mbvirtue's Blog

Rainy Days and Mondays
Aug 20, 2007 | 6:27 AM PST
Tag: rain

Really didn't want to go to work today, but once you're there, it's hard to call in sick!!  We had almost 6 inches of rain over the weekend, that's a rough estimate because we were out of town Saturday night and the 3+" raingauge was overflowing when I checked it Sunday morning...

The red sunflowers in front of the house are really feeling the brunt of the rain, it's got them so heavy they can't hold up their heads anymore.  For only two plants, there certainly are a lot of flowers!  The sunflowers I'm familiar with produce only one seed head for each plant, one of ours had 15 last count.  Mind you, they aren't large like the yellow variety.

Otherwise, the rain seems to have washed off the JBs (Japanese Beetles for the uninitiated), so the green beans may make a last comeback.  Peach tree is a watch and wait, they aren't due 'til Sept. 8th (son's birthday), and if there are any apples left on the tree, they are due the week before.  Rain and wind has taken down about 1/2 of the fruit, I've given up trying to get 'em before the chippies do!  Bon Apetit, mes amies!

Not Gonna Say It
Jul 26, 2007 | 4:48 AM PST
Tags: rain , Watering

I'm not going to say the word any more...just not gonna, can't make me.  S'posed to have a chance of t-storms and r**n today, I turned on the soaker hose anyhow.  I don't believe them anymore.  Last time it started to r**n, I got all happy and even posted here about how it was a nice gentle soaking r**n.  Which immediately caused it to stop.  Now local water utilities are doing the "even/odd" restrictions on watering, sprinklers on even numbered sides today, which is us.  Wonder if soaker hoses are included? 

Drove past a house at about 12:30pm yesterday and just had to wonder.  Green lush grass,  the idiot was watering at noon, and apparently his sidewalk looked parched as well, 'cause he was really dousing it.  Almost pulled over to let him know he was wasting his water/ money, then realized I'm in the company vehicle, gotta represent...sigh.  Big red F-150 with the 1-800 number on the sides, really hard to miss.

Enough whining, at least the marigolds in the veggie bed are happy (they get watered daily by the soaker hose), and my Espada green beans are blowing out the door, outproducing the Blue Lake Bush 5 to 1!  Weird thing is, the Japanese beetles (grrrrr...) are all over the Espada leaves, munching away, and the plants are still producing.  Go figure!