It was terribly hot earlier today but has cooled off nicely, to only 89. Huh? In the shade with fans, 89 felt nice. I kept meaning to do this and finally did, Larry. I looked up brush hog. LOL. Had no idea exactly what you were doing when you were brush-hogging this or that.

Gardening? Not much. I DID plant some more four o'clocks and nasturtiums today. Probably too late, but hey, maybe we'll have a long pleasant fall. . . and I ordered more nasturtiums, snapdragons and shorter zinnias Have my order for garlic in. So while I don't plant to be doing any gardening, gonna have things on hand, at least. I'm going to organize my seed collection this week; that'll take a while.

I just whacked a bunch of four o'clocks back today, and have continued weeding. I have piles and piles of weeds and plants to throw into compost or beds. I have new nicotiana ready to sprout up and bloom, which is nice, since I'd cut so many to the ground last month. I decided I'm not crazy about the tall zinnias; since they're in less than full sun, they got too tall and flopped everywhere. So I'm ordering a bunch of short ones.

Snapdragons do beautifully here in the spring and fall,, so ordered several of those. AND I just got my coral honeysuckle order in from Almost Eden. Now THAT's a dangerous online site for me. Very dangerous. And see inviting emails from Territorial Seeds and Growers Exchange. Just hit the delete button and move on, N. Right.

I'm glad Moni's got some of your irises, Kim, and glad you do, too.

Still too many things to do today, like getting some supper fixed for us.

It’s been mostly in the 80’s here with an occasional 90 degree day. Today was 84. It has been quite humid however, and I’m ready for it to break. Looks like cooler weather on the way possibly next week. Typical Sept. weather when the heat tends to linger a bit during the first half. I do hope we won’t get a freak heat wave towards the end of the month like last year again. Many trees are really showing some color around here. It’s normal for the decorative trees in town to start changing at this time of year, but not the trees in the forest until at least the end of the month. It’s not been dry, and ground is well saturated at the moment. I believe it was the unseasonably cool autumn-like weather we experienced in August.

Squirrels are getting busy. I can tell when they start actively collecting nuts when they wake me up every morning at first light banging around on our roof. I have a dogwood tree right out my bedroom window (that puts on a beautiful display in spring), and I’ll see squirrels hanging off it with acorns in the fall. They are so loud on our roof.

Average first frost is only 5-6 weeks away at this point. I’m curious as to when it will come this year.

Not a lot in my garden at the moment. Picking tomatoes, cabbage heads forming, beets and carrots growing well, etc. I see some Brussel sprouts forming as well! It‘s all a gamble though, because fall shade is coming quickly and could greatly set back my fall garden. Hopefully that’ll be fixed if we get these trees on the southern tree line removed way late this autumn (and by the way Nancy, if you’re reading, we have yet to decide!!)

And I did get my digging fork. I wound up getting a Clarington Forge Bulldog long handled fork. 65” length, ash handle, solid one piece forged head. It arrived on Friday. It‘s very, very nice, and I think it’ll last me a long, long time. In fact, I’ve never ever held a tool as sturdy and well built as this before. I was debating on getting the shorter D shaped handle or the longer handle, but I followed Larry’s advice with the long handle, and I’m glad I did. It’s absolutely perfect for my 5’9” height. I can’t believe I’ve gone so long without getting a good fork. What a tool. It also feels very nice to hold a well built tool that I spent my own hard earned money for. I’ll link it below in case anybody is interested in it. I’m impressed with the company service as well. Very happy to help and/or answer question, and very nice.

https://www.claringtonforge.com/forks/long-handled-digging-fork

Nice fork. It makes a world of difference. That is one thing I will invest in when I get up and running. Quality tools are worth every penny. Really I have lots of old one piece forged heads of all different types I just need the quality handles.

I can't imagine needing a fork here. It'd go 3 inches down and then bam! LOL. And don't need one in the raised beds. Jacob, so you have rocky ground, too. Did you build your beds up and so that's why you need one now? Nevertheless, it is a very very handsome fork! :) We actually got a potato-digging fork, but find the hori hori now works better where they were growing in one of the raised beds.

Actually, nowadays, I don't use any tools, save for shovels, the hori hori. . . well and we have a nice collection of rakes to get all those leaves for mulching. And a nice pair of adjustable length croppers. And the chainsaw for branches and trees, the weed whipper/whipper snipper/weed trimmer/weed eater, and MY other best friend, the self-propelled mower with the electric ignition. And even if somehow once in a great while GDW forgets to charge it up, it starts SO easily with the cord. The $$ potato-digging fork just sits there now. Well, it's all trial and error.

I'm gearing up to begin painting this next month, and so am trying to ignore the temptation to plant anything. Thing about painting is that it always scares me. Gardening never scares me. I am nervous and scared about starting in, and am not even sure what I'll be doing yet. And yet, when I get into it, I become totally enveloped in it. Quilting, another love of mine. I'm not at all scared about it, but SHEESH, it is so much WORK. But again, like painting and gardening, when I start in, it totally envelops me.

Nancy, Your weather was so much better than ours. I was disappointed in the Sunday weather because (of course) it exceeded the forecast. Instead of a day with a high of 91 and a heat index of 98 as forecasted (ha ha ha, the forecasters never are right in the summer months) we hit 95 degrees with a heat index of 102. It did cool off pretty nicely around 7-8 pm, but by then darkness is falling so at our house it isn't like we're going to go out into the yard and hang out with the snakes and other nocturnal critters.

And, speaking of brush-hogging, somebody who was out brush-hogging their pasture north of Marietta set the pasture on fire (easy to do with dry grass--just hit a rock or a metal fence pole, set off a spark and there you go.....your field is on fire....) yesterday afternoon, and structures were in danger due to their proximity to the burning field, to I think it took 8 fire departments to put out that few acres before it could turn into a big fire. Even though we had greened up a lot after the rainfall 3 weeks ago, there's been no rain since and that green grass is now green-turning-brown and dry, providing fuel for fires. Tim had to leave to go to the fire, so I just took over painting the spare bedroom that we're moving the weight machine and treadmill into today. This room has been a lovely shade of lavender ever since Chris was married to Erica and we turned it into Madison's room about 10 years ago. Now it is just a boring white room. I'll find a way to sneak more color into it.

Snapdragons will bloom most all winter and spring here if the weather is halfway agreeable. I don't know if they'll do that for you further north.

When we went to the grocery store yesterday, I noticed the Wal-mart garden center had filled up with fall flowers, including mums already in bloom. To me, buying mums in bloom is almost a waste unless you have company coming over in the next day or two and want a blooming pot of flowers near the front door or something. You buy them in full bloom, bring them home, and enjoy them for a couple of weeks and then they're done (sometimes they are done even sooner depending on how long they had been in bloom before you bought them). The mums weren't even the oddest thing---they had pansies. Pansies sitting on shelves on hot concrete wilting and looking sad in 95-degree heat. It just isn't pansy weather down here yet even if the stores think it is.

I didn't even mention that the four o'clocks are blooming when I listed blooming flowers yesterday. This is largely because they are mostly just outside the garden fence and I just don't think about them. Mine are in morning sun-afternoon shade and get too tall and flop over, so I cut them back pretty often and they do provide tons of fodder for the compost pile.

When I was outside in the early evening hours yesterday, I noticed that pretty much all my tall zinnias looked dead/dying. I don't think they can hang on for the rain, even if it comes today. They just looked done, done, done. Wilted, brown and 99% dead. The drought has been hard on them, especially since I stopped watering them. The shorter zinnias have tolerated the drought better, but a lot of them are done too.

