Hoping you get some rain,..soon,..good idea about the expandable insulation foam,..as you said the air wasn't getting at it to harden it,..we have a canister of tire inflate for a car wheel,..it has a proper tire nozzle on it so you just release the liquid and the tire inflates,..you are supposed to have the tire repaired soon after but i have left it for six months and its still inflated.

Hi Philip, this expandable foam as tire filler idea has been around for a while, and people seem to think its a good idea so we'll see. I did not think it would take so long to harden up, but if it works, it will be a real time saver.

I'm hopeing and hoping for rain. Everything here is dusty dry. We've got a "tropical drought" in place (A huge high pressure area over the Atlantic) that is supposed to begin breaking up this week.

Any sign of rain,..i had to water the garden today,..a recording temperature in my garden 41C-102F.

How is this for rain in my garden,..
http://vid1098.photobucket.com...

Hi Philip, I would LOVE to see that kind of rain in my garden; we're heavy overcast for 2 days but not a drop of rain. I had no idea it could get THAT HOT in Ireland. Is that normal, or is it Climate Change related? Our climate here has been getting more "mediterranean-ish" over the past couple decades...we seem to be having more frequent dry spells in late summers. As for heat, it's always been and always will be HOT and HUMID here in the summer (unless of course we trigger the next ice age, in which case...) Wait...is that a mastodon I hear?

Hi Annie,..lol at hearing a Mastodon,..well 100F was the record temperature in my garden for the past 11 years,..we do have it fairly mild here because of the Gulf Stream though we get a flurry of snow which only lasts a few hours on the ground,..our last big snow was back in 2010,..the climate here is described as a,.. no set climate,..it could easily be mild up to Christmas.

We get lots of rain,.. though with climate change the rain is heavier,.. now that we need with over 300 days of rain anyway.

Wow. 300 days of rain! That's amazing. We usually have a wet winter (rain/snow) and usually get a substantial snowfall total. Our temps are very extreme: in one year it is not unusual to see -10F in the winter and then 100 in the summer. Plants have to be tough! Climate change here has been affecting (in my opinon in least) the "timing" of our seasons. It seems as though winter is actually starting a little earlier with snow and cold in November and spring starts later (snow hangs on into early April sometimes). But then, once the spring weather comes in, it gets very hot very fast....it's not unusual to see 90s in May. I have given up trying to grow tulips...they do well, but once they bloom and the hot weather comes on, they melt. If I see a week of nice tulip display it's lucky!

I find it difficult to adjust to the season timing changes,..like in your case with possibly snow up to April,..here November can be mild,..then with roses still blooming in mid December,..2010 was the exception with heavy snow and this made the garden look very strange as you can see below,..my roses in December 2010.

How beautiful! It is just too bad the roses won't hold up well to that sort of weather!