drought

Boy – o – boy, am I ever in trouble.

Surely these are not my brand NEW Felcon pruners?

Surely I didn’t leave them outside overnight when we were surprised by a little mist coming out of the sky. Surely I learned something from my misuse of the previous pruners.
Or, maybe, NOT!

Bad gardener, bad, bad gardener.

So, this morning my first chore of the day is a date with the pruners and a brillo pad. Luckily, it worked and I begged their forgiveness as I scoured away and buffed and dried them.
So, yesterday we had mist and fog all day, not much moisture, but in our drought-stricken part of the country, we are happy for anything wet.

Drought conditions worsened significantly in the past week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor map. Seventy-one percent of the state is now in some stage of drought, up from 58.3 percent last week.

A week ago the two worst drought designations — extreme and exceptional — covered 9.1 percent of the state. This week the two categories cover 15.1 percent of the state, with a circle near San Antonio and Austin widening in all directions.

Drought conditions in Texas are so bad cattle are keeling over in parched pastures and dying. Wildlife certainly have nothing to eat.

Makes me so glad I am feeding and watering our deer.

Today’s cold front is supposed to bring us freezing rain tonight, and we have ice warnings for the morning. We’ll deal, just as long as we do get some rain.

Our temps are dropping today from the 64 degrees we have right now to 39 by noon. So I put on my garden clogs and trekked out to cover some tender things in the garden.
Little hair-like sprouts from MSS’ of Zanthan Gardens‘ Larkspur. I suspect they’d be ok, but I don’t want to take a chance.
Here are my little seedlings getting a breath of warm, moist air in the greenhouse.
Here the lettuce seedlings and the amazing strawberries are glad to be prepared for the ice. I put down some plastic first – after elevating it with some chicken wire braces – and then put down a sheet.
These are happy radishes.
And these are the two still-living tomato plants that I tried to rip out last week. Gotta save them now!

I’m sure my Northern friends are laughing at all this fuss over a little cold rain, but wait, I’ll have you laughing even more tomorrow. Austin drivers are completely incapable of driving in mere rain, much less a little ice or snow. It’s actually comic the way the whole cit shuts down as if it’s Armageddon. (Having lived in Minnesota for 4 years, I know from cold and bad driving conditions, so I have permission to shake my head at my neighbors!)

Stay warm and dry and safe.