I bet it stopped at 3:07 this morning! LOL!
Texas Drought
So far I got 1.95". Darn, I really need to dig sweet potatoes, but need a week without rain.
Jerry
I think this thread is in need of a name change! Sounds like the drought is finally been drowned out. :-) Glad to see everyone is getting the long awaited rains.
Yep, I agree. I've been thinking that "Texas Drowned" is more like it, now. ;)
I'm just glad we didn't get the weather they were initially predicting. Yesterday at this time they were calling for large hail, heavy winds, possible tornadoes, and very heavy rain. All we got in north Texas was hours and hours of heavy rain. Thank goodness. Once it dries up a bit, the lawns and plants will be SOOOOO happy.
It looks like most of Texas got a very big drink overnight, and for that I am very happy.
Carla
Hi all. So glad to read that its FINALLY over.
Not actually folks. The National Weather Service has downgraded us to Extreme or Severe depending on where you are in Central Texas. The lakes are still 40 percent full in Austin and the aquifer is rising but low.
It would be nice if we received a slow three inches, wait two weeks and then another three inches.
Unfortunately we need 3-4 months of this. Yikes! El Nino hasnt even really kicked in yet. Double yikes!
All of my fruit trees are trying to bloom now instead of spring. I have to run around and pick the flowers off all day. I think that is preferable to passing out in the garden from heat stroke.
I currently have passion fruit on the vine and Cotton Candy berries starting to ripen, baby Starfuit on the tree and baby Tamarind trees popping up all over the yard. All from the rains. Oh, I kept my tomatoes on from spring and they are loaded, just loaded with tomatoes.
I got home after a week's trip to Vicksburg and found 4.5" in my rain gauge. We've has drizzling rain most of the day. That's the kind we need, but according to the weather service, we are still in a drought.
I emptied 9/10 of an inch from gauge today. I think it is probably over for us here...until next week. We've gone back down to severe level now on the drought map...just need this stuff to continue long enough to catch up and leave the drought behind entirely. Some damage is irreversible as far as trees and other vegetation that are dead, some ranchers and farmers have sold their stock (and even their land in some cases), some foundation problems and such. Medina Lake still has quite a ways to go to fill to normal levels. The drought monitor:
http://drought.unl.edu/DM/DM_state.htm?TX,S
2.25 inches in San Marcos and 1.5 inches at the orchard in Staples. The burn ban is over so I had a bonfire tonight with the wife. The ponds are full.
We had about the same here. I really need it to stop for a few days so I can finish getting things planted before it gets too cold. I am really way behind on things around here, the back surgery makes me do things very slowly. I can't haul things around as easily as before. I can do everything, it just takes a lot longer.
I'm with you, Annette - I've got 3 more shrubs to get in the ground and it's just too wet. It's been raining off and on here since Friday. I sure wish we could've afforded to put the gutters up for our rain reclamation project before all this rain came! (Tin roof - no gutters!) We've had enough rain to get us through next Summer's drought, I do believe.
dstarr. this wet yucky stuff, just enough coolness is for the birds! I haven't even seen any of them in this weather. We have gutters, but DH is threatening to take them off the house, because after 19 years, they have developed leaks in the joints. I would like to harvest rain, also. With my luck, we will have a nice day on Tuesday, when I have a doctor's appointment!
Annette- Just think on the bright side - if it's a nice day on Tuesday, you won't have to get out in the nasty weather! I think we're due for 80% more rain - oh, boy!!! With the rain harvesting, every little bit helps, I've heard! Maybe next spring.
I see enough of the birds...because I'm feeding them! Some just hang around so they will have food. Out in the wild the area was so devasted by drought that even after all this rain, there still isn't much of any food for them other than feeders. I have a few doves that probably came to get away from the dove hunters. Every day they wait for me to come out and refill that feeder! I let some lamb's quarter continue to seed because some of the small birds seem to love eating the seed...now I'll probably have a ton of those next year!
This message was edited Oct 13, 2009 4:56 PM
LindaTX8,
If you run out, just see Bob at the RU - he is more than happy to send you home with several pots of lamb's quarter. I think we finally eliminated them from our yard - only took 3 years - LOL.
Who do you think I GOT them from? Bob! But the wildlife need our help this year...I'll just be yanking out a lot of seedlings next year...and maybe years to come! And the ground below the bird feeder already has the lushest greenest "grass" I've had for quite a while! The sun actually came out briefly a little while ago...quelle surprise!