I did notice the pineapple sage is blooming. The plants aren't as big and tall as in some previous years when we had more rainfall, but it light of the heat and drought they've had to deal with all summer, that's not surprising.

Jacob, Your weather sounds nice. I'm hoping to have some days with highs in the 80s instead of the 90s this week, but the NWS already is stepping back from our cooler forecast and pushing some highs in the 90s as of last night where they had been showing highs in the 80s, so I think we're going to stay hot unless a big thunderstorm parks itself over us and brings us rain and cooler air.

I wish our trees were changing color. I love, love, love autumn and it often is so late to arrive here that we barely have any real autumn weather at all. For us, that freaky hot weather through the end of September that you experienced last year is pretty standard here, although our first year here it cooled off really early in September and we had our first hard freeze around Sept. 29 or 30. That was 20 years ago, and I don't know if we've had a September freeze since then though.

I can't believe your first freeze is only 5-6 weeks away. I hope all your fall crops have a chance to produce a great harvest before the cold arrives.

Your Clarington Forge fork looks awesome. I hope it serves you well.

I agree with Kim that quality tools are a worthy investment. It took me a while to convince Tim of that in our early years here when the dense, red clay and a stubborn man broke too many tools over and over and over. We could have bought great, high-quality tools that first couple of years with all the money he spent breaking cheaper tools. We only buy high-quality tools now and haven't broken one in years and years. Of course, the soil we work is much improved now compared to then, so that's part of the reason the tools survive. Twenty years of amending soil leaves you with soil that is so much better than you ever dreamed of having. With the relatively loose, fluffy soil in the raised beds nowadays, the main tool I use since going no-till in those raised beds is just the hand-trowel I use to plant. Of course, the grade-level areas I plant still have to be worked with larger tools.....using a trowel on those areas would take forever.

Nancy, I don't blame you for not planting anything else. If you're gearing up to paint, you might as well focus on that. Hmmm, I wonder if Tiny is racking his brain thinking of ways to 'help' you paint. I used to do a lot of cross-stitching and other crafts until the cats made doing such things completely impossible.

There's not much new here. The rain totals and rain chances are going up quite a bit, so that offers a lot of hope for everyone in the state.

Our Keetch Byrum Drought Index number is back almost to what it was before the rain 3 weeks ago, so we need for rain to fall this week and knock it back down a hundred points or more (the more, the better). Our soil moisture remains at a measly 0.05 this morning, and since I'm not watering the garden, that pretty much explains the dead zinnias.

The deer are getting really hungry. We've been feeding a couple of does with twin fawns most of the summer, so at most six deer at a time. Last night, when I went out to put out the deer corn, there was a herd of 10 or 11 waiting. One of them had a tiny fawn that is only a couple of weeks old. I love seeing the babies and always talk to the mamas. My standard greeting is "Hey, Mama". They jump the fence and go stand in the neighbor's pasture, watching me put out the corn. As soon as I head back to the house, they fly over that fence and devour the corn. The bucks generally don't come with the herd. They wait until the does and fawns are done eating and then come alone after dark to see if there is anything left for them. Usually when dove season starts, the deer disappear. I assume the sounds of gunshots frighten them and they lie low accordingly. This weekend, they have come as usual, but then I haven't heard many dove hunters out either. Perhaps the drought down here has left poor conditions for doves (though I do see some native sunflowers in bloom) and perhaps the hunters are going to other parts of the state where there's been more rain.

There is a tropical disturbance off the coast between Florida and Cuba that is headed for the Gulf Coast. Right now it is PTC (Potential Tropical Cyclone) 7, but if it reaches the proper strength, it will be Tropical Storm Gordon. Its outer bands are raining on parts of Florida today, but it is expected to continue further west and hit the Gulf Coast, perhaps as early as tomorrow. How does this effect us? Some potential tracks show its moisture plume sending rain our way once it has made landfall---not in a huge way like Erin did all those years ago, but just some nice moisture in the atmosphere to add to what already is in the forecast. We'll take autumn rain and drought relief any way that we can get it. Since this storm formed so close to land, it is expected to be mostly a rain maker and not have a lot of really strong winds. I hate wishing for a tropical storm/hurricane in Aug/Sept to bring us drought relief and heat relief because I'm always conscious of the fact that these storms do a lot of damage elsewhere before we benefit from their leftover rain. However, with this storm since it formed so close to land, there's a lot lower chance of it being a very damaging storm other than heavy rain and maybe some small storm surge wherever it comes ashore, so I'm rooting for it to come on and head west and northwest and bring us rain.

Have a good Labor Day everyone. It is a working holiday here at our house as we work to transform the two spare bedrooms this weekend. We have hauled a ton of junk out of both of them (I don't know where it all comes from, but I think it multiplies while in those closets....). I bag up stuff to purge and put it in the pickup to be hauled to the dump. Tim merely carries stuff from the house to the garage to hang on to it "in case". So, then I have to go into the garage and bag it up and put it in the truck.......that is the never-ending battle when you're married to a pack rat. He did do a better job of purging stuff yesterday, perhaps because his garage is getting so full that he cannot put much more in it. I'd see him carrying something out and say "trash", and he'd say "trash?" in that "really?" tone of voice. It is a never-ending battle. When we moved here in 1999, I discovered he still was dragging around some high school clothing from the mid- and late 1970s. I about had a fit over that stuff---he hadn't worn it since the 1970s so why was he stuffing it into the closet in the spare bedroom? It is long gone now. I just am not one to hang on to junk for the sake of hanging on to it. By contrast/comparison, my garden tool shed is very minimalist and everything in it is being used---not being held on to just in case. I want to be able to find what I want when I need it, and in my shed I can do that. When I need to find something in Tim's junk pit of a garage, I have to call him or text him at work and ask him where it is---he always knows where he has stuff stashed away, but there's just so much of it that the rest of us never can find anything we're looking for. This drives me crazy.

Dawn

One last puppy, he'll go home in the morning, and our boys can get their house back. They enjoy all the extra dogs to play with, but aren't as thrilled for them to stay forever (in a dog's mind, 5 minutes is forever, right?).

Got the backyard mowed Thursday. So just the front needs it right now. And with rain forecasted all week, they'll both need it before the weekend again. Then I did some cleanup around the beds. I've been trying to keep the tomatoes trimmed on our fence we share with the neighbor, so I brought in about a gallon of sungold & snow white tomatoes. Most are still green, so they'll sit on the counter for a few days to ripen. Then with all the rain, I'll have to harvest a bunch more before they start splitting. I think I'll do up a bunch of dried tomatoes to save for winter. Figures, all summer I got a handful a day & now I get a bumper crop.

Crazy, your Sungold experience, Jen! Wow. I yanked mine out a month ago, after having more than enough Sungolds. I made the baby-poop-colored sauce Dawn has mentioned, and when I add them to a marinara sauce with red tomatoes, makes a delicious sauce with a great sweet tang.

I'm too lazy to look up your butterfly, Rebecca, but ask Lisa on FB or in the butterfly forum. :)

The differences in all our micro climates continues to amaze me, Jen harvesting Sungolds, Jacob preparing for the first freeze, our cool and breezy 78 degrees this morning vs your weather, for example, Dawn. It will be noticeably cooler here this week, looks like, in the 80s. And I guess we may get rain at some point.

