Mom went home Sat, but couldn't get out of brother's car, ended up on the driveway. Firemen were called to get her into the house. Home PT saw her yesterday and didn't think she was ready to be at home. It seems that since she was only in the hospital 2.5 days instead of 3, medicare won't pay for rehab. Rehab place suggested calling her primary to have her admitted to hospital for evaluation and 3 days there would qualify her for rehab. So my poor sister took her to ER last night. They finally admitted her. They think she has pneumonia. It could explain why Friday she was good and Sat not so much. I am ticked at her doctor for rushing her out of the hospital in Tulsa. PT guy who saw her Sat did not think she was ready to go home but doc released her anyway.

Good bye lunch with youngest son today and then up to Bartlesville. It is almost as long a trip there as it is to Broken Arrow (where she had surgery.

Baby sat my grandsons Sunday, and the youngest yesterday morning.

XOXO

Dorothy, It sounds like the weather and pests declared open season on your garden while you were gone. I'm sorry that happened---especially with the apples---you know how hard it is to get a good apple crop in OK and then the danged squirrels had to come and steal yours.

Our September rainfall was a bit better than yours---about 0.75" at our mesonet station and about a tenth of an inch more than that here. Still, it is not enough. We remain about 7-8" below our average year-to-date rainfall and seem really unlike to get enough rain in the remaining 3 months of this year to bring us up to average. So, I guess it is just a matter of how far below average we finish the year.

Overall in OK, rainfall has been pretty good for most folks if you only look at the year-to-date totals:

Year To Date Rainfall As A Percentage of Normal

However.....the rain really hasn't been evenly distributed, so if you look at the map for the last 30 days, it shows why some areas are in trouble:

30-Day Rainfall As A Percentage of Normal

I hope the vacation trip itself was fun and restful, and I hope y'all get some rain too.

Nancy, The longer you went without knowing about the massacre in Las Vegas, the better....because one you hear about it, you cannot get it out of your mind.

The wildflowers along the fencerows and in the fields are lovely, but there's not necessarily bunches of them as they are just sporadic here and there in small numbers. And, I keep forgetting to mention that the tiny white fall asters are blooming. Still, I don't need huge fields of wildflowers to make me happy---even just scattered blooms here and there put a smile on my face. Wherever there's blooms, the butterflies are just flocking to them all day long. Today I saw two tiny rain lilies blooming alongside our driveway. They are small and most folks don't even notice them---the flowers are about the size of a nickle. They only bloom for a very short period following summer/autumn rainfall, but I'm always thrilled to see them because, first of all, they show that we have had rain in the last week or two. Secondly, they tend to bloom during the dry season (if rain falls) when not much else is blooming.

Today I noticed the goldenrod and blazing star (liatris) flowers are fading and withering fast. If we'd had a little rain over the last few days, they might have lasted longer, but it is too hot and too dry and I think they're about done. On the other hand, we noticed more yellow leaves in the trees as we walked this morning, so I think that those leaves will begin falling soon. They're actually a little late---but that is normal when we are abnormally warm---the leaves seem to hang on the trees longer. However, daylength affects when the leaves form abscission layers and fall, I think, so the leaves are inevitably going to start falling at a faster rate.

Our weather is so messed up. Our forecast high for today is 83. The current temperature is 87. Why oh why can't our weather behave itself? I don't want to be hotter than average. I'm over it. We can't we be cooler than forecast?

With the containers, the description I use (I didn't create it, horticulturalists did) is thrillers (your main, taller plants), spillers (lovely little things that hang down over the container edges, and I love ornamental sweet potatoes for this) and fillers (small to mid-sized plants to fill in between the taller thrillers and the hanging spillers). Most of my thrillers this year were sun coleus, but some were turk's cap lilies and woodland tobacco. My spillers were 7 different kinds of ornamental sweet potatoes (in this heat and dryness they have about burned up because I haven't been watering them) and my favorites this year have been Guacamole and Margarita from the South of the Border line of ornamental sweet potatoes. My fillers were red-flowered and white-flowered impatiens since all my big containers were placed alongside the western fenceline of the garden in the shade of the pecan tree. These were great combinations as long as I kept everything watered, but they went downhill quite a bit in the hot dry portions of August and September after I more or less stopped watering. Now the four o'clocks growing next to them outside the fence have grown through the fence and are sort of overwhelming the container plants. I need to put on leather boots one day, preferably on a cool morning when snakes aren't out yet, and cut back those four o'clocks before they completely bury the containers beneath their foliage.

There's nothing wrong with being a jack of all trades and a master of none. I am the same way, but I drive Tim crazy with it because I'm constantly starting new projects before the older ones are done. Still, I get them all done sooner or later.

Oh Amy, your poor mom. This just isn't her year. I hope things get better. I couldn't believe they were letting her leave the hospital so soon, and now we know that they shouldn't have. I hope the pneumonia is just a light case and that she recovers completely, and then gets to have PT to help her adjust to her repaired hip. You have been busier than a one-armed paper hanger lately, but I bet it is fun to be able to spend the time with the little ones. Babies and toddlers are so sweet and cute and precious.

The new mudroom, even in its unfinished state, is driving our pets crazy. Both the dogs and cats have to walk over every square inch, sniff everything, look it over, etc. I'm sure each one of them is probably thinking "Finally! They are making a room just for me." How disappointed they will be when they find out it is basically an entryway/coatroom and not a pet haven. Augustus also tries to come into the mudroom every chance he gets. He's always been that way. I don't know why. The chickens don't care but they'll stand on the porch steps and look into the room when the door is open.

The persimmon trees, both on and off our property, are heavily covered in fruit, but the coyotes are eating the low-hanging fruit. You can see the evidence of it in the piles of scat they leave behind as they travel around.

This might be the best butterfly week of the year so far. They are simply everywhere.

Dawn

Been a while since I've posted, been so busy the last couple of weeks!!

Dawn, our high today was 76. We're back to normal with highs in the 70's. Today it's rained quite a bit as well. Next week looks to be awful cool with highs in the low to mid 60's...about normal.

The massacres were very sad to hear about. Like Nancy, I hadn't heard much about them until later in the day. I don't keep up with the news as much as I should. In fact, I hadn't looked at it for weeks before Monday! I guess I get sick of the political nonsense. Seems all of our news sources are either unreliable or very, very opinionated, all of which I don't believe should be included in the media. Just my opinion though...(speaking of opinions)

I had planned to pull all of my pumpkins; however, it's rained nearly all afternoon. Scrap that plan. Nothing today, but I had gotten quite a bit done the past week. The cabbage is getting big. It seems to love fish emulsion. I'm hoping it'll begin to head before first frost (due in a few weeks) hits. I need to get my garlic planted, but the peppers seem to still be going strong. Does anyone know if it's okay to plant softneck garlic after the first frost?

I potted all of my spring cabbage up. I'll try and plant it out by the end of the month under row covers. Lettuce and spinach are in the ground. I'm a bit late but I need to sow a little bit more spinach in the next couple of days to put out back due to unviable seed. Not much to say other than that.

The trees sure are are beginning to change.

It has been a rough patch for me.

Well today I had a call from one of my sweet okie friends. Thought it might be telemarketing but that German accent, love her. She called to check on me and made my day, week. I am up and down right now. If I could lay still for a week I might feel better. However that doesn't pay the bills. So I keep going slowly and carefully. Rain is forecast tomorrow.

Tractor Supply Co stores are having farmers market Saturday. If you are near one check it out. I will be at the one in Lubbock after my regular market. Sounds like fun to me

Jacob, Your weather sounds so lovely and your garden looks great in the photos. Here I sit, still irritated by the heat that won't go away, still waiting for cooler weather. Here where I live, the high temperature was only 90 yesterday, but the heat index was 96, and I'd argue that a heat index of 96 is ridiculous for October. I don't want for it to feel like August---I want for it to feel like autumn!!!! So, I cling to any sign that autumn is on the way---the slight change in the foliage of a few trees, the little breeze that feels great first thing in the morning when we're still in the 70s, but that doesn't feel so great when we hit 90. lol, the gathering of the monarchs as the fall migration reaches our area.

If we can hang on for one more week down here, then we are supposed to get weather that feels like Fall around a week from today, more or less. The problem with this forecast is that they keep forecasting cooler weather 5-7 days out, and then something goes horribly wrong and we don't get much cooler if we get cooler at all. As that magical mystical day when cool weather is expected moves closer and closer, the forecast temperatures start going up, up, up. I'm counting on that cool weather next week, so hope the weather doesn't disappoint.

