Boy, what a ruckus that storm made last night! It woke me at two in the am. I was so worried that all my Hostas pots would be knocked over, I went out this morning in my night gown. Did anyone get any damage? I guess this would be a good time to dig up that Vitex down there on Maple. lol
Sylvia
Who got hit with the Storm last night?
Sylvia, we got 2 1/2 inches last night without any damage, so we feel blessed.
Go get that tree today.
Josephine,
I hate these Spring storms! Our electricity always goes out, which makes for little sleep, and the winds beat my plants. I forgot to fix my rain gauge but laying sideways it had an inch in it. My beds are soaked and mushy in places. Almost everything in the front and on the side of my house is bent over in one direction from the wind and rain. I had to stand a tall poppy back and Ironweed (ggggrrr) back up this morning. My Chinese Pistache lost a few new branches. Last year with the storms it lost almost all it's new growth. It's just not strong enough to handle the spring winds. I had no idea it was a wimpy tree. lol Lucikily tho it doesn't look like there is anything worse.
Some thunder and lightning, but no rain. I just know we're facing a long season of water rationing.
No rain here either. I saw the clouds coming off the Gulf, but they just passed us by!
Passed by me too...
This morning they were building up again, but the sun burned them off and away. Hopefully we will get some more clouds come in later, but without the strong winds yall had up north of us. I lost my two front shade trees in 2001 to high winds. I swear it must have been a tornado. I was in tears and it still upsets me. I have replanted new trees, but it will take them years and years to get established like my old Bradford Pears were.
Just a shower on the north side. The big storms seemed to be south of LBJ Freeway (635). I got to work close to downtown (The Crescent Building) and the electricity was off for a bit this morning. Went off soon before I got here and it was spooky driving into the underground garage with just the small security lights overhead. Luckily the electricity came back on as I was parking so I was not stuck waiting in the garage in the dark.
Sylvia, where on Maple Ave. is that Vitex? I don't go down Maple often, but I am trying to remember if I've noticed where a house burnt down.
Staci
STACI... you work at the Crescent? you are not far from me and the tree. Its at Maple and Wycliff! LOL! you want to go with me to get? you are already on Maple!
Let me know and I will dmail you my work Number. :)
Thank God for that 10ft fence or that storm would have taken everyhing down. I was so worried, that storm made so much noise and the whistling, I kust knew it was going to blow my bedroom window out. And my poor little Kitties were worried too, they were running all cross the bed and their eyes were lit up like Christmas lights. lol I am surprised it didnt knock the electricity out .... and it dont take much to know out electricity around here.
Sylvia
I expected alot more damage than we had, which was not much. It did rip the flag bracket off the house though.:( I went to bed about 12:30, but couldn't sleep because the trees kept hitting the roof and something kept hitting the window in our bedroom. Don't know what that was because there aren't any branches close to it. One thing I do know, everybody in the neighborhood has coffee filters in their yard. I use them to plug holes in pots and I was potting up daylilies yesterday. I noticed one scootin' across the driveway last night before I went to bed, so there I am in my nightgown at 12 midnight running around in the yard chasing down coffee filters.lol I gues that's better than doing it in daylight.:)
Mary Lee
Hmmm... at Wycliff... I'll have to go scope it out. You got my curiousity peaked. I can just see us out there at lunchtime trying to dig up that tree, with the traffic wizzing by. LOL
Mary Lee, that is hilarious about the coffee filters. Those darn things don't break down super quick so your neighbors will be finding them under bushes and such for months.
Sweezel, I know it must have been a ridiculous sight. I hate the idea that I scattered coffee filters everywhere. If I could call them all home I would.:) Maybe the next storm will bring them back home, wagging their tails behind them.lol
LOL...it always ends up to be one of my buckets that's roaming my street!
Mary Lee,
LOL I use coffee filters, too, and have some all over my back yard. Mom always told me to put up my things!! We got a little over an inch of rain, and I saw lots of debris driving to work.
Staci, my little supervisor is standing behind me reading every word in this thread. she thinks we are lunitics! lol Anyway she is going with me tommorrow after work to dig this tree up! She insist @ about 4"11 she is a strong little something. She had already planned to come and build my Trellis for me... lol....so this is be one heck of a friday night ... will keep you posted!
