Rebecca, I feel bad for her. The only other time I can think of when she had to forego fall tomato plants sales was a weirdly wet, cooler summer and her plants got late blight as she was raising them, which is incredibly rare in OK cause we're usually too hot for LB to develop.

I'd leave the peppers and just keep them fed and watered. They'll probably produce loads and loads of fruit in the fall.

Of course, with your strange weather this year, there are no guarantees, so do what pleases you.

It is too "warm" here today and our local weather guys say we're going to "start getting hot" tomorrow. I want to box their ears! Our temperature may not sound too bad at 93, but our dewpoint is 79 and the heat index is 110. To me, that means we started getting too hot today, not tomorrow. lol, Maybe I'm just too picky about the talk about how the heat starts coming on strong "tomorrow". Apparently our weather doesn't take orders from any body and started a day early. There's not enough ice cream in the world to keep me happy on a day when the heat index is 110. Like many of you, we are under a Heat Advisory from 1 pm tomorrow through 7 pm Saturday. My personal heat advisory begins whenever the air temperature exceeds 80 because in these high dewpoints, we'll already have an HX near 100 at that point. I'm calling the rest of this week non-gardening days.

Dawn

I don’t know what to do on the peppers. They’ve grown, but aren’t as big as I’d expect. I’ve had plenty of flowers, but nothing set. They’ve been in the ground since mid-May. I did have to cover them a few nights, maybe that’s it? But, by now I’d expect to at least see a couple peppers starting. I’ve got nothing. And now I’d expect blossom drop from the heat.

I stopped at Lowe’s and grabbed the last two Early Girls, and a Better Boy. Might go back for a Sunsugar. Not convinced Big Beef would be able to mature anything before a freeze. They didn’t have much choice at Lowe’s. They were also very dry, so I set them to soak in the shade until tomorrow.

I have so much to do outside, but it’s going to be so hot to do it. I have to get the rest of the onions in, they’re all brown. Yank 2 tomatoes that aren’t going to live anyway, and plant the new ones. Need to figure out what to do with the empty spaces, even though it’s probably too hot to do anything. I have flower seeds started in tubs in the shade, that haven’t sprouted. I guess it’s just time to start thinking about the fall garden.

I planted 3 cannas in May, and they haven’t appeared yet. I obviously killed cannas.

Going to have oral surgery sometime this month, need a broken tooth dug out and prepared for an implant. Not excited.

The volunteer cowpeas are whippoorwill. Ron pulled a fruit off the mystery cucurbit but we still don't know what it is. Ron thinks cantaloupe, I think the Asian melon I grew last year. We'll see if he can leave it alone long enough for a fruit to ripen.

I was sorry to see TMD won't have fall plants.

Rebecca, someone on OGN today told me their 4th of July tomatoes fruit set in heat. Did you find that to be true?

I am not looking forward to the heat.

Amy, yes, I find that 4th plants do set reasonably well in heat, especially if you shake them down. On par with Porter and Heidi.

Yep, very hot here. I'm afraid the weeds have completely gotten away from me here. I just can't make myself be out there working. Oh my oh my, I am so far behind. WE are in drought mode now. No rain for a long time. At least the lake's down enough to go fishing. Except it's too damn hot to go. Not all that much going on. . . watermelons are growing; harvesting lots of tomatoes, not many peppers.

I'm so far behind on reading up, friends. I've had so much company in the past week. A couple close church friends, new minister friends, A butterfly lover friend from Muskogee, and the Master Butterfly OK expert, who doesn't live far away. Had so much fun seeing all these friends out on our deck with distancing.

Have a lot of tomatoes coming in every day. . . I'd have to say, otherwise, the garden(s) are good/bad. I am loving the sun beds in town. Kinda pouting about the beds out here. AND yet, interestingly enough, we have scads of different butterflies out here, and not many in town. Yet. I THINK that's because out here we have two acres, in a woodland area. We've seen 3 "Wagoner County Records" here--Giant Swallowtail and 2 others (mind's slipping tonight). Fact is, have no idea what native plants, shrubs and trees we have surrounding our property.. I discovered this year that we have so many more native host plants out here than we had any idea about.

The shaking the tomatoes reminds me of something I started doing several years ago. I grow my tomatoes in a row and build trellises for them. I use tee post and make the top rail out of 1/2" rebar or 1/2 EMT. I keep a shovel in the garden and take a swing at the end of the rebar every now and then. With all the uprights tied to the rebar it shakes the whole row of tomato plants. I am not sure it helps set fruit, but it sure keeps them awake.

I went to town with Madge today to look for her sister some flower pots. I did too much walking and it nearly killed me. I have been trying to force myself to walk more, hoping to improve my walking and get a little exercise. It sure is rough on an old man.

I walked over to the wildlife garden to check on the pumpkins. All but 2 of the Halloween pumpkins hills had at least one plant, and some of the big maxx were coming up also. All pumpkin plants were looking good except the Seminole around the brush pile.

The wind and rain we had a couple of days ago has broken some of the limbs off my tomato and pepper plants, and had broken dome of the squash plants. I am thinking about driving some stakes in the ground within my squash to see if that would give them some support. The wind seems to twist and flop them until they break. Do any of you have that type of problem? This heat is getting to me.

Madge and I both have medical procedures coming up, and that is going to put us farther behind on the things we need to do.

I may not be able to finish this post. It's been a long day of work and then harvesting, shelling, canning--stuff like that. We finished up around 10 and then I came in and ate and am quite honestly so tired. But, I'm feeling blessed too! I have to be careful with my health, though. I tend to push myself and not rest enough. The fact that I'm not already in bed is proof of that. Oh well. Just trying to remind myself of what happened 2 years ago when I refused to listen to my body and still have lasting issues because I didn't.

But...canned food from the garden is so exciting.

In other news, Finbar just threw up as I was typing the above. I got up to clean it and guess what? He threw up a giant tapeworm. I'm SO pissed right now that I can hardly not cry. I took him to the vet 3 months ago and requested that he be tested for ALL worms because something isn't right. I can tell that. He's very skinny. He came back negative for all worms except they didn't test for tapeworms because maybe that is not a "thing" that cats normally have...but intuitively I knew it was tapeworms. I knew it was! Why couldn't the freakin' vet know this? I get so tired of people not having a lick of intuition in them. Why is this so rare?! I've had issue after issue of vets screwing up with Finbar. I'm so upset right now.

Trying to calm down and think about the blessings of the garden. There are so many. We've worked hard and are reaping beautiful things.

Unfortunately I saw a million baby grasshoppers in the garden today. I'm dreading the damage they will do. But, even so, we've been greatly blessed with good harvests.

