I guess we're about normal here, for the year. I'm in the 100-110% range. So Dawn, do you live down in that blue area on the southern border of the state? If so, WOW!

Ours looks rather normal, but we just had a huge thunderstorm this morning. We are soggy again.

Game bird,

Yep, that is us in the blue. Our drought, obviously, has ended. Lots and lots of standing water, washed out roads, water in a few local buildings, etc. After the 12.86" of rain fell last Wednesday, the Red River rose about 14 or 15 feet, but it is now falling.

Carol,

Isn't "normal" for y'all pretty wet anyway though? Sorry to hear y'all are soggy again. We are soggy "still". I thought we'd had a bit of drying and then it rained again, so that wiped out the progress we'd made toward being a bit drier.

Dawn

Yes, wet in the spring is pretty normal, but we were dryer than usual in the early part of the year, but I think we have caught up. I still have not planted much of anything. The only two days this week that didn't get rain, I was in OKC. I have been to OKC three times in less than three weeks and this time I spent two nights. I must stay home....I must stay home....I must stay home. Actually I would rather be at home than anywhere else in the world, but I am not having much luck at doing that right now.

Carol, did you get to swing past my house? I need to take pictures, this is always the pretty time of the year for the garden...and the sun is shining today :)

Dawn: It looks like OKC is about right on target. That was really about what I thought. I have appreciated all the rain, and it hasn't seemed like too much yet. :) The grass sure loved it. It was like mowing a field last night!

Lisa

I woke early this morning, took my coffee out on the back porch and was happily thinking that maybe we escaped the rain during the night, when the wind picked up and the skies opened and just poured down. You know, when you need the rain, it's so cozy to drink your morning coffee to the sound. But when one more drop of water is the absolute last thing you need, it can be downright depressing.

So much water is standing in my back yard, I dug a trench so it would drain out the back fence and into the park. That was hours ago and it is still draining.

In the front, the pinks I have been babying for several years have really been struggling to grow, a few have even bloomed, but the leaves are curled and stressed-looking. This morning, in the rain, I dug them all out of the mud and I have had to put them in planters with dry potting soil.

I had to prop up my apple tree, which was so waterlogged it was leaning about a foot from straight. I was glad I noticed it as gravity would've probably pulled it the rest of the way down before too much longer, and the two apple trees are the only fruit trees that escaped the freeze this year. That poor tree has had a really hard time of it. DH staked it when I planted it, but he always puts the stake too close. So I'm sure it was damaged some when I had DH remove the stake. He is learning, but he seems to always learn by ruining something. I had a part in this one, too, as I put one of those shredded tire circles around the base, and that was a big mistake because it didn't let the trunk develop. And it must've kept the ground too wet because the roots sure haven't gone very deep. It's been in the ground about 5 years and I did have an awfully nice bunch of apples from it last year, although it almost tipped over that year, too.

I'm grateful my veggie garden is in raised beds. Everything looks OK so far.

Meanwhile, in the house, the ants are driving me insane. None of the stuff the bug man left has been working. I guess I'll have to call him and ask him to come spray again.

Now I'm starting to worry about my iris rotting in the ground.

Looking on the bright side, we have no water in our house, though lots under it, and we're able to get out and about as none of the roads have gone under water yet. Lightning did hit a huge tree that went down across HWY 75 not far from us, and right from the front yard of one of DS's buddies. The City came and moved it but they left it across his driveway so I hope he was already out of the garage by then....

Yep, right about normal for us so far. And normal for me to be getting frustrated about not being able to do what I want when I want. :-p

Got Kentucky Wonder beans and National Pickling cukes planted just now. In for a break to let baby cool off then back out for more, I hope.

Tomatoes look horrible. This is the second day in a row of sun/no rain so hopefully they'll pick up shortly. *crossing fingers*

Lisa, I've been out mowing my yard....and our fields....and even the bar ditch. I had to use a string trimmer to cut the bar ditch because it is too full of gravel from the driveway to use the lawn mower. I'm about tired of mowing and weed-eating but still have an acre or so to go.