Sylvia@Work
Well, I am just an inch taller than her, so if I got out there and helped her it would be quite a show. Too bad I usually head out early on Friday's, because I sure am going to miss out. LOL
DH checked the rain gage when he came home for lunch and we had 6/l0 ". Later when it started blowing and raining cats and dogs I had to put on my beech shoes and coat to go out and take my night blooming cereus and epiphyte off their hooks so the pole wouldn't blow down - again. When I went back inside DH says "go out there and check the rain gage". "Right. You're serious?" Well I was dressed for it so I did. In about 1 1/2 hour we got almost 2 " rain.
However, during that 1 1/2 hour we also discovered a leak in the livingroom. The last time we discovered a leak in the livingroom we also found out that termites had eaten about half the 2x4's holding the ceiling up. It had never leaked enough to get through all the umpteeen layers of paint, so we didn't know it was leaking. I think we caught it time though. DH gets to go up in the attic later and see just what's wet.
(I transferred this from another thread where I put it first. Hope that OK.)
I keep seeing storms on the radar that avoid us or dissipate before arriving! Not that I want a really bad storm with hail and high wind, but a couple of inches of rain would be so nice. We've had just a few drops today, not enough to get the front walk wet. But I can still hear thunder, so there's still hope.
We got rain all last night and clouds are still here!
Bad news the schools lights went out and we had class and the YAKS test without lights... and guess what they came and fixed it right on time - 3:05!
Very little rain in Bastrop with any of these storms, but did have lots of wind and lightning. The storm this afternoon wet the bottom of the rain gauge.
Paige, talking about wimpy trees, all my Hibiscus trees are laying to the side, that humongost Ladybanks rose bush sheilded myLorapetalum and my Clemitis vines. Even the massive Trumpet vines are blown to the side ... and just as I made plans to put them on trellis's to shade my Hostas. I hope they are not beat up too bad.
Marylee, will your neighbors know all those coffee filters are yours? I would just go play inocent and ask them if they know where all those coffee filters! lol ...and I dont have a tree next to my window either and I was wondering what that was beating the windows ... and that whistling sound was really creepy ... then my athritis kicked in, so i took a pain pill and went back to bed ... and over slept. already late to work ... I encountered traffic jams and floods everywhere! I spent a hour taking detours all morning. ...now I am hearing thunder again!
.
Sylvia, I wonder what it sounds like when a coffee filter hits a window going at a speed of 39 mph?Lol
Phump!
Patricia, you have experience with this do ya'?lol
Marylee you think it was the coffee filters? ...then what was my problem? LOL
What are you using the coffee filters for? Why are you plugging holes? Hmmm...I've got a lot of extra filters since I only use them to germinate seeds in. Fill me in on this trick!
Sylvia, I have the funniest mental image of you and your cats all huddled together on your bed scared of the scratching on the window. lol
ps...fill me in on this tree that needs a new home. Will we be seeing you on the news?
This message was edited Apr 20, 2006 9:29 PM
Sylvia, must be somebody in your neighborhood that uses coffee filters too.lol
Konkreteblond, I never thought of using them for starting seeds. I use them to plug holes in pots before i put in the dirt.
Paige we are going there tommorrow after work. I got my pitchfork and my shovel in the back seat. My friend says if we cant dig it out she will put a chain around it and pull it out with her van! She is a mess! I can just see the crowds of people gathering around to see whats going on. I am just going to tell everyone that I am a Trustee from THE NATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION, then whip out my membership card which I havent paid for yet! LOL
Sylvia
I remember seeing video of somebody pulling a tree out of the ground with their van on Funniest Home Videos. DH saw it too. So when he tried it one time in our own yard I couldn't believe he was going to do this. But he did. We were extracting a photinia. We didn't destroy the van, but it did lurch forward and hit the curb across the street when the roots finally gave way. I hope you were kidding about trying that. If you do, I know we'll see you on the news!lol
Sylia, fix your hair and dress nice for the mug shots!!! lol If I lived a bit closer, I would join in on the tree-lifting just for the fun of it.