Dawn, most of my chickens have gone through hot temps too. Normally I'll put a fan in the main coop, but I've changed their roosting bar situation and will probably put a fan outside of their window (which is covered in hardware cloth) so it can blow in on them. It will probably need to be bungee corded to a ladder. I'll drag fans to the 2 chick nurseries too. I haven't lost a chicken yet to hot weather, but I'm not confident in this. I just make sure they have shade and plenty of water and fans while they're in their coop.

HU and I canned diced tomatoes and peppers tonight. Super happy to have those in my pantry.

Tomorrow I'll finish up the okra. Then work on chicken things.

And call the vet and ask for his personal number so I can send him a picture of the giant tapeworm that was making Finbar sick.

Okay...going to the bath now and crying it out.

There's a pretty good chance that only a partial expel of the tapeworm happened, they do break into pieces. There's also a good chance he has more than one, especially if this has been an issue for a while. The insect vector for tapeworms are fleas, as I recall. Yet another reason to keep cats inside and safe from fleas borne by other animals like rodents. Either by picking up the fleas or eating these animals (and their fleas).

Rebecca, Exposure to cold temperatures can slow down pepper production, but only by a few weeks. I'd be surprised if that weather still is having an effect in July. I'd probably hit the peppers with a good shot of a water-soluble plant food, either organic or synthetic, and see what happens. The worst thing that would happen is they would show no response to the feeding, in which case I'd suspect root system issues of some sort. My sweet peppers are sluggish now, after initially setting a good round of fruit in May. That fruit has been harvested but new fruit hasn't followed. The hot peppers are going gangbusters since the heat doesn't bother them.

I don't think you personally killed the cannas. Maybe your weather did it? Were they planted from tubers that never sprouted?

Sorry about the need for oral surgery. Can anything else go haywire in 2020? I feel like this whole year has a cursed, dark cloud hanging over it.

Amy, TMD's problem this year is perplexing. They certainly are well-experienced at growing in flats, yet their plants aren't thriving...to the point that they won't sell them. I just don't understand it and I imagine they are frustrated beyond belief. I think sometimes we might underestimate how badly weather can mess up a grower's year.

Amy, The first year I grew Fourth of July I planted six plants as a trial in a year when I was trialing over 100 varieties. It was either 2005 or 2006 and we were in a pretty bad drought. My summer consisted of going to wildfires, coming home, watering the garden and picking tomatoes. Tons of tomatoes. Fourth of July produced all summer long despite the drought and heat and I gave away Wal-mart bags full of them daily to anyone who stopped by to visit, to ask directions or just to say "your garden looks great". It didn't matter if I knew those people or not, I'd just say "would you like some tomatoes?" Finally I pulled out those six Fourth of July plants because I couldn't keep up with the harvesting. We don't care much for them---they remind me of my least favorite tomatoes---red hybrids, but if they're the only thing producing, then of course they are better than nothing. I am extremely tomato biased towards open-pollinated heirlooms that are not red, so I haven't grown Fourth of July much since then but it definitely doesn't let the heat slow it down. Fourth of July did bear some resemblance to the heirloom, Bloody Butcher, which I grew in the same year and I thought Bloody Butcher had better flavor....but what a horrible name for a tomato.

Nancy, Let the weeds win and just stay cool and hydrated. Some years it isn't worth the heat exposure to fight the weeds, and this summer probably is going to be one of those years.

The U S Drought Monitor map released today shows your county as "Abnormally Dry", which technically is pre-drought, and I disagree with the powers that be about that classification and whether or not it is drought. They say it is not, but at our house, it feels like it is. By the time we hit "Abnormally Dry" at our house, the drought's (or in their opinion, the pre-drought's) effects are apparent, and it is hard to keep the garden watered well enough to keep it producing. I can keep it alive at that stage and even a couple of drought stages beyond that, but it is hard to keep everything watered well enough to maintain decent productivity. So, now that I mentioned the map, here it is, and it only records the effects of rainfall received prior to 7 am Tuesday:

Oklahoma Drought Monitor Map released 7/9/2020

For Larry and anyone else interested in states other than OK, here's the U S Drought Monitor Map:

U S Drought Monitor Map Released 7/9/2020

Larry, I bet whacking the trellis with that shovel does shake up the plants enough to loosen up sticky pollen. Texas horticulturalist Neil Sperry used to recommend a person could walk down a row of caged tomato plants with a tennis racket in hand and just give a good whack to each cage as they walked by. If I'd had a tennis racket, I would have done it.

I usually don't have trouble with wind breaking plants. Our garden has heavy woodland on two sides and a light woodland on the third, and having that woodland so very close means it serves as an awesome windbreak. My bigger worry is the wind will bring down a big tree onto the garden at some point, though it hasn't happened yet.

I hope that both you and Madge will be able to make a speedy recovery from your medical procedures.

Jennifer, I loved canning when I was doing a lot of it, but it was totally and completely exhausting and I'm not sorry that I've cut back extremely hard on how much I can. I think I spent too many summers on my feet in the kitchen every day for a couple of decades and I'm just over it now. I still can small amounts for us, but freeze much more than I can. I find I do not miss the heavy canning nearly as much as I thought I would.

I'm sorry about Finbar and hope they can successfully deworm him and get rid of that tapeworm. I think many people are just completely closed off to their intuitive side, and I do not understand it. Tim and I think it might be a left brain/right brain sort of thing that makes some people listen to their intuition while others do not? I am heavily intuitive and make a lot of life decisions based on my intuition and it has served me well. It seems like the more highly educated someone is (like medical personnel, for example) the less in touch with their intuition they are, and that is a shame. I always wonder if people like that honestly do not have intuitive thoughts at all, or if they merely disregard them, but wish they would respect those of us who are guided by our intuitive thoughts and would listen to us.

Oddly, the grasshoppers aren't really in our garden yet, but are in the field of flowers right beside it. I'm sure they'll move into the garden soon, but hope the wild birds and chickens will take care of them. Our chickens are old and lazy and would rather hide in the shade all day instead of chasing grasshoppers around.

I hope the bath and crying it out made you feel better. Sometimes that is just exactly what a person needs!

Today the weather cranks it up a notch and we head into the worst hot spell of the summer so far. I'm not looking forward to it. The girls are coming today to stay a couple of days and will want to get in lots of pool time, but I'll limit our time outdoors during the hottest part of the day. We put the pool in partial shade for a reason though---so we still can enjoy it even in the worst heat.

I was looking at our yard this morning and thinking something about it looks wrong and then I realized what it is---the Bermuda grass is still green in July. That's the odd thing, and we owe it to the heavy rain we had here 2 or 3 weeks ago. Usually by now the Bermuda grass is browning out because you know I'm not going to waste any water on Bermuda grass. I doubt the green grass will last much longer without more rain falling, and there's not any in our forecast for the next 7 days. It is sort of windy today and I smell smoke, but we haven't been paged out on any fires, so I'm not worrying about it....and I wouldn't go if we were paged. Until Covid-19 is gone, our firefighters will have to haul their own drinks and snacks to fires in their fire trucks because Fran and I aren't going to take that risk.

