is has been a crazy week with extra furbabies underfoot. I hope it was a fun one.

Nancy, Thanks for the photo of the rain. I've just about forgotten what rain looks like. We're hoping to get some on Sunday or Monday although the amount the 7-day QPF is forecasting for us keeps dropping, choking out hope of getting good rain with each update. Last night's/this morning's rain went both north and south of us (naturally) but we got a few drops.....8' rain....one raindrop every 8 feet. This so-called rain fell for a couple of hours (in theory, because we did have wind, thunder and lightning for the entire time) but the ground still looked dry when it was done, and the rain gauge had less than 1/100th of an inch in it...so we called it a "trace" of rain. It is probable rain fell from the clouds higher above but evaporated as it came through the drier air layer down near the ground because it looked like it was raining, but we literally were not feeling it or seeing it at the ground level. Virga. That's the story of our lives lately.

That is so terrible about the ping pong ball sized hail. Hail that size can do a lot of damage. The worst hail I've been in personally myself was baseball to softball sized, and experiencing that once in a lifetime was one time too many.

Larry, I'm sorry for all your troubles with the incompetent medical folks who have wasted three months of your time. I know that sort of thing is very frustrating.

Jennifer, I am doing my best to hang in there, thinking that if only rain...real rain, not evaporating rain, not rain that falls 3 miles north or 1/2 mile south, but actual real rain that falls on our land and wets everything down....if only.....if only it will fall in the next few days, than maybe I can keep watering and keep the blooms going for the birds, bees, butterflies, etc. We're still hitting 100 every day (105 Thursday at our house, 103 yesterday, 101 today) and not getting the rain, so the garden just roasts and roasts in this heat and dryness.

We were out at a fire again yesterday...a really bad one....a 6,000 s.f. barn with animals temporarily trapped by the flames. That big metal barn was like an oven and the firefighters suffered tremendously while fighting that fire. They are tough and never quit, but a person can only take so much heat. For the second day in a row, they already had a firefighter in the ambulance by the time we arrived on the scene with water, Gatorade and more....and we were not that slow to arrive either. The heat is just that bad. I had cooked fire food (still had some in the oven when the pagers went off) all morning long, and spent the whole afternoon at the fire, so never stepped foot in my garden yesterday. I finally went in there around 7:30 or 8:00 pm tonight just to water tomatoes in containers. That is all I could manage to do today. I couldn't go to today's fire (because, of course, there was one....but Tim went) because we have the 3 year old granddaughter this weekend. Instead of playing in the dirt, I've been playing with Play Dough and Softee Dough. I know you all are jealous.

Megan, If every weather guy in the state stood on their head and swore that August would be more mild....I still wouldn't believe it. Not for us. Being this far south, we rarely get the cool-downs that hit points further north, so I don't expect much relief. We usually go anywhere from 2 to 5 degrees higher than forecast anyway, so even if they forecast cooler weather, we do not necessarily see it happen. Tomorrow is supposed to be our last 100+ degree day for a week or so, and I hope they are right. Even the low 90s would feel good compared to what we've been having. They just don't seem to do a very good job forecast our high temperatures down here. We also get a lot of compressional heating as fronts pass or are approaching or whatever, and inevitably the compressional heating pushes us to higher temperatures than what was forecast. I didn't even known what compressional heating was when we moved here, but I sure do know what it is now.

Y'all know how much trouble I have with venomous snakes slithering out of the woods and into the garden to eat frogs and toads and whatever.....well, yesterday, at the fire, towards the end when the firefighters were doing overhaul, they brought out a charred crispy snake, burned and blackened so badly that you couldn't tell what sort of snake it had been, but it had the pointed head......so, I felt right at home with...the snake of the day. See there, I don't even have to step foot into the garden to see snakes.

We ate lunch early today at Caddo Street BBQ in Ardmore, which is a really new place. I think it opened for business on July 4th. It was amazing---the food all tasted home-made, and I do mean home-made, not like the restaurant version of home-made but like true grandma-cooked-it-in-the-kitchen home-made. They're only open from 10:30 a.m. until approximately 2:30 p.m. (closing earlier if the meat sells out early, but staying open later if they still have meat available) and we were there early to guarantee we would get fed before the place turned into a standing-room-only situation. So, if you're in line ordering your food at 10:30 a.m., I guess it is brunch more than breakfast or lunch. I would gladly eat our first meal of the day there each Saturday for the rest of our lives. It all was so good, and Saturday seems to be the one day that Tim, Chris, Jana and I all can get together. We met the owner who seems like a fine person (and he sure knows how to smoke meat) and Chris won a free t-shirt for being the first customer in line this morning (which surprised and thrilled him---he will wear that shirt with pride).

