Catching Up

Tomatoes, Peppers and Millet

Warning...picture heavy! 

Cabbage!

So as I may have mentioned in an earlier post, we were getting extremely dry here.  Typical July/August weather, but still after last years drought, a bit scary.  All that changed last week.  We have had monsoon like weather for over a week.  I lost track somewhere, but I think we got close to ten inches at the little farm.  Maybe a bit more.  It would storm everyday--sometimes several times a day.  The usual pattern though was for it to roll in around 4:30-6 a.m. (chore time) and then clear up a bit in the evening.  The ground was very saturated, but we never got into any serious flooding issues, because for the most part it came steady but slow.  However just a few miles from us, people would randomly get true gully washers, and there was a tremendous amount of flooding in places that haven't flooded in decades if ever.   Evacuations and even several deaths were the result.  The whole pattern was bizarre.  We are still under possibly more rain issues this week, but so far it has been mild showers in our area.  The humidity doesn't feel as bad, but it's been pretty high the last week--it feels nasty when you walk out into it. 

I wasn't really saying 'I told you so' but it wasn't a surprise to see the brand-spanking-new-built-on-edge-of-the-riverbank RV park under water one morning.  I mean it's called river bottom land for a reason.  Sigh.

My 'new' planter--this is an old bbq grill that I had converted to a flower pot when I was a kid.  Fast forward 30 years and I found it squashed flat under a pile of scrap that my Dad and I hauled to the recycle center.  I popped it back into shape and scrounged some broken bits of  'wandering jew' plant off the parking lot at MFA, and added some flowering plants and viola! 

This was the scene a few weeks ago when it was so dry and the leaves were falling into the dog's pool

The rain has been a tremendous boon to pasture, and if all goes well, I should have pasture way up into the fall, with judicious rotation.  I'm falling behind on mowing as it's so wet, but did manage to slog the weedeater through the jungle in the catio and around the garden on Saturday.  I had several limping sheep for a few days which is probably from wading through the muck in the paths, but always a concern it could be something worse like foot scald.  They do seem to be clearing up on their own though. 

Meshach--high on 'nip

I'm posting some picture of my gardens, but this was before the monsoon and it has tripled I think in growth since then.  Some of the tomatoes are splitting because of too much rain, but am hoping the rest will be good.  I have lots of varieties this year and for the first time ever some nice looking heads of cabbage ready to harvest. 

My two old outside girls--Echo on the left snuggling with her mom Dixie on the right

The fur crew seems to be doing okay.  They keep me way to busy meeting their lengthy demands, but I'm always thankful when the day is done and everyone is still alive and kicking and in good spirits. 

After a week on good food, and meds to heal up his allergies. Can you even resist that face??

I still have the stray dog, and even though I have exhaustively searched for his owner, there has been no response.  I have put up fliers,  newspaper ads, all the online lost and found (and craigslist) avenues and haven't had anyone claim him.  I've had several people ask if they could have him, so I'll have to face placing him soon, but you better believe the person that takes him is going to be given a thorough checking.  I gotta tell you people make me pretty sick with their lack of commitment.  One minute 'oh I'd love the little doggie' and then the next thing you know the 'little doggie' is old or a nuisance and they kick them out.  Jerks.  I mean how does an 11 lb house dog end up in a remote area on his own with no one looking for him?    Can you tell I'm stressed by this responsibility of finding the little guy a good home?   The little Jack Russell I found and was able to adopt into a loving home last fall is doing so good.  What a lucky little dog he is.  I'd love to find an equally caring home for this guy. 

Here is the little wart hog--you can still see the bare areas--he has a good covering of short hair coming in

It doesn't help a bit that he reminds me of my first little dog--Boots--although he is much nicer than my beloved spoiled Booty.  If I were at a point in my life that I were retired and home much of the time he would stay, but it will not be fair for him (or me) to go that route now.  He has come out of his shell a bit and seems pretty assured in his place in this 'new life' he has.  Scares me to death how he plays with the big dogs.  Although they usually try and be careful, Minty isn't a very careful dog and she plays pretty rough.  Carly is usually more mindful of him and will even get down on his level to play by laying down.  She had his leg in her mouth gnawing on it the other night--at least it looked like she was, but obviously she wasn't crunching or he would have been yelping!  My first three dogs I had when I moved out were two collies and a Pomeranian.  The Pom came a little later and grew up thinking he was a Collie.  Nicky would lounge around in the Collies mouths while they chewed their bones!    Pray I can be discerning in finding him a safe and loving home!