The weather overnight did not disappoint. The forecast for us was for showers that might drop up to 0.10" of rain, or higher amounts if you lucked out and got a thunderstorm. I guess we lucked out because my rain gauge had about 0.85" in it this morning when I took the dogs outside at 5 a.m. Our overnight low is only 74 but at least it wasn't in the 80s. It did feel awfully humid out there so maybe more rain will find us today. It won't be enough to close up the cracks in the ground, but at least maybe it will green up the grass.

Our turkey, Augustus, has to have a puddle of water to stand in on hot days, so yesterday I used the hose to make his puddle (it was about 5' wide by about 7' long). When I went back outside about an hour later, there he stood surrounded by chickens and wild birds. The wild birds were bathing in the puddle and the chickens were just sort of wading around the edges. It was a hysterical sight. There he was, essentially in charge of bird day at the water park. He blissfully stood there in his puddle while all the other birds splashed and bathed all around him and were just hanging out with him. It makes me think the birds were as tired of the hot, dry weather yesterday as I was.

Jennifer, The story about the Broken Arrow student is so devastatingly sad. From what I read, his father came out and said it was a suicide. I'd been hoping it was all some sort of tragic accident. I wish there was a way to get through to young people who feel suicidal to help them understand that suicide is not the answer. I cannot imagine what his family, friends and community are going through.

It sounds like you're going to be super-busy for the next few days. Remember to take care of yourself---and your chickie girls.

I hate that something got your Crane melon and hope you have others still on the vine.

I'm ready to put the garden to bed for the winter too. I'm just waiting for the weather to cool down enough that I can venture into a snake-free garden to do it. If we could have a couple of really chilly nights with lows in the 40s or 50s, I could go into the garden and do a lot of harvesting and cleaning up without having to worry about finding a venomous snake. Sadly, those cold nights/early mornings continue to elude us.

I would like to at least have some autumn weather. I want to wake up to a chilly morning, with the wind blowing fairly hard out of the north, and leaves of different colors falling from the trees and swirling in the wind. I want to see flocks of birds headed south for the winter. I want to be able to make a mug of hot cocoa and sit outside on the porch drinking it while I sort of shiver in the cold wind. I want to have to wear a coat to walk the dogs early in the day. I want for it to be cold enough to inspire me to bake something with apples or pumpkin in it. I want to be able to pile up pumpkins, gourds and winter squash on the front porch, add a couple of pots of mums in autumn colors, and then not have to worry the heat is going to burn up everything the next couple of days. Sadly, the weather doesn't care what I want, and so I wait for some sign that autumn is here.

I am hoping for a cold winter. A really cold winter. I don't even like cold weather that much, but we need it. We especially need for it to get cold and stay cold (which just doesn't seem to happen like it did 5 or 10 years ago) so we don't have surprise copperheads/rattlesnakes out in the woods in January or February like we had last winter. I think we had about 3 days of winter here last Dec or Jan and nothing much after that and the snakes certainly noticed the lack of cold and took advantage of it. I want snow. I want frosty mornings where heavy frost covers every plant in the pastures and they all sparkle as if coated in diamond dust. In the meantime, while waiting for all that, I'll settle instead for a day today where maybe the high temperature doesn't hit the 90s.

Usually at this time of the year I am already planning next year's garden and ordering seeds. Well, bah humbug, the endless heat and mostly dry weather here has kept me feeling too unsettled to even look ahead to next year's garden. Perhaps because this year's hot season plants still are producing so it doesn't feel like the time to be looking ahead too much yet. I also want to ask certain retailers why in the world they have Christmas trees and ornaments in the stores now while we are still in the 90s. Are there really people buying Christmas merchandise in early October? It is odd to walk into Walmart and see Christmas trees sitting beside bags of fertilizer and string trimmers in the garden center. However, I confess that if they had (and they don't, because I looked on Sunday when I was in the store) amaryllis or paperwhite bulbs now, I'd buy them so I could pot up the bulbs, water them and get them going and growing for the holiday season.

Kim, I hope you feel better soon, preferably today. I worry about how you're feeling ever since you hit your head. It was so sweet of Moni to call and check on you, and I'm glad it was her calling---and not a telemarketer..

I saw the TSC ad about the Farmer's Market this weekend. Wonder what brought that about? I usually don't check out stuff like that because, as Tim and I often say, 'we are our own Farmer's Market'. lol. You know it would almost kill me to buy produce from someone else, but I might do it if they had something there that I don't have growing in the garden right now.

It was supposed to rain lightly overnight (and instead it rained heavily for a while, and I'm not complaining) and is supposed to rain a bit harder sometime today. We'll see. I feel like we may have gotten all the rainfall we are going to get overnight. There's nothing yet on the radar for today that looks promising. At least we got rain. That's a lot better than not getting rain. I think much of OK will get a lot more today than we got last night, but at least we got something. Maybe it will hold down the dust on our country roads for a few days. Anyone who thinks it would be 'cool' to live off a dirt road or a gravel road obviously hasn't tried it.....the dust you get all over your garden plants, and even in your house, is hugely annoying. I wish everything here was paved, but that's a pipe dream. At least we have gravel now instead of just a dirt road.

Guess I'd better get off the computer and get outside to feed the chickens and walk the dogs. I'll be back later, especially if more rain happens to fall and I have mud and puddles to 'brag' about. It is kinda sad when the prospect of being muddy is the highlight of the day.

Dawn

Yippie! The rain is starting to fall up here in my neck of the woods. We are supposed to get much needed rain on and off thru Friday and then a nice pleasant weekend in the 70s. We have a couple nights forecast next week in the low 40s that I need to keep and eye on. I still have dozens of green peppers left that I don't want to lose in case it drops into the 30s. My garden is in a valley that often gets 5 degrees or more colder than the forecast low on a clear night.

I'm glad for those of you down south got the needed rain as well. We are usually pretty dry in the fall here.

About 1/2 of my romaine lettuce bolted or is bolting from last week's highs in the low 90s. I've harvested a few heads and soaked them in ice water for a couple hours and then put them in the fridge and they tasted fine so not a total loss. At least there are 7 or 8 more that are still heading up well.

I've picked the first 9 broccoli heads and a few side shoots so far. There are 5 more that are ready to pick and the later varieties will be another week or 2. The cauliflower is showing signs of trying to head up as well.

It's almost time to get the garlic planted. I'm trying to wait until Oct. 21 weekend to plant but I may split up the fun/work and do one bed on the 14th and one on the 21st.

Yippee here, too! Measuring an inch and a half since last night. Slow soaking rain--perfect!

I hope you all are having a good day--

AmyinOwasso, are you swimming up there? How is your mother today? So upsetting the way that was mishandled, isn't it! Thoughts for her--and you; rough week for ya (and her).

Dawn, is it a little cooler, with the rain you got? The radar seems to indicate the rain won't be leaving many of us any time soon. Crazy. Good, but crazy. It's 70 today and the rain hasn't let up a bit, all day long, same as some of the rest of you, I see.

I'm glad you mentioned planting, Jack--I haven't ordered garlic yet! Gotta do that. Thanks.

It has been a strange week weather-wise, and unsettling otherwise, as many of you agree, I'm sure. It was close to 100 in the sun day before yesterday--we were working on the raised beds, but it just got too darned hot, so we quit. Yesterday was much better, and in fact it was drizzling all afternoon off and on. So we picked up 5 bales of alfalfa from the co-op in Coweta, and got it in the newest bed on top of cardboard, along with some rotting firewood--it's a start. I decided not even to bother with the straw for now, and I'm not sure I even will. The main reason for the straw is to avoid seeds, but the last straw I got from the co-op was full of seeds. So I figured I might as well get alfalfa hay instead of straw. I know some say the cost is prohibitive, but at $11 a bale, and considering one bale completely covered the new big bed with flaked sheets, I think it was a good deal. In fact, I think we'll go get another 4-5 bales. Have any of the rest of you used it for beds and mulch? And if this is a bad idea, be sure to clue me in. . . I'm kinda excited about it. In fact, thinking about my old haying days (haha), we got 3 cuttings of alfalfa in good years (up north); and of course, the cuttings were done before the alfalfa could go to seed--so I'm thinking there would be far fewer seeds than with the straw we had. (Having said that, who knows what other grass or weeds were in the crops. . . although it LOOKED like straight alfalfa. . .)

How's the rain situation for the rest of you? Kim, pretending to call you. Having to send the call telepathically, however. . .