We were lazing around yesterday morning, and finally I said to GDW, since it was Labor Day and I didn't really feel like working, "Let's go fishing!" He'd never turn down that invitation. I don't think we've been fishing once in the past 4-5 times without an adventure/misadventure. Yesterday's ended with me snagging a big spoonbill (45-60 lbs), nearly getting it into the boat, when at the last minute the spoonbill got free as GDW was trying to get the rope around its tail and the catfish hook ending up embedded in GDW's arm, and our trip to the Broken Arrow ER for removal. Couple of the ER folks remembered us. Hahaha. Said this is beginning to be a monthly occurrence for us. What a weird, funny day! Even with the hook. Once it was in there, it wasn't that painful for GDW as long as he didn't brush the hook accidentally. So we went to dinner afterward before returning home. Getting that fish up to the boat took more energy than I care to expend! The muscles in my upper arms feels it today. Bet I wouldn't be much good at deep sea fishing for swordfish! I'm not even sure I any longer yearn to catch a 20 lb catfish! This 45-60 lb spoonbill was lassoed and hooked with a lightweight pole, 10-12 lb test line, and a catfish hook! Wow. We had no idea it was a spoonbill until I got it to the surface next to the boat. FUN FUN FUN.

Happy anniversary, Dawn. Loved your sharing of it.

I have a gut feeling fall will be coming a little early this year. We're seeing a few leaves down. I don't think our oaks are stressed, could be wrong. They all LOOK great, and we HAVE had okay moisture the past month.

Dawn, don't think Tiny complications involving painting haven't occurred to me! Won't be able to leave any paints loose on the table, or mineral spirits or other liquids. Not quite sure yet how it'll be done. . . . :) he's not as bad as Tom and Jerry were about tearing around, but it's a given he'd be investigating. And one way he's considerably better than Tom and Jerry were, is that he's surprisingly gentle about keeping his claws in, except when engaged in extreme wrestling with my arm--THEN he can get a little fierce. So I don't engage in that very often.

No blooming pineapple sage here yet, no morning glories yet. (My nearby friends are waiting on MGs, too.) But the few purple ones I let survive near the deck steps survived the bugs and are blooming prettily now, and of course have been for quite some time. And I sure have been enjoying the moonflower vines. Love em.

I believe I'll spend some quality time today working in the back "Bermuda" bed. I'm about half-way done. . . . could have been done but it was pretty hot last week. This week will be much better for it.

I saw your FB post about Ryder telling you that you were a lot prettier than a sweet (what was it, Corvette?), Kim. What a GREAT little guy to have in your life!!!

I hope you all had a good weekend!

I had rain last night. YIPPEE! 1.2 inches. It is still raining lightly on and off, and I should be able to pull weeds much easier now. :)

Moni

Rebecca, It is hard to tell through a window screen. The butterfly possibly is a buckeye.

Jen, Yep, I'd say to a dog 5 minutes is forever, unless you're throwing a ball for them to chase and retrieve, in which case 5 minutes is a tiny blip of time and they want for the game to continue on and on for many more minutes.

We got rain yesterday, so maybe we'll have to mow next week. We'll see how long it takes the grass to green up and grow again.

Summer's weather was flakey and that must have affected your tomato production. Oh well, better to get them in autumn than to not get them at all. I'd say maybe next year will be better, but I'm starting to think our gardening years just keep getting stranger and stranger, and not in a good way.

Nancy, We got rain--1.4 or 1.45" and it is a bit cooler---only 86 degrees as I'm typing this. So, both the moisture and the cooler weather are appreciated, but it will take a ton more of rain before we can heal from the drought. As for cooler weather? If we stay in the 80s, that will be awesome and would make it a great September but I'm not sure we'll stay that cool. Maybe we will if the rainy pattern continues. It is not quite hot cocoa and pumpkin spice time, but at least we aren't in the 90s now with heat indices in the 100s, so any improvement is good.

Of course, it rained and no one here can drive on wet roads, so our VFD and others got paged out to several motor vehicle accidents last night and this morning. It astonishes me how many wrecks there are even when it is just light rain falling.

I hope Garry recovers quickly from the spoonbill hook incident. There is nothing worse than trying to get a hook out of someone's skin. In the early 1980s one of our cats came home with a fish hook/fishing line stuck in her mouth. I had to hold her while Tim gently worked the hook out of her.....it was not easy for either of us. I'd compare trying to 'manage' a cat in those conditions to wrestling an elephant, but we got the hook out, and we all survived.

Thanks for the anniversary wishes. Honestly, the hardest part of realizing you've been married 35 years is that it makes you realize you're old enough to have been married 35 years. lol. I guess we still think that we are younger than we actually are.

I wouldn't really mind if fall comes early this year. It doesn't happen very often and I'm sure ready for a real, lasting change in the weather pattern. Now that the weather is cooler and overcast, I opened up all the blinds and curtains and let all the natural light flood into the house yesterday and today. It is so nice to have a view again instead of trying to block all the sunlight from getting indoors and heating up the house. One thing I noticed from the upstairs windows when I did that was that all the bur oaks have massive crops of acorns. Often when we see a huge mast crop like that, the winter is long and cold. So, I'm pondering the large acorn crop and wondering if that is what sort of winter we should expect. I need to check the other kinds of oaks that produce smaller acorns not so easily seen from the windows and see if they have large acorn crops as well.

Moni, Hooray for the rain. I'm sure you needed it. Have fun weeding. I'd rather weed in rain-softened soil any day of the week than in dry, hard soil.

It has been overcast here for virtually all day, y'all, but the rain today is training over the same areas over and over to our west today. I'm sure they need the rain and are happy to have it.

When I first stepped outdoors this morning, I didn't think we had received that much rain because the usual giant puddles weren't all over the place, so it kind of surprised me that the rain gauge showed such a good amount of rain. Then I realized it was likely the really dry ground just slurped up all that moisture and left very few puddles on the surface of the ground. We have a chance of rain, ranging from 20-50% every day and night for the next 7 days and nights. I'm not sure how much more rain we'll get. These showers this week seem spotty and patchy, which is great if you're in their path and get the rain, and not so great if they keep missing you. It is okay though if no more rain falls. I like getting enough rain to soak the ground, help the plants and knock back the drought conditions without getting so much rain that we have flooding. If no more rain falls, we won't be flooded and that will be good too. I know that there are areas all the way from south Texas to parts of Kansas, including some parts of OK, where storms have repeatedly trained over the same areas, dropping lots of moisture and causing flash flooding. I'm glad we escaped that here even if it means we got less rain.

The moisture plume from Tropical Storm Gordon seems like it will stay largely east of most of OK, so is more likely to bring abundant moisture to Arkansas and Missouri (and maybe Illinois?) later in the week, and not to us. Just since yesterday, I can see our local TV mets backing off on how much rain we may get at the end of the week. I'm not going to complain or whine about it. I'm just grateful we got some rain this week. More would be great but, there again, lots of areas need the rain and it is great if it is more spread out.

Yesterday we got the heavy weight machine and treadmill moved from the larger spare bedroom to the smaller one. Just moving them counted as a workout! We had to partially disassemble both of them and move them in pieces, but they were easy to put back together. I don't especially like having that small bedroom crowded so much with those two machines plus one small bed and bookcase, but it was necessary to free up the other room. In the larger bedroom, we then spent the rest of the day assembling the girls' IKEA beds they had chosen and we finally finished that right around dinner time. It was a long weekend, but the granddaughters now have their own room with their own beds and bedding they picked out themselves. They are so excited. Both of them came home from their weekends with their dads last evening and wanted to come right down here last night and see their new furniture in place, so Chris and Jana brought them down around 8 pm. They love their room, but the little one burst into tears when she found out she was only here to visit and not to spend the night. We promised her that she could come back this weekend and stay overnight. I usually set up my light shelf in this room and raise tomato and other seedlings in it in the winter months, but I guess this winter that I'll set up the light shelf someplace else---probably in the bay window in our master bedroom. I just don't think it is a good idea to try to raise seedlings in a room where a 4 year old will be playing.....

