it is raining again. it's june and it's texas. why??????

Lots to do tomorrow....gonna hit the sack. nightey night.

Christi

Here's an article from 2006 (as shown below ;). I know I've seen articles where it's been discovered here as well but it does go into some detail re the dangers of the little beastie. The beetle is also attacking forests throughout the American west including California and Washington.

Pine beetle threatens Canada's boreal forest
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 4, 2006 | 11:45 AM MT
CBC News

A mountain pine beetle infestation that has already killed off billions of trees in British Columbia is threatening to take over Alberta's jack pine, marking the start of a deadly cross-country trek.

Each mountain pine beetle is the size of a grain of rice, but the voracious insects have already devoured an area of B.C.'s forest the size of Iceland.


Adult mountain pine beetles prefer large diameter trees, according to the Canadian Forest Service.


Another two million hectares in Alberta are now at risk, and the infestation could spread to Canada's boreal forest.

"It likes all pine species and we've recently discovered this includes jack pine, which is a component of the boreal forest," said Allan Carroll, a research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service.

Mountain pine beetles began invading parts of Alberta four years ago. If the beetles jump from the lodgepole pine to the jack pine, an infestation could wipe out billions of trees all the way to the East Coast, he said.

The Rockies at risk

The frontlines in this battle are the northeastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.

'Thanks in no part to Smokey the Bear.'-Warden Dave Smith

Jasper National Park warden Dave Smith said because Canadians are so good at preventing fires, the forests are old, weak and susceptible to infestation.

"Thanks in no part to Smokey the Bear. Smokey has done a tremendous disservice to our forest health by promoting the notion all fire is bad."

Global warming has also helped the pine beetle along, as cold winters can help slow infestations.

If enough infested trees can be removed, it may prevent the kind of destruction British Columbia is experiencing from occurring in Alberta and the rest of Canada, said Carroll.

Decimating forests

The beetles are less than one centimetre long, but they are one of nature's most efficient predators.

Several thousand beetles burrow under the bark, laying eggs and destroying a valuable, 80-year-old tree within days. When the tens of thousands of eggs hatch, they decimate the next stand.

Alberta has been falling and burning individual trees to kill the bugs, and is planning a large-scale burn in Willmore Wildnerness Park in August.

The federal government is spending $40 million to try to slow the spread of the infestation.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2006/07/04/pine-beetle.html

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I'm guessing this past winter knocked it back some but they are finding that it is surviving colder winters then they originally thought it would.

Here's a picture that my son took up there.........the water is crystal clear and the forest is beautiful,

And if your interested here's a thread regarding his trip up there: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/519711/

And here's my neck of the northern plains http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/858195/ ..........somewhat similar to Texas (the first picture even shows the effects of drought.........we had a hot summer the year before, no snow over the winter, and very little rain until the beginning of June). Normally we'd be as green as Ireland at that time of year. I also have a slew of pictures closer to the bottom of that thread.

BTW I love the smell of tomato plants and I really wouldn't want to live through your summer either. ;) I truly think most of us have adapted, or it's in our genes, to where we settled (I can handle extreme cold and cooler summers so much better than I can handle high humidity). Prolly because my ancestors came from Switzerland, Germany (near Switzerland), the outer Hebrides of Scotland and England.

This message was edited Jun 5, 2009 11:06 PM

lilypon were you a rhodes scholar? i went to that other thread and you just know about everything. what do you do in your real life?

i gotcha lucy. i think it is colorful and i liked it. i will see what find here.

No scholar here but I do work at reference desk at our local library (I must admit I do read an awful lot). :S ;D

Mmmmm.... tomato foliage ~ yum!

I don't know about cold/heat genes. Scandanavian ancestors here and an Minnesota upbringing and I can't STAND the ((((brrrrr)))) cold! lol

Your pine beetle sounds like the same one east TX deals with. We have lost large stands of virgin pine in years past when the beetle struck. Amazing what nature does to itself.