I'm also glad the chickens are getting settled together, Hazel. They can be brutal to others, sometimes. And I guess we won't be hearing much from you this week! A meal for 300--daunting. I hope you have a good team in place! :)

Dawn, I hope for your sake it cools off and gets to be autumn! I'm not sure I can wish for a really cold winter, even though we could use one. Yeah, umm, don't think I can with all sincerity wish for one. lol

I found a dead turtle in my back flower bed--it had been there for a while, as it's body had completely decomposed. I shook it's little skeleton bones out of the shell and brought the shell up. It's in perfect condition, about 4x6 inches. Fascinating to me, and beautiful. So then I got to thinking about all the dead turtles everywhere. There must be turtle shells all over the place, but this is the first one I've ever found.

I spent the better part of today working on a more extensive playlist for GDW for trips to town. I wanted some music on so I could clean in the art room--building up his list with music that is okay with me, too, pretty much ended my cleaning right off the bat. Maybe this evening. :)

Comfort food for dinner--thick cream of potato soup with some corn thrown in, bacon for a topping, and cheese sandwiches. Back to green peppers tomorrow. We've been eating them like we did cukes last month.

I went to ER

8 hours later I do have a brain... no bleed going home. :)

Pardon my stupidity....but what does GDW stand for?

I'm up in Iowa helping out our daughter while her husband is away from home but my husband told me we got 4+" of rain a few days ago and today 4.8". Thankfully we live up on a hill, but Guthrie (about 13 miles from us) is expected to flood. I saw on FB the Farmer's Almanac predicts a colder, wetter winter for Oklahoma. Die ticks, die!!!

Patti Johnston

We did not get any more rain today, not that I thought we would. It was cooler today (max temp 85, max heat index only 90), but we are expected to have temperatures back up near 90 (hopefully not at or above 90) in a couple of days. When Tim came in from work about 20 minutes ago, I explained (without saying 'we did not get any more rain' in those words) our dry day by saying "we are not under a Flood Warning, Flash Flood Warning, Flood Advisory or watch of any sort, our roads are not washing out, our water plant [unlike Cleveland County] was not shut down by a log jam so we have no water issues, and it is not still raining nor is anything visible on the radar coming our way". He said "no more rain, huh?" (grin) As much as more rain would be welcome anywhere/everywhere in our county, we are grateful that we do not have any damage or dangerous conditions. Too much rain too soon is as bad as (and more dangerous than) no rain. I hope that everyone in OK stays safe tonight and doesn't drive into high water on the roadways or drive off of washed-out roads.

In other weather news, Tropical Depression 16 has formed in the SW Caribbean and is expected to come ashore this weekend somewhere between Florida and New Orleans, possibly as a low-end (Cat 1 or Cat 2) hurricane. I'm grateful that won't be hitting us too.

Jack, I have a gazillion peppers to harvest before cold arrives. I've been leaving them as long as possible because the snakes are loving the warm days but not necessarily the cooler nights. I do think that makes the snakes a bit more visible because very early in the morning when I first go outdoors, the snakes are more likely to be lying on concrete or gravel trying to soak up residual heat. First thing in the morning (any morning) would likely be a great time to harvest peppers if we wake up one of these mornings soon with lows in the 60s, but the dogs will be mad, make that MAD, if I leave them indoors and go out to harvest peppers instead of taking them for their walk. By the time we're through walking, it might be warm enough that the snakes would be out. As long as I harvest them within the next 7-10 days, I think they'll be fine.

We are in a low microclimate too so have to take that into consideration as temperatures fall, but there's nothing in the forecast yet that's cold enough to make me worry. It looks like the cold front is coming slightly earlier than expected here, so we now are expected to cool off Monday night instead of Tuesday, and it must be going to blow in strong because our local TV met said we would hear it coming! Yippee! I'm happy about that. I think our forecast low for Monday is around 59. I can't wait.

I need snake boots and snake chaps. Then I could go into the garden whenever I want and harvest. Well, except sometimes the timber rattlers get scared if they see you coming and they climb up into the plants, but usually if they do that, I see them. Usually. Maybe I'll talk to Santa Claus about snake boots and snake chaps, and then count on my eyes to warn me if there's a venomous beastie up in one of the plants. Usually the rattlers are more prone to climb up into the tomato cages or the hardy hibiscus and not so much into the pepper plants, but you never know. It's the not knowing that makes it so nerve-wracking.

Nancy, I hate, hate, hate being cold, but am hoping for a cold winter anyway. We really, really need it. For the sake of my sanity, I need coolness soon too. The prolonged heat is driving me nuts. Today was better though, and I hope tomorrow will be a bit cool as well.

Here's the rainfall map for the last 2 days, y'all. There's some awesomely high numbers---except, of course, the heavy rainfall can bring problems and damage to sometimes that sort of rainfall looks better on paper than it does in real life.

2-Day Rainfall Accumulation Map

Dawn

Potato soup sounds AMAZING, Nancy.

Glad you have a brain, Kim. Also glad you got checked out at the ER.

Patti, Oh, I hope we have a colder winter that kills bugs!

I don't mind the cold except for the animals and my hands. I have Raynaud's Syndrome that is not associated with any other disease. I can't keep my hands warm. Other than that, I really don't mind it.

Just got in. Just shut the chicken door. Just checked the rain gauge. 3 inches in less than 24 hours. That's a lot. It's gonna be humid tomorrow with a high of 83.

I'll look at the rain gauge tomorrow, but news estimates between 3-4".

My cat spent the day running from window to window, protecting me from various birds and things that come out in the rain, while I made pulled pork in the pressure cooker and baked spiced oatmeal sour cherry cookies.

Haha, Patti, those are my husband's initials. Garry Dean. . .

Jacob, love your beds--and cabbage looks great! I don't think my cabbage is going to make it, but crossing fingers.

We got a skiff over 3"--and it came on slow so, little to no runoff. Wow, Patti--that's a lot of rain in a few days! We're thankful for our 3, as it's the only rain we've had in 6-7 weeks.

How'd the pulled pork turn out, Rebecca--does it come out nice and moist that way?

And I'm glad your brain turned out okay, Kim! :)

Okay okay, I'll hope for a little colder and longer winter than we had last year. That's as much as I can hope for. But not as cold as that one day in December last year that killed my rosemary. Say. . . lows of maybe 20 for a couple weeks? lol

We do love the potato soup--I tweaked it 3-4 times until I came up with something luscious that we both love. And of course with the butter and cream, it's very low cal--haha!

One of my heartbreaks this week is that Daffy is not well. She hasn't eaten hardly anything in 4 days. She's kind of ruffled up, not going out exploring, not trotting or doing anything, other than just sleeping. She is 15 years old. . . but has been fine until the past week. No visible signs of sickness other than just kinda being ruffled up and totally apathetic i am not inclined to rushing a pet to a vet--after all, I don't rush myself to a vet. We rushed Titan to the vet because we knew he had a bad health deal that could be dealt with. But my heart is hurting for my precious friend of 15 years.

I got to read most of this last night before the dog chewed through the cable wire....My DEAR husband went to Walmart when he got home last night and bought a new cable so we could be connected to the world today.

I don't see improvement in my mom. I hope it is just weakness from pneumonia.

We've had 2.5 inches from this last batch of rain. I drove through some horrendous rain yesterday on the way to Bartlesville. It looks like southern Washington county and extreme northern Tulsa county were on the edge of a swath of over 6" accumulation. My rain gauge has no where near that much, which I'm really okay with.

Nancy, I am sorry your cat isn't well.

Kim, I am relieved that you are not more seriously injured. You have my sympathies for spending 8 hours in the ER. I am really annoyed with hospitals in general right now.

XOXO to you all.

Kim, I'm glad you went to the ER and still have your brain....and no brain bleed. It always is better to be safe than sorry, as annoying as it is to 'waste' all that time at the ER. Sometimes you just need to be sure that a head injury doesn't have some sort of slow bleed going on that a person won't know about until it is too late.

Patti, That's some nice rainfall. I agree that we need a lot of cold to help kill the ticks and a lot of other things.

Nancy, The 20s aren't cold enough. We need temperatures in the teens for at least a few nights, and a very prolonged period of sub-freezing nights, and snow and all that. We need a real winter, not a short example of what winter could be like if we even have winter here any more. Even the 4-degree night last year was too brief to help. We had snakes out less than a month later, and had cucumber beetles out earlier than I've ever seen them....almost before I had any plants in the ground for them to devour. We need a winter like we had in the late 1990s and early 2000s when we had period rounds of snow and lots of cold and no 90+ degree days in winter.