The garden looked pretty good this morning after all that rain yesterday and overnight. Or, at least, the plants that weren't already brown and crispy look pretty good. The brown, crispy ones still look dead, as expected. The pineapple sage that had a few blooms over the last few days now is breaking out into heavy bloom. I'm wondering if pineapple sage is photoperiodic because it always blooms late (though not always as late as it is this year). I hope to get out and pull some weeds tomorrow if the garden doesn't seem snakey. Of course, I never find a snake when I'm checking the garden for them before I start weeding. I only find them after I'm weeding. Then, they startle me and scare the fool out of me and the weeding ends. We'll see how far I get tomorrow. It really hasn't been too bad, in terms of venomous snakes, the last couple of months. They actually were much worse in Spring and early Summer this year, which is completely the opposite of most years. I'm thinking they were out early because March was extra hot and so was May. That was when I was having the most scary encounters with the snakes. Since, then, there haven't been too many. So, while I understand why they were out early, I don't really know why they haven't been out in large numbers during the second half of the summer. I'm not complaining---just trying to figure it out. Maybe after they ate all the garden's toads, frogs and lizards, they stopped coming back because there wasn't anything tasty to attract them. We certainly had enough grasshoppers for them, but perhaps they don't like grasshoppers, or maybe they weren't coming to the garden to eat them because there were gazillions of grasshoppers everywhere.

There's still lots of hummingbirds, butterflies and bees in the garden, which makes me happy. As their population gradually falls in autumn, you begin to realize that winter really is coming. There's also tons and tons of doves. Someone told me they are gathering to migrate, but I don't understand that----we have doves here all winter long. Maybe some of them migrate and others overwinter. I'll have to try to figure that out. There's still lots of cardinals (they overwinter too) and lots of other songbirds too, including the devilish blue jays, who love to torment the cats by divebombing them.

I religiously pulled out every morning glory plant that sprouted all spring and summer until about a month ago because I am so tired of them overrunning all the plants in the garden. So, once I stopped pulling them out, in spite of the drought, about a billion of them sprouted and started climbing everything. I cannot believe how many there are now. Some of them started blooming when only a foot or two tall. So, part of weeding tomorrow will involve removing a great many of them. I'll leave the ones that are climbing the fence, but the others that are climbing the plants aren't going to be allowed to stay. One thing about morning glories---once you have them, they reseed and then you'll have them forever. Nancy, I'm not sure why the MGs in your region are so late this year--maybe the rain you've had up there has kept them growing vegetatively. The ones here tried to bloom almost as soon as they sprouted in August---I think the drought caused that---with tough conditions, they will try to bloom early in order to fulfill their ultimate destiny/biological imperative of producing seeds to perpetuate their species. Of course, it is not necessary as our soil probably has enough morning glory seeds in it to last the next 50 years.

Dawn

We got rain too Moni. It was so nice to wake up to.

I picked peas in a new place today. I will do this side job as long as possible .

Nancy I could not believe little man said that. He is a keeper.

We also got rain today, a couple different times. I think it came to half an inch, maybe just a tad more. And so in a burst of optimism, I dashed out right afterward and plunked in a bunch of cilantro, dill, mustard, spinach.

Have fun with the pea-picking, Kim, but don't overwork yourself!

We have even more hummingbirds now, and the families we have had are growing up. They all look so big (well, big for hummingbirds) now. GDW is filling 2 feeders daily now. They're sucking it down so fast. I tried to count them a couple different times today. I gave up. Between 15-25. Or so. LOL. Hard to do because there are lots out in the beds, too.

And in the past week we had lots more swallowtail cats. The fennel had spread so much, that even after their appearance for the second time this summer, there is still fennel left--and the smells out there in that bed! Mmmm, the basil, fennel, lemon balm. . . delicious.

The MG is very late, yep, Dawn. But Scott down the street is still waiting on his, too. And you know, it has just been the STRANGEST year for stuff blooming or growing that I'm not even wondering when they'll show up. Or heck, maybe they won't! Nah, they will. But I was commenting to GDW that what the heck did the smoke bush think IT was doing, blooming now. And the hydrangeas out front are putting out a new round of blooms. And a couple of the tithonia that survived high winds maybe 3 (2?) weeks ago, are now FINALLY blooming. I give up. Whatever decides to bloom is fine, whenever it decides to.

We have a few doves now, too, Dawn. Garry surmised that it must be dove-hunting season. ? I'm sure I wouldn't know.

I'm so thrilled you have the little granddaughters to fuss over and for them to love you. Incredibly touching that the little one burst into tears. I just love it. Melted my heart. And glad it rained for you. And you, Moni, and I hope the rest of you get some rain this week!

GDW is good as new--no biggie after he got numbed up. But yeah, his skin was like leather! TOUGH going for that paramedic getting the hook punched back up through the skin. (But GDW wasn't feeling it, just the pressure.) His two puncture marks are the only evidence supporting our fish tale. Bummed about that. LOL

We have to take Tiny Dude to the doc tomorrow. Both GDW and I are surprisingly concerned for him and will be glad to retrieve him when it's over. He's growing pretty fast now, and beginning to get a little less tiny and plumpish and stretching out a bit. He weighs nearly 5 lbs now. Up from 1.3 when he first go here 2nd week in July.

Kim, I wonder how long the pea harvest will last there. My southern peas usually slow production quite a bit as we get deeper into September, although that likely also is related to when they were planted and how much they've already produced by the time September arrives.

Your little man is the sweetest boy and always says such cute things. It is fun watching him grow up---he is such a big boy now compared to when we first met him. The years are just flying right by.

Nancy, I'm glad the rain found you.

Those hummingbirds are gearing up for migration. I just love the huge autumn numbers, although of course they are just Spring numbers in reverse....and, as the birds head south, we're faced with the reality that we won't be seeing hummingbirds again until late March or early April after they leave us this month. As we get near the end of September and the numbers of hummingbirds dwindle down to one or two a day instead of the larger numbers we've been seeing in September, I become acutely aware that each hummingbird I see on any given day in late September might be the last one of the year. Then, one day, I realize that several days have passed without seeing one. Still, I usually leave the feeders up into October in case any late migrants are coming through.

So many plants have been out of sequence this year. It is so peculiar. Maybe next year will be more normal.

I hope that Tiny Dude's surgery goes well today. I'm sure he'll be back to normal in no time at all. I'm always amazed at how quickly cats recover from surgery---you can't keep a cat down long, even if they are supposed to be taking it easy and recovering.

Our 13 & 1/2 year old dog, Jet, who is in the end stages of chronic kidney disease, had a seizure this morning. As far as I know, this is the first seizure he's had. We went through a lot of seizures with his mother at the end of her life (brain tumor), so I knew what the seizure was the minute it happened. While seizures are one of the symptoms of CKD, he has not been having them as far as I know---unless they have happened when we aren't around. About 7 or 8 months ago the vet estimated that even with medication and a prescription diet, Jet probably only had about 7 months left to live. So, I've just tried to love him and take care of him and cherish each day with him, knowing that the end is coming soon. The seizure did startle me, so I dropped my plans to go out and weed the garden and am just sitting here beside him watching him sleep, hoping today isn't his final day. As much as I've tried to prepare for the end of his life, it isn't easy. It is sort of like when you know the first hard freeze is going to hit and kill your garden, but you irrationally hope that somehow the freeze misses the garden even though the forecast tells you that it will not. It isn't that I expect him to live too much longer---it is just that I am not ready for today to be that final day.

