Severe Thunderstorm Warning...sounds good...hope it makes it here! Already I hear thunder.

We're home. I got a weather alert on my phone about 4 PM yesterday, severe storm on the way from Fredericksburg, and we packed up and left. The storm was off to the west all the way home. Lots of lightning and weird cloud formations. We were unloading the car and watching the wind pick up, and then nothing.
The LCRA is now charging us to take water from the lake to water the yard. We use the pump 4 months and only once a week, but we'll be paying for a year. The kicker is we have to follow water restrictions and only water outside on Tues and Sat. before 10 AM and after 7PM.

We got 1/4 to 1/2 inch of rain. 1/4 on the rain gauge, but a container elsewhere in the yard had 1/2 inch...and I know it was empty before. And free nitrogen! That's the best kind, IMO. But of course, I had to listen to all that lightning...and wonder if it would hit something nearby. Yeah, the water restrictions are a pain. On my hand-held day...well, there's times I just can't do it in the morning...or else just can't in the evening. Our evening time is after 8 p.m., which means hand-held watering after dark. On the sprinkler day, that doesn't matter so much, but for hand-held, it does.

We have a chance of rain this afternoon. I hand watered the backyard already. I have pots and bags of dirt that all have to be moved. Looks awful, and I'd hate for anyone to see it all.

These are the clouds that chased us home from the lake Tuesday. The lightning was everywhere. Just an hour after we passed Hamilton Pool Rd off Hwy 71, lightning burned down the old movie set of The Alamo. It's still burning out there. I think we're due for high winds here all day. Hope the squirrels stay off the power lines in the greenbelt! No rain for us again.

I'm actually getting depressed. I don't even want to look at the weather any more. This reminds me when I lived in the northeast in the snow belt. I stopped watching the weather because I knew every morning there would be more snow on the ground.

There's a bromeliad show and sale tomorrow at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The Wimberly guy is going to be selling there along with other vendors. That ought to perk you up!!!

Sandi, going will only depress me since I can't buy anything!

Not going to buy anything we don't "NEED" until there's someone employed in the house.

The show is free. the judging is in the morning, and then the public is invited to view the entries.

It's the sale part that makes me sad!

The only thing I'd like right now is more milkweed! Just found eggs on my milkweed and am thinking I don't have enough milkweed if the butterfly caterpillars all survive.

Linda I was so excited the other day when I saw that the antelope milkweed that pops up in the same spot every year finally appeared. It's only bout 8" tall and the blooms look bizarre, but there was a little butterfly crawling all over it anyway!

Antelope Horns are insect magnets when they're blooming!

Okay, now we have something else to worry about! it's called Chagas disease. It's transmitted from "a blood sucking insect known as a kissing bug!" Oh my! One more reason not to like assassin bugs. Central and South Texas are the two highest risk areas.

There's a front page article about them in the Austin American Statesman today.

ewwwwwww......

Tell me about it! Seems the bug bites a rat, or other infected animal. Then it crawls into a human's bed and bites him/her around the mouth or eyes (yikes) and transfers the disease while it's sucking blood.

Sandi, I really must thank you. NOW I'm fairly convinced I have had this disease! Yes, I'm a bit of a hypochondriac!

Oh, you're welcome!

It also stated dogs can drop dead from it, as well as humans, long after being infected. The CDC has not required doctors to report the illness to the health depts. Don't worry Linda, only half the kissing bugs they've tested in Central Texas have the disease!!!

Just 10 million people worldwide are infected with Chagas, and only 12, 500 die each year. Whew, I'm feeling better, aren't you? I always thought assassin bugs were our friends, eating the bad guys. Okay, one more....the disease can be transmitted thru blood transfusions, from mother to child, and by transplants.

I suddenly have lost the urge to move to Austin!

Oh Anna, we'll protect you! You need to worry about all the armadillos we're sending up north...all the way north! The drought has 'em on the move.