I've already done today's laundry and am going to make lasagna now for dinner, so I can cook it before we get too hot and peak electrical usage is occurring. Then I can just reheat the lasagna in the microwave for dinner and keep the house cooler. I do that a lot in the summer because our kitchen faces the west and it gets hot in there when you're cooking (or canning) on July afternoons.

Have a good day everyone, and stay hydrated! We have Gatorade Zero in our mini-fridge in the house and in the extra fridge in the garage, and tons of bottled water too. Tis the season to remember to stay fully hydrated.

Dawn

Larry, I whined a lot last night---so there you go.

Honestly, I want to whine again, but won't because it's a touchy subject and I know everyone here has differing opinions.

dbarron, yep, tapeworms are caused by fleas. Perhaps this is why the vet didn't think it necessary to consider tapeworms because Finbar isn't infested with fleas and is on a flea preventative. However, he had a tapeworm. I saw it wiggling there on my tile. Disgusting.

It would be extremely difficult to keep Finbar indoors. He'll dart out if you try to keep him in while you go out. Normally it's when your hands are full. He gets a pretty good head start as you're putting your stuff down. He's fast. AND if he wants out and can't get out, he does this ridiculous noise and picks fights with Diana which results in lots of hissing/growling/things being knocked off shelves/tables and such.

Diana and Juno are mostly happy to be kept indoors.

Our power went out last night. I woke up around 3 or 3:30 and it was out, so don't know when it went out. Never did really go back to sleep, so got up around 5:30 to feed and water everyone, clean the coop droppings boards and water a little. I was back in the house at 730 and went back to bed until 9. Just got back from the Norman Walmart. :I

We were out of fish fry coating and that is what the boys like okra coated in. That is my plan today--to finish up the okra. Well, finish up for a few days.

Dawn, I can imagine how you would be burned out with canning. You did so much of it everyday. I'll never be able to do that much because I work outside the home and we just don't grow the amounts of food that you once grew. It's still enjoyable to me probably because it's new and I'm learning...and I don't do it all day like you once did.

My friend posted on FB that she is putting her canner away today. She'd done all the canning she's doing this year. I'm not close to being finished.

Dawn, I think scientists, doctors, (and the sort) who allow themselves/are able to use their intuition along with their education and intelligence probably are the ones who are world changers. "World Changers" might be too strong of a tern, but you know what I mean. They're able to "get out of the box".

Amy, HU brought over a few 4th of July tomatoes. They are doing well...and they were in pretty bad shape by the time we planted them. I had run out of room for tomatoes, so tucked them in here and there. One was attacked by a hornworm a couple of weeks ago, but the others are setting fruit. I pulled a few ripe ones two days ago. They are medium sized and red. I didn't taste them, though. Pretty sure they made into the batch of diced tomatoes. They get shade in the late afternoon.

Does anyone know if ladybugs eat the sticky honeydew from aphids or only the aphid itself? I need to fully check our southern peas to see what exactly is going on. The plants and pods are covered in all varieties of LB larvae, but I'm wondering if the honeydew is left behind once the LBs eat the aphid. It seems like flies are attracted to that mess as well. It's all rather gross.

I've sat long enough (and it feels good). Up and at 'em.

Hope your freezer didn't thaw out.

HU

Not as abnormally dry, all of a sudden. It is RAINING! Finally, it found us. Now I'm all happy and will go back and read all the posts I missed yesterday.

Yuck, HJ. I suppose that's something I should pay attention to with our cats. I hope you get the little dude fixed up. Tiny has Jerry's cold now (Jerry's over it), but he hasn't been as sick as Jerry was, and I haven't taken him to the vet. His daytime activities haven't changed, and his eyes are alert. I'm keeping an eye on him. My SIL in. Wyoming said various of their kitties had gotten colds now and then, and they always came out of them just fine. Bro David and she had as many as 7 at one point, but did have cats their entire married life. I was reassured with her words. Thoughts?

Dawn, I've never, not once, had a Gatorade. I will put it on my next grocery list. I've not been in the mood to do much cooking the past 2-3 weeks, so we've had more sandwiches than normal. There are a lot of good sandwiches out there in the food world! But last night was just good ole hamburgers. We had more BLTs with another Big Brandy, The tomato was so big I had plenty of it left. It was yummy on the hamburgers, too.

I'm with all the rest of you no-pepper people. Here. I DO have some of the Chile peppers here. But at the school, we're seeing some good small bells and sweet peppers. Not fair. On the other hand, I have a lot more butterflies to date. (Bet that'll change as some of the nectar plants put on more flowers there.).

I'm going to look forward to trying carrots, beets, more squash. Truly, there isn't enough room there to grow as many vegetables as we'd like.

Larry, best of luck to Madge and. you with your upcoming procedures. I haven't had problems with squash vines breaking, but occasionally do with tomatoes and peppers.

I have gotten very sleepy trying to write, so perhaps will take a little snooze. Later, all.

Well, it looks like a rain blowing through northeast of, all we are getting at the time is strong winds from the north, which may bring in some rain, which we can use but dont really need.

I just got back from across the highway. The mower ran out of gas a couple of days ago, and when I put gas in it the battery was dead. I went to town to get a battery this morning so I could mow on the other side if the highway. I knew if the rain beat me getting the mower ready, I may never get the west bank of the highway mowed, because I cant get the mow through the mud and water in the bottom of the ditch, then up the slick banks along the highway.

We are getting a pretty good rain, whether we net it of not. When the rain stops I have to pick up all the stuff that the wind blew off the deck.

Well I guess I will just have to take a nap, its too wet to plow.

Houzz is pissing me off. This week it insists on taking me back to dbarron's post about the swallowtail.

We got .45 inches of rain and it has been quite cool here. There was a hefty breeze with the rain. Maybe it shook the pollen down in the tomatoes.

I threaded a soaker hose through all the potted plants yesterday. 45 minutes was too long to run it. Certainly won't have to water tonight. The okra in one bed has sprouted, but the Stewarts Zee Best has not. I may have soaked it too long.

I've been thinking about H/J and HU's PEPH peas being canned. Did you pick them as shellies or did you let them dry on the vine? I grow cowpeas of some form every year but we rarely eat them. Ron will BUY blackeyed peas. Why? He says he likes them. Maybe if I canned them we could find more uses for them. Whippoorwill is small, but they sure like my garden.

TTFN

We 're canning the PEPH as shellies. Actually it's a mix of PEPH , Knuckle PH and Brown Crowder. We've canned over 20 pints and still canning.