It appears that the only groundcover that survived the drought in my backyard are weeds. Although they are green and beautiful, I just broadcast about 5 pounds of New Zealand White Clover to try to crowd them out.
LET THE BATTLE FOR DOMINANCE BEGIN!!!!!!!!
May the best green growth win!
Many of the Little Bluestem grass out on the property are still showing no sign of green. The nonnative invasive KR Bluestem, on the other hand, doesn't look like there was ever a drought! So hard to kill that stuff!
The sun is threatening to show itself, today. I'm not sure I'll recognize it when I see it, but I do see bits of blue behind the drippy clouds, so there's hope. :)
I wish we could magically shift the weather map and put all the falling stuff over the red and orange zones on the drought map.
Well, we had 2 and 4/10 inches of rain last night, pretty darn good! Still chilly and very soggy outside. We're getting there! Maybe El Nino is in effect now, don't know. Anyway we're still officially in severe drought...weird, doesn't feel like it. There was something recently on a S.A. newscast about Medina Lake. About how it's gone up some, but not nearly enough because much of the Medina River basin still haven't gotten enough rain to get that lake filled up good. Oh, and this map doesn't reflect any rain received in the last couple of days, I think, so maybe next week will look better!
http://drought.unl.edu/DM/DM_state.htm?TX,S
I got 2.1". I love drought, but without the 100º heat....I can always water my small garden with drip systems and soaker hoses just fine. Been here 30 years and wet winters bring swampy smelling seeps from under all the rock ledges around here...yuk.
Here in Comal county there is hardly any agri-business any more. Our county is quickly being over run with cityfites spilling over from Austin and San Antonio. You know the ones who have to bring Saint Augustine grass to an area where it ain't supposed to grow. And then they spend inordinate amounts of money feeding and watering the stuff to get it to grow. That just ain't right.
And then there are those folks with the rubber swimming pools that hold more water than I put on my garden in three or four years. That just ain't right.
Now guess who wants to impose watering restrictions on us old timers and put meters on our wells. Yup, those very city folks that think they can come out here and run our county better than we old timers.
I'll take drought any day, cause without water people stay away.
Sorry for the rant, but not being able to work in the garden puts me in a foul mood.
Jerry
We received 3/4 inch which is okay with me cause it was still kinda damp from the last rain. Lake LBJ and Travis are shooting up due to the 8 inches North of them.
I planted clover and Rye a few weeks ago and they are everywhere. Other than the mosquitoes, we are doing good.
I understand your rant perfectly, Jerry! I live in the country, no town, but next to our little subdivision is the Hills of Castle Rock, formerly a ranch of 1766 acres, which an unethical greedy developer wants to (according to the current info on website) turn into 2300 residential lots and some commercial areas, including a golf course and 14-story hotel. Without any current prospect of adequate water supply, of course. With plans for a water treatment facility which would dump lots of treated effluent into a local creek which doesn't even flow sometimes.
But drought has scarred this area with dead trees and plants that stand out in contrast to the green stuff that has recovered with the rains. Not to mention all the dead wildlife we had, caused by drought. I'd rather have rain over prolonged Exceptional level drought anytime!
Meters on private wells? That is ridiculous! I have three wells on my 100 acres here in Austin County. The old hand-dug 50 footer the original settler's dug in the late 1800's, another 50' well under the windmill in my front pasture, and the fancy-schmancy 250' well I had dug when I built my house here. They're all doing just fine, despite the drought conditions we've had all summer. If someone ever dared tell me they were going to require me to meter them all, I do believe I would answer them with a loaded shotgun and a few choice words!
It's raining cats & dogs here now. Of course, I love it! I'm getting a lot of weeding and planting done between downpours. If the rain continues, it should make for a PRIMO showing of wildflowers next Spring. I toil diligently in the flowerbeds around my house but, even when my best efforts go unrewarded, Mother Nature rewards me with acres of wildflowers in the pastures around me. Life doesn't get much better than that!
You are so right!!!
I suspect we will be taken down to Moderate drought soon. San Marcos was 2 inches early this morning and it has rained non-stop. My ponds are full. I just threw seeds on the ground a few weeks past and it has been so moist that they all sprouted. Good times.