Dawn

Dawn, I worried about little Tiny Dude all day, with his shots and surgeries. I was amazed at that. Even though I loved Kitty and Daff and Tom and Jerry and other strays I tried to keep, I never worried like I did today. And when we were coming back after retrieving him from the vet at 4:30 today, I was thinking of you sitting with Jet, comforting him and loving him, as I did Daffy, and Kitty before her (and other dear ones before them.) I do hope he passes quickly and sweetly, and doesn't have a lot of painful seizures first.

You of course know the drill, and I do, too. It's always heart-wrenching, and our precious family, and animal family will always be with us. The good-byes are painful, but we go on and invite more into our lives to love. Blessings to Jet and you.

Tiny Dude thinks his surgeries went splendidly. He was the naughtiest he's ever been this evening. He was on a holy tear. They released him by our assuring them that he'd have a peaceful quiet place to rest. HAH! Well he had it, but did he take advantage? OH HECK NO. He was on the rampage. Bouncing back and forth from GDW to me, smacking Titan, attacking Tom and Jerry. I had to put those two out for the whole evening, because if the little one attacks them, of course they're going to wrestle him down. Dragging polar fleece beds here and there I'd put down for them, all over the art room. . . I told GDW I think he's having an adverse drug reaction. And then for the first time since he came to live with us, he attacked and chomped down hard on my wrist. It HURT. And so I smacked him hard on his little head and sternly and loudly admonished him, whereupon he immediately curled up in submission and as much as said, "Yeah, okay, I crossed the line." Even though we weren't supposed to feed him much (because of the drugs maybe causing vomiting), I thought, this little guy is HUNGRY. So gave him a decent meal an hour ago and he's fine. Yeah, so much for doctors always covering their _______.

I had Tiny Dude on my all day yesterday mind too. I'm glad he is doing so well. It doesn't seem like it took him very long to recover. I agree that the aggression might have been an adverse drug reaction. It probably won't happen again, especially since you established that he had crossed a line he shouldn't cross. He might have been so incredibly playful because he was so happy and so relieved to be back home. I know that whenever we bring home a cat from the vet, they always act relieved, as if they had wondered if we were going to come back and get them.

Jet was fine the rest of yesterday and is fine today. Still, I know we're nearing the end. There's just subtle changes in his behavior---sleeping more, breathing is getting slightly more labored, etc. His ability to sleep at night is lessening---he is more restless. It isn't that he needs to go outside to pee more, just that he can't seem to sleep as well. He is starting to prefer sleeping downstairs on the sofa or floor instead of coming upstairs at night with us and sleeping on his dog bed beside our bed. He still wants to go upstairs at night and waits by the staircase for me to pick up his dog bed and carry it upstairs, but then after he's up there an hour or two, he wakes us up to bring him back downstairs.

It has been a stressful couple of weeks. My mom has been in and out of hospitals and rehab centers for several weeks now and is back in the hospital again. My little sister has been hospitalized with bacterial meningitis and finally moved to a rehab center yesterday for at least a week's stay as she remains on 24/7 antibiotics via a PIC line. All she really wants is just to get out there and get back to living her life. My niece's husband was diagnosed about three weeks ago with an advanced case of cancer that likely is not survivable because it already has spread to his pancreas. He needs a miracle. You know, all the above makes me ever so grateful for my immediate family's general good health and appreciative of every good day we have because none of us is guaranteed good health nor are we guaranteed one more day on this earth. I know that we all know that, but we tend to go blithely about the business of day-to-day life without thinking too much about all the blessings we take for granted.

The garden is growing wildly since the rain fell, but I'm trying to stay out of it since rain and cooler weather bring out the venomous snakes. I feel like I've already had enough encounters with venomous snakes this year and don't need any more. I think we'll need to mow the lawn by about Sunday or Monday unless somehow more rain falls between now and then and keeps us too wet. Many parts of our county have had more rain since Monday, but it all keeps missing us---so parts of our county had Flood Advisories yesterday for anywhere from 1" to 3" of rain that fell in a short period of time. During that same period of time, we got 0.05", so there was no danger of flooding here. It is frustrating to watch rain pass west of us, east of us and north of us and yet keep missing us---the same pattern we've had for most of this year. It does amaze me how a pattern like that can continue for months and months. Our drought status remains unchanged. The cooler weather is really nice though, and there's tons of doves and deer out enjoying the milder conditions. I haven't seen many wild turkeys lately, but I'm sure they're around. I'm not seeing quite as many squirrels trying to steal hen scratch from the chickens or cracked corn from the doves and deer, so maybe they're getting busy saving nuts. We had tons of bunnies earlier in the summer, but the coyotes likely have gotten most of them. Instead of seeing 4 or 6 or 8 or more bunnies outside when I walk outdoors every morning, I either see 1 or none. That's pretty typical here, but I still hate it.

Mud? We've got lots of mud, but most of the cracks in the ground haven't completely closed up. We need more rain.

Dawn, entirely too much of a burden for your Mom, sister, niece and husband, and your entire family,. You are so right; and we should be more mindful of each day's blessings. I'm so sorry all this is going on for them and for you.

The rain has missed us, too, except for the half inch on Tuesday. It's been kind of spitting rain here for the past hour. I had to laugh at the cloud patterns over the state today. . . could hit any of us but will probably miss as many as it gets. Says 80% chance tomorrow, and I'm going to guess we'll get some. But I'm watering anyway, since I've got seeds planted out in a few of the beds. I know I said I wasn't going to do any fall planting, but I guess I meant fall plantings that entailed work. Flowers in; if it's too late for them, it is, but thought I'd give it a try. I pulled the few weeds in the vegetable beds, picked several peppers. I sure like those Ashe County pimentos once they've turned red.

Mostly, I've behaved myself today, vacuuming, cleaning floors, doing laundry, cleaning the fridge. That doesn't happen as often as it should. Garry worked on the boat and lots of other minor tasks. A good productive day--enough so that we'll be back out fishing tomorrow or the next day. I'd planned to weed in the Bermuda bed today but then got side-tracked with the fridge.

Dawn, I can relate to the things you are going through. I have had a heart breaking 4 years, but I can see blessings in every phase of my life. I would be afraid to change any of it, even if I could. You and your family are in my prayers.

I am working on my wildlife area today, trying to get some seeds in the ground before the rain tonight. If no rain, atleast I will have seeds in ground in case it rains someday. We have a lot of moisture and everything should come up even if the rain misses us.

My new laptop is ”out for delivery” according to a text I received this morning. However, I’m home now and it’s not here. I can’t remember houzz passwords so it will be tricky logging back in. Luckily my phone has saved it. My work computer went through a server upgrade so all passwords and saved items are lost.

Anyway, Hoping for a late delivery today. Ready to catch up here and don’t enjoy using the phone to do that.

So much rain.

Got a couple nice inches of rain here the past few days.

I missed a LOT. So glad to catch up finally.

Dawn, Happy Anniversary. And I'm so sorry about your family's health issues. How stressful.

Nancy, glad Tiny is doing well and made it through the surgery.