I just planted some Whippoorwill over east that I'm going to let dry on the vine so they'll be speckled.

HU

HU, the freezer seems fine. The power was off 3 maybe 4 hours. I'm not exactly sure when it went off. I woke up a little after 3, I think. Maybe 330. It was 3 something.

I have two of your buckets. The one outside the backdoor too. It has the tomato peels/cores in it. And the hulls of the shelled peas.

Amy, they are shellies. In the past I just let them dry on the vine and only have enough for a couple of meals. Usually save them for New Years Day. We have a lot this year and more to come. It will super easy to just open a jar of them. We'll certainly eat them more often because it will be quick. Same with the beans. At some point we might get tired of canning them and will let some dry.

Nancy, I think cats can just get colds like people. If they are out and about they may pick them up like people get colds from other people. Charlotte got them from time to time. She may have been more susceptible because she had feline leukemia. Finbar had upper respiratory infections as a kitten. I think the home from where he was rescued didn't care for him and his siblings very well. They all had bad eye infections. In fact his brother actually had scar tissue from eye infections.

Sure am jealous of y'all's rains. It's been almost a month for us. We are starting to get large cracks in the ground again. It happens every July out here.

Enjoy your naps everyone. Maybe I'll take one too. I have the first batch of okra done. It's in the freezer now waiting to go into bags.

Well we got a t-storm...that had some destructive winds (local winery bashed in, houses in town with trees on them). But on the positive side, I didn't have to water today. Only .2 of an inch, but better than nothing.

Today I visited my father and crossed over Beaver Lake and thought that the lake remained as high as the highest point in the spring, despite 3-4 weeks of drought. That surprised me.

Here’s pictures our 4th tomatoes. I haven’t done any pruning so they have some bad leaves.

also, bug ID? I’m afraid to kill these after learning about white LB larvae.

I have thoughts about a fall garden

I have some parsnip seed:https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2044177/carrots-beets-in-oklahoma

I'd like to try to plant parsnips either here or there. And also beets and carrots, for both greens and roots. Also Rutabaga and turnips.

Green peas, spinach , lettuce, kale, collards, radishes, cabbage, Broccoli ,maybe a little brussel sprouts (dreaming). More green beans , maybe shell beans too?

HJ, wanna fall garden with me?

Whatcha think? Fall gardening is just around the corner ,( if it isn't too hot a Sept).

HU

I was thinking about fall gardens too today. But OMG, it's too hot in August to start planting, but if you don't get going pretty early things won't mature.
Of course, you can plant cole crops (broccoli,kale, collards, cabbages, sprouts) and they can overwinter in most cases if necessary. The beans not so much. Timing and weather is everything. Overwhelmed ;0

It's funny that y'all were both thinking on fall gardens today because I was too. And even looked up dates and all.

I would like to try some fall bush beans---maybe more contender? Yes, green peas. I am disappointed I missed the boat on those this year. It stayed cool until May and a lot of people got a lot of green peas. Of course the year that I didn't plant many was the year for them. Yes to beets, turnips, carrots. And kale spinach, and lettuce. I left a couple of spinach plants in that one box things. Hoping they'll drop seed. Same with the hinged hoop and lettuce.

Parsnips are good too.

I remember hearing stories of people planting root crops (carrots, parsnips, turnips, rutabagas) and harvesting them through the winter. That would be neat ;0 We never could grow carrots, the soil was too rocky here in Arkansas. Carrots that aren't regularly shaped aren't much fun to deal with.

http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-1114/HLA-6009web.pdf

HU

I have been thinking about a fall garden also. I will have to scratch carrots and brussels sprouts off the list, I just dont have any luck with them. I have been sharing my fall garden with the wildlife. In the past I could buy purple top turnips, forage turnips, forage collards, and daikon radish seeds for $4.00 a pound. I would just bust up the ground a little and toss them out and let them grow wild. I think the fall leaves and winter grass would protect them some from the cold. The did not grow well under those conditions, but I would have turnips and collards all winter long. The turnips would produce seed stalks the next spring/summer that the small birds really like. I just brush hogger the last of the turnips down 2 or 3 days ago. I hope to have more ground ready some time this month. Matter of fact I have ground ready now, but its too wet, and its too early to plant. I already have seed for several types of greens. I am missing beets, and I may be out of turnip seeds, I also want to try Green Beauty type of snow peas, but I wont order many of them, it just cost too much money to pay 3 or 4 dollars for 50 or 100 seeds, and then pay shipping on top of that.

Nearly all the feed stores in this part of the country are no longer selling seeds by the pound, so I expect I will be changing the way I buy seeds. I think the only reason they sell by the pound now is because of the deer hunters wanting to put in food plots. I expect someday soon you will just go in and buy a 5 or 10 pound of food plot mix, and you will just have to take what you get.

I dug out my cabbage seed yesterday, think that I need to do a germination test on them. I threw some out last winter and got a lot to come up, but I did not count the seeds, so I may have only got a 25% germination rate.

Seems like we are all ready for fall. Still a few weeks to get through and summer harvest to deal with first. Lol

HU, my neighbor said I can come pick the rest of her tomatoes. She has made all the sauce she wants. i might do that this evening. Depending on how many she has, along with ours, we could have another batch of diced ones to can soon.

off

to

work....

Jennifer, When my friend, Jo (Fred's wife) gave up canning in her 70s I was (foolishly) shocked and a bit disappointed for her because I thought she'd miss it. lol. Now I wonder how in the world and why in the world she kept canning for as long as she did, even after having a broken pelvis in a bad fall, etc. Fred was devastated when she stopped canning---he'd lived on her home-canned veggies all his life and didn't want for things to change. I don't know that I'll ever completely give it up because I do enjoy canning some fruits, making pickles and making salsa but I doubt I'll ever go back to the days when I canned hundreds of jars per year. However, I doubt I'll be canning when I am well into my 70s like Jo did. We have cut back so much on sugar in our diets that I really don't need to make a lot of jams or jellies any more, but I would like to teach the girls how to make jelly and jam when they are older because the both love eating jam and jelly.

As long as your freezer was fairly full and you weren't opening the door to check on it, the food in it easily could survive four hours without power. When we have empty spots in the freezer, we fill up milk or vinegar jugs with water and freeze them to fill the empty spaces, and those big blocks of ice help keep the freezer cold while the power is out. We've only had the power out for longer than 20 or 30 minutes one single time at our house in 22 years of living here, and that has been within the last two years and it was out for almost 4 hours. We were getting ready to hook up the generator to power the freezers when the power came back on.

Every ladybug species eats different stuff. Some, for example, will feed on scale insects and others do not. Some will feed on honeydew and some will feed on honey if they find a bee tree or hive, but those types are not especially common here. One thing they have in common is that most of them do eat aphids no matter what other food items they prefer.

