Yep it's name is Christobal and he's a gulf oneand I frankly don't have use for it. It was sunshiny on the way to clinic and now gray and hot. Fab. All things I can control blowing over are taken down. The rest have to fare as best they can. The last time we had a depression was in 2008. And then the temps dropped almost 40 degrees. It was weird but I don't recall the rain that we are suppose to have today.

Can I just say if you are asked to wear a mask at the clinic COVER YOUR DARN NOSE! Do you know how many people were there w the mask under their nose? And they got huffy when asked to pull them up. Good grief people. Sorry - drives me nuts if we are all suppose to be helping each other like this. Sure it's an inconvenience for us each but it protects those I've been by so be it.

Soapbox away.

Runner beans are up - they have crazy large leaves for being newly formed! The blauhilde beans are all up too. The peas are just starting to trail their way up my arch. The marigolds are looking good and the tomatoes well they look just healthy but not huge. Maybe after the rain.

The dahlias look like they want water but w the rain coming they'll have to wait. I don't need them floating. I still have to get the additional nastys on out so maybe I can do that before the rain and the dentist. So I'm off to plant. I had almost forgotten them. Best get going!

Edited: planted! Now if the rain comes I'm good. And if not I'll be out there watering soon. I have a little new garden book from the library that I just started. It's bite size words of wisdom. I'll let you know if there is something that sounds helpful. Always good to gather tips to use. And really, I was outside like 10 mins and I got 3 mosquito bites one on top of my fly bite. Argh!

Got to thinking. Thomas have you ever tried planting plants that deter the pests eating your plants? I was always taught marigolds and nasturtiums. I don't think those two do the work to rid slugs but maybe there are other plants that can do the same. Might be something to look into if your going the route of creating your own compost I'm guessing you don't want to add man made in your garden.

Man oh man. I pulled in the drive and for some odd reason really looked at my honeysuckle vine. It has gotten super huge with vines trying to reach out to my garage and to my neighbors, so I spent a good 15 mins teaching these vines to vine not to reach out and touch someone.

Started to spritz but nothing deluge like yet. Who knows maybe it's petering out bt it sure is still humid and steamy. Not a fan!

I need to water my planters on the porch they are just not happy at all.

I'll let you all know if I fly away or have to board an ark.

S Scarlet go, no. LOL. I love the idea that you think that I can produce enough compost for my needs! If only. I try hard to but I typically run out of materials. Can't say I recall ever having all bins going at the same time. I'll be close this summer though. I was really planning on sourcing more raw materials from local brewers but with the world as it is, I'll hold off on that unless I get bored and get a trailer and go grab some horse manure from a free supply. So far this season I've bought 15 cubic yards of compost/soil. Several yards of that were for grading with phase IV of the garden but the rest was to top off beds, and use in containers with my home made stuff.

Now you understand how I feel when rain is expected but never comes! Difference is you've had PLENTY lately and really don't want it. I looked at the radar, the trend is suggesting that anything that might be coming our way will go north of us before it gets here. The future cast is predicting the same. I'll be glued to the radar once I come in from working a couple hours outside, unless the skeeters chase me in before that.

Well, it's raining solidly but not heavy at this point. You know, unless this gets going soon it's going to be pretty uneventful w all the hype of letting us know in advance. Ah well, such as it goes.

Is it wrong of me to start looking at seeds for next year? I already ordered irises without having a final home for them. I think I may put the new ones in the front and the old ones in the non existent bed I'm contemplating. And dahlias, I'll keep my eyes open for some sweet looking ones. Hey a girl can't be picky! I can mix it up. I'll see what falls frost brings me and go from there!

Thomas: now what the heck are you taking about? I'm watching the weather channel. Right now your whole state is covered for severe storms possible tomorrow; you even have a potential torcon number. Can I just say I lost respect for the weather channel when they started naming winter snowstorms. It's snow, get over it, it dumps inches and leaves and then it can happen the next day. But what do I know, maybe snowstorms were sad w the competition from a named hurricane. Whatevs.

Did you survive your garden? The mosquitos are sure kicking up here.

chives. Chives are suppose to deter slugs. If the beer doesn't work try that. Unless of course you like amorous squirrels rolling through the beds. Hah. But that just sounds like trouble.

Jeanne: How's your weather? Any damage or flooding?

Amanda: did you fare ok? It moved out of your area quickly.

AM: I've got to keep tabs on the weather sitting here as hubs has his nightly commute. He's more concerned with wind and deluge. So I've got on the weather and am watching the neighborhood trees. So far sway is low. The funny thing Is my north facing windows are full of rain and the other sides no dice. Weird. This is a storm shoving from the south. On top of it I think Saturday our low is to be 47. I'll officially say 2020 is just a weird year thus far.