My computer did not come in. I've been trying to clean up an old laptop during the last few days--going through pictures and all. Just happened to come to Houzz and I'm signed in here! Yay!

My garden is okay. The Armenian cucumbers are still going crazy. They have disease or insect damage, but seem to outgrow it. There's lot of baby dill plants coming up in that bed too.

This laptop is hard to type on because it's missing a couple of keys. That was Kane's doing back when he was a pup. Speaking of Kane, he's back to his old self. He still has a small spot that isn't completely healed, but it should be cleared up in a few days.

Okay...here's the thing with him. When we found him hurt about 5 weeks ago, there were two decent size raised "spots" on him. They weren't bloody, but looked raw. And he was dazed. Then over the next couple of days, the bruises on his back appeared. He is blonde, so they were obvious. I was very careful handling him because of his soreness from the bruises. He continued to have an okay appetite, drank, and pee'd/poo'd...so it seemed to me that there probably wasn't any internal damage. We choose not to take him to he vet. Then...a few days after that, sore spots showed up--small at first and then...gross weirdness that I don't know how to describe. Finally, his skin and fur came off and raw wounds underneath. At that point I was too ashamed to take him in because...I don't know. So, I decided to treat him myself, which is one of the hardest things I've ever done because it was so disturbing. We gave him CBD oil. I made up a mixture of fractionated coconut oil, rosewood EO (for skin irritation), tea tree (for infection), and lavender (all around soothing, safe oil). And also applied aloe vera. This blend has healed him amazing well. His entire back was damaged and it's down to one small 3 inch spot. I realize, I got lucky and most of the time, an animal should be treated by a vet. I don't do well with wounds and such, so this was a good lesson for me. Also, he may not be entirely blonde any longer. His new fur is a light reddish brown.

Oh, back to the garden. I did something I've never done before. I used Sevins. I bought it years ago but after reading about it, never used it. I was so angry about the squash bugs on my melons, that I found the Sevins and poured it around the base of the plant where they seemed to be hanging out. I probably will not ever do that again. It's been a very difficult last few weeks for several reasons...and I just cracked.

My tomatoes look awful, but are still producing well. Peppers are doing great. Southern peas too. Okra, yes. Nothing new really.

I have a lot more to say about future plans. (I'm already planning for next year. Going to keep in small.) But, the missing "T" on this laptop is bugging me now. lol.

My foot continues to heal. So happy it's not a fracture.

Not sure how much rain we got. My free rain gauge overflowed. Also, we attached a rain barrel to our gutter. Didn't realize how quickly a rain barrel fills. It overflowed the first night of rain.

Okay. That's all for now.

Jennifer, Poor Kane. It makes you wonder what in the world really caused his injuries. I am glad he is doing better and getting back to normal. I wonder if they couldn't deliver your new computer because of all the rain? Sometimes we get the "out for delivery" message but then the package doesn't come until the next day after we received that message.

Everyone reaches that point in their garden sometimes. I understand it--it happens. I just hope the Sevin killed the squash bugs so you won't have any left alive to overwinter and start giving you trouble early next season. I do hate squash bugs and feel like they are one of the most destructive and most persistent pests we deal with here in this state. Be sure to watch your holiday pumpkins later in the season if you put any out on the porch or in the yard for display. Sometimes late-season squash bugs will find them and feed on them, ruining their beauty and enabling the little bugs to live longer and perhaps even reproduce one more generation.

Yes, rain barrels can fill up incredibly quickly. I'd like to do it the way our neighbors have (they have, um, virtually unlimited financial resources though, and we do not). They have a huge horse barn/indoor arena. I'm going to guess it is at least 300 feet long and probably at least 200 feet wide. They had a company put in a rainwater collection system to catch the water coming off the roof of that building---I think their tank, which is huge, holds either 20,000 or 25,000 gallons. Can you imagine? It is just so awesome. This allows them to save that rainfall runoff and use it to feed their cattle, or irrigate or whatever. I believe there is a filtering system to clean the water as well.

I'm glad your foot continues to heal. Tim missed a step one day when coming down the staircase so landed really hard on his foot on the next step. This was 2 or 3 years ago. It was pretty bad. At first the doctor thought it might be broken, but it was 'only' a really bad sprain. It took several weeks for it to heal, and it was hard on him to try to sit still and take it easy and let it heal (in fact, he did a poor job of staying off of it.....).

Rebecca, Hooray for the rain! I hope it was just the right amount---not too much and not too little.

Larry, Thank you. Y'all have been through so much more the last few years than I have. I always think of you and pray for you and your family.

We all just have to appreciate every good day, don't we? With my family, it always seems like when it rains, it pours. I guess this is just one of those times.

I've been watching the forecast for your part of the country, hoping you and Jacob both get a lot of nice rainfall and I will be so disappointed for both of y'all if the rainfall misses you. We have greened up so nicely since getting 1.5" earlier in the week. I wish we had gotten more so it could knock back the drought conditions, but I've just got to be patient about that. Often, it truly takes flooding type rainfall to end a drought quickly, and I'd rather not have flooding, so I just hope we get to watch the drought conditions improve slowly this fall. It is ridiculously silly how 1.5" of rain has made me so insanely happy. I guess I'd be delirious with joy if 3 or 4" of rain had fallen.

Nancy, The burden really is on my niece down in Ft Worth as she looks after my mom and also her own mom. And, too, on my older brother because he has power-of-attorney for my mom so always is involved in hospitalizations and doctor's visits and all. Mom is 89 and never has taken care of herself, so we're amazed she has lived this long. Having her grandmother and mother both hospitalized in different places is hard on my niece. It is not as much of a day-to-day thing for me up here---just doing the worrying from afar. I'm hoping to get down to Fort Worth to visit everyone on Sunday. We'll have the girls tonight and tomorrow and I'm not sure how the 3 year old would do in a hospital setting, so think we'll just plan on going down there Sunday.

With the niece, we hardly know her or her family. We've only met them all once---a couple of years ago. Her mother ran off with her to get her away from my brother (they were young and he was a jerk, so I don't even blame her) when they still were in their teens and my niece was 17 or 18 months old. I think at first she went to Michigan but eventually returned to far west Texas. We didn't even know where they were for 10 or 15 years or more as she wanted no contact with him or his family. (She really didn't know us because they lived in another town although we had visited with her and the baby several times, but she knew that if my mom knew where she was, she'd tell my brother, so I cannot fault her for trying to keep herself and her daughter safe because my brother had threatened her when they broke up.) Anyhow, after my niece's mom and stepdad were killed in a tragic hit-and-run about 3 or so years ago, my niece eventually found out that the man she'd been told was her father for 30 years was not, in fact, her father. She began a long, frustrating search---eventually found Chris, who sent me her FB info and then I helped her get in touch with her dad, who is my younger brother. My sister held a big 'reunion' party at her house so all our family could meet all her family a couple of years ago, but we haven't seen them since. I think she goes and visits my brother at his place in Texas a couple of times a year though. They've really been put through the wringer this last few weeks. I think he was diagnosed while I was sick with the flu and not staying caught up on stuff, and they're still trying to get a surgery scheduled to buy him more time, but they do not have medical insurance and that makes it very hard indeed.

Their experience with cancer and doctors and hospitals in 2018 has been totally different from mine in 1999. I am not sure if the cause of the difference is that medical care has changed so much in the last 20 years, or if it is the difference between having really good insurance (I do think our insurance was a lot better 20 years ago than most insurance seems to be now) and not having insurance at all.