Amy, We had neither the rain nor cool air here and I was green with envy yesterday looking at the maps and seeing where the weather undoubtedly was cooler and more pleasant than it was at our place, where the heat index topped out at 110. That seems to be our max heat index every day lately and I am so tired of it. It looks like we have at least a couple more days of brutal heat index values before the relative humidity and dewpoint drop some and give us less intense heat index values but higher air temperatures.

I already have been outside to the garden and hand-watered all the new plants, and will spend the rest of the morning watching the girls play in the pool, once the sleepyheads wake up. I wake up early and have a full day's work done before they even open their eyes.

We harvest southern peas as green shellies, shell them, eat all we can fresh and freeze the rest. If we buy them as green shellies at Central Market in Southlake, they are enormously expensive. I understand it though, because of the amount of time involved to shell them. Neither Tim nor I care for the texture of canned southern peas, whether home-canned or commercially canned.

dbarron, Our lakes and rivers are full here even though we have had some prolonged dry spells. I guess that when the rain does return, like it did a couple of weeks ago when we had 4", it puts enough water on the ground to make up for the dry spells, at least so far.

I hate to hear there was destructive weather!

Nancy, I'm not a huge fan of the regular Gatorade, but like the low-sugar, low-carb Gatorade zero. Because I have hauled Gatorade to fires since 2004, I have gotten used to drinking it though. We mix it with water 50-50 sometimes to ensure we are getting enough water and enough electrolytes while out on those big fires that last all day or for multiple days.

Cats can be prone to upper respiratory infections, but they don't get them nearly as often as little kids do, for which I am grateful.

Larry, I wish it was too wet here! It is on the verge of being too dry, but it is summer in Oklahoma so that is what we're used to, at least.

HU, The last few years, September has remained hot all month at our house, with daytime highs in the 90s and even 100s. It drives me nuts that it doesn't cool off like it used to. Some years I have had huge, bountiful fall gardens, but those were in years when there was a definite break in the weather pattern in August, followed by a cooler, wetter September. I am thinking this will not be one of those years because none of the weather has cooperated with me yet this year, not at all.

Y'all, I told you it would happen and it sort of did. Our entire family now has been inadvertently exposed to Covid-19 despite our efforts to avoid it. Of course, when you have a police officer, firefighter and nursing student/hospital employee in the family, it is a given that eventually one of them gets exposed (or all of them) via heavy contact with the public and risks bringing it home. I sent our son and daughter in law a message earlier in the week mentioning their county had just had its second Covid-19 death. As it turned out, that person was one of our DIL's patients, but was not diagnosed with Covid-19 until after dying. Tests prior to death were negative. So, she was exposed since this person she was taking care of was not known to have Covid-19 and they were not wearing PPE around this patient, and by extension all of us who have been around her have been exposed as well, though it really only would be an issue if she was an asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic carrier, and we have no reason to think that she is at this point. I expect none of us will develop it, though our DIL seems the one most likely to since she had first-hand exposure. She is monitoring herself for fever and symptoms and has none so far, and continues to work. Honestly, if everyone at a hospital potentially exposed to Covid-19 stayed home and isolated, there would be no hospital personnel working. She was telling me all this yesterday while sitting on the sofa beside me. I hate that she is in that position where she didn't know the patient had Covid-19 and therefore wasn't wearing PPE, but that's a reality all medical personnel deal with now during this pandemic. She is young and healthy and hopefully will not come down with it.

Tim's work has been crazy lately, and now his officers are having to mediate issues between the airlines, who insist upon mask-wearing if you are flying on their aircraft, and members of the flying public who refuse to wear a mask. If somebody won't mask up, the airlines will kick them off the plane, and if the person then becomes, let's say, disruptive or exceedingly argumentative while inside the airport, they may find themselves under arrest. I think that Tim's guys are going to have a rough few months of it dealing with people like that if yesterday is any indication of what it is going to be like.

I've been feeding a feral mama cat and her kittens. Really, she is raising two litters---her own and the litter of another feral mama cat who just wants to drop babies and abandon them. So, since I can't ignore hungry cats, I feed them. They are not at all tame and run from me when they see me. They also avoid eye contact (because in the animal-eat-animal world of feral animals, it generally is a predator making eye contact with you right before it attacks you). Anyhow, the one thing the kittens have noticed is that when I open the front door to feed them on the front porch, they feel cool air. Both yesterday and today when I opened the door to go out with cat food for them, the kittens and the father (not their mother, lol, but their presumed father) ran into the house, looked around, freaked out when they realized they were inside and ran back out. I was laughing at them. If they could calm down a little, they could come in and cool off from the heat. I've always heard that if you cannot tame feral kittens by the time they reach a certain age, they cannot be tamed, but I think the heat might prove people wrong about that---this kittens might be tamable just because they want to come in out of the heat.

Dawn

I think I’m ready to yank out the non productive peppers (Dawn I’ve fed them a couple times since I planted them, still nothing) and the Heidis, since this random rain probably isn’t helping anything. I have several plants going down hard with septoria/blight too, the earliest ones I put in, so I’m going to replace them with whatever I can get that will produce into fall. No time for freeloaders around here.

it’s pouring at home according to the neighbors.

HU, not sure if that changes your plans. I have to stop by the veterinarian to pick up med for Finn. So might be a little later.

I am shocked that we are getting rain.

I 'll still come over to shell out the peas ...if the roads aren't flooding.

Just hope it's not high winds to blow the sheets or lay over the corn.

At least it cooled down , won't be 100* today.

HU

That was hilarious, Dawn, about the kittens and cat. You might have a whole bunch more pets.

Well, for sure, Tim has one of the very interesting jobs at this point. I was not happy to hear about the close proximity of Covid. Keep us posted. A friend of mine is quarantining, with a positive test. He's just had itchy sore eyes and bad headaches the past few days. He said headache's gone now. Wears out easily. But worse, he lives with his Mom, who is in her 80s. So we're all thinking and praying for them, too. Another friend of mine in Wagoner has 3 close relatives (brother and fiancé and some other relative) who have tested positive; haven't heard how they are. And one of her friends said she also had 3 relatives who tested positive--all these are in Wagoner. Yes, we're ready to not be going out again, anywhere--or entertaining, for that matter.

Oh. I meant to say. Remember the lady I told you all about that got sick and died within 3 days, and many were sure it was Covid-19? Well. I need to find a better news source, since everyone seemed to know this but me. Three people--2 women and a man--all died from Covid within a 2 week time frame. They figured out it was the local Quilting Group. God knows how many people spread it--but I know the group has at least 50 members show up each month at the meeting (because I belonged to it--I ended up giving it up as it was just one ore thing I had to go to town for.). That was in March, just as it was beginning to spread more.