I bought a new wool coat two years ago and it hasn't even been cold enough since then to wear it---it still is in its garment bag in the closet with the tags attached. That's sort of pathetic in a state that is supposed to have 4 seasons.

Jennifer, Y'all got excellent rainfall! It is humid today. I don't care much for the humidity, but it is what it is, and the higher RH is not unexpected. I am sure the cold fronts will sweep the higher humidity away when they roar in over the next few days.

Rebecca, Silly cat! At least it was able to keep itself busy while you were in the kitchen.

Nancy, I'm sorry that Daffy is ill. We have two cats around her age or slightly older and neither one of them is doing very well either. They are Emmitt Smith's sons. It is sort of hard to tell if they are just grieving for him or losing interest in life in general, but neither is eating well and they mostly just sleep. I hope Daffy is just fighting a little bug or something and bounces back. It seems the older the cats get, the more they sleep and the less they eat.

Amy, That dog is trying your patience. Our two younger ones, Ace and Princess, have been the same way. Sometimes I think they are getting better, but then I just wonder if it is that they've already destroyed everything there is to destroy. For example, they chewed on the coffee table in Tim's office when they were young pups and we were gone to fires a lot at that time. We haven't replaced that table yet because I'm not so certain they wouldn't chew on a new one. Princess chews more than Ace does. He's more of a digger. Princess chews holes in every blanket you give her. I've warned her that if she ever chews a hole in the sofa, she'll be spending all her time outdoors except for coming in to sleep in the dog crate at night. She's almost 3 years old now and I'd hope that she is outgrowing her desire to chew everything in sight, but am not convinced that she is.

I'm sorry your mom is not doing better. I think we forget that pneumonia can be very hard on older folks. My dad got pneumonia when he was in the hospital in 1985 (he was 67 years old at the time) following an emergency appendectomy. He came through the surgery just fine. It was the pneumonia that made him so sick that he was half out of his mind ranting and raving---just delirous from the fever. The doctors told us he might not make it and we were so, well....almost distraught. Then, bam! Just like that, all of a sudden, he was recovering from the pneumonia and acting like himself again and he came home a couple of days later. It was just weird how quickly he went downhill with the pneumonia but also how quickly he seemed like he snapped out of it. None of us could really grasp how quickly he went downhill and then came uphill again, but we were so grateful for the sudden turnaround---and then we had him with us for another 18 years. With medical stuff, you just never know. Both Tim's dad and my dad did battle pneumonia several times in their last few years. I believe that is common in elderly folks.

The monarchs are headed west and southwest today so I believe they are migrating now. I will miss them. There's been so many around the last couple of months---I think their numbers this year are the highest I've seen in 8 or 10 years so that's a good sign.

It is hot and humid but not as bad as last week or as bad as Sunday and Monday were, so at least there's that.

The trees that drop leaves earliest have a lot more yellow in them today. I think we'll have a lot more leaves changing and dropping next week.

Dawn

Okay. I'll try to work up some enthusiasm for cold weather, Dawn. I promise. I can do this. After all, it's not like it lasts 6 months, like some places I could mention. Two and a half months. Okay, into the teens. No 90-degree days (that at least is a no-brainer for me). And yes, I think snake boots and chaps are a marvelous idea! You still might avoid the worst times, but you'd be safer at some of the iffy times.

We picked up another truckload of raised bed soil, compost and a couple bales of peat. It will take at least one more truckload; after all, can only get so much stuff into the truck bed. GDW spent time mixing and moving it off and on today. . . I scattered straw/alfalfa into some of beds he wasn't working on and weeded--I realized I'd experimented more with the PEPEs than I'd remembered, and laughed today to see two clumps in the hugel bed. I'd spotted them a couple weeks ago and was having an IDK moment. . . figured I'd figure out what they were sooner or later. Yep, PEPEs. As you pointed out, Amy, it's too cool now; but was a fun experiment, I guess, even though I forgot about it. There are a few little pods coming on. There are new cleomes sprouting up out there, the rugged comfrey and tansey, a couple achillea and peppers that are gonna go away soon. I need to add another foot or so of soil and stuff in there. Problem is the comfrey, tansey and achillea. The achillea I'll probably have to dig up--I'm thinking the other two are so honking big I can just kinda fill in around/near them. . . will that work? Cleomes, well they'll have to leave for the time being.

How was your mom today, Amy? Prayers for her (and my own mom and Daff). And for all the folks in Houston, Florida, Puerto Rico, and Vegas and all across the world who need prayers. Thankful for our blessings. And how are you feeling today, Kim?

Amy, I am also hoping someday Honey grows into her name!! Growing dogs is like growing kids, isn't it? (Although my SIL in Wyoming has a young male tabby who could give a growing young dog a run for it's money. He's adorable, but VERY naughty.)

We saw very few monarchs here, but really, it is sort of an out-of-the-way little corner, so not really surprised. There were like maybe half a dozen--but a glut of other kinds of little butterflies that swarmed the lantana, the marigolds, zinnias. . .I didn't look closely, come to think of it. And we have just 4-6 last little hummingbirds that I expect will leave this week.

I had fun putting GDW's "playlist" on the truck radio today for our drive to Muskogee--I must say, I did GOOD! I liked the music, some of it a lot, and he loved it! I still have 3-4 more hours worth of music to get on it, but 14 hours of solid music is a good start, right?

And I was otherwise frustrated and busy reading reading on how to get baseball postseason games live-streamed on Roku--today was a failure, but figured it out tonight, once I caught on to what FS1 and TBS are! Sheesh. We get both those channels on Sling. We needn't have missed today's games--didn't really miss them; listened to them. Our teams out of the running, but mightily enjoy some of the contenders (Astros, for example).

Fajitas this evening. . . they're something I have a lot of tweaking to work out. Having a hard time finding good beef; I think I may check into some of the farm-raised sites soon. Meanwhile, we agreed that we'll begin going to a Reasors once a month--do any of the rest of you have any feedback on Reasors?

Yall are sweet. I have nbeen resting and then I got tired of that so I made stuff for market. Blueberry lime honey jam and cherry lime honey jelly and apple pear honey jelly. I have jujubes ready to make jam tomorrow. My produce is dropping so I thought I better step up my game.

I may not pick pears this week since doc doesn't want me climbing ladders or trees. Tomatoes peppers and eggplants herbs and flowers are all I have Ihave right now. Last week I put my herbs in plastic boxes like berries come in and I sold 4. Usually I only sell 1 loose bunch. Oh I do have dried zucchini. I better make a list. Next week I go to Denton so I will miss a market. Hopefully I can sell a little before I go.

Kim, I am amazed you spent all that time making jam and jelly with your head in the shape it is in. I hope you got some rest afterwards to help revive and re-energize you. I imagine the pears can last another week, so please be a good patient and stay off that ladder and out of the trees. That's interesting that the herbs sold better in plastic berry boxes. I hope you have a good day at market tomorrow.

It's been so hot here so late in the season that it really doesn't feel like it is October, and yet, it certainly is and one way you can tell is by the way the garden production slows down.

Nancy, Thanks for doing your best to summon up some enthusiasm for the cold weather. We need it because it helps the plants to have the appropriate down time, it helps keep fruit trees from blooming too early (to some extent), it helps (I hope) with pests and varmints, etc. I'd rather never be cold at all, personally, but I know it matters for our gardens to have a normal cold winter.

You probably can fill in around the comfrey and it will be fine. As far as I know, no comfrey plant at our place ever has died for any reason. They just keep growing and spreading, spreading, spreading. I like them for that reason though and am letting them spread to fill in a semi-shady spot along the NW corner of the garden fence. This area tends to become invaded by stuff creeping and crawling out of the adjacent woodland (oooh, we need for it to be cold so we can spend a few weekends with a chainsaw cutting back all that crap along the northern garden fenceline too.....including a bunch of trees) so I just let the tansy, silver tansy, catnip and comfrey in that corner continue growing and expanding so the herbs, hopefully, can crowd out the invasives from the woodland. It has become a butterfly habitat corner because the butterflies like the herbs so much when they are in bloom.

I have new zinnias that reseeded from the summer plants that are about to bloom. That's a good thing because the older summer zinnias have PM (I would have yanked them out already if it weren't so snakey) and look pretty bad and are dying back on their own. Having the volunteers about to start blooming will give the butterflies something else to be happy about. As the Korean summer squash died back over the last few days, I noticed that everywhere it grew into the asparagus bed also was covered with bindweed intertwined with the squash plants. The bindweed plants weren't that noticeable when the squash plants were green, but once the squash died, it was obvious that there's bindweed everywhere in that asparagus bed. Again, if it were not so snakey, I'd have ripped out all that bindweed already. Well, now the bindweed is blooming and the plants are covered in bees and butterflies, so I suppose I have to continue to tolerate the bindweed for their sake. At least the weediest weed on the face of the earth is performing some good purpose in the garden by feeding the butterflies and bees.