Here you can see his size in comparison with the girls.  They have all gotten along well--they were trolling for treats here

The Collie girls are doing well, but I think I'm drowning in hair.  Will they never stop blowing coat this year??   Minty has had a big hotspot on her back near her tail and Ashley has had itchy paws--to the extent that I made her her own personal set of leggings to wear at night so she wouldn't chew them raw.  Liberal amounts of organic coconut oil were applied to both dogs and things are better now.  I have also been rubbing the little dog's bald parts with the coconut oil and tell him he looks like a little wart hog ready for the BBQ grill.   The stuff really seems to work though and it doesn't sting like the meds from the vet.  

Ashley in her hated super special leggings--doesn't her expression say it all?

Can't believe it's mid August now....Autumn is nearly upon us and will rush by...and then it'll be Christmas..  (do you want me shut up now?)  Oh, to be ahead of the game just once.   I'm sure though I'll go falling through the seasons as usual, everything last minute and hectic. 

Hope you all are doing well during these summer days.  I do read your blogs, although I'm not always good about getting to comment.

And She Howled....

Friday before last, it was very hot and humid, somewhere in the mid 90s. It had been getting warmer and warmer all week and was just about miserable.

The weather people kept saying that there was a cold front coming in Friday and a drastic change in weather.  Well, we still need the rain, so the news of a possibility of rain was promising.  Friday dawned sunny and hot...noon came and it was still sunny and hot.  By mid afternoon it was stifling and no clouds in sight.  Then suddenly there it was--a large cloud bank coming up in the west.  I had the air on and wasn't that concerned because the weather people hadn't really indicated there was definitely a storm heading in. I did put the dogs collars with i.d. tags on 'just in case'.  The cats I waffled on putting theirs on. 

Sometime there in the late afternoon it hit.  First a huge wind came up and blasted the door open (it wasn't latched) and then the thunder and lightening.  I went around unplugging appliances and electronics, still not really concerned.

Then the hail hit, and I got concerned.  I was still running around unplugging things and getting the radio out to see if anything severe was coming our way.  The hail storm hit, and she howled and wailed and slammed hail into the windows and on the roof.  It was white outside and it looked like a  winter ice storm.   Somewhere in there my concern was that all the kitties hadn't made it into the house, so I was running from window to window trying to see if any little furry bodies were laying out in the storm.  The kitties had rapidly dispersed when the hail storm hit and nary a kitty  hide was to be seen, so that a head count was not possible.

I was sure my truck was going to be damaged, but somehow that didn't happen, maybe because the wind was blowing the hail sideways.

The storm lasted about five to ten minutes of hail, wind, buckets of rain, lightening and thunder.  It was impressive and would have been far scarier if I'd taken a minute to think about it.  When I heard there was a possible tornado headed toward a nearby community blankets and pillows, radio and purse were snatched up and put into the 'vault' room (my pantry).  However there was really no time that I went in and hunkered down. 

We got about an inch and half of rain in ten minutes and almost a 1/4 inch of hail. Then there was a little lull.  It was raining lightly and still some lightening and thunder, but I ran out and checked my truck and on around back to see if the sheepies had survived.  They do have cedar trees to hunker under and wool blankets of course, but still I worried.   I turned them into the lot where the barns are and then ran back to the house. They seemed fine, but wet and a little spooky and all twenty were present and accounted for.

After awhile the storm simmered and died, with just lightly falling rain.  At that point it seemed a good time to head outside to get chores done for the evening, as it was forecast-ed that another storm would be headed in.  

I stepped out on my front porch, and opened the breezeway gate and let the dogs out into the yard.  Right about then the wind picked up and started howling through the trees in the woods across the road.    It was very bizarre, as the wind did not seem to be that strong.  At first I thought it was a diesel pickup coming down the road (no not a train...a pickup...), but it just kept coming without ever appearing.   A few minutes into this puzzle, there was suddenly three large booming cracks that startled both myself and the dogs.  For a brief second I thought it was lightening until I saw a large old oak tree at the edge of neighbor's land slowly topple over and crash to the ground.  Just like that.