My son always has kept a supply of Gatorade handy. I'll have to try it, just to say I have. I have no imagination when it comes to drinks. I bought some raspberry flavored ice tea for the company last weekend. I tried a small glass--it was delicious! I think the lack of imagination comes from having to watch my pennies most of my adult life. Also, neither Garry nor I have ever had drinks with meals.

We had fun in our little garden today. Not much going on---a. LOT of kale I need to harvest; came back with a couple squash and few tomatoes. The peppers are finally looking pretty good with lots of flowering and a few more peppers. But as I said to Garry, the melon patch is where the action is! And I'm not sure what melons they are, since one of the seed packets contained 3 different kinds of melons. And there are Tigger melons and Tahitian melons, too. And the icebox watermelons are next to them. I saw just four of them on the vine. I hope we get a few more. I only planted two plants of that variety.

I made up a big batch of tomato/pasta sauce yesterday. I let it simmer a long long time to reduce it to a nice thick mess. And I had used the salsa attachment. With finely diced onions and garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Then I froze it in quart bags. I think that's how I'll do it all this summer.

I got all enthused to plant for fall after ready your posts, HU, HJ, dbarron and Larry. OKAY! I'm in. I also need to get stuff ready for the Lincoln garden, too. A bunch of collards. I'm not sure I have room for much else there. Promised to try carrots and beets. That might be about all we'll have room for. I don't regret us making the big center bed a pollinators' garden, and have a few okra, peppers, and lots of herbs incorporated in that bed, also.

Oh--we are growing catalpa trees in that garden. Anyone here want a catalpa sapling? I told John we should start a catalpa farm and sell them. lol. We spotted at least a dozen in the raised beds. I'm going to pots to school and transplant them into the pots. Why?

(oooo. big weather advisory but not supposed to be as Far East as we are. But even on the edge of it, it's very dark and wind gusting a bit. 79. It was a strange quiet morning. We should have gone fishing.)

Congratulations on your rain, HJ/HU! Yay.

I want a catalpa tree, Nancy. I don't know what it is, but I want one. haha.

Well, we ended up with a huge quarter inch of rain. LOL. At work, I'm sure we received 2 inches. It truly poured for a big chunk of the morning and early afternoon.

We did get some nice wind (not) that bent the tposts that are holding our tomato trellises.

Ugh!

Dawn, I love you kitty story. But, I love kitties, so there's that.

We lost power again today...for maybe 3 or 4 hours. The freezer seems fine.

I'm sorry you were all exposed or sort of exposed. I'm sure that most of has or will be around someone who has it without symptoms OR around someone who has been around someone else. Unless we all stay in our homes. ALL of us. It's a crazy time and I get very upset about several aspects of it all.

Because I'm learning to can later in life, I'll probably continue to can later in life--if I'm still alive and able. I don't want to do it all day everyday, though.

The neighbor that asked me to come harvest her tomatoes had some good ones. Really good ones. Too good to make sauce with. And many more green ones that I offered to take off her hands too. Also, she has wild blackberry bushes behind their property and I will go harvest those early in the morning. I'm not sure what I'll do with them. Maybe jam/jelly. Maybe a pie. But, because I'm doing 30 days of "clean eating" I wouldn't be able to enjoy a pie right now.

Rebecca, sorry about your sick plants. That's so discouraging.

Finbar got his medicine. Luckily, once the vet saw the picture that I sent him, he didn't make me take Finn in--he just left the med at the counter for me. It's funny because while talking to him on the phone he said he has never seen a cat vomit a tapeworm. And I was like...well, you're about to see one, Buddy. Sent him the pic and he was immediately intrigued. (and wants me to save the worm if he vomits another one). Gross. He probably wanted to show it off to his colleagues. I'm almost tempted to post the pic here but don't want anyone to lose their lunch.

HU and I got the peas shelled and fixed the trellis. Harvested stuff.

Tomorrow I'll try to be cultured and girly and go with Mason to have her wedding dress altered.

Madge has to go for a covid test tomorrow, I expect I will soon have to do the same. We both have medical procedures coming up and I think the hospital requires that you have the test and have the results back before you can be admitted.

I had my granddaughter to order me another fence charger. I like the pulse chargers better, I dont think they are as hard on the wildlife as the constant voltage chargers.

We got to give away a good bunch of produce today, which we like to do because it is easy to grow much more than we can use. My sister in law and her husband came by today and had lunch with us today, we used our mask and tried to do all the safety things, but we feel we need to be with loved ones as much as possible. We all have medical conditions and feel that we want to be as safe as possible, but still spend time together. We have not seen this couple since this covid thing started. If the Lord is willing we will see them again in 3 month when she has to come to the Dr. in Ft. Smith. I told Madge that I want her to go see her sister any time that the two of them feel that it is time for a visit.

This heat is rough on an old man. I pulled a few weeds today, and picked a little produce, and not much else. I have a flat on my small tractor that I need to check out tomorrow, I am not sure if it is something I can fix, or take it off and take it to the shop. I had rather repair it myself and stay away from town, but not sure I am man enough to do that.

Nancy, I planted some of the greens you sent. I am not sure what they are, I will have to try to read the label I stuck in the ground by them and order more of them, they are still growing well and dont have a strong taste. Thanks again for all the seeds you sent. I will have to go through them again and see if there is something for fall planting. I have plenty mustard, lettuce, and collards, but I always like to try something new.

Woke up with fever of 101.7.

Rebecca, hope you are okay. It seems as though everyone now knows someone touched by Covid, I hope it is not you.

Yesterday, they added runny nose, nausea, and diarrhea as possible symptoms. I live with those with allergies and lactose intolerance on a daily basis, so I'll never know. Any symptom (almost) is possible these days it seems.

Our weather man says gust up to 70 mph tonight, and maybe hail. I sure hope he is drinking. I dont even have my plants repaired from the wind a couple of day ago. I have 6 tubs, I think I will pick out the 6 plants I want to save, and just pray for the others. That will leave me praying for around 75 pumpkin and winter squash plants, plus a bunch of other plants. Someone please tell me why gardeners don't go insane, or, are they already insane?

Sorry Rebecca. I guess they're going to make masks in public in Tulsa mandatory.

I understand not liking masks, they make me claustrophobic, so I do the lighter surgical masks. I rarely go out, but Ron has gone back to work. They have to wear masks.