We still have hummingbirds, though not as many as before, so I need to refill the feeders with fresh nectar today. When Monday's cold front sweeps through, I am thinking the last hummingbirds may depart just ahead of it.

Oh, and last night, I opened the back door, in the laundry room, to pick up the dog's water dish off the north porch and bring it inside. For whatever reason (who knows what this bird was thinking?), a bird flew over me and into the house while I was bent over. I felt it as a swoosh more than I actually saw it. I straightened up, dog bowl in hand, and turned around in time to see a bird or a bat rounding the corner from the kitchen into the breakfast room. Believe me, a bird or a bat loose in a house with cats and dogs is not a good thing. I stepped inside, closed the exterior door and went running into the breakfast room/living room to look for the bird/bat. No bird/bat in sight. I stuck my head into Tim's office and said "there's a bird or bat that just flew in the back door but I can't find it". Well, the chase was on. While I ran outside to retrieve a large net (I think it is a fishing net, but we usually use it to capture a recalcitrant chicken that won't go up at night, which doesn't occur often), Tim hunted down the bird, which had flown upstairs. He managed to close bedroom doors, thereby containing the cats and keeping the bird away from them, and then the bird flew back downstairs with Tim in hot pursuit. I had just come back in with the net and he said "it's a bird and we're upstairs". Several minutes of hilarity ensued. Just picture the antics of the keystone cops. Well, we weren't laughing at the time but we can laugh about it now. Tim didn't want to use the net for fear he'd destroy things in the house by swooping it around, so he had a baseball cap in his hand, maybe one in each hand, trying to corner and capture the bird as he chased it up and down the stairs and through various rooms of the house. Eventually the bird was clinging to a living room curtain and I opened the front door and it flew out as Tim approached it, baseball cap in hand. Whew! Moments like this always make me think we have far too many wild things here.....

Dawn

I had a conference yesterday, so during my breaks I wandered over to the Myriad Gardens. If you ever come to OKC, it's well worth a visit (Will Rogers too, both are gorgeous parks). Hypothetically speaking, can you harvest seed from public spaces? Asking for a "friend", of course.

I have dinosaur gourd and luffa still growing, the cherry tomatoes are going nuts, & the cotton finally bloomed. I just hope it makes a boll before frost. It's potted, so I may have to move it inside of it doesn't finish before then.

I'm sorry about your kitty, Nancy. My "old boy" is a 17 year old mini poodle, so i know his time's getting short.

I just talked to Mom. The pain meds make her so spacy. But it sounds like she slept better last night. They put her on stronger pain pills yesterday because they blew out her IV trying to give her morphine. She is really hard to get an IV into and the veins don't hold up. So she's on oral antibiotics, oral pain meds. She freaked me out because she talked to the doctor and thought he was going to send her home and not to rehab. I called the nurse direct, who explained they are planning to keep her there until she's ready to go home, rather than moving her to rehab. I HOPE she will get more attention in the hospital than in a rehab situation, but I'm not sure.

Reasors: I like Reasors. I think they have quality produce and meat. Likely to be local, or have at least some local items. They are more expensive. If I want quality beef or pork, I go to Perry's. (11th and Lewis). They have package deals already frozen, so it would keep for you to travel. I am not offended by Aldis meat. All the packages claim antibiotic free. Their stuff isn't necessarily LOCAL though. If you're coming to Tulsa you have the options of Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, Sprouts, Trader Joe's, Aldis and Warehouse Market. I've shopped at all of them. Aldis and Warehouse Market are less expensive. There are a couple of meat markets down south I'm not familiar with. Also, farmer's markets. Broken Arrow and Cherry Street on Sat. Brookside on Wed. Probably others. Check the Cherry Street vendor list. You may be able to arrange grassfed beef direct. Who knows, could be a ranch near you.

Yes that dog is trying my patience. She needs more attention than she is getting right now. We don't have a dog house, so when I had to be gone in the rain, DH put a tarp over the patio table and weighted it down with the chairs. What did this mean for Honey? Steps, so she could stand on the patio table and pull the screens out of the living room windows.

I've been looking at my tansy from the window thinking I need to dead head. If it escapes my yard to the drainage ditch, it could wash away to places where it would be a danger to livestock. My flower bed is overgrown with weeds. There's a weed I was going to photograph. I don't recognize it. It is in both beds and about to bloom. The lantana is still putting on a show. I have some red zinnias. I'm going to have okra coming out of my ears. I think I'm going to go throw some seeds out today. Spinach and greens. I don't think I'll get to carrots, probably not beets, but gotta get some greens.

Oh, Dawn, I can remember my aunt chasing bats that would get in her house. Seems like she used a pillowcase. Silly bird. Maybe he was born at Lowes and likes it indoors.

Nancy, I'm sorry about your cat.

I don't know if I can get in line with a cold winter. Bah humbug. I will be bah humbugging until the end of Persephone days (Jan 17 here.) Probably longer, I'm not crazy about Feb either. I SOOO hate dark days.

I hope your mom feels better Amy. Now my mom is in hospital :( possible pneumonia.

I got done with jam at 10 and could not fall asleep till 1. Woke at 6. Apparently that is another side effect. Hurry up and get these over. Picking tomatoes was not as enjoyable as usual.

HI Everyone.

Nancy, I am so sorry about your cat. I still grieve my cat, Harry. I grieve them all, but especially him.

It feels weird and quiet. Tom shut down our Direct TV 'cause he got mad at them. So, we don't have TV as background noise. It's weird. He put an antenna on the bedroom TV, so we can watch local stuff or major network stuff. But our living room TV is a "smart TV" so the antenna situation is a little different and he has to order some fancy thing to make it work. Cox is supposed to come to our neighborhood (finally!), but it's taking them forever.

In gardening news there is not much. Peppers are plentiful. And I'm beginning to understand the Seminole pumpkin love. Early on they had squash bugs and were stunted and a little sick. In fact, the weakest ones got SVB. However, the stronger of the plants are thriving and making fruit. It's so weird because everything else in the garden is being attacked by leaf footed bugs, cucumber bugs, and stink bugs. The Seminole are not. BUT, where did the squash bugs go? Why are they absent from the Seminoles? It makes no sense to me. They were here and in great numbers. Now, they are gone.

My "awakeness is almost gone too. Game tonight. Contest tomorrow.

Kim, you are so amazing. All that jelly sounds scrumptious. How are ya feeling? Did you ever get the rat snake out? Did it leave voluntarily? And what's happening with the pups? So sorry about your Moms, Kim and Amy--what's happening with them? I am way frustrated that Mom can't get to her phone--don't know if she can't hear it, can't get to it. . . agghh! Called the nurses this morning and asked if they could move it nearer to her chair so she'll maybe answer it. I'm glad my SIL checks on her weekly; apparently she's doing "well" enough.

Wild times when birds get indoors, Dawn--sounds hysterical--wish someone had a video of the two of you!

Hazel, so without Direct, are you thinking of alternatives? We sure love our Roku(s). And see everything we care about seeing. So now we pay $75 a month for programming, when we used to pay $140 and never could find anything decent to watch, it seemed. Our most expensive package is Sling, at $45 a month--that's for sports. Then I got MLB TV for $12/mo a couple months ago, but I quit it this week because of their cozy arrangement with the big cable companies and they blacked out all the MLB postseason games. Humph!

Thanks so much for your grocery store tips, Amy. I'll check them all out--but we may try to get to Reasor's tomorrow, as I see they have a good meat special on.

A bit nerve-wracking with Daffy's life hanging by a thread. Thanks, all. Yes, our pets add so immeasurably to our lives. Still thinking of you, Kim, and Oreos. Dawn, loved your tribute to Emmett Smith. . . We didn't think she'd make it through today, but she has, so far. I've only had two cats in the past 32 years--Kitty, my ornery but loving little tuxedo cat, who lived to be 22; and Daffy, who I rescued in 2002 (when Kitty was 18). Garry had become very fond of Daff, too, and we will sorely miss her--but we were visiting last night and will get another cat very soon; living out here, we need a cat (or 2). I'm quite annoyed with her for giving up and dying on me, but not a thing to be done about it. I so admire the little snot, though, and always have.

