A Week of Weather

I went back to work physically in the high school this week starting on Monday.  That was also when our weather went into the worst possible summer weather pattern.

It’s been hot.  I mean it’s been so hot that my building without air conditioning (it’s expected to be done by the first of November now) has had early dismissals all week.  Not that I got to leave; but the kids left and that lets it feel slightly cooler.  The poor animals have also been miserable.

Maybeline’s fleece is growing thick and hot.

Along with the heat, we’ve had unsettled weather with pop-up showers off and on all week.  It really helped to pump up the humidity.  We’ve been tropical feeling.

Aurora coming up from pasture to get out of the rain (it is dripping off the roof)

The goats have been resting during the hot part of the day and staying out in pasture late in the evening because it’s a little bit cooler.

Hard to see the goats coming up the lane.

The showers would be so isolated that my mom, just a couple of miles away, would get a nice rain shower and I’d have a few drops.

Driving home one day, I even went through a couple of downpours while the sun was shining. Seriously.

One morning on the way to work, there was dense fog.

I swear that there is a dome over my farm that pushes the heavier rains away.

Just missing me again.

I am so tired of the drought.  I’m hoping this might signal a change in our weather pattern and bring more rains (although, who knows, and I seriously doubt it).  Even though we haven’t had a lot of rain, I can clearly see how much greener the pasture looks.

The goats on the bottom–so green again.

Even the hilltops look like the grass is less brown.

Sylvia (still wild)

I’m afraid it’s too late for this poor tree.  I’ve lost several of my big oaks to weather changes in the last couple of years.

Myson and Moose

I’m ready for fall.

Here’s to the sun setting on summer and cooler weather arriving.

And the Rains Came

Wednesday had possible storms in the forecast–both morning and evening. I was already rather grumpy because the predicted rainfall totals showed my farm getting between a quarter and a third of an inch.

However, at this point, since we are still in a moderate drought any rain is welcome. I was a bit surprised when we actually got a tenth of an inch in the morning. I was hoping this little extra might put the total for the day closer to half an inch.

I did my chores early in the afternoon, just in case we actually got some; however, the app on my phone was showing pretty much all of the rain missing me. Then the rains came. It sprinkled enough that it brought the goats up from pasture.

Daisy in the doorway; Popcorn outside (don’t worry–he went in when it got bad)

The wind and rain picked up. They built up and then began back building and we spent about two hours under a severe storm warning.

There was a tornado warning in there for a while. Actually, there were at least twelve confirmed tornadoes touching down in the state yesterday. This rotation was radar indicated, so I don’t think there was anything that touched down with this warning, thankfully.

When it was all said and done, we also ended up under a flash flood warning. Trust me, I did not flood. I live on the top of a hill. Thank heavens.

At one point there were four advisories (these and a thunderstorm warning)

The next morning, I went out to assess the damage. The garden obviously had some wind.

There was obviously some rotation here too. I don’t know how else those tomatoes would be in three different directions. I do think everything up here will recover.

I think the only real damage was the loss of my tarp hut.

Could have been a pool if the board hadn’t gone through it.

There was no way it could survive the weight of all that rain pooling in it.

Don’t worry, Freddie. I’ll fix your tarp hut

The next problem was trying to figure out how much rain we got. My food pans only hold about four inches.

I didn’t get the water tubs filled yesterday. I figured they would be easier to dump and scrub the next day if I let the goats drink them out more, but I have no idea how much it was, and the trees would impact the level as well.

I finally decided the big tub where the goats like to nap would give me my best estimate.

According to this tub, we got about 5 1/2 inches of rain in the two hours of this severe storm.

Grateful beans and pasture

This is all rain that soaked into the ground. You might have noticed that the barnyard wasn’t really muddy. It’s wet, but that rain all went into the ground. I can hardly wait to see next week’s drought monitor.

In the Garden

We’ve had some rain.  Since Father’s Day there’ve been rain showers most days.  Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten as much as a lot of places around the area, but I am still hopeful that we’ll go back to just a moderate drought instead of a severe drought when the report comes out next Thursday.  When I checked my garden on Thursday, it looked much better.  I’ll even get my first zucchini soon.

zucchini

Unfortunately, I’m still having disagreements with the deer on whether or not my garden is a buffet for them.

cabbage–well, half of a cabbage

I am also happy to say that the things I replanted are starting to germinate.

zucchini

You can still see the huge cracks and how dry it looks even after the rain we’ve gotten.

sweet corn

I hope this time we don’t get so scorching hot that my new little seedlings get baked.  That’s what happened to the okra that managed to germinate last time.

okra

I also found a bag of onion sets at the farm store that wasn’t too bad, so I replanted where the onions didn’t come up.  Funny thing is that I kept uncovering the ones I had planted previously, and they hadn’t rotted.  They just haven’t had enough rain to make them grow, so some of them I just put back in the ground and hoped the rain we just got would be enough to get them going.

onions

And of course, the rain is making the weeds grow, so I need to get back in there and weed some more.

sweet corn, weeds, and onions

Overall, It’s not looking too bad for the crazy weather we’ve had.