Mamajack ~ I have picked up shade cloth at Walmart in the garden center. Large pieces that could be cut to fit. Priced at $20. If you need a larger piece for a greenhouse, I would suggest ordering as LindaTx recommended.

WillisTx ~ could you describe how you use the shade cloth?

Hi pod - I've used it different ways,....initially, I topped my greenhouse (20 ft wide x 40 ft long) and then covered that with my 6mil plastic
covering....but I thought about it...and decided that it may be detrimental to the life expectancy of the screen and/or plastic covering due to the heat build up.... with the two sandwiched together. So I later changed that design to having the shade cloth suspended above the plastic covering....not touching together....I think that's better.
I've suspended the shade cloth in other ways using 4 corner posts, for example,...and running suspension ropes between them making a rectangular frame, so to speak,...then, by using "butterfly clips",...attaching each side of the cloth to their corresponding side of the rectangle "frame....having a horizontally flat screen above the area to be shaded....

I kinda like having one side of that rectangle lower than the other side (in effect: one side is about 6-61/2 ft above the ground while the other side is elevated as much as 8-10 ft above the ground) so that when the cloth is attached to the frame....it is slanted.....doing this in such a manner,....oriented to the angle of the midday to evening sun,...in such a way as to expand the shaded area (sorta stretching the shadow,..I guess) I've also seen screens mounted vertically....creating a shaded area that started close to the ground and stood 8-10 ft tall.....to block the hot evening summer sun rays along side a flowerbed or open patio area. The main thing is block the intense sun rays,...yet allowing reduced sunlight thru.....enough that most plants can grow...but not be scalded by direct sun. Hope this helps you get an idea of what you can do for your particular area(s) Lee

i'll look at walmart. some walmarts just have better junk. i will be surprised if i find anything like that here. i saw on one of those decorating shows them use this screen cloth and it was in the shape of sails. i would like to find some that would make a color statement while protecting my new plants that i get every year.

and a reference librarian.......no wonder you know so much lilypon. you really are gifted in the knowledge area. and you'd make a great teacher. i worked for a year or two at the dallas morning news in the reference library. it was one of the most fun jobs i ever had. i was a kid. morris the cat came in. he peed in the interview room. sal mineo came....yall remember him? and 'ol frank x. tolbert worked there.

podster,
Im with you I have Scandanavian ancestors also. I can't take the cold 70 is a bit cool
pour on the heat ... I had to turn the bed heater on the other night ....lol

Ya'll don't have one iota of hardiness in you!!!! ;D

p.s. CBC (a Canadian national news broadcaster) interviewed some soldiers from Texas that were spending a winter in Canada (somewhere in balmy Ontario). Those fellows were wearing full Arctic survival gear to walk from their cars in the parking lot to the building where they had to work (they were freezing cold)........it was -20F there and we were ~-50 at the time. I must admit we chuckled a wee bit looking at these poor thin blooded fellows.

113 for 30 days in a row will get your attention too.

Boreas, the Greek god of the North Wind, will be more than happy to test your theory that only a barb wire fence stands between you and the Arctic! :D


BTW these fellows face into the blizzard and are fully adapted to a Canadian winter unlike the cattle who can, and do, freeze to death unless suitably sheltered. Cattle will survive if they have a wind break or a wall of hay bales to hide behind.

We had that Lou in 2007 (inside our house it was 120 since our winter insulation was holding the heat in). Our house is also made of brick so like a brick oven it just kept getting hotter and hotter. We were sleeping in the basement, had industrial fans going and most of us dampened our sheets in hopes of cooling off enough to sleep. Here's the day we hit 122F (temp and humidity combined) : http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=3772315 (inside the house it was even hotter). The heat and humidity rolled into Canada at the beginning of the month and it was at the end of the month before it left Alberta and Saskatchewan and moved into Manitoba.

If we continue getting that kind of heat we will be purchasing an air conditioner.

Years ago our nights would cool off so we could cool down our houses.