Somewhere in there the wind had changed directions and was blowing back from the Northeast--this is never a good thing and was quite eerie.  By this time the temperature had dropped into the 60s.   

The dogs were freaked and so was I.  They went barking down to the edge of the yard while I in turn was yelling for them to get back in the hallway, fearful that there was a straight line wind coming that was going to mow everything down.  At first it looked like the tree that fell was across the road in the woods, only later did I find out that it was on this side of the road and it fell across the gravel road blocking traffic.  A road grader came and pushed it out of the road after a long and arduous battle with the big tree.   Honestly, whatever happened to men and chainsaws and road crews?  Instead an hour or so was spent pushing this huge trunk up and down the road before it yielded to being pushed out of the way.  I have no idea how many hours were spent the next day fixing the road and pushing the tree even further onto someone's property (making a huge mess in the process.).  I declare, as my Grandma would say.

After the hail and rain and the thunder and lightening and wind and backwards wind things simmered down and we continued to get a very light rain into the evening.  No damage to the little farm but it was close.  Too close.

Since we got the rain from this storm we have gotten another two inches of rain over this past weekend.  A lovely slow, slow soaking rain.  The grass is greening and it is finally looking like summer.

Isaac, Will You Be A Drought Breaker For Missouri?

 The first clouds from Isaac blew gently into Missouri on a south east wind this evening.  The skies were high and the trees rustled eerily. Despite the steady breeze there is a feeling of quiet waiting.The outrider clouds were odd and spectacular with the play of the setting sun and rising moon. 

Will Isaac bring much needed rain?  We hope and we pray.  The forecast is, well, all over the map, but the possibility seems good.  It should move in late tonight.  There is a chance of unsettled weather, but hopefully we will only get rain.  A good soaking gentle rain. But even if most of  it runs off at least it will help fill the ponds and rivers.

We have had less than an inch of rain since mid June.   A good soaker might green things up a little bit...and maybe wash off some really dirty sheep.  Maybe even brighten the spirits of some very worried farmers--both big and small. 

For now we are just waiting, although there is a tiny thread of excitement and hope in conversations.  I'm not sorry to see this distressful month of August go, and hope the door doesn't hit her on the fanny on the way out! 

 You can't really see it well, but there is a full ring around the moon--a good sign of rain as it signifies moisture in the atmosphere.  

Almost Wordless Wednesday...Again...

It's stupefying hot here. And dry--crunchy brown grass dry. It's depressing.

Most of these pictures were taken about two weeks ago when we had a nice inch of rain fall. I was in the middle of mowing a small paddock, and after a mad dash to the garage, I waited it out and took a few pictures.

Even sun worshiper Trinity is getting a little worn down with the hot weather

Taken last night on the way home.

Hot puppies (& mom) waiting to get in the house for the night (note all the smudge prints on the glass....)

Holly Hocks in the Rain
These are two of my favorite photos--love how the rain arcs off the side

Beautiful rain, we need you again

Couple of cloud 'action' shots

Holly Hocks again

Sheep just before the rain came--their pasture doesn't look like this anymore...sadly...

Gabe running quality and comfort control on a new rug I made.
(This one is merino/dorset wool, with a few dyed bits of roving for accent)

Labor Day...Day of Labor

Newly planted mums in the wire basket garden.

Having a little time off sure is nice. This summer has been so miserable hot that allot of little chores were piling up outside. There is still much to be done, but even marking a few off 'the list' makes me feel better.

This coming Saturday is the Celtic Festival...already. I'm planning on taking Rosemary's spotted wethers, who sadly still aren't named. Tomorrow morning I'll be putting them in a pen by themselves (they can still see the flock) in order to get them somewhat accustomed to being on their own. At the same time I hope to worm all the Shetlands.

This morning I have been 'all over the map' working on projects. First I moved some panels around to set up the catch pen for tomorrow, then I sorted and skirted three more fleeces. This is the last of the Shetlands. I have two more of the white merino/dorset ones to do. Then some laundry and other inside chores, and finally I worked up the nerve to use my electric chainsaw.

Here she is after her first real sawing job...

My Dad got the thing for me over a year ago and I've been 'thinking' about using it since. I've spent the last three days looking over the manual, and the saw and the extension cord. Laying everything out, thinking about it some more. As I've mentioned five hundred times before it's been so hot and dry (when it wasn't pouring down rain) that things have gone to pot around here. It seems the trees have just had a hard year of it too, with quite a bit of damage.

