I heard from him a couple of months ago. He's engaged to a wonderful woman, is busy living his life and planning a future with her. He is very happy. Consequently, he hasn't been on the garden forum much the last year or two. I do miss seeing him here, but I understand his priorities have changed a bit.

We got some pecans to him last year and I don't want to run out this year before I hear from him just in case he wants more. I'm guessing he has moved by now and no longer lives on the border of the panhandle. For some strange reason I always enjoyed driving though Guymon and seeing the highway exit to his town and thinking "Jay lives right up there".

So Jay, if you ever check in and see this, I will be making an I-40 run to Amarillo and coming back through Guymon in March and have a bag of pecans to give you if you are out of last years.

Scott I just sent you an email. I still live in Elkhart during the week and the weekend I'm on call once every 5 weeks. The rest of the time I spend either down at Leedey or traveling to and fro. I recently purchased a few head of cattle so imagine that will bring on the snow and cold. LOL

Hi Jay, Glad you checked in to say hello to everyone. We all worry when someone isn't on the forum for a prolonged period of time.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your fiance'.

Thanks for buying cattle. We needed some cold and snow. OK, not really. I doubt we have been cold enough down here to meet your standards of "cold", but it was 25 degrees here yesterday morning and I was wondering who to blame. Some models show our part of the state near 70 degrees on Christmas, so your cattle haven't permanently jinxed southcentral OK, at least. : )

This morning is not nearly as cold as yesterday, but we still have a few hours until sunrise.

Dawn

Dawn it is 15.9 here presently. Was supposed to reach 14. I keep telling myself I need to drop in but seems I stay busy. Or maybe I'm just getting slower. LOL. Had the best late tomato year I've had in years. From Sept 1st until the freeze I was covered up with tomatoes although I had about 1/3 of the normal amount of plants.

I am so happy to hear you had a great tomato year. I think you're busier (grin) 'cause you're driving to Leedey so often.....and I think it is great, even though I miss seeing you here. I won't say you're getting slower, but I think I am slowing down a little more each year. Getting older is not for sissies!

I guess you must have had enough rain for once.

We had enough rain, and in fact, too much. I've lost track, but we will end the year with 72-73" of rainfall, which was as ridiculous as it sounds, and includes 24+" of rain in May, including a foot of rain at our house in one day (the same day that our county courthouse in Marietta suffered massive flood damage). Our previous annual rainfall record was a little under 60" and dated back to 1980, I believe. It is incomprehensible that we have had more than a foot more rain than the previous record.

I had an amazing tomato year despite the rain, but did have to deal with a lot of cracking, splitting, disease, etc. It is a wonder the plants survived (so grateful they all were planted in raised beds) and made fruit. It was not necessarily a great tomato year for other gardeners in our county. Much depended on when they planted (the earlier the better, as early planting led to stronger, better-rooted plants that were able to survive excessively wet May and June soils) and on how they were planted---those in raised beds and well-drained soils fared better than those planted in heavier soils or at grade level.

I rarely get the same weather here for two years in a row, so since 2015 was generally cooler and wetter than usual (except for July and August and most of September), I expect 2016's tomato growing season will be hot and dry.