This message was edited Jun 6, 2009 5:48 PM

Lilypon

I can feel their pain ..the poor soldiers
DH's last job was in Kemmerer WY ... about 7000' on a rock we were there a year . Some mornings it was
-40 for weeks I didnt leave the house . I was SSSOOO glad when he got finished with his part of that job ...
There is something wrong with a place where it Snows on the 4th of July .... And where they have cross arms to close roads....LOL
We had to get a snow plow to dig our 5th wheel out so we could leave ...
I stuck the snow shovel in the yard nextdoor and never want to see one again ...

Lee..come on up to my house in grapeland...sat on the porch last night...listened to the tree frogs, the bull frogs......the whipporwills...watched some fireflies flitting across the field. ahhhh...life is good. we even saw a road runner a couple of weeks ago...the first time we have seen one in years.

Did you see in the Dallas Morning News Thursday that someone has invented a string of lights that look like fireflies?

denimangle you've got me laughing so hard I've got tears in my eyes at your wonderful description of living in the tough zone! Even here a snow fall in July is pretty rare (I've only known it to do that once here and we didn't get that much snow). However you were at a much higher elevation and I noticed today that Cypress Hills, Saskatchewan (a provincial park) received 10 inches of snow (they are at 4,000 to almost 5,000 feet). I hope the tent campers there brought sleeping bags rated to -20 F. Here La Nina is fighting til the bitter end ....... we are at 1,800 and some feet and will be around 38 F tonight (unless the clouds part and then those that didn't cover will have dead plants). Strong El Nino years we can plant out in April and not worry about covering.

Heard the frogs singing loudly here today too but they were prolly discussing about digging back down in the mud for another week or two (they'd love denimangle's poor abandoned shovel). ;D ;'(

Sleep however comes easy in this weather.


This message was edited Jun 6, 2009 10:04 PM

and i heard we are getting a COLD front. is that possible?

Lizzie......MMMMM...MMMM....MMMMM (smile).....sounds like a trip back in time.

I know I'm very blessed to have what I have and be able to do what I do.....but I can't help but be a bit envious!! I can't recall the last time I heard a whippoorwill.....but thinkin' about their call brings back memories of being at peace......being part of the natural world....so much a part ...that I was grateful to have been only one of just a few possible folks (if any others at all...) to be witness to such a mystical, private event. All the sights & sounds you described.......to me,.....is a precious gift.

I'm very happy to say that we too,...have a Roadrunner that visits our area regularly......quite a character too! I am always pleased to see the differences between different species of birds...for example,...the way a Roadrunner most often...hits the ground running when it flies to a different location...(when it does fly).

Yesterday,...I had the chance to observe something I don't ever remember seeing before......a tiny baby tree frog. Its body length was
about the length of a ladybug...and like a puppy with oversized feet to grow into,....this one's eyes were prominently large as though waiting for the rest of its body to catch up! Tiniest I've ever seen....cradled by a 4 o'clock leaf wet with dew...I could see some of its internal organs thru its skin. Fascinating!

Tree frogs of all colors & sizes ...use to be abundant in these parts but are declining. We do have a reproducing group of Leopard frogs that create a racket when their "social gathering" in spring occurs.....after that they are only detected when walking around the pond and they are disturbed from their hiding places in the grass.
Amazing how they survive our coldest winter nights and hottest summer days....with no fur or feathers to insulate their bodies.

These observations are no different than so many other gardeners/naturalists witness when they're out in their own sanctuaries
I believe our love for these things is probably the strongest bond we all share.

We also enjoy the occasional road runners antics and had one nesting at the end of our drive.
We sleep in springtime with the windows open lulled thru the night by the call of the whip-poor-will. Walking at dusk, I see them dusting in the road bed, staying just ahead of us. But what really takes me back to my childhood is waking up to the call of the mourning dove. I share the passion of nature and consider myself blessed to appreciate it.