Meanwhile, we worked on the veggie beds today. . . oh so far to go on them, but Rome was built brick by brick. We're so excited about them. Let me see if I can figure out to show them to you--I've had fits trying to load pictures on the new computers but think I finally got it. The bed on the far left in the bottom pic is the brand new bed--it's a big one, about 55-60 inches wide; the "hugel"-like bed is quite wide at one end, about 8 feet, but narrows to 4 feet at the other end; and we enlarged all three of the other existing beds by 16 inches, and narrowed the walkways. There IS (barely) room to get the smaller wheelbarrows and my wonderful cart (TY, HJ!) through; which will be very helpful as tote cartful after cartful of new soil! The newest one has a cardboard bottom (the hardest part was removing all the weeds first (thank GOD, turned out to be much less Bermuda than I had expected--most of it was overgrown crabgrass), and then a layer of alfalfa, and lots and lots of soil, and it's still only just a teense higher than the first cinderblock. The rest won't require quite so much since they were already going.

Kim, I'm sorry about your mom. It is traumatic for us to have them in the hospital.

H/J, we do Roku, too. (For those who don't know, Roku is a device for viewing streaming services like Netflix and Hulu). We do have Cox, but their costs seem to go up every month, so I expect at some point I will cancel cable and go back to broadcast TV. The only things I missed without cable were TNT, USA and the food channel. We're not big sports watchers, so didn't need that.

Your beds look good Nancy!

I harvested today. Ron got okra (and pickled it himself!) I'm drying Egyptian spinach and Tulsi. There is some okra in the dehydrator, too. Also cowpeas that didn't seem dry enough. I threw (literally) spinach and greens seeds in one bed and some turnips. Hoping it rains tonight.

Amy, if you invested in Sling for $30-$45 a month (depending on package), you could get TNT, USA and the food channel. . . just sayin'.

I hate to get all mushy about pets or stuff. . . but I just went to let Titan in because he was whining, and GDW from the living room watching baseball, said, "Don't let Titan in. Daffy's on my lap; maybe you should go out and be with him, if it's okay with you." Boggled my mind. Daffy can hardly walk tonight. And she has been pretty distant from both Garry and me the past 3 days. I have picked her up and cuddled her many times a day, made sure she has water nearby; and I put her on GDW's lap last night, where she rested until Titan came in, and then left. So I went over to them and petted her head, and kissed GDW's head, and came out on the deck with Titan. Poor Garry. . . tears were just rolling down his cheeks. Don't ever tell him I told you this, but this is why my life now is golden. That precious cat never warmed up to anyone, especially men. And he never was all that crazy about cats, or so he said. What a precious gift we are receiving in her departure. So blessed.

And of course while I'm out here keeping Titan company, tears of honor and thankfulness for the great blessing of loving and faithful friends, tears of joy that Daffy somehow managed to get to Garry's lap; tears of thankfulness seeing my husband's tender heart. And tears of great thankfulness that she entered my life, and for her, that she found love. I was a gift to her, she was a gift to me, and then to GDW. She was a lucky cat--we are lucky for her. She is singing a great swan song.

I've been lazy this morning. Sipping my second cup of Chai tea and contemplating laundry. I need to make pesto this weekend, desperately. We apparently got rain overnight. I didn't hear a thing.

Nancy, prayers to all 3 of you. And a peaceful crossing to Daff.

My mother sounded 100 times better this morning. She did not sound foggy or frail at all. She had just done PT and walked about 60 feet.

Nancy, if I drop regular cable I will look into sling. By chance does it have local channels?

All of DH's pickled okra sealed. There was lots of liquid, only about half a jar of okra when he was done, but at least we know it got hot clear through that way.

We are going to the Greek Festival today. It's a family tradition.

I'm so glad she sounded good this morning, Amy! She's gonna be good!!

Sling does not have local channels, as near as I can find. Oops, just saw you have a Roku--edited this to reflect I can't read! lol . So not really--but Haystack probably has some local news, at least.

Daffy did pass peacefully, very peacefully, early this afternoon, Rebecca. I had a perfect place for her to be buried, and she is now resting there.

Greek Festival sounds wonderful. I am so in the mood for good gyros.

GDW and I have been working on carting soil to the beds. Good stuff, working on the garden.

Nancy, be sure to stack some rocks over Daff's grave, with all your wild animals around. Or something like that. So sorry.

:), Rebecca, did it. There's a big heavy flat rock it took both of us to move, and 4-5 smaller ones. She lived here in her heaven the past three years. All is good.

The summer garden has declared that the season is over. Fall tomatoes are keeling over and dying without producing anything. Peppers are ripening what's left. Basil has taken a turn for the worst, so I harvested all I could and will turn it into pesto tomorrow. Eggplant is done. The last squash plant just kind of disappeared.

But, green beans are getting going, sugar snaps are starting to climb the trellis, beets are coming along, brussels sprouts are smaller than I'd hope, but alive. Carrots never came up - too late to plant more? Can I still re-plant lettuce and spinach?

Chased a grasshopper the size of my cat away from the pepper plants. I wasn't aware they liked those. And the swallowtail cats mowed down my cilantro to nothing, but left two pots of parsley almost alone. That's weird. Saw several stinkbugs, still, but got no mosquito bites.

Time to put some work in outside and start ripping things out. Garlic needs to go in late this month, and maybe some extra sugar snaps.

Those of you who freeze green beans, how long do you blanch them for?

Jen, Hypothetically speaking, I wouldn't do it, but for some people I think it would depend on how the public space is maintained. If whoever maintains that public area chooses to let their seeds fall to the ground to reseed for the next year (which I doubt, unless it is a wildflower bed), then I think it is wrong to take seeds off plants if their intent is for the seeds to fall in order to reseed the plants for future years. If the seeds are on annuals and this is the sort of place that swaps out old annuals for new annuals each season, then I assume that at best, they periodically deadhead the plants and toss the dead heads on their compost pile and have no interest in the plants reseeding. If that's the case, technically, I don't see how it hurts for a person to harvest some seeds by deadheading. A person has to let their conscience be their guide.

Amy, I'm sorry about your mom having such a hard time and being in so much pain that she needs morphine. I hope she is in good hands. Pneumonia in old folks is frightening.

Your sweet Honey dog sounds like our Princess. There is nothing in this house or on the property that Princess cannot/will not/has not destroyed or attempted to destroy.

Kim, I hope that your mom is okay. Again, pneumonia is frightening in older folks, and it always is wise for doctors to be proactive and be aggressive about treating it.

Jennifer, I would miss DirecTV if we didn't have it---we are so far out in the sticks that we cannot even get local channels without it, and we've had it since 1999. We'll probably always have it. Apparently our problem is that we are in a low-lying valley area at such a low elevation which interferes with regular local channels being picked up by any sort of antenna. Friends of ours a couple of miles away can pick up local TV with a very tall (maybe 30' tall) antenna but they are on a high ridge that sits at a much higher elevation than we do. And, for us, local channels are just that---local to Texoma, so based in Ardmore or Sherman and nothing fancy. I miss big city TV channels like we had in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Nancy, Reading about you, Garry, Taffy and Titan made me cry. There is so much love between all of you, and I hope you know that you'll always have a Daffy Guardian Angel Cat watching over all of you. Losing our furbabies is so hard, but they add so much love to our lives.

Pumpkin was curled up on top of me earlier, sleeping, just like he did back when he was a tiny kitten, struggling to survive, and the only place back then that he could/would sleep was directly on top of a human's chest right above their heart. I always wondered if the heartbeat comforted the tiny, sick kitty. He certainly still prefers to sleep right atop a human's chest, close to their heart. I cannot imagine what it will be like to lose him someday....but that day will come, and reading about Daffy while holding that crazy cat sleeping above my heart was just tear-inducing.

Rebecca, I'm not thinking you were being lazy. You were resting, recovering, decompressing and destressing. You work all the time---at work, at home....you certainly deserve to have a peaceful morning just sitting and sipping tea.

Amy, As I'm reading along, it sounds like your mom is better. I hope the Greek festival was fun. It sounds like it would be fun.

Nancy, I am so sorry about Daff and send you, Garry and Titan hugs and condolences on her loss. I'm glad y'all were able to see that she was in decline and to know her days with y'all were numbered and to have time to just hold her and love her and adjust to the thought of her leaving. To me, days like that with a beloved pet that clearly is preparing to leave this world are very similar to having a person you love in hospice care---you know how it is going to end, but you are grateful to sit with them and spend those last days with them as they prepare to leave. Agree about big rocks over graves or varmints will dig....we learned that long ago the hard way.