I watered my planters and they are happy. Crazy as they are drying out a bit quicker this year. Grrr. I swear my potting mix was more peat and Wood chips. In fact it was like a piece of the 1970s wood snow fence in one bag. Makes you wonder where they get their dirt to put in a bag. I should look that up and I'll probably be grossed out.

Alright I've got the oven on - it's pizza night as Murphy's has their any Option 5 topping limit for $10 pies. I'm off to go chill for a bit and just be. And with that thought I now want to have my flowers all in bloom and my garden Producing.

I'm not patient. Maybe I'll go splash in a puddle or two.

Scarlet, ok... lets go there. this evening we had a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11PM then clearing. I can tell you now, it aint' happening. Looking at the radar, everything missed us. Tomorrow, 60% chance of the same. Now, if 50% chance gets us nothing, then 60% is really 50% + 10% chance of showers and thunderstorms. 50% = 0 so that's 0 + 10% = 10% which aint gonna happen. It's simple weatheratics. I hadn't heard of a torcon number until I went and looked it up. Thought you went typo happy on me for a minute.

I did not survive the garden. I did not shave. I need to shave. Skeeters won. I blame myself. I did water the containers. I did plant more edamame, I did plant more beans, I did FINALLY put chicken wire over the mushroom culture that I planted months ago which is doing really well except some freaking soon to be trapped creature of destruction loves to dig for no purpose all over my freaking garden. Bad night outside. I don't know what else I did, but I coulda used another hour outside to get more clean up done. Oh I did plant a couple basils that died or got pulled out due to previously mentioned creature of destruction. I love inside gardening.

Yeah funny how the mint and the herbs, at least the bed with the chives doesn't get dug up. If all else FAILS, I'm just going to plant the allium family next year and potatoes.

What potting mix did you use?

We just got some rain and that's it. Now we have another front coming in that will bring some rain but scattered then strong winds tomorrow.

Watching the latest Titanic expedition on Nat Geo Channel.

Amanda, what year is the Titanic expedition from? I read an article recently that some court gave some company the right to salvage SOMETHING that I can't remember from the Titanic. I went and looked it up. The object was the radio. URL below if you're interested.

I shaved. Finally losing some of the fat in my face. Been losing weight and my face is the last place I lose fat. A little definition starting to show and my sanity has returned. A little. So easy not to shave when you WFH.

https://theconversation.com/ti....

It's the most current one. Brand new episode.

Oh it's a series? Don't have cable. Maybe it's on Disney+

Amanda: is that the one where they actually cut into to the ship? I saw something recently that got approval to do such. Do you enjoy things of old? I was looking at photos recently of some of the staterooms on board. How very different from what we say is trendy today or spa like where travel is concerned etc. such heavy wood furniture and brocades and the like.

Thomas: no, no typos. I may not be the best w my writing but torcon is a term. I mean hello - Jim cantore? I don't think dr. Greg Forbes ever used the term, he was my fav for tornadic weather systems. He retired and the weather channel went all trendy and hip. From how it's presented to how they dress. I digress. So I don't know, maybe the storm cloud will find you. Think good thoughts, do a rain dance, offer Chucky to the passing system. Oh goody my phone just chimed URBAN FLOODING IN YOUR AREA funny I'm a town about 1300 people. Far from urban.

So how are you trapping? I'd laugh if it were something you weren't even expecting. Have you ever seen the movie Madagascar? I could see it being all the meerkats gathering. maybe a trail cam would help you out.

Potting mix: inside I use Promix and for my planters miracle gro. I've tried Schulze in the past w mixed results. I'm limited by who has what at a reasonable price as I usually go through 2 promix bales for indoor starting and 4: 2 cu ft miracle gro Bags for outside planters. This year the potting soil smelled funky. Kind of like fish but old dead fish. Usually it has a kind of an earthy smell but this year not so much. Maybe it was old, old. Stuck in the back of a warehouse old. It's just been dry, dry and well, a weird batch.

AM: I have one daisy ready to bloom and the peonies are In all stages. The ones in the front are blooming and the ones out back aren't sure. My garden tassel flowers are gone. I'll have to plant some seed tomorrow and hope they come up on their own. The ones I planted in the dahlias are just fine and big for their young age. Otherwise the garden is holding its own for such hot temps. After the marathon weed the plants now look good. The hydrangeas are like I'm here now! It's a shade bed so hostas, hydrangeas, arborvitae etc.

I don't know if it's doing much outside. I've given up waiting for something to happen. If the sirens go off or the weather radio then I'll do something. But as it stands I may konk out early. Tomorrow is another day. Of course maybe I'll just float down the street on my bed when all is said and done.

It's not a series. There have been 3 or 4 dives to the Titanic and that's it. Each one recorded and made into a TV special. This is the first dive in about 10 years and they are studying it's decay.