My 2000 gallon rainwater collection filled up, sprung a leak (my fault), drained, patched and filled up again. I set it to overflow into my garden but that was too much water so I just opened the release on the gutters so they released into the yard like normal. I have set it up I just turn a valve to go from garden overflow to normal gutters without using the rainwater.
I never dreamed I could collect this much water this easily. I just have to switch it off for now cause I get too much water from it. Maybe I should setup a hookup to my toilets so I can use the extra water for that.
jujube, Good going on the rain barrels.
There is a solid 1.5" in the rain gauge here since around daylight.
Most of the greens and cole veggies I planted last Tuesday are up. The onion seeds, spinach, Stonehead cabbage, and carrots have yet to sprout. This is the second good rain these seeds have received. Last Thursday they got 2.1".
I braved the rain a little while ago and ran out and threw out all the wild flower seeds I had saved up plus poppy and petunia seeds. What don't wash away should be ready for Spring.
All the little green cabbage worms have become a real nuisance with all this wet and cool. I keep them at bay with BT. However, I did manage to let one slip by me or maybe an egg. A couple days ago I took 20 cuttings of Greek Columnar Basil and stuck them in a cloning chamber. I just discovered that a small worm has been at it chewing on some of the leaves. I looked but couldn't find it.
Well, wet and cold makes for a good day of reading a good book and cooking a pork roast. I got hooked on Anne Rice's Vampires so it's back to the Dark side for me.
Y'all stay warm and dry.
Jerry
I've been reading this thread but just want to post that we are under a a Flash Flood Warning. The ground is so wet that the rain is coming over the rode from the 800 acres across the road from me. I guess I have no excuse to not get some house work done.
Lisa
Ah, yes, that's the downside! No playing out in the garden....and housework is just plain work, not play. Oh well. I'm probably going to have to stay out the sun a lot more anyway, now that I've got skin cancer again. We got about 3/4 inch since it started last night. Good idea about the toilets, Lee...but how to do that without THEM overflowing?
Oh Linda, I hope your skin cancer is minor and easily curable, we want you around for a long time.
Josephine.
I just hook the rainwater cistern into the plumbing pipes with a valve that lets me choose cistern or city water for the toilets. The toilets pipes are about 9 feet from the cistern so no big deal. I have an old Victorian house so I have access to all my pipes.
Josephine, it's two lesions of Basal Cell Carcinoma, which is the less dangerous one...thank God for that. I have to go back so they can can remove a bit more tissue and biopsy to see if they got it all. But this makes 3 total I've had, so I'd better get serious about avoiding the sun as much as I can. Such a cruel thing for a person who wants to be outdoors a lot!
Jerry, I'm a huge Anne Rice fan (even stood in line one time to get her autograph). It's a perfect day -- grey and dreary -- to lose yourself in one of her books.
Linda, sorry about the skin cancer. I hope they caught it early and you're soon free of it.
Carla
Yes Linda, thank God, maybe with clothing sunscreen and a hat you will be able to do your gardening just fine.
I'm reading THE HISTORIAN also a vampire book. We sure are a cheery group. Its better then house work! My dad has had skin cancer removed 5-6 times, he is 85 so Linda your prognosis is good.
Lisa
Well I have been bored to death today too, but I didn't want to start on a book because I know how I am with books, I just can't put them down once I start.
So I tried to be useful, repaired a rip in my husbands favorite shorts, and cleared the top of a dresser from a big stack of stuff sitting there.
For dinner I am making split pea soup, smells great and it seems something hot would be good for dinner.
But don't get me wrong, I still wasted a lot of time wishing I could be outside.
Oh well, I hope the sun shines tomorrow.
FYI. Land's End has a whole line of clothing that has been treated for the sun's rays. Both in adult and childrens sizes. Everything I have ever purchased from them never wore out.
I just outgrew it. Land's End.com. Check it out.
DH has had a skin cancer removed from his back and I have those awful "beauty marks" that come from years of sun damage. What price glory?
Christi
We have the great-grandaughter (just turned 3) for the next 48 hours so we will be plenty busy. She is a joy and makes us forget just how old we have become.
Happy Birthday wishes to the little one. My GNephew just turned 5 Sat., that took our day for sure!
Linda we do hope they get it all the first time and healing is quick. Sun is good in moderation!
Josephine,...today my son came to work and then it is still raining, so I put him to work sorting seeds and bagging them! I had a garbage bag full of tops from penstemon for one. LOL!