I'm going to clean house today. Actually I did that some yesterday and will finish today before the girls get here. I like having the house nice and clean before the whirlwind of stuffed animals, baby dolls, Play-Dough and Slime arrives. lol. The nine year old is the queen of making home-made Slime and her mom and Chris have pretty much banned it in their home (after some of it made its way into the laundry and the carpet I think), so our house is the Slime house. When Chris was a kid we just bought Slime the way you buy play-dough, but apparently it is more fun to make your own nowadays and she likes to add glitter to it. Lord knows I have to clean up some areas again after they leave, but I don't mind it at all. Kids need to play and create and have fun, and they are really good about putting all the toys back in the toy box. It is just that once you have glitter on the loose in your house, you're finding it, sweeping it up and vacuuming it up forever and forever after. I hope you and Garry have a good day out on the lake and I hope the fish are biting.

We had a lot of comedy here yesterday after the NWS put us under a Flood Watch and said up to 2" of rain could fall. Ha ha ha! I texted Tim and said that maybe we'd get our usual 0.02", but we ended up getting about 0.10". We knew without even looking at the radar that a flood wasn't going to happen here because it just isn't that sort of a year in our part of the county. Obviously a Flood Warning was not necessary. The county south of us in Texas got good rainfall---an inch of rain in less than a half-hour, but that storm just evaporated when it crossed the river. I think that the area to the far south of Thackerville might have gotten some heavy rain for a few minutes, but the rest of us didn't. Before the storm crossed the river, it seemed we would get some nice rainfall---we had big dark clouds, strong wind and thunder that kept increasing in frequency and loudness. Then the storm crossed the river, the clouds turned back almost white, the wind stopped blowing, there was no thunder and we quickly had patches of blue sky. That's just the same thing that has happened all year long since February---rain everywhere but missing us. I should be used to it by now, but still find it very frustrating. They repeatedly put the words "heavy rain" in our forecast, and we get a mere hundredth or tenth or whatever and certainly nothing you could call heavy rain. Maybe one of these days.....but I'd say that 2018 is not going to be a year that is remembered for its heavy rainfall at our house, except for February. If it wasn't for that 8 or 9" that we got in February, our water year rainfall deficit would be truly horrifying instead of just being really bad.

Dawn

No rain yet. . . maybe this afternoon. I kinda feel like mini-Dawn. lol

And our fishing is being postponed. Garry got stung by a wasp yesterday on the right side of his forehead and his eye is swelled shut this morning. AGGHH. Fixed him an ice pack and he took a Benadryl. Do any of you have any magical ideas? I was so hoping it wasn't going to do that. SO, I guess I'll spend the day weeding, unless/until rain shows up.

I could barely wrap my head around the story of your niece, Dawn. Had to read that twice. And worrying from far away isn't all that easy, either.

And bizarre occurrence with Kane. Hard to even imagine what happened. I'm so glad you've gotten him healed, though, Jennifer. That is one crazy story.

I love summer squash so much, but from everyone's stories, I'm glad I saved myself the aggravation of trying to grow them this year. And I consider us lucky that we didn't really have any bad bug interference with the few things we did grow, nor squirrels, coons or deer. Mistakes noted were the bad timing for onion and potato planting, so didn't get maximum yields. Had to laugh at our 12' long row of cannas in the back. It's not sunny enough for them, and so I wasn't surprised these aren't really flowering cannas. They still make a nice tall kind of border way back there, I said to GDW. But yesterday I saw there a couple blooming. I'm not holding my breath for more--but again, crazy bloom times for some of the plants here.

Weeding. Get moving, N. Have a good day, everyone.

Hello from the rainy mid section of Oklahoma :) I'm sorry Dawn and Nancy aren't getting to participate in this rain-a-palooza we have been getting. I'm not complaining one bit, we seem to either be in a bulls-eye or it goes smack dab around us. I drive through a wealthy housing area on my way to work every morning. This morning the mow and blow crew at the country club had apparently mowed in the rain and were commencing to "blow". IN THE RAIN. smh and lol.

My garden exploded while I was on vacation. We had rainy weather before I left and apparently the sun shone while I was gone. But the butterflies were loving it. I had butterflies all over and gulf fritillary cats chomping at my passion vines. I need more cats. I have a LOT of p. incarnata trying to take over the world!

In non-gardening news, which probably most of you saw via FB, I got to meet part of my birth family. A year or two ago, Colorado opened up the birth certificates on closed adoptions and I finally decided to pull mine. I found my birth family in 30 seconds. My birth mother passed away in the early 2000's, but I have two uncles and 4 cousins! When I went to Colorado for our family vacation I had a chance to meet one of them and his sons. I have spoken to my other uncle on the phone and we will meet at some point. It was a wonderful experience, although quite surreal. They shared photos with me and it was the strangest feeling to see my face staring back at me. Carol gets kuddos for encouraging me to go through with it. We have been talking about it for a while. I haven't opted to explore the paternal side yet. I am 99% positive who it is. I have his name and I have researched it, but I think I have enough on my plate at the moment :)

I hope the rain finds the rest of you! The state fair is starting soon...more rain should be arriving!!

Lisa

Yes! I made it in on my new (cheap) laptop. Had to reset my password...couldn't remember it.

It's still raining here. I sure wish I could send this to someone else. I am grateful, but I don't want to be greedy. Plus, we have Southwest Showdown tonight (Westmoore vs Southmoore) and it's our last one and I really want to watch the kids do their show. It's still up in the air if they'll get to perform.

Wow--you folks near OKC have gotten hammered with rain this week, looks like! And the rain found our house today, Lisa. Weird, a little green string of clouds with a little yellow and orange circle in one middle spot. That spot found us and GREW. Too funny. So we ended up with an inch today, so far. Perfect. I LOOKED like maybe you got it at about the same time, Dawn. ? And yeah various other places around the state--including, of course, OKC.

We have a situation. Right across the street (in the foresty area), we saw a deer. Titan started after it, but we called him to the house. The deer was down and flailing. . . .Shaking its head and moving erratically. . .couldn't get up. It had no blood anywhere that we could see. Sounded a little like CWD, except the deer looked to be in good shape otherwise (doe.) Answers, anyone.?GDW is about to go put her down. But of course then we'd have to do something with her body.

Garry DID put her down, just as I was typing the above, so then we had the dilemma of what to do with the poor thing. Loaded her into the back of the truck. We were going to take her down to the "burn" pile at the Marina, but the gate was locked. So we went into the bar and asked advice. Couple of the guys told us to call the game warden. So I did. He thanked us for calling; said they could come get her but wouldn't be til tomorrow and said if we wanted, we could just unload her in any public hunting area if we had one nearby. We do, and so I told him to save them some trouble, we'd just do it. Who knows what she was sick with; as he said, could have been most anything. Rattlesnake, diseases, whatever. Sad, but we certainly didn't want to leave her there floundering about, obviously suffering, with perhaps dogs attacking her (or even Titan, for that matter.)

Okay, that was not good excitement for this evening.

Lisa--so amazed you did it, and so proud of you for doing it! And am so thrilled it was good for you. I've had two other friends who did it, as well. Very rewarding for both, just to know. One of the friends and her family bonded and see each other. Wasn't as good an experience for the other, but she was grateful that she knew about it all, finally.