Pea farts!!!! Not really I just say that when I'm at wits end. I tested my bgl at 8:40 and it was 142. Not bad and certainly better than the 200+ I have seen the last three nights. I decided to wait and take another reading at 9:00. 187! WHAT! I didn't eat or drink anything in between. I suffer from Dawn Phenomena. Found out that there's a Dusk Phenomena as well. Time to send the endo another email.

Scarlet, 1300 people? Blink. Missed it. Very urban. It wasn't until I was chatting with people in another thread of the Midwest Gardening Forum that I realized how sparsely some states are. Someone said Ohio was the place with all the big towns. I laughed and said we had three big towns. Big town was more than 30,000! Yeah we have a lot of big towns then.

Yeah I want to get a trail/game cam. I thought I wrote that but coulda been on a different forum. Something with a light and motion detection. Would love to see what drank the beer! Slug tapping was total of 6. Funny thing is most of the traps were empty. The traps the slugs were in had beer. Like something came along and drank the beer out of them. Squirrel? Chipmunk? Some were flipped over as well. Drunk as a skunk? Drunk chipmunk more like it. Hopefully he learned his lesson and wasn't driving last night.

If the potting mix that you didn't like was the Miracle-Gro call them up and ask em for your money back. They have a 100% money back guarantee. Not sure if you need to show the receipt or not.

Well the house is still standing as is my tree. Therefore what I can see out my windows I don't think we got the wind. I know when I went to bed it was just a steady rain. I'll wait to see what the rain totals were. If there is flooding in town which I suspect It'll be 6 blocks away down by the creek which was high to begin with. So will see as everyone awakes in the area.

Today's garden will be just a walk through to make sure everyone is ok and if anyone needs support. And the other is putting up my bean trellis and the remaining name tags for the dahlias. Then we'll see if they are who they are.

Otherwise I think it's an inside day. So that's cleaning for me. With everyone home all the time my house and I don't see eye to eye. Personally I think homes should be self cleaning. That or I need a robot like Rosie from the Jetsons.

I look forward to seeing what the rain totals were. I don't even know if we are to get rain today.

Thomas: hey I got my haircut finally so I'd say a shave is a good step to feeling like you're rejoining the world. Did you survey your garden yet? Does your garden beast leave any footprints?

Sorry you are struggling w your numbers I don't seem to recall swinging that much or that high with my numbers.so I guess I can't offer you any Further ideas with the exception of taking a walk right after a meal and then seeing what your numbers are. That I do recall doing and it seemed to help between dinner and my nighttime snack.

Amanda: hope your show last night was interesting and you learned or saw something new. I like learning new things with old stories. Since your irises should be done what's next to bloom at your house?

Jeanne: how did you and your hometown fare? I still think it's weird that most of the rain on my windows was only on the north side When it was a storm shoving its way from the south. Have you finished up all your outdoor chores? Are you to the sit back and watch stage?

Hello anyone else reading - join on in.

AM: the sun is starting to poke it's nose on out but the remaining sky color has dark streaks of blue and it looks like the remaining clouds are moving quick. I need to see what the rest of the weeks weather is to be. Hang on, I'm checking. Looks to be fairly pleasant 70s during the days and 45ish at night. A return to spring temps and not July! Today the high is 67 it's currently 65.

Well the day is moving and I am not, so wishing you each a lovely day ahead. I'll pop back in a rain totals and if the hubs can't get out of town due to flooding when he leaves for work.

After the rains . . .

Out my door this morn. Sorry for all the power lines. I'm a rural podunk they don't believe in burying the lines here! I'm also in my pjs so standing in the street is a no.

No rain last night, but I didn't expect that we'd get any. They increased the chances to 80% for today but not til late afternoon. I'll keep my eye on the radar.

Not feeling the best. Not sure why. I'll likely go check my bgl to see what it's at.

Good to hear no wind damage Scarlet. We may get missed by the rain a lot, but we get WIND... branches down, clean up the next day type deal. Didn't get any last night that I know of but haven't walked the garden yet. No footprints of any kind. Going to look for a trail camera today and a few other items. I'm going to build four row covers for the 4x8 beds for winter gardening, but I think I'm going to use them year round and maybe use insect netting on them to keep the freaking chipmunks and squirrels out. I forgot that the squirrels and chipmunks dug in the garden. Was concerned more about the groundhogs.

I looked outside and our sky is the opposite of yours Scarlet. Looks like it could pour anytime, but nothing on the radar.

Update: one of the other podunks in my county rainfall total 2.5". I think Thomas you may be envious. have not seen anything right local but they did say areas in my county should have had up to 5" these are just early reports.

That photo and actual did not last long as it's gotten dark and we are to have thunderstorms around noon time. Really? I need to go out and check how drenched everything is and see if more rain is good or bad. Not that I can do anything about.

