Jay, Y'all have the same fire danger today too. I heard about your fire danger on our local National Weather Service radio broadcast from Ardmore, about 25 miles north of us. It seemed odd to me that they were mentioning fire danger from an area geographically so far from us, but I figured it was because they needed to fill "air time" since you can't say much about "sunny, clear, and perfect weather again today. Chance of severe weather: zero percent". For a long time, we were in no man's land here too. When we first moved here in 1999, there was NO internet service available, the local TV stations were very hard to pick up even with a large antenna, and cell phone service was pathetic. We pretty much had to walk down to the road (300' from the house) to use our cell phones. I felt like we'd moved to the land that time forgot. Eventually, all three improved but it has taken years. Our then 14-year-old son wouldn't have survived the move to rural Love County without the DirectPC and DirectTV satellites we used to get internet service and TV reception. When we lived in Fort Worth, I always felt our weather forecasts were pretty accurate. Then, we moved here and I was just bewildered by how far off the forecasters could be. I don't necessarily blame the forecasters for that....we are in a very, very low-lying microclimate that's hard to forecast. So, through careful observation, I have learned that frosts occur here at our low-lying elevation even when they are not occurring in Marietta. I learned that our low temps here by the river could routinely go 10 degrees lower than the forecast in Jan.-April although that's not true the rest of the year, and the low temps have gone as low as 18 degrees below the forecast. (It was a shock to have an overnight low forecast of 50 degrees, and to go out in the morning and have frozen, dead tomato plants and a hard freeze.) In spring, nowadays I look at the overnight low and instantly assume we could go 10 degrees colder at a minimum and cover plants accordingly. I'm still having trouble understanding the rainfall. Based on 30-year averages, we should get 38" of rain here a year. I did a lot of research before we moved here, and found "average rainfall" data ranging from 38 to 48". However, most years we are thrilled to get 34", and have had several years when the rainfall was between 18" and 23". I suspect that, if they recalculate the 30-year averages at the end of the first decade of the 2000s, our "average" rainfall will drop from 38" to about 34". I hate that the wind is beating up your plants. We had those hot, drying winds last May in combination with the drought but I think the winds ended here in June and didn't last all summer. However, almost no rain fell. And, stink bugs which have never been a big problem here before, arrived in May of last year and I fought them all year long. I did have stink bugs and leaf-footed bugs in 2007, late in the year (August, I think), but not in the quantities that arrived last year in May. I also didn't understand how much of a "drought pocket" we were in here. It doesn't matter where rain is on the radar, it tends to go either west of us or east of us. It is like the rain reaches the Love County border and "can't" cross over the county line. It has taken me years to understand the drought patterns. Finally, this year a Noble Foundation researcher said that no matter how much rain falls, it only takes us three weeks of "no rain" here to fall back into a drought pattern. That backed up what I had finally figured out on my own. Of course, this year has been a rainy year so far, and I am grateful for the rain. I know from experience here, though, that heavy spring rainfall is usually followed by almost zero summer rainfall, so I am dreading the summer months before they even arrive. I had a lot more trouble with wind in the early years here. Now I have a lot more small trees, shrubs and flowers (not close enough to shade my veggies) that help serve as a wind break. on the west side, but can't do much with the south side because the driveway is there. I do grow vines on the garden fence, and once they attain some height, they help break the wind some too. My tomato and pepper plants are deliriously happy this week. Actually, they weren't totally thrilled at first. The first couple of days they had a little wilting by about 1 p.m. because they'd had mostly cloudy skies and almost no sun for over two weeks. They've adjusted though. The tomato plants are blooming and setting fruit. The pepper plants have just begun blooming. My largest unripe tomato is about the size of a tennis ball and we've already harvested some ripe tomatoes from container plants that I transplanted into large pots in February. I should start having ripe fruit from plants in the ground any time now because we have quite a few green ones. Of course, in the same way that a watched pot never boils, a watched green tomato doesn't turn red, so I am trying to ignore them and not obsess over when they are going to ripen. After three hard days in the garden, I am slowly regaining some control and it is starting to look like my garden again. By the end of the week, I think I'll be pretty happy with it overall. The mosquitoes, though, are the size of small aircraft. Dawn