I am trying to set up the Echo Show for my dad so he can do video chats. It will read him his email and has a slide show of photos of family. You can ask it to tell you a joke or what the weather is any where. It gives news headlines and he can ask it to show him videos related to the headlines. It has the ability to access streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. I'm afraid the free wifi there wouldn't be able to handle that. It lags when my sister does video church services with him. I hope it can handle video chatting. If not, we'll invest in better internet. Got Ron bluetooth headphones for his birthday, the idea being he could use it to improve sound for TV watching. But it didn't work with TV. It does work with his phone, so that's a good thing. I ordered a new tablet for myself, but it doesn't come till next week. We got like .1 inch of rain yesterday. I will have to check the potted plants today, but I think they'll be ok.

Did you happen to see what I posted on FB?

https://www.arbico-organics.com/product/moth-egg-parasites-trichogramma-minutum/pest-solver-guide-caterpillars-moths

These parasitize moth eggs. Including squash vine borer eggs. We probably already have some in our gardens, and there are things you can plant to encourage them. I was intrigued. Was looking for predators of tomato fruitworm. Lacewings, big eyed bugs and minute pirate bug are also predators.

Have a good weekend.

Rebecca, I totally understand about not allowing freeloading plants.

I also know that you are ill today and hope you are finding better and can find someplace to get a test. Meanwhile, it looks like Nurse Audrey is hard at work keeping a close eye on you.

Jennifer, I hope the rain helped everything and that it cooled y'all off nicely too. We didn't get any rain, but our very late afternoon rain-cooled air really did help a lot---our max heat index was only 105, which was 5-7 degrees lower than the previous days this week. We would have loved rain, but it just didn't happen.

Nancy, I don't want a whole bunch more pets, but I'll feed any feral cats or wayfaring strangers that show up. It is hard to know who is who---people dump cats "out in the country" all the time, and they will show up, some people here have barn cats that they do not feed because they want them to kill mice and rats in their barn and sometimes those cats come here and I feed them, and we have had a lot of neighbors die over the past year....and some of these feral cats appeared after that, so then I wonder if they once were pets but were essentially abandoned after their owners died. I just feed them and put out clean, cool water for them and let them fight among themselves for who is going to be top cat. Pumpkin usually sets them ALL straight when he goes outdoors.

I just went out onto the porch a few minutes ago and fed the ferals canned cat food because our heat index hit 118 and I was worried about them cooking from the inside out. I wanted to be sure they were well-hydrated. Usually I just give them dry cat chow and kitten chow. They wolfed down the cool, moist food and collapsed in sleepy little piles on the shady porch and in the adjacent shrubbery so hopefully by the time they wake up, the heat index will be a lot cooler. This is the highest heat index I ever remember having here, though we have hit 116 once or twice, and we have had an actual high temp of 115 or 116 but it was a drought, with extremely dry heat and low dewpoints, so our heat index on those days were actually lower than our temperature.

Here's today's Max Heat Index Map in case any of you want to look at the map to see how miserably hot it has felt at your place today:

Max Heat Index Recorded Since Midnight

Nancy, I have been trying to not freak out over Jana's exposure to Covid-19. She is calm and cool about it, but she is not an excessive worrier (except about her nursing course exams, lol). I'd hate to see her, Chris or the girls get it. I'm not as worried for Tim and I. We were only together briefly. Maybe it is just that I have accepted that with all three of them having the jobs they have, we are going to be exposed and probably come down with it at some point.

The odd thing is how Covid-19 sometimes attacks the lungs, sometimes the heart, sometimes other organs or sometimes the brain....so you have no idea what it might do specifically to you if you get it. Most of the people testing positive with it down here in our part of the state lately have the same mild version being reported in much of the south where it seems very contagious but not severe for most people unless they have multiple comorbidities. All of Tim's work group who have had it are back at work except one, and that one feels better but keeps testing positive.

I am sorry to hear about the quilting group but glad they figured it out. I've been concerned about how many deaths there have been in your county. It sure seems like a lot to me, but then we've only had 46 cases here and no deaths in our county, so we have been exceptionally lucky....so any number of deaths in another county sounds like a lot to me. However, across the Red River in Texas, the county nearest us has had two and only two deaths---both of seemingly healthy and fit young men in their early 30s that had no comorbidities. That sort of thing gets your attention and makes you wonder why.

There are lots of catalpa trees down in Thackerville growing in the deep sand there in that community, which also seems to have a high water table. When it rains, they always look like they had a flood because the moisture pools on top of the sand instead of soaking right in. The catalpa trees down there are gigantic and loom over homes like jolly green giants. I always look at them and think to myself that if one of those trees comes down, it will crush the house and everything in it. I do love their large leaves and their gorgeous blooms, but the seed pods fall over a prolonged period of time and make a big mess. Many of the folks here plant them on purpose to have a permanent supply of catalpa worms for fish bait. The catalpas trees don't do well in our clayey neighborhood and I think I've only seen one or two of them this far north for that reason. Go about 5 miles south of us and they are everywhere. You know, you don't have to plant them....once you have one, more will just plant themselves. : )

Jennifer, Darn it, I was hoping y'all would get a big downpour. One-quarter inch hardly seems worth the bother. Maybe today, tonight or tomorrow will be your turn to get some meaningful rain.

I'm so glad your vet listened to you (and your photo) and didn't make you bring Finbar in again. Going to the vet always stresses our cats and they just hate it.

Larry, Yes, all the hospitals now require negative Covid-19 tests before they will do a procedure. I guess it is better to know you don't have it than to wonder if you do. Hopefully both of you will test negative so your medical procedures are not delayed.

The heat is ridiculous today. I hope you are staying inside and staying cool. Tim and I both are, despite thinking we'd spend the afternoon mowing. That mowing will have to wait for a cooler day.

dbarron, The latest research studies I've been reading are showing some interesting facets of Covid-19. Some researchers believe it is a blood illness, not a respiratory disease like the flu. So, it seems like anyplace in your body with blood flow can be affected....and they are wondering if it is finding and targeting people's weakest areas. That would explain why it is affecting people in different ways. One of Chris' co-workers who had it only had it in her gastrointestinal tract and never had any other symptoms. Someone else at work had the respiratory version. They've been back at work quite a while now, but Tim's original employee cannot get a positive test to clear him to come back to work, and some people get stuck in the positive test rut for months. Other people we know have had it in their respiratory tract. Some doctors are seeing it affect brains and cause symptoms similar to dementia or Alzheimer's. It is just so strange how it can affect people differently---to me that means it will be harder for any of us to feel sure we're coming down with it if we have symptoms because those symptoms could be so many other things. No wonder so much testing is going on if it is manifesting itself in so many ways. I have allergies year-round, so I just refuse to let my mind go there on any given day and wonder if the coughing that day is anything other than allergies.

Larry, I don't know if we become gardeners because we are insane or if we become insane because we are gardeners. That is sort of the same thing as what came first--the chicken or the egg. I like to think that I am crazy about gardening and not crazy because of gardening.