Ilene, I saw your storm on the radar early this morning and thought to myself "There goes a perfectly lovely morning right down the tubes...." Oh, well, in July an early morning rain shower would be a blessing, so let's just pretend it is July.

I hope the apple tree is going to be OK. It sounds like it has had a hard time rooting in firmly. In the late 1980s or early 1990s, we had a tremendously rainy year in Fort Worth and the ground became super-saturated. Huge pecan and oak trees came crashing down to the ground in the city-owned Trinity Park (along the banks of the Trinity River) and at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden. These were huge trees, often over 80 to 100 feet tall and 100 years old or older. The soil was so wet it couldn't support the trees and they just fell over. Until that happened, I didn't even know rainfall could cause something like that to happen.

We had ants coming into the house so I just mixed about a tablespoon of orange oil (I use Medina brand) and a teaspoon of Dr. Bronner's Liquid Peppermint Soap into a quart of water, put it in a spray bottle and sprayed it around the window where they were somehow coming in. That was probably a day or so after the foot of rain fell, and I haven't had any ants in the house since then. Usually the orange oil kills them (it dissolves their exoskeleton) and the peppermint diverts them to a new path, and I used both so that if they survived the orange oil, they wouldn't cross the peppermint-scented area. They started falling down and dying while I was still spraying. I also use the orange oil for flea control in the dog yard.

I'm starting to worry about everything in the ground.

Diane,

Isn't it a shame that rain falls heavily during planting season? I wish we could get it all planted and then get gentle rainfall, not monsoon rains.

My first rounds of cukes, zukes and squash died, presumably from the foot of rain that fell in one day. I assume it suffocated their roots. They are not in raised beds. So, I am going to have to replant, but can't even think about that until the soil dries out some more. I haven't even given serious consideration to planting beans and won't until more drying occurs. The cabbage, broccoli and onions seem very happy though.

My tomatoes are just starting to show signs of stress nine days after the flood. Their color is starting to look a little "off" and some of the lower leaves are yellowing. Hopefully they can survive, but I don't know if the ground will dry out quickly enough. (sigh) If more rain continues to fall before the ground can dry out some, then I don't think all the tomatoes will make it.

Today, too, I noticed the corn is starting to look bad and I am preparing myself for the possibility of losing it. It just has that off color, sort of pale greenish-yellow instead of its usual deep green. If the corn dies, I won't replant because any corn I planted now wouldn't have much chance of pollinating and forming ears before the temps start going over 90 on a daily basis (which can inhibit the formation of kernels). I guess if I lose this corn to the wet ground, I might try again in the fall, although it can be hard to get the timing of fall corn just right.

I was telling my husband that I didn't think the tomatoes were going to survive all the rain and he joked with me that I was "gardening hydroponically". LOL

This is our second day of sun too, but the humidity is high so the heat index is pretty brutal.

Dawn

Last year I saw two huge trees fall over because the ground just wouldn't hold them any longer. One was in our neighborhood and I heard it fall. I think several things may contribute to ours though because our watertable is so high I think they don't have to establish long roots like they do in dry areas. Some years we get enough rain that the roots could rot, and other times the ground is just too soft.

Lisa, Sorry, I didn't get to come by. One morning I had plenty of time and knew I was close, but I had changed purses and left the paper in the other purse in the hotel room. I remembered the number, but not the street name. The 2nd morning we had checked out of the hotel and I never went back to that part of town. I did find time for the botanical gardens, but I couldn't see much change from the last time I went. I also spent a little time looking at plants but didn't buy anything because I still have things to put out now. It was hard to pass up some of them. As soon as Al got out of class, we drove home.

I did a little shopping but I didn't buy much. I hate shopping, but I had broken my oven stone and I like to bake bread on it so I found a new one. I was also shopping for ceramic tile, but didn't find what I wanted. I went to Gardenridge and the shelves were half empty, then I hit a fabric shop that I hadn't gone to in a few years. We met our daughter's family for dinner at Lakeside one night, and the other night watched our granddaughter play ball. I was still glad to get home because I am a hermit. LOL I have so much work to do right now that I hate to be gone.