Mary Lee, just guessing on the sound of the coffee filters hitting the windows. We have lots of wind and lots of windows. The whump. whump, whump at 2 a.m. is usually the front porch swing hitting the railing. I have frequently gone out in my nightgown to fasten it. Not many neighbors, and so far I have seen none out at that time of the morning.
Still no rain tonight! Bummer.
Marylee if I remember correctly Juanita's van is not in very good conditon. I dont know where she is coming from. lol Mitch says if I can down into the sides of it, I should find a lot of little shoots I can pot .... I sure hope so cause a lot of DG's would like one.
Sylvia
Besides that you obviously want this tree, why are you going to dig it up?? I'll be watching for the "Arbor Day Fanatic" story! LOL
Last year I rode my bike down the road with a plastic bag with my glove and shovel and I dug up a canna I had seen. It was in a new housing area just sitting in a corner, calling out to me every time we rode our bikes by it. It's coming back now with several more. Free things are great!
Mary Lee, the coffee filters are great for germinating seeds using the "baggie method". You fold the filters in half, then half again, wet it and squeeze out excess water, put your seeds under one layer of the filter (on top of 3) and then put it inside a baggie, blow a little air in it and seal it. Sit it in a sunny place and make sure it doesn't dry out and you'll be able to tell when your seeds germinate. It's so much better than staring at the dirt!!
I have started saving my used dryer sheets to put in the bottoms of pots lately. I just placed a cookie jar near the dryer and stuff them in. I don't think they would inhibit growth.
As for the storm here, we got a nice rain last night at 1.3" in our gauge. Didn't get anything today except light showers. I think the plants are loving it here.
I was amazed, we got a little bit of lightning, and then about 1/4" of rain (if that much). Well, at least it dusted most things off.
I use a small peice of window screen over the holes in pots - drains well, keeps the soil in, keeps the ants out.
That's a great idea Mary. I use nice flat rocks when the plant is going to stay in the pot a long time, becuase the filter will eventually degrade, but the screen is a great idea!
I heard about using the screen on one of the gardening radio programs here. It's dead easy, and I love not having ants in the pots!
After that little touch of rain yesterday early evening, it ended up raining and thundering all night long. I kept waking up to the sound of rain on the roof and water falling from the leak in the gutter. Even though that leak is a problem, it was a wonderful sound (water feature, lol!)
I'm home-bound today, car is in the shop, so it was wonderful to have a chance to lay in bed and listen to the rain. It has stopped now, the storm has blown through, and it's nice and cool. Lots of the plants are leaning over, heavy from being rain-soaked, and some have had most of their flowers knocked off. But they are well watered and the ground is nice and deeply watered, so I know they appreciate it. According to the forecast, it sounds like the day will still be nice for me to start my preps for the RU.
Everything in my yard is intensely green. It's wonderful. I was talking to somebody yesterday who was complaining about all the oak flower strings and leaves and everything. I said "yes it's everywhere and I love it because it's wet!" Some people are just never happy. She just moved here from Nw York and doesn't understand how welcome any rain is in Texas, especially after a droubt.
Finally! Lots of loud thunder and intense lightning after midnight, and RAIN! Don't know how much it measured, but it is greatly appreciated.
The storm knocked out our power from 2:30 am until 11:30 am yesterday....Good thing I didnt have to be anywhere at any special time...since my battery back-up died, too..LOL
This must be the same storm system that hit Beaumont last night -- and though it was pretty rough, I'm so grateful for the rain! I lay in bed listening to it this morning and I, for one, love lying in bed listening to storms! And my plants will double from this -- the hose just doesn't have the same kind of water. If the sale goes through on the townhouse (y'all think good thoughts for me, now) and I get the two acres I'm hoping for, I'll have a rain barrel that could drown a cow.
All,
South of Houston - Missouri City / Sugar Land - lots of thunder and rain, but still have flowers on the tomato plants. Really needed the rain - grass dying everywhere except in the shade and near the garden. One momentary power glich, but did not last long enough to reset the microwave clock, or cause the UPS systems on my computers to start beeping.
Strongly recommend using computer rated surge protection and UPS battery backups for all computers. I even have surge protection for TV, phones, and refrigerators.