Sunday, September 25, 2005, 17:22
Two Inches!
We got two inches of rain last night. Two inches!
I was thinking that I couldn't remember the last time we got two inches of rain from a single event, but then I decided that I must have just forgotten and that it must have rained two inches last spring sometime.
I checked in my weather book. The last time we got two inches of rain was September 15. In 2004. So, it *has* been a long time since two inches of rain fell from one storm. More than a year ago.
The rain started at 10 p.m. with a thunderstorm and lots of thunder and lightning. I wanted to give my horses more hay before I went to bed. I always give them more hay before I go to bed. I'm not crazy about going outside in a thunderstorm, though, so I figured I would wait for it to stop storming.
I waited until 3 a.m. for it to stop storming. At 3 a.m. I fell asleep. I got up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready for church at 8 a.m., and when I took Pixie outside, I was finally able to give the horses some hay.
Isabelle and Kajun were none the worse for not getting their bedtime snack, although they were both awfully glad to see their hay!
I'm hoping that two inches of rain at one time means our weather pattern has changed and that the drought is over. But, we shall see.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Saturday, September 24, 2005, 18:57
Big and Small
Now that it is getting near the end of September, I can say without a doubt that my experiment of transplanting one of my garden mums to the flower bed underneath a tree by the garden was a DISMAL FAILURE.
I bought two garden mums two years ago and planted one on either side of the door on our walkout basement. This spring, I moved the mum closest to the garage door because it seemed like it was just too hot for it there. I left the other mum on the other side of the door.
The mum down by the garden has three sprouts on it that are about 3 inches high and it has 3 tiny flowers on it. And I mean tiny. They're dime-sized. Little bitty golden-orange flowers.
The mum that was left by the basement door is more than waist-high on me. And it is COVERED with deep red/vermilion blooms that are the size of a 50-cent piece if not a bit larger. It is positively breathtaking. I didn't think garden mums were supposed to get that big. Other years, I have planted the Easter mums from church by the basement door, and they, too, grew very large (every year I donate flowers at Christmas and Easter in memory of my mom and dad). Unfortunately, the regular potted mums only come back for a couple of years, and then they die out. I wanted a mum that would come back again and again. My mother liked mums and planting mums is one way I can feel a little closer to her (she died 20 years ago).
Now I'm going to have to dig up the garden mum from down by the garden, put it in a pot, put it in the basement, hope that it survives until next year and then try to find another place to plant it.
It's not just the mum, though. None of the flowers I planted in the bed underneath the tree have done very well. Except for the irises. They look pretty good. Not enough of them, unfortunately. But they look good.
I'm thinking that the tree simply uses up too much of the available water in the soil to allow the other plants to flourish. I watered the bed under the tree this summer, too, at the same rate that I watered my other flower beds with water from the washing machine when I was finished with a load of clothes. To my way of thinking, the washing machine water might just as well help my flowers and vegetable garden and my rugosa roses and lilacs and transplanted trees rather than going down the drain to grow grass over the drainfield. The grass over the drainfield grows fast enough and thick enough as it is, thank you very much.
So, next year I will have to consider planting some more irises and some day lilies under the tree. It's a nice spot for a flower bed -- if only I can find more flowers that want to grow there!
LeAnn R. Ralph
Tomato Update -- if I was up to my wrists in tomatoes the other day, I'm going to be up to my forearms in tomatoes today (still not up to my elbows yet, though). I picked 12 quarts of Romas this morning, so I'll be starting another batch of spaghetti sauce this evening. Maybe I'll get four quarts out of it this time!