The deer incident affected me more than I thought it would. First, the reality of it and how to handle it. How sad it was to see this creature in such distress. And how problematic it seemed to wonder about the appropriate way to deal with it. It's like we live in the country, with all the critters around us; and yet we live in the country with neighbors very near to us, save for the forest directly across the front of our immediate property and behind our immediate property. GDW felt strange, walking across the street and shooting the poor thing in view of whoever might be driving by or outside. I felt a little freaked when I went out to help him load her into the truck, and two vehicles drove by about that time. I don't think they saw the deer, who was in a bit of a ditch right next to the road, but I felt kind of like a criminal. Had push come to shove, we'd have felt fine about our actions had we been asked to explain. I suggested we call the game wardens, but GDW said the chances of them being able to come right out were slim; so that's when we loaded her into the truck to go to the burn pile. As it stands now, she is still in back of the truck; we will unload her tomorrow nearby, with the nice game warden's blessing. He said I might be surprised to know how many calls they get like ours. And he told me to thank my husband for him, in choosing to put her out of her suffering.

And here was poor Garry, with one eye swollen shut! He waves it off, and any of the rest of us might, too. But he is definity hampered temporarily. Now if he was going to be like that from now on, he'd get used to it. We've been laughing about it today; I found myself thinking, "Let's see; if I lose an eye, which one would I prefer to lose. Definitely my left one." hahaha

I've been loving binge-watching Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown series, connecting with people all around the world through food. I had only caught 2-3 of the shows when I had TV. Liked them, but not the way I do now. Eileen, it's your fault. How little I knew about Singapore! And now I know a LOT about that supercity/super country. (AND my new favorite, Asian foods and learning to fix them!) And it sort of lit me on fire with how little I know of other cultures. I won't be doing any traveling (not any more than necessary now), but I will travel through books and excellent documentaries. I am absolutely blown away by these journeys of Bourdain's, and the care and attention that team took, to present important and worthy shows that illustrate societies around the world and our commonality. And the sadness many of the countries have gone through, might even be going through now, and the buoyancy and resiliency of the people. And how he manages to bond/communicate with them in these episodes, and also to introduce the rest of us to these people all around the world, a bit of their history, and the common love of food. Great show, glad I finally am watching it all.

And so with this great Asian way of cooking, it has ignited and changed to some extent, the way I want to grow veggies. I see a lot more greens in the future. Sigh. I hate salad. BUT when I watch or read about Asian cooking, greens look good and fun! LOL Thanks, Eileen. It's a little late to be planting some of what I want to, but have gone out on a limb with a few. But will be putting in a few more greens tomorrow. I got my garlic order in to SESE before they ran out; I got my coral honeysuckle order into Almost Eden (I had it in the cart and just remembered yesterday that I hadn't punched "Order.") So did that. And you guys know how it goes. Couldn't order JUST one thing, so also ordered some rainbow-kinda colored echinacea--a couple of them. That was because my present grown-from-seed ones have done so splendidly.

I was so so ticked off today pulling Bermuda out of the front shop bed and the back Bermuda bed. I hate Bermuda. I'd rather have mud or dirt in our "lawn," or crabgrass, than Bermuda. YES, it's fairly easy to get out with my Hori Hori, but it's every brutal inch or two, and in the front bed today, some of it was 10 inches down. Thing is with those two beds, I didn't properly prep them in the first place and work to get it all out. Hmm. On the other hand, the soil is so much better now and deep enough, and loose enough, that it's easier to get out. So. I guess it's okay. My concern is the established plants. I may end up having to take them all out, just to get all the Bermuda. I hate Bermuda.

Will sign off. Life is fragile, we must remember to appreciate every single day, even Bermuda grass days. Maybe especially Bermuda grass days. We're dealing with it, we're fixing it, inch by slow inch! And so far, I'm digging it up faster than it can grow . Diligence will produce victory.

Today was a glorious day - stayed in the 70’s and felt like Fall. We’ve had about 3” of rain this week so finally got out to pick about a gallon of okra and a few squash off the new plants. Jade bush beans and Rattlesnake pole beans I planted last weekend are about an inch high already. Yes, I know they probably won’t have time to make, but then again maybe they will. The hummingbirds had been few and far between but then walked outside yesterday morning in the rain and about 9-10 birds were just swarming the one feeder left up. Needless to say I hurried and put out another full one and they’ve been keeping it busy. I’m sure the heat isn’t gone but it’s been a nice change. I have a bed of bright light cosmos that look shabby and need to be pulled but every-time I start that way they are covered with butterflies so guess I’ll leave them awhile longer

Nancy, I'm so sorry about the deer. That would upset me....but I'm glad she's not suffering any longer. I hate to see things suffer and I appreciate those who are strong enough to help.

And...I'm with you on Bermuda. It's so, so annoying. And LOL@Jen.

I'm glad you got to meet some of your bio family, Lisa. That's so interesting. Tom met his when he was in his early 20's. He met his father a couple of times (wasn't real impressed) and formed a relationship with his bio mom. I even met her. She passed many years ago. However, he is somewhat close to his bio siblings. They are so much alike in so many ways. He knows who his "real" parents are though. They are the people who raised him and nurtured him.

My brother-in-laws story isn't so nice, though. He recently found his bio mom and it hasn't been the best experience. But, I won't go on about that here. But, most of the time the experience is good, I think. Both Tom and my brother in law have done 23andMe. With my help, Tom was able to help an adopted cousin find his mother and siblings. Anyway...I have a lot to say, because it's so interesting, but I'll stop.

Something is chowing down on my tomato plants. I just haven't had time to deal with it. It's funny, though, they are growing beyond the damage. I'll just leave them until the first freeze.

Went to let the chickens out this morning. Peggy was sitting on the floor of the coop. She couldn't stand. I'm very sad about this. She is probably my favorite chicken. She's one of the originals and is very tame and talks to me. I put her in the other part of the coop (shed side) in a litter box with pine shavings and food and water within easy reach. She is eating and drinking. Even got out of the tub (I saw the evidence)...and even laid an egg. I hate this. I hope she just has a sprain and will be okay.

I'm not making much sense and am really tired. Hope everyone had a great day.

Aaarrrgggh. I typed a long response and lost it. The girls still are here so I just don't have the luxury of sitting and retyping it. I read everything and caught up on all your gardens and lives though.

Lisa, I'm so happy for you....rain and your birth family! That's quite a great couple of weeks.

Nancy, So glad y'all helped that poor suffering deer.

Farmgardener, I'm going to think positive and believe September and October will be perfect gardening weather and that you'll get a good fall harvest. All we have to do is avoid the dreaded early freeze.

Jennifer, I am sorry about Peggy. Hopefully it is something minor and she'll heal. Often, once a chicken goes down and cannot walk, it doesn't end well. I think it is a good sign that she was able to get up and walk because often once they go down, they never get up again. Believe me, we've been there, and it is agonizing when you cannot do anything to help them heal.

Y'all be careful. Snakes are up and out again, partially because of the cooler and more pleasant weather, but also dislodged from their usual places in some areas by heavy rainfall. It also is baby snake time, and baby snakes are born with venom. Lacking the wisdom that comes with experience, the young ones often unload a lot more venom if they attack because they literally don't know when to quit. I find we really have to watch out when walking on the gravel driveway or any paved areas in the evening to early morning hours because the snakes like to lie on them to absorb the warmth at this time of the year.

The cooler weather is so nice. Down here in southern OK, we're supposed to be back in the 90s by the end of this new week, but I believe it will be the low 90s instead of the upper ones so at least that is an improvement over last week's weather (upper 90s) right before the rain arrived.

Where is my

Post

??? On the Week 2 thread maybe?