Rebecca, I think you can go ahead and replant carrots, and there's plenty of time to sow greens. I'd do it soon before the soil temperatures cool too much more. It is common here where I live to sow greens in October, because prior to October, the soil temperatures are still insanely hot. I know some people who plant them as late as November down here, especially spinach because it bolts so easily in hot autumn weather before we really cool down, but November might be too late up there.

We are supposed to STILL (I am sick of it) hit the upper 80s tomorrow and the 90s on Monday and then, finally, finally, finally cool down on Tuesday or possibly Monday night. If the cool-down really comes, I might clean out a bed and sow spinach and other greens seeds. We'll see. I'm not going to be convinced the cool-down is really coming until it arrives. I just hope that if it arrives, we stay cooled down. I hope Monday is the end of the 90s for us this year.

I'm in a chili, soup, stew, pumpkin muffin, hot chocolate frame of mind....flannel shirts and blue jeans....boots and warm comfy socks.....pumpkins and autumn leaves.....and the weather just refuses to cool down and let me feel like autumn ever is going to arrive here.

There's a stinky old skunk outside. (sigh) The dogs were barking, so I opened the door and looked out and was met with a horrific smell. At least the stinker is out at night like it should be, and not in broad daylight, so I guess we should be grateful for that.

We listened to OU lose the football game on our way back from CostCo and then watched TCU beat West Virginia on TV after we got home. What a strange football day. The students at the TCU game looked like they were dying in the heat down in Fort Worth---I bet it was hot in that stadium watching an afternoon game. When I think back to football in my childhood and high school days, we always were cold and bundled up in plaid stadium blankets, leaves were falling and the wind was blowing.....it seems so wrong that it is so hot and they are out there playing football.

October is the strangest month so far, though September was so hot that it was weird too. I'm over it all. I just want cooler weather. Is that too much to ask for?

Dawn

It was a perfect night for the Greek Festival. Pleasantly cool. We've been going to this festival since my oldest was in a stroller. They have dancers in costume doing Greek folk dances. Of course the big draw is baklava. But Nancy, there are gyros and other Greek goodies. It is a fundraiser for the Greek Orthodox Church, 3 days, but they must work on it for months. The MC tonight said they prepare everything months in advance and freeze it so it can be cooked for the festival.

I am sorry to hear about Daff's passing, but I am glad it was peaceful.

Rebecca, I think I saw that grasshopper at my house yesterday!

LOL re grasshopper! And then he visited here, out on the brug; well guess what--he's gone now!

Oh, it's HJ I should have been talking to about Rokus, not you, Amy. HJ!! Roku! We have been blessed with a plethora of stuff we actually enjoy watching--TV AND movies, documentaries. It tied up my life, learning about it last January and February. I was on the computer 24/7 between how to plant which seed and Roku. However, the end result for me has been that I don't watch TV much. (I must have been so traumatized by the study/learning curve that I avoid it. . . lol) I LOVE saving a bunch of money, PLUS having good stuff to watch.

What our approach was, to list the TV channels we actually watched for certain programs on Cable. Then I researched where to find them live-streaming. Then researched which streaming device to get (we decided on Roku--we LOVE it, and BTW, their stock is skyrocketing); then it was a matter of getting the Rokus (no subscription fees--outright purchase, and not at all expensive, one-time) hooking 'em up--elementary, and to begin adding channels. Many many are free. We pay $10-$11 a month for Netflix, Hulu (though will probably drop it soon), $45 for Sling (which is kind of a "baby" cable--and WE get it mainly for sports, though it also has food network, and the stuff Amy mentioned), and Amazon Prime. This vs $139.00 for a cable package. We still have to pay for internet, of course--and that's $106, but also includes our landline phones (necessary for us because we can't get cell phone reception here).

So thankful we love gardening. . . rough day, burying Daff. . . but already have been thinking back to all the joy she brought me, and then us. When our loved ones die, it is always a great life lesson for us. The bitter, the sweet. Realizing what is really important. With ALL our loved ones. Knowing that every hour of every day for the next while, I'll be missing her. That's quite okay--she's worth it--but also revisiting the great great experiences she gave me/us, which brings laughter and joy.

Here's something interesting. . . She was resting out on the deck/dying. . . I was watching, occasionally would go over and talk to her, put water on her "lips," and she didn't lick it off; so I knew it was a matter of minutes. . . I was doing other things, but checking--it was Titan who alerted me. He had gone over to where she was, and was just standing, looking intently, about 5 feet away. Then I knew. Sure enough, had her little box/coffin with blanket in it, and gently placed her in it. Titan watched from 5 or so feet away. Then I got him a treat for going into the house. And then GDW and I buried Daff, putting the rocks on top. But all this afternoon and evening, I wondered what was going through Titan's brain. I SWEAR, I did not see Titan's bright eyes. I saw big sorrowful eyes. I didn't say anything to Garry. But just a while ago, we were visiting out here, and I said to him, "I was wondering what was going through Titan's mind, and did he know that Daff's gone?" GDW said, "Oh yes, he knows. His eyes were so sad." They were indeed. He was her protector. Makes one marvel about how much we do not know about our precious animal friends, doesn't it?

The other great thing is that it gives us such a great perspective on our own impending deaths. The cycle of life. . . A good good day.

Amy, Are y'all of Greek descent? It must be a tradition for the Greek churches to have festivals in the fall, because when we lived in Fort Worth they did the same thing, and I think it always was in October too. It sounds like y'all had fun and the weather sounds lovely.

We still have tons of grasshoppers---take a step in the grass, and a cloud of grasshoppers arises from it. Usually they are gone by now, but we are so hot that I guess they just keep on keeping on. These are newish ones that hatched after the July and August rains. We didn't have many until after the rain finally fell.

Nancy, I think animals know so much more than they can communicate to us and they'd teach us what they knew if only they could make us understand. When we have a pet die, we always let the remaining animals see the deceased one, sniff it, etc. We do that so they will understand where their beloved animal companion went instead of thinking it just disappeared into thin air. I also think the animals often know when one of their animal family members is sick because I've often seen the other animals snuggle and cuddle up closer than usual to the dying animal, as if to comfort it. I absolutely think that the remaining pets grieve for a deceased one after it passes away.

When our beloved dog, Biscuit, was dying, he took me down to the 'graveyard' where we had buried his much-loved companion, Sheila, a couple of years earlier. He loved on the rocks that covered her grave, he walked circles around it, he looked me in the eyes and laid down there. My heart sank. In all the time she'd been gone, he'd never done that, and he had been in a slow, steady, recent decline, so I felt like he was telling me that it was time and he was ready to go. I told him no, that I couldn't leave him out there. So, he got up and relocated to the shade of a cedar tree about 15 or 20' away, scratched out a place beneath it, and laid down there in the shade. I let him lay there a couple of hours because he refused to come up to the house with me. As twilight approached, I went and got him and told him he had to come up to the house with me. I knew he was lying down there to die, and I was afraid that if he died slowly, the coyotes would get him that night while he still was alive. I couldn't bear the thought of that. I called Tim and told him that Biscuit was ready to go and explained it all. When Tim got home, we fed Biscuit his final meal, and we gave him 2 cans of canned cat food (because he loved stealing cat food out of the cat dish) and we knew he'd love being fed cat food on purpose. He did. He wolfed down that cat food enthusiastically like the treat that it was, then laid his front paws over the dish and laid his head down on his paws to signal he was done. Tim carried him up the stairs to our bedroom to sleep, and the next morning we made the final trip to the vet. It was so hard to let him go (his photo all these years later still is the wallpaper on Tim's cell phone) but he told us as clearly as he could that it was his time, he was ready and we needed to get with the program. The vet agreed. We buried him right beside Sheila of course. So smart, wasn't he, to know he needed to tell us it was okay for him to go?