I have never had the opportunity to see a baby tree frog! how wonderful for you to get to see that! we slowly have some things returning to our area that were missing for awhile...quail...fireflies...roadrunners....whippoorwills...even the tree frogs. our area was so overrun with fire ants...at least on and around our property those seem to have lessened. we have fought them for a long time and I guess finally ran them somewhere else,lol. it is nice to be able to see and hear these things again. Even the toad frogs and sand racers(what we call the long striped lizard)...we didn't see those for a long time and we are seeing those again also. my 17 year old great nephew was at my house the other day and he was so excited to see sand racers in my flower beds. he started hollering and we all ran around the house thinking he had found a snake,lol. now if the grass snakes would just come back. I always loved the gentle green grass snakes as a child. I haven't seen one in many years. I have a big fat toad living in my covered hose reel. he has been there awhile,lol. he seems to love his big toad-house. hubby saw me talking to the hose reel the other day...I think he thought I had lost it for awhile,lol.

podster...we also have a lot of dove here. love to listen to them. so peaceful. Blue Jays are making a come back also. I have several pair that watch for me to come out every day with their peanuts in the hull. now their babies are coming for their peanuts...I buy a mix that has shelled peanuts in it. I also throw raisins out for them.

Something about those green grass snakes.....my opinion of them......they were....almost unearthly....as if they came from somewhere else and were just observing everything....on a visit, if you will. Almost stately too......at least the ones I saw....they seemed to move effortlessly.....forward with little side to side motion.

you are so right about that other world quality! growing up I had several that I played with every day. they would crawl up my arms and loop around me neck and shoulders and just stay there for as long as I would let them.

Yeppers a totaly different world ..we played out all day and then till the street lights came on ... Sometime after dark a kick the can game out in the street or hide & seek ... and always had a garden snake or baby bunny around in the spring ...
Now I worry about my Grand kids if they are out in the front yard alone . They all live in big citys
out here they run free well almost at least 1 dog along at all times they look out for copper heads..

lizzie glad to know someone else talks to the animals. it's mockingbirds for me. although for the last 2 yrs i have seen a green tree frog on my front door. yay!

Hey, Barbara. I talk to all of them. Still want you to come "talk to the animals". Think there was a song like that in Dr. DoLittle.

Christi Lou

I talk to all of them too,lol. I have a gallon water pitcher I keep on my front door steps for quickie spot watering. looked down in it today and there was a baby green lizard. talked to him for awhile before I tipped him out into the garden. he just calmly looked at me and blinked his eyes like he knew what I was saying,lol. I talk to my birds and sqirrels too.

they know when all is at peace i think. a rabbit just hopped into my work area the other day. we both just kept doing what we were doing. i love God's creatures.

the thing with me is i live on a very busy state highway and my front door is about 8 ft. from it. i know they all think i've "crossed over" when they pass and see me looking up and i'll just be agrinnin' tellin' that mockingbird "pretty song". sometimes for extra emphasis i clap.

that is funny. I have to admit...people have probably thought I have crossed over a few times in my lifetime. I don't care. they are missing out in all the fun,lol..

Irwells 50, I sorry to reply late--working out in the yard all weekend from sun up to sun set. It was great! Anyway, I saw those lights you mentioned on TV. I thought they would be so cool on the front porch. I'm sure they would have many uses. We do have fireflies out here, but way fewer than what I remember growing up (in a different geographical area).

Sometimes I talk to animals or insects, sometimes I talk to my plants also. A couple of days lately, the neighbor's rooster got in my yard through a gap in the fence. I was a bit surprised, because it was the first time any chicken had come in my yard. Then he started following me around while I watered things. I talked to him and he didn't seem afraid of me. But my cats seemed a bit worried about him. Funny thing is, I'd just talked to someone at the veterinarian's office the day before about their flea and tick product for cats and for outdoors they mentioned that chickens or guinea hens are helpful to cut down on ticks and such. Obviously, I live out in the country. He is welcome to any fleas or ticks he finds around here. But most of the time the neighbor keeps the chickens penned up.