So, my weekend hasn't been about gardening at all, really, and I don't care. I need a break. Whether I want a break or not is a moot point---the daily fires (which I knew were coming at some point due to the drought) will ensure I pretty much stay out of the garden for a while, I guess. I do hope I can get back into some sort of gardening schedule on Monday and at least manage to harvest daily. I think that all that is really waiting to be harvested now is a few watermelons and some okra. Thankfully, I'm growing Stewart's Zeebest---and you can let it can really long and it doesn't get woody right away like some other okra varieties do.

I'll try to start the weekly thread on time in the morning because the three year old usually sleeps in late and that should give me some computer time.

I hope you all get whatever wonderful weather is in your forecast....rain, cooler temperatures....all of the above.

Dawn

Mine hasn't been MUCH about gardening either, Dawn. Picking peppers. Walked around the yard taking pictures of butterflies. That's not really gardening. BUT comes as a result of growing flowers, dill and fennel--lots of fennel! Okay. Turned THAT into gardening. Our raised beds are nearly empty except for the peppers, tansy, comfrey, horseradish and rosemary. And basils. And Baker's Family heirloom tomato.

I need to ask. . . we've just been throwing plants and lots of weeds (not seeded) into those raised beds, including corn stalks. Means we won't be planting in those beds, but will the corn stalks break down by next Feb, do you think? I'm rethinking. Maybe need to pull them out and put on compost pile?

Remind me never ever drive inn 100° + temps with no ac. That was the longest hottest drive ever. I kept rehearsing Georges fb post. I left Lubbock at 1 and got to Denton at 7. When I go back I will head out at 2am

Nancy I am working for farmer friend picking on Fridays. It gets my harvest fix. Glad GDW is feeling better

Hey y'all. I'm checking in with a prayer request. It's been a rocky couple weeks and a nightmare of a day. Please say a prayer for me, my mom, her friends Jacque (Jackie) and Jacque's family.

I'll tell you what and why but it's okay if you stop reading here and just lift us in prayer - or whatever you're inclined to do based on your beliefs. It's all pretty sad from here...

My mom has been staying with me for about a week. She and my dad, aka Crabby Daddy, were here 2 weeks ago for an overnight. My dad is verbally abusive but has been allowed to visit at my house because he's always behaved on my turf. Well, he didn't that night and I had to kick him out for the sake of fulfilling my promise to my daughter that our house was always a safe place. My mom decided to leave him and spent a week with her mother before coming back to my house. My mom's birthday is this weekend and a high school friend who has been in poor health due to inoperable cancer came to my house last night to visit my mom for a birthday visit. My mom and friend, Jacque, went to a matinee today and the friend got up to go to the bathroom. She'd been complaining about pain this morning and I guess needed to get up and move. She had a heart attack in the bathroom and was rushed by ambulance to the hospital. My mom kept waiting for her to come back and when she didn't, went looking for her. When my mom found out she'd been taken to the hospital she called me. By the time we got to the correct emergency room Jacque was gone. We're all of course in a state of shock. In some ways it was a good thing because I was the one to call and notify her brother and son. I don't think I could have if not for a state of shock. Sadly, I've been through several losses in my life so to some degree I know the lock/step that needs to follow.

AND because when it rains it pours.... Monday, I had horrible pain on my lower right side around my appendix. It improved over a couple days, but today had a CT scan to ensure it wasn't appendicitis. It wasn't but while my mom and I were saying our goodbyes to Jacque, my doctor called with the results. It's not life threatening, thank God, but according to my MIL (who is an RN) I probably need a full hysterectomy.

The silver lining... Jacque got to stay up late having fun, playing cards, laughing and having fun with an old friend for her last night on earth. I hope we're all so lucky to leave on such a happy note. And, whatever the heck it is going on with me can be fixed, minus a few parts I don't need anymore. I also consider myself very lucky to have a group of friends that I can not only share a passion with, but share this with. Blessings to you all.