Jock, crops and hail

[Sam I Am]

What a night we had! At around 3:30 am all hell broke loose in our area. Jock let me know quickly about the storm, thunder, rain and hail that totally destroyed my garden. I had started 15 tomatoes from seed during the winter...well all that remains are stalks:(. On a small and very very small way, as it does not impact our livelihood, i totally understand the devastation that this horrid weather has effected the crops around our area. On a good note Jocks fear of storms is easily controlled by tethering him to me ...even in bed. He just lies down and goes to sleep the minute his "special" lease and collar are put on him.

I hope the farmers fields don't look like my garden!

[hheldorfer]

I'm sorry to hear about your nasty weather and the loss of your tomatoes but glad that you and Jock are OK.

Mixed feelings, though . . . I'd sacrifice my tomatoes if we could just get an hour of rain here.

[Lynn in TN]

It finally started raining here on Monday it is now Thursday it's still raining. I am so grateful for the rain but it was to late to help the farmers in our area. Almost all crops are lost to the drought. A lot of people now have flooded homes. The past 2 days the rain is just enough to make it gloomy and keep everything muddy, but the bright spot in this all is that we now have green in our yards, and the temperatures have remained in the 70's. Kelly has remained happy through it all.

I feel for everyone that is battling the weather this year and hope everyone is well.

[Kathryn]

Such a strange year for weather...

We had a hail storm at home a few weeks ago - very localized, and it did not even rain by my office just 8 miles away. The insurance adjustor was out last week, and he is recommending a complete roof replacement on our home. Yikes. We will still have to pay the deductible though.

We spent close to $300 in city water over the last month keeping our yard/garden going. We are on a relatively small city lot, on a corner, but all of the yard and the boulevards are perennial gardens.

I am letting the dogs run through the gardens because what the heck now, anyway. Usually they don't get the privilege until fall. But everything is already frowsy.

Still, I could my blessings that I don't make a living from this land, and I do worry about our farms everywhere (and Lori's and Demp's and a few other friend's farms in particular...).

[Dempsy's Mom]

Sorry about your garden. I know. We work so hard at keeping everything alive and I guess sometimes it's just not meant to be. It's the shits. We still haven't had any rain. Tonight the rain clouds went around us - so hopefully somebody got rain. Now they say another week of heat.

[Idaho Cairns]

Same here, our "storms" are "blow and go's" --lots of wind, about twenty raindrops, thunder, and then nothing more. The river where the girls swim is the lowest I have ever seen it in 42 years--irrigation needs have drawn off almost all of it. That hot dry Shirroco wind is driving me nuts and the dogs won't stay outside for five minutes before they are back in the air conditioning.

[pindrop]

I do feel bad for everyone who is in this drought period and hopefully the rains will eventually come. Here in Maine we had an extremely wet Spring but lately the weather have been absolutely perfect - low 50's at night and high 70's during the day with little or no humidity. However, yesterday and for the next few days it will be in the low 90's - a tad too hot for me. Thankfully, living in a log home, the walls are 6" thick and the heat doesn't penetrate so keeping the windows and doors closed during the hottest parts of the day make the house a refuge. Take care everyone and have a nice weekend.

[josie&holly]

Fed up of the rain here, just had a couple of pleasant days after a week of rain and now rain again - have told Holly she will have to develop webbed paws!! I need an "automatic dog dryer" for when she comes in from garden but instead I have "eau de wet dog"!

Many places had floods earlier in the week which have ruined some crops, ruined shops/homes.

They are now worried about the Olympics being wet, but I am not interested in that I would just like to be able to take my dog for nice long dry walks!!

It seems that over in the States you are having bad weather whether it be the heat or the storms. I feel for Lori and her farm, I also feel for those who have lost plants in garden and I feel for the dogs who cannot cope with the heat.

The climate has obviously gone crazy.

[Tessie's Mom]

So sorry about your garden. I don't have one this year, one little puppy is all I can do at the time.

Last year I had a garden and lost all my Okra to fire ants because it was so dry.

[bradl]

Love that 404 error message

[Dempsy's Mom]

Any extreme in weather is hard to take. But this was our last chance of rain a couple of days ago. One small spot got an inch of rain right over one of the biggest farmers in Spink County. Now I know it's hot, but doesn't that frost your fanny. This kind of weather calls for a "dry" sense of humor. Oh well.

[Hawkeye]

Sorry to hear about your garden. This has been a crazy summer all over. Like Pindrop mentioned here in New England it has not been too bad. We have had a rainy spring and now getting some heat, but nothing like the mid-section of the country. Then the UK has had more rain than they know what to do with and their temps I believe have been on the cooler side. I am really concerned about the crops this year and fell bad for Lori & Demps farming.