Amy, I am the same way about masks. The heavier ones make me feel like I am trapped in a cave or something and cannot breathe, but it is all in my head and I know that---I just get to feeling claustrophobic even though I am breathing just fine. I still wear them though. I did buy a box of the lighter surgical masks and they seem less claustrophobic to me. Tim and them wear black ones at work that seem to me like they'd be uncomfortable in the heat. We have black, white and patterned ones here at home.

Trichogramma wasps are a marvel. I never notice them until I see their cocoons on a caterpillar. I keep the Arbico Organics catalog handy because it is such a good reference for beneficial insects, as is their webpage.

It is too hot to even think today! The AC is running nonstop, which I guess is not surprising. Next week's weather looks hotter than this weeks, but maybe the dewpoints will drop and we'll have heat index values that are not so bad.

I wonder if Tim would like to go plant shopping early in the morning while it is relatively cool? I hate feeling stuck at home, trapped indoors by this vicious heat, even though there really isn't anywhere that we need to go.

Dawn

Fever broke! Still can’t get tested until Monday.

WOW. Raining like crazy. . . probably at least an inch in the past 90 minutes. Rebecca! Thank God. I pray you will feel better tomorrow. Keep us posted.

Hi y'all. Is today a flashback to 2011. That's how it feels.

Just not fun today.

I hope this is the worst of it. We had a heat index of 115. I saw that Okmulgee was heat index of 117 at one point. We still are at 102 heat index. 2011, right?

Looks like rain/storms are heading for the metro, but mostly the northern part of it. More than likely we will not get any. I've come to expect that here.

I have fans blowing into the 2 chicken nurseries and the main coop. I can't seem to get a good angle for the main coop.

In other chicken news, Stormy laid an egg in her little chicken nursery brooder box. She was clucking and carrying on. She is ready to go back to the main coop...which is good, because last year she did not want to give up her babies. She finally went into the brooder box with the babies. The babies are so confused when their mothers are no longer interested in them. So...tomorrow I'll put Dolly and Stormy back with the main flock and put all the babies into the old coop/nursery. It's always so dramatic and I don't enjoy the process.

However, I have 2 more broody hens. I'm hoping I can find some blue or green egg layer chicks at Atwoods to give to them.

The garden...I didn't hang out there today. I had several other things to do. I did go to my neighbors' house around 7 am. They have a field behind them that has crazy amounts of wild blackberries. I didn't know that was back there. It's lovely. As a child I would have taken my dolls back there or read or whatever. It was so nice. As an adult, if it was behind my house, I would probably take a book and read. I only got 2 quarts of berries. She had picked it pretty good already. If I had a partner, I could have gotten more. Someone to use a cane or stick to pull down the branches while I pick. As it is, I got pretty torn up even though I wore long sleeves and gloves.

I did pick the okra and water the back garden because it dries out so quickly. There's a ton more tomatoes and green beans too, I think. I just didn't get to them.

Rebecca, sorry you're sick but glad your fever broke.

Dawn, I hope you get to go plant shopping. And hope you're having fun with your little girls.

Nancy, happy that you got rain!

Larry, yes, we are insane.

Amy, masks freak me out. I hate things on my face. I need to wear glasses, but they bother me so much, so don't. Even sunglasses drive me nuts. I had to wear a mask at WM in Norman the other day. It's like I can't function...can't find my debit card, can't work the CC machine. Can't bag my groceries at the self check out, drop stuff. I get why people wear them, though.

But, we went to Moore to grocery shop today.

They've gone back to one way in, one way out--but do not require masks yet. They probably will though, and I'll be the weirdo stumbling around into people because the mask throws me off in so many ways. And people are calling you out if you're going down the aisle the wrong way. It's all so disorienting...and people are scolding you on top of it. Moore WM was packed. I wonder if it's because people are refusing to shop in Norman....

I have work tomorrow. Start back to teaching class. Probably won't have many kids.

Then canning more peas and possibly beans.

Well, our garden may be gone.

one of the chick nurseries is. The one with Stormy and babies.

i found the broody box in the driving rain and managed to drag it to the main coop. it Had been blown over and was upside down. the chickens appear to be alive. it’s hard to see if they are injured.

Our power is out of course.

the chicken fence damaged. Tom’s grill

is gone.

i cant see the garden and won’t risk going out to check it right now. It was probably foolish to be out searching for my chickens.

HU, I hope you’re alright and Didn’t drive back in this.

Jennifer I just back in Norman this morning after the storm. The power is out at my house , just got through emailing you from work email. Trying to find out how bad it was but no power.

Need me to come over and help out let me know somehow.

HU

You can come out whenever. The trellises are all laying over and I’ll need help with those. Already took the shade cloth down.

ok I'll be over when I can. I might have to set up my generator so my room mate will have A/C

at least.

HU

My granddaughter just called and said they were without power since 10:30 last night. I told her I would bring the generator over, it is not large enough to power anything but maybe a small window unit, freezer and fridge, and that would be stretching it.

I had more wind than I had thought, when I went out to weed I noticed plastic pot scattered all across the yard.

Jennifer, I am sorry for all your damage. I tied everything up well in my two house gardens and did not notice anything out of place other than some butternut vines with the runners uprooted and blown over next to the mother plants, which I dont expect to be any problem.

It’s weird, Larry, the actual t-posts are bent—the ones on the trellises.

I notice you don't mention freezing when power was out (2010 was it?) for a week during the polar vortex event that left us with 3 foot of snow? :)

I stayed in my sleeping bag most of the time I think...what else was there to do?

This time its 1oo * heat with power off. It's either one extreme or the other. And they both suck.

HU

Jennifer, I dont remember the wind ever bending one of my t-post. some of my post are very old and I think a little heavier than the newer ones. Another thing that I think saves my t-post is that my soil is amended well, and when we get a rain the soil is so soft that you could push a post over before it would bend. It is a different story if I try to get the tractor in the garden, I bend t-post right and left. It is no problem to straighten a t-post, but if it is already attached to a trellis it may be easier to just drive another post, and wait till the end of the growing season to straighten damaged post.

I went over to my daughter's house and got my generator going for her fridge. While I was there she ask me if her little generator be enough to run a fridge. She said "I dont think it has ever been used." We went out to the barn and there was a nice looking 6000 watt generator sitting there. Her husband died over 6 years ago. That generator may have been sitting there for 10 years. It looks like I have a project for cooler weather, getting her generator running.

She has taken an interest in preserving food, which I am happy about. She likes to grow things also, but really does not have a good spot for growing.

I just got back from checking out the wildlife garden, the Seminole are just now ready to form female blossoms, there should be a lot of time left in this growing season to grow a good supply of pumpkins, right? I have only grown pumpkins one time, but did not pay any attention to when I planted them, but I think it was much earlier than I planted this year. My feeble mind tells me that is was around the first of May.