About six weeks ago, the redbud right out the front window, had one of it's limbs slowly start listing to the southeast. Over the course of weeks, it has eased itself ever closer to the ground. It just really added to the look of overall neglect the place has acquired over this (hot) summer. Very charming.

Little bit of kindling and fire wood to add to the stack--winter is a coming.

So today was the day, and ta-da! The limb has been sawn up, with the salvageable wood added to the fire wood stack. The top limbs will go on the burn pile. While I was at it, I trimmed up some of the other redbud limbs as well. It was really quite easy, but it's clear I have some things to learn. The best part of this little saw is that you don't have to choke it or gas it or pull any cords to get it started. Just add bar oil, plug it in and off you go. It's also very lightweight. Just the thing for limb trimming and adding to the kindling pile.

Since its been so hot and dry my tomatoes, peppers and squash plants have all just either died or look like death warmed over. My little bucket garden was looking pretty harsh, and I was sick of it. So up came the non-producing bean plants, pathetic marigolds, three tomato plants and quite a few weeds. The remaining tomato and pepper plants were re-staked, trimmed and moved up in a tidy line. In the wire basket bed I planted four mums---just for the color. I'm sick of the baked in the oven look and wanted something cheerful. The view out my back door is much nicer now and it makes me feel better when I look at it.

Tidier view of cleaned up bucket garden

As for the flood. Thursday night we got around 3.5 inches in less than an hour--on top of the 4.5 we had gotten through Wednesday and Wednesday night. The ground was of course saturated and so most of what fell on Thursday ran off. We had been very dry, so dry that the grasses in the fields were turning bone white, and weeds were even keeling over, so the rain was very welcome. Until it became too much of a good thing! (and sorry no pictures... my blogging yen just wasn't strong enough to record that mess while I was in the middle of it)...

Around 8 p.m. Thursday I noticed Gabe was sitting by the front door looking at the floor. I went over to see what he had, and instead of a bug, saw water flowing into the house under the front door. Yikes. I ran and got some towels and threw them in the floor, then opened the back door (both doors open onto the breezeway) and water gushed in over the door sill. Double yikes. I shoved my muck boots on, grabbed the broom and went out. The breezeway was flooding with about three inches of running water. It was gushing over the outer door's sills. I used the broom to 'sweep' the water towards the front of breezeway and out into the yard. My brain obviously wasn't functioning at this point and I thought it was just a 'little' problem. The whole time it's still pouring rain, and lightening. Finally I go back inside and that is when I noticed that the rain had seeped in along the wall that runs alongside the breezeway and that the back of the house was flooding.

The water was rushing out from under the bed and spreading rapidly across the house. Boone was laying on the corner of his bed, oblivious to the fact that water was soaking into the beds and creeping across the floor. I booted the dogs out, and Boone just had a fit about it all. I'm not sure if he thought he was in trouble, was upset that his inside time was being used up or what. Ashley went and got one of the outside cats and they curled up on the breezeway bed (one of few dry spots) and had a nice little bonding session.

Boone hangs on...

I grabbed towels and a couple of blankets and tried to sop up the water, I carried out the dog beds, I ran around like a chicken with it's head cut off, and the water still kept coming in the house. As an old boss I used to have liked to say--I was discombobulated. The power strips over in the corner couldn't be reached, so I just prayed I didn't end up fried. I finally remembered my beloved shop vac and slopped out to the trailer and got it. I had to empty it (of course) and drag out the instructions for the wet vac part (uhm...flood could you wait a minute while I read the directions??).

Finally after some false starts and much frustration I got the vac doing it's thing and slowly, slowly made some headway. By about 10:30 and 8.5 gallons of water removed from the house later, I was finally just running a fleece blanket (all the towels were wet) over the floor to finish drying it up.

I don't think anything got ruined. My computer desk did get some water on it. Not only did it flood through the breezeway but also in a little from the back wall. I've worked at building up the backyard over the last few years, but there was one small low spot and it came in there.

Friday was shoveling along the outside of the breezeway to make sure the drainage isn't being stopped up and washing and drying a million towels. I still need to fill in the low spot behind the house and then wait for the next deluge and see what happens. The house has flooded about three times since I've been here (25 years on September 1st!), and I had thought some of the things I've done had stopped it, but I guess it ain't so. This was probably one of the worst.