Then, several years later, when our Honey developed a brain tumor, she kept taking me to the doggie graveyard where Sheila and Biscuit were buried, and I kept telling her no, no, no. I wasn't ready to let her go, and the vet wasn't sure it was a brain tumor. He thought it might be canine vestibular disorder and suggested we take our time and treat her for it. If he/we were wrong and it wasn't CVD, she'd get progressively worse and we could decide then what to do next. When it became clear it was not CVD and was a brain tumor and we knew we had to let her go, I walked her down there and told her it was okay and that we could let her go because we didn't want for her to suffer (she had just had her first seizure as the brain tumor grew). We took her to the vet the next day. She now rests beside Sheila and Biscuit. I still am in awe of those two dogs, their ability to know it was their time, and their method of communicating to us that they were going to depart and we needed to prepare ourselves for it. When Honey's son, Duke, developed heart trouble and his end was near, he let us know---he stopped going for our daily walks--he'd always loved to walk, walk, walk, and just decided he was done, probably because his heart was weakening. I guess he couldn't do it any more. A couple of weeks later, we buried him beside his mama. It sounds like a lot of deceased dogs, but all of them were old and had been our pets (and they had been one another's family) for many years. That's how we went from 8 dogs to 4 dogs over a period of several years and it was hard to lose another dog every couple of years, but they don't live forever. I think Sheila lived the longest--about 18 years and Honey the shortest--about 8 or 9 years. Jet is Honey's sole surviving child and he is 12 years old and really gray-haired now---not just his muzzle and face, but his paws, chest, etc. I wonder how much longer he'll be with us. Jersey is 10.5 years old and she was our 'baby' for so long, but she is now white haired, having skipped going gray and going straight to white.

One more thing about pets. When Princess and Ace showed up together, I told Tim I was worried that we were about to lose two dogs. He asked why and I told him that God always brings us a stray dog or two, or a cat or two, right before some of the old ones die. Sure enough, shortly after Princess and Ace showed up we lost Sam, who was about 15 years old, I guess, and then Honey, only a few months apart. No new dogs or cats have shown up lately, so maybe the pets we have currently will be with us a good long while yet. Shortly after Pumpkin showed up three years ago, we lost Spotty the cat, who was 15 or 16 at the time. It is almost eerie, but it reminds me that the universe works in ways we mere humans do not always comprehend or understand.

If Titan is like our dogs, he'll grieve for his lost companion too, but also will be accepting of a new animal companion. I think our dogs warm up to a new cat even more quickly that our cats do, as odd as that sounds.

I know you'll miss Daff forever, but what a blessing she was to all of you while you had her.

Dawn

Nancy, so sorry about Daff. But so happy you were in each others lives. It's funny (not haha) and sweet how Titan reacted. When my favorite dog, Percy, died about 4 years ago, Charlotte sat next to him the entire night. He was scheduled to be put to sleep the next day. He didn't make it. Charlotte stayed with him, though.

Your garden beds look nice.

We will have to check out the sling. We have a few internet types of viewing options. We have Amazon Prime, so we get something with that. We had Netflix, but when Tom got a new bank card, it was shut off (and we didn't notice for months.) We really watch very little TV, but I do like having the option of watching something I enjoy when I do have time. Normally it's HGTV or A Haunting/The Haunted, Hoarders--stuff like that.

Luckily we have a few channels with just an antenna, Dawn. Direct TV has been a pain, but I miss my HGTV, even if I just watch one show a day. We don't watch sports, so we totally don't miss that. I wish Direct TV and other providers would let people do a la carte packages. Most packages are sports packages that throw in Animal Planet or Destination America. We could care less about the sports channels, but I sure would like Animal Planet and Destination America. Tom would like the Food Network as well. Oh well. Supposedly Cox will be here soon and hopefully they'll offer a new customer price if we sign a contract for 2 years. I realize they'll go up on their price at the end of that time. We pay $75 a month for hillbilly internet. And were paying $150ish a month for TV. Too much for people who don't watch a lot of TV.

Something tried to carry off another Crane melon. There are teeth marks in it. Maybe the size of a coon? Not sure. I cut into the undamaged side and tasted it. It reminds me of cantaloupe or whatever the real word is for that melon. I think I have a couple of ripe ones now. They've turned yellow anyway. The vines are nearly dead. Leaf footed bugs, cucumber bugs, and stink bugs got them.

Amy, glad you had a good time at the Greek festival. That does sound like fun. Yesterday was such a pleasant day weather wise. We were outdoors all day. I'm exhausted today, but had to be at work by 8. We got in around midnight last night. Our band did pretty well. There's something a little off this year--a little more struggle. I think I know what the issue is, but won't bore everyone with the details of it here. They were good though. A stupid school from Texas swept in and won the contest! ;)

It was fun to be able to use my onions and peppers in the meal for the band parents yesterday. And my salsa. They are so impressed with my produce. I'm just like...y'all, you can grow this stuff too!

I'm about to head out and give the dogs some attention. They've been neglected all weekend. There's so much to do, but I really need to pull out some plants. I'm not sure I'll have time this week. I did cut down the okra. Felt bad about it 'cause it was still producing, but there just won't be time to fix it to eat now...or save for later.

Rebecca, I would be scared of a cat sized grasshopper. Those things are scary even when small!

I made taco soup for dinner tonight. Took ONE of my cayenne peppers, split it open, seeded it, and simmered it whole in the soup for about 20 minutes before taking it out. Yep...eating the soup with lots of cheese, sour cream, and a tortilla to take some of the heat out. This was for about 4 quarts of soup! They aren't supposed to be this hot.

Made gingerbread cookies too. Desperately trying to get fall in here any way I can.

I have Cox for cable and internet (no land line). I have a dumb tv still, so I'd have to buy a new one to use streaming services. As long as these tvs still work, I have other places where I'd like to put my funds. Someday, I'm sure. It is pretty expensive.

Rebecca. . . we have dumb TVs and stream whatever we want with our Roku streaming devices. https://www.roku.com/index  

Haha re cayenne in the taco soup. Ouch. But I LOVE taco soup!

Re: streaming. Find an old video gamer. My old TV goes back 20 years. The same adapter used to play video games on them hooks the Roku to the TV.

I'm having taco salad. At 9:00. Just got back from B'ville. Mom wants to go home. No, she's not ready yet. But she's better.

No, there is no Greek in me. We just happened upon this event about 35 years ago. Baklava will bring you back. And DH loves lamb. There used to be a Greek restaurant on Brookside where we went on our first anniversary, so Greek food was kind of special to us. One time we sat at a table with 2 former Tulsa mayors. In the early years, the adult male dancers put on quite a show. They would hold a table up and take turns dancing on it. They did flips and other spectacular things. As they got too old, younger men took over, but I haven't seen a table dance in a long time. Too dangerous, I guess. They started the little kids dancing young and we have watched them grow into adults. Then they bring people up to learn the dances. DH and daughter were big on that. We try to all get together and go, even though kids are grown.

PS: Dawn and HJ, had to chuckle at your posts of the pets when another one dies. First, Dawn, you mentioning you let the other pets sniff and touch; HJ, your mention of Charlotte, staying by Percy. Well, earlier, I said Titan was standing 5 feet away as Daff died. Then when I picked her up and laid her in her prepared little leopard-fabric-lined box, he was still watching, intently, 5 feet away. Hey, if he'd wanted to get closer I would not have had a problem with that. There is no way he would have come closer at that moment. A tribute to her, and a tribute to him. Let me explain. He respected Daffy as if she were God. He was a rowdy and rough 10-month old puppy/dog when he joined us. Big dog. Rough dog, who could inflict great pain, with his paws and claws--GDW and I can both testify to that. Imagine being a 6-lb cat encountering such a 75-lb monster, and a declawed cat.. She put him in his place straightaway. And with us telling him strongly to leave the cat alone, he quickly got it. He tried so many times in the past year to connect with her, and we actually saw them touch noses or be close together maybe 4-5 times. I applauded Daff for being so tough. And I loved Titan for protecting her and watching over her. Many many times, Titan's a pain in the butt for wanting in/wanting out. But half the time in the evenings, he seemed to be wanting out, but what he was really signalling was that he needed for Daffy to be let in! So GDW or I would open the door for him to go out, and Daff would come in, And then Titan would go back to the living room and lie back down. He is a hero, Big ole strong Titan who ushers any strange dogs right on outta here; who wouldn't hesitate to kill a squirrel or rabbit or get in a mighty fight with a woodchuck or possom or raccoon. Daff--he totally got what was what, He knew he could squash her with a paw. Instead, he became her champion. Love Daff for her spirit; love Titan for his.

Nancy, I'm looking into Roku. I see everything on the site except how much each channel costs. I see which stick I'd need and that cost. I know how much I'd be paying to keep my Cox internet. I just have to find out how to add up the costs of the channels I want to see if it would be better than Cox.

Rebecca, I'll pm you with my phone on FB.. . . call me, or I'll call you. I'll explain. No prob. . .it'll be cheaper, I guarantee ya!

Oh Nancy, your tale of how Titan would seem like he was asking to go out when really he was letting y'all know Daff wanted to come in surely touched my heart. He is such a great dog. He's sure going to miss her.