Sister and her DH special ordered a modular home,it's 3200 sq ft. in June. Her DH was in really bad health. The land was ready and finally in Aug. they called and said, it was going to be delivered in two weeks. Broken promise after broken promises it finally came in Sept. Took them a week to set it up. Would work an hour or two and leave. The house was suppose to be handicap ready and turn key. It was also suppose to have a garage and wrap around porch built on. Was part of the contract. It came with the sink raised almost six inches above the cabinets. Sister had a fit, she only stands 4'10" so you know where the sink hit her. The center isle was suppose to have a drop down ledge so DH could roll his electric chair up to. The whole island had been dropped down. No way you could have even put a chair up to it and she would have had to bend over to work on it. Suppose to have two cabinets put above on sink wall the rest was all windows. Cabinets were missing. Instead of a big stainless vent above stove ( she ordered and paid for) they put one of those old cheap vents like they use to use in house trailers. When they hooked up water lines forgot to tie in the jet tub. Drilled hole in floor for dryer vent and hit a beam so just put a board over it like know one would ever see it. Still haven't got the vent up for the fireplace. Septic system was put in and never covered, this is winter in Utah. Inspector came and said, it didn't pass inspection, it leaked. This inspector called them many times telling them it had to be fixed. No show. In mean time my sis was begging them to get this house done, the one the were in had been sold and they had to get out and my BIL health was failing. When all the workers were working on this house they would through all there trash out the side door which someday will be the door to garage. Front door wasn't finished yet. Sis finally told them she was moving in and they'd have to work around them. She would make 10/20 calls a day begging them to come. When they did it would be an hours work then they'd leave. She would call the house manufacture to see if they could help ( there in Idaho) She bought the house through a company in S.Lake and they contracted this guy out to do all the set up, which wasn't getting done. They finally got where they wouldn't even answer the phone when she called. They moved in on a Sat.and the following Wed. night my BIL passed away. He was having trouble breathing and she was going to try and get him out to her car but with all the trash in the way she couldn't and ambulance came ( he passed on way to hospital. This was on Dec.11 and they still haven't got house finished. But another inspector( this time state) guess local inspector called him and told him what was going on and that she couldn't get contractor to do anything.) came on Christmas eve day and saw what a mess she was left with he was livid with rage. Sis said, she never saw anyone so mad. By two o'clock that same day he pulled some stings and had that contractors license revoked and he can never work in Utah again. Now someone else has come in and taken over and at least this time she knows it's going to be finished. We have had some problems with contractors before but nothing like what she has had to go through and with her husband ill then dying. All most more then what one person should have to go through.

See link below for details. For best protection, it is recommended both (ionization and photoelectric) technologies be in homes. In addition to individual ionization and photoelectric alarms, combination alarms that include both technologies in a single device are available. The web link below has a great video. Ionization smoke detection is generally more responsive to flaming fires.How they work: Ionization-type smoke alarms have a small amount of radioactive material between two electrically charged plates, which ionizes the air and causes current to flow between the plates. When smoke enters the chamber, it disrupts the flow of ions, thus reducing the flow of current and activating the alarm. Photoelectric smoke detection is generally more responsive to fires that begin with a long period of smoldering (called "smoldering fires").How they work: Photoelectric-type alarms aim a light source into a sensing chamber at an angle away from the sensor. Smoke enters the chamber, reflecting light onto the light sensor; triggering the alarm. Have a plan for a fire. Fire can spread rapidly through your home, leaving you as little as two minutes to escape safely once the alarm sounds. Your ability to get out depends on advance warning from smoke alarms, and advance planning � a home fire escape plan that everyone in your family is familiar with and has practiced. If you are building a new home install automatic fire sprinklers. EVEN if the local code does not require it. About $1.50 per s. ft. if you have a public water supply. Here is a link that might be useful: NFPA