Fortunately the fur brats were so traumatized by the shop vac and water everywhere that they stayed in the front part of the house where the flooding was contained by towels. Boone stood grimly looking in the back door from the breezeway the whole time.....

But no permanent damage, and it could have been much worse--there was allot of flood damage in homes around the area.

Well, I best get busy putting together things for the Festival this weekend! Have a great Labor day!

Puppies, Floods & Blog Block

Where to start? I seem to be suffering from writer's blog block. So, should I start with puppies or, the Great Flood of 2010?

Probably puppies right? Okay here they are----

Funny looking puppies, you think? Look eerily familiar? Yes, Tempe, you look especially eerily familiar.

So the word on the pups is--no pups. Yes, it was disappointing to say the least. It seems Ashley really did have a secret---it's called a false pregnancy. So up until about a week before her due date, I was firmly secure in the fact she was going to have pups. So was her breeder.

Then I gave Ashley a bath and further de-haired her.

Hmm... there sure wasn't much dog under that fur. Not much at all. In fact she looked a little thin. But she was very clean.

Boone got a bath too. Actually two baths after he rolled in the dirt immediately following his first bath. He and I were not happy campers. This picture was between his two baths.


Back to Ashley. After a flurry of emails and calls Helen decided to come and see for herself. So Helen came and saw for herself. And it wasn't a good thing. Ashley was not pregnant, unless she was cleverly hiding them in some tiny space in her skinny body. Being basically paranoid and over protective of everything I went ahead and treated Ashley as if she were right up to first due date, second due date and three days after second due date. Which meant she got to stay in her 'gorilla cage' during the night and the day when I wasn't here to watch her like a hawk.

And while Ashley even went so far as to produce milk she did not produce puppies. Now she is slightly depressed (whether from being kicked out of her 'special pen' or because she wants puppies I don't know). Lots of attention, cheese smeared on a rawhide bone and a little competition from Boone is helping. She also got to mother one of the cats last night during the storm and she enjoyed that. I'll be keeping a close eye on her to make sure she doesn't develop any infections or problems of that nature.

As for the gorilla cage? Well, I needed a cat secure area for Ashley to whelp her puppies. An area I would be able to feel comfortable leaving her and the puppies while I went to work. An area that no cat could stick their nosey nose into.

Enter the gorilla cage. All my furniture in my tiny living room was shoved over into the equally tiny 'dining area' and spilled over into the kitchen itself. But this then left me with a nice roomy area for Ashley. Horse panels do cost a bit, but they last forever and I can use them for tons of things. A couple of 16 ft panels cut to size, a couple of used 1 x 2s wired across the top, some chicken wire to enclose the top and ta-da! Almost instant whelping pen. The swimming pool is one of Boone's old ones and would have been the 'whelping box' instead of the cat bed if Ashley had had puppies. Pretty nifty. Even if my house did look like a commercial kennel and I prayed for no visitors for the next 8-12 weeks!

Here is the pen. It really didn't need to be that tall, but I didn't want to cut the panels up any more than necessary. I will say the cats have gotten their money's worth out of the whole non-event. Such fun they've had. I expect they are going to be crushed when I move it out tomorrow. That is my couch just on this side of the pen. It normally sits against that back wall. I'm thinking of getting a different couch too...but that is another post.

So sadly no puppies for now. I was really hoping to get it done and behind us so Ashley could be spayed and go on with things. This would have been a good time for puppies with the warmer weather. We'll have to try again next heat, and hope the results will be more positive.

And since this post is already long, I'll wait to tell you about the great flood...of Boone grimly perching on his soaking dog bed as the water rose. Water in the front room, water in the back room. Water everywhere....

Things happen when you get eight inches of rain in less than 24 hours after a long terrible dry spell.....

Gasp......

After the early morning storm..

After a week of uhm...generous rain, now it's just hot and miserable. The temperature is 91 but the index says it 'feels like' 100. Humidity is hanging in there at 58% and it's so thick I think I could cut it with a butter knife. Yep.

My floors are concrete and when the moisture in the air gets this heavy the floors sweat, making them damp and even sopping wet in places. I do have vinyl floor coverings, but obviously something isn't right in that situation.