I heard back on my iris order, I should get them in early August so I have through July to make up my mind on what I am doing. My hubs is ok with adding more beds but I have to figure out where and how big. What I like about the raised bed is the amount of weeds is quite limited. With what my hands are doing right now that would be a good thing. But I think it will have to be a long skinny bed where it would get the best light. I tend to like more free form bed shapes, but hey sometimes you have to be limited by how the old body is working.

Has anyone had success just planting a tomato seed in the ground? I lost one of my plants I'm sure it would just be leaves. Maybe when I'm out Friday for groceries I'll look for a new plant. Can anyone give me pointers on saving seed from tomatoes? I read somewhere ideally you should let the tomato ferment before taking the seeds out. But I've never saved tomato seeds before.

Off to tackle the to do list today.

Thomas: hope the ick feeling is short lived. Maybe rest today instead of tackling the garden with such gusto. Sometimes we are reminded by the body to take it easy when we least want to. Hey just saw a post on a first garden and not thriving. They were discussing the compost they were using. I figured it'd be up your alley to go read on. My question to them would be how fresh is the compost as in not mellowed down. But I am still learning myself, so what do I know? It's an interesting thread that is for sure.

Bean trellis is up. I was out there for like 5 mins tops (had to screw the conduit coupling back on). I have about 15 bites and one of those is on my lip which is swelling quite a bit. Good gravy! DONT GO OUTSIDE any of you less you become a tasty morsel. I react poorly to bites - said bite is now the size of a quarter and I've only been inside 10 mins.

Updated to add bites are now going down thanks to the regime I have to use a one of my kids. Thank goodness as it's not uncommon for me to swell at each bite to the size of 1/2 a softball.

Thomas, I hope you are feeling better. I hope you can get your numbers to stay down. I have never had to deal with any of that. DH is on high blood pressure pills and takes his bp pretty often and marks down the numbers. I take mine occasionally for the heck of it.

Scarlet, glad you got your bean trellis up. Sorry to hear that the skeeters love you. I have a bite below my left earlobe and it is driving me crazy. We live on top of the ridge and I try to dump any standing water to prevent skeeters but they are still out there. I am trying to keep weeds down too hoping that will help.

Well, yesterday/last night we got 2 1/2 inches of rain. There wasn't any wind with that rain but the wind came today. We have had rain most of the day so far. I haven't checked the gauge yet today. I went out when the rain stopped and picked strawberries and asparagus and pulled a few weeds in each area. Before I was done picking the asparagus, it started raining again. I think it is now over for the day. The sun just peaked out from the clouds.

I need to go to the garage and pot up some plants out there. I just don't have much ambition when it comes to doing stuff inside. I need to switch the laundry. Guess I will do that now and go from there.

Jeanne: sounds like you had the same weather we did, different state. I'm glad all is ok there! I controlled the bites as quick as I could, zyrtec, a pepcid and cortisone. Within 40 mins it was down and all itchies settled. Thank goodness as I hate bites!

AM: I told the dahlia group, I'm cheating on this years dahlias looking at the pretties they'll all offer for next years plantings. I just went out and looked and I have one that is slower then slow to send out shoots. It's got one tiny leaf. I have another that was looking good and in the last few days all of a sudden looks horrid. Not sure what's up there.

Otherwise the sun is out again but it is so cool out right now it's nice but not for shorts! And the winds are stronger. It's almost late April feeling out. I wish I could turn off the air but need to leave it on for a severe spring allergy type in the house.

I'm hopeful no rain for the near future. It's been enough and allowed those buzzing buggers to grow by leaps I'm an advocate for no mosquitos. Or is so get rid of their need to feed on me.

Happy evening.

Thanks Jeanne. I got my number down. I needed a mental boost, so I ate pretzels, potato chips, and a bowl of ice cream for lunch. Yeah. Really. Four hours later I went out and started cooking chicken for a salad for dinner. Was feeling light heated a bit. I wondered how bad I kicked my bgl number up so I tested. 72! Yeah right. Tested again 66. I don't get it.

Scarlet, thanks for the well wishes. Not sure if I got feeling better or eating the snack/junk food snapped me out of it. The feeling in the afternoon was weird. Haven't seen the bgl that low except for when I've been sick. I was sweating for some weird reason so I took the temp to make sure, and it was normal. What kind of bites did you have? OH the horsefly bites?

Glad people are getting rain. Storms are on the radar but east to us. Have one headed this way, just heard thunder and saw lightning but half the sky is sunny. Radar looks like it will go right around our subdivision again. The son set the rain buckets out last night a lot of good it did then. Hopefully the will get used tonight.

I am taking the night off. Outside. I'm sitting here entering all my seeds into a spreadsheet in prep of designing a fall/winter planting schedule.

EDIT: And as soon as I hit enter... torrential downpour. I ran out in it to adjust the buckets under the canopy to collect rain, got soaked... rain over. At least the buckets are ready if it rains again.