When an old dog who has chronic kidney disease insists he must go outdoors now, you must drop everything and take him out. If you don't, you'll find yourself mopping up the floor. There's none of that "wait a minute and I'll take you out". Nope, he is a little dictator (unwittingly, perhaps) now---one sharp bark and I drop everything and take him out because I know the consequences if I do not react quickly enough. Kim, No lady bugs around? Sometimes you can attract them to your garden (if they are in the general area) by making wheast. Or, even just by spraying a sugar-water mix on your plants. Here's some recipes for these: Recipes To Help Attract Beneficial Insects This morning I did a quick walk-thru of my garden to see how it has been doing without me and I did see some ladybugs (real American ladybugs, lol, not the Asian ones) hard at work on some of the watermelon plants. Sometimes in extreme July/August heat, the ladybugs seem to lie low---and who can blame them? I always wonder if they are up in some shadier spots just trying to survive the heat without subjecting themselves to full sun and full heat. Jennifer, It is great that Stella knows how to have a good time, but unfortunate that she chooses to have that good time in the garden. I've been leaving my garden gate open every day so the chickens can go in there now if they wish. Now that they can go into it, they no longer want to. I guess they've been excluded for so long that they've forgotten that good times can be found in the garden. Or, now that's there's no low-hanging tomatoes or melons for them to enjoy, maybe they just aren't motivated to go in there and eat grasshoppers and such. I'm glad you don't have a stress fracture because I know the time you'd need to stay off of it would drive you crazy. Still, take care and let it heal. The older I get, the more prone I am to catch the flu. I hardly ever got it in my 30s and 40s and, when I did, recovered quickly. These last 5-7 years, I seem like I get it every year and the recovery is harder every year. All my life I've heard that peoples' immune systems weaken as they age, and I see that now in my own life---at the age of only 59. By the time I'm 70, I'll have to hibernate at home during cold and flu season because I won't have any immune system left at all. On the other hand, an immune system is a funny thing. Last year, nationwide, a lot of young people in their 20s, 30s and early 40s died after they went sepsis during a case of the flu. When you go into sepsis like that, it normally is caused by your immune system over-reacting to an infection, which in these cases was the flu. What is it about the flu last year that caused young peoples' immune systems to overreact and throw them into sepsis shock? This sort of thing puzzles me. Obviously we want to have healthy immune systems but maybe not such robust immune systems that they overreact and kill you. It is such a conundrum. My garden is dry and pitiful looking, as the drought continues and no more rain has fallen here. It is what it is. August in a drought year is a tough month as it is, and the rain we got a while back was nice, but not drought-busting type rainfall. The rain made plenty of weeds sprout though. I see lots of morning glory, bindweed and foxtail grass to deal with---that will be next week as long as I don't encounter any snakes in there between now and then. Eileen, I bet it was the flu. I'm just basing that on the fact that there's low levels of flu cases being reporting across the country in August. My BIL in PA had it two weeks before I did. I did an uncommonly high amount of flu research while sick---trying to figure out if there was anything more I could learn about it that I didn't already know. One thing I learned is that it is not uncommon for the cough to persist for up to 4 weeks after you've otherwise recovered from the flu. I didn't know that, but I do remember that last year, the cough did persist for an uncommonly long time. Just take care of yourself and get your energy back. Last week I tried to do too much too soon and promptly relapsed, so this week I've been trying to take it easier on purpose so I don't do that again. Larry, I'm glad you're finally going to be able to go and get that PET scan. I hope all the news is good after it all is done. I love the deer but they sure can be destructive. What I've noticed is that when I plant stuff on purpose for them---like one of those fall and winter deer plot mixes, they ignore it. If I plant stuff for us, well, that's what they want to eat. It drives me crazy. Have y'all been watching the weather? Are some of you still getting rain? I've been out to lunch, weather-wise, not watching very carefully, while sick. Now I'm starting to pay attention again, and am not happy to realize we're back to being hot and dry, hot and dry, hot and dry. We had a couple of cool mornings earlier in the week and they sure were nice but I didn't even feel like sitting outdoors and enjoying them because of all that smoke in the air. It doesn't seem as smokey today, but then tomorrow is supposed to be really windy. I hope the wind blows away any lingering smoke, and not that it blows more smoke down to us, which I guess always is possible. Hurricane Lane has been a surprise. The last time I paid any attention to it was probably early last week and it was way out there in the Pacific as a topical depression, not expected to come within hundreds of miles of Hawaii, and not expected to do much of anything. So, fast forward a week or more, and I click on Dr. Masters Wunderground Blog maybe on Tuesday night and discover it is a Cat 4 headed towards Hawaii. By the next morning it was a Cat 5, but it now is weakening as it encounters wind shear and is back to a Cat 4 again. Still, they are going to get tons of rain if nothing else. I suppose that rain is usually good, but not when it comes in feet instead of inches. I hope everyone there stays safe and above the flood waters and out of any potential mudslides. I would joke and say why can't we ever get a hurricane here to bust our droughts, but you know, we got the remains of Hurricane Erin once, and also of Hermine, and the flooding was awful, so I won't even go there.... Have a good day everyone. Dawn