The sheep are panting, Boone and Ariel are miserable (and panting). The chickens are laying low and yes, panting. Only the cats seem to be able to become so immovable that the heat doesn't seem to affect them so much. Oh, and yes, when I get home, I'm miserable, but I do try and refrain from panting. Maybe a huff and puff here and there though. This is one of the few times I enjoy going to work---where it's air conditioned!

Earlier in the week I was about fifteen minutes late for work---because of a fast moving storm that rolled in just at morning chore time. Despite making several efforts to get out and feed the sheep and chickens, I was driven back inside by the close lightening. It was very unnerving. With only half of the sheep fed there was finally a break in the storm and I rushed out and opened the gate to the pasture, put the chickens out and called it done. There was some mumbling and grumbling amongst the sheep that didn't get their grain treat, but some days are like that, dontcha know.

The hot weather is suppose to hang on into next week, with more storms tomorrow. Hopefully everyone will hang in there and survive this hot spell. It gets tricky when half of the critters on the farm are geriatrics.

And the Rains Came Down.....

House just outside of the town I work in. This entire valley was flooded, when normally there is a little trickle creek that runs just to the right in the picture. This was about two hours after the storm left the area. I had never seen this house flood.

This is the Niangua River--not at full flood level yet, but overflowing it's banks. I'm sure it got much higher overnight, as I could hear it roaring from the house. (I live in a horseshoe bend area of the river, but it's about a mile and half from my house).

My Mom took this picture out their backdoor. This is their back yard, which is a slight slope and by no means a 'low water' area. There was a pretty good river running downhill.

This weekend is the Fiber Fest--the truck is loaded and I think I'm ready.... I hope it will be a successful weekend. It's been a busy week, trying to get all the fiber and promotional items ready.

It's suppose to rain tonight--maybe more violent storms, but I hope not. It is calling for rain in the early a.m. tomorrow and cool temperatures in the 60s. Fortunately the event is located under livestock pavilions, so that helps immensely.

I mentioned before that we had a crazy storm system move through last Friday. It came mid-morning and lasted for what seemed hours, but was more like 45 minutes. This particular storm type even has a name---Derecho. It's described as 'a long lived thunderstorm induced windstorm'...really. What it looked like was a mini hurricane, with rain and wind swirling and blowing every which way. The storm that blew in on Friday caused wide spread wind damage, with an estimated 17 tornado reports, straight wind and damaging hail. One person was killed near here when he and his wife were sucked out of their home and thrown into a field.

I was at work when it hit, and the sirens went off. We grabbed our purses, radio, flashlight and other worthy things and trundled off to an inner room located on the lower floor. Sadly we weren't in a hurry and even after landing in the 'safe' room, we roamed about looking out windows, and in my case procuring a better radio from the office--and while at it setting up the copier to run 500 more copies. Just in case we didn't get wiped out by the tornado. Only later did we realize how severe the storms were. I had my camera with me but did not even think to take pictures of the wind and rain and the flood waters encroaching on the office behind ours. The sirens went on and on and on. As in the last time the sirens went off, we had people 'wander in' from off the streets to wait out the storm with us.

On the way home I snapped a couple of pictures but they aren't that impressive. We had about 3 to 3.5 inches of rain in about 45 minutes. I have not 'in all my born days' as they say, seen the water rise that fast. There were rivers in the roads, lakes in the housing developments, water where there had never been flood problems before. It was freaky.

Buzzards drying out

I was very thankful that we all made it through the storms, as well as having no property damage. It looked like I had a little 'river run through' my breezeway and some overflow into the kitchen, but it was minor.


When I got home I noticed something 'funny' about the empty house across the street. At first I thought the chimney had been damaged, but a closer inspection showed it was two vultures or buzzards perched on the chimney. I suppose they were trying to dry out, but I have a little hope that they may be nesting in one of the abandoned buildings. That would be pretty cool.

In the evening I started to get something from the cloths hamper and noticed a dark blob on the arm of my office chair. Hmmm...that sure looks like a toad. And it was! I'm not sure how it got in, but I figure it had something to do with all the rain and flooding confuing the little critter. I threw a little rag over it and turned it outside. No house toads, please.

Stranded Toad

The ground is super spongy and soft here and hasn't had a chance to dry out. I had to laugh when I saw on the news tonight that we are going to have an 'extended dry period'....all of three days long that is.

Have a great weekend!