The last weeks were tropical and humid here in Holland and then I hate my scrotum even more. It feels like a damp salty slice of smoked beef that irritates the skin of my groin.

drought broke last night

we received a surprise rain last night

picked peaches all last week...finished saturday

Same here...

We got 1.4" inches of rain in about a 1.5 hour downpour at about 5 AM... It woke me up when it started, but then I slept through it...

Isaac may dump significantly more rain on you in a week as it passes up the Mississippi valley.

I am envious of the rain.

The humidity is finally gone and the weather more appropriate, and warming up.

I sensed Autumns approach looking out the window and noticing the world seemed bathed in a blueier light. In the Summer it seems more yellow.

Everyday I pick a few large plump Mission Figs. Huge, Heritage Beefsteak tomatoes are reddening but the branches and leaves look really bad. I have never been a good tomato grower.

Moi

Send Rain, Please.

We are being set up to get the remnants of the Hurricane ... 4 to 6 inches of rain over 2 days...

Paolo, get the Ark ready...

Anyone getting any of those storms on the Atlantic coast or the northern Midwest?

We had a rainy Saturday here but not "storms" just rain and tonight it's going down to 60F ...

Probably too far west to be affected.

We have had about 9 inches here since mid August, by my gauge, but no severe weather. Some wind.

Some garden plants really took off, but tomatoes are winding down.

Grass is green again!

My lament over the past probably two years was first the black stink bugs with that funny shield shape that simply crept into every crevasse you could open to air out a house. They thankfully have gone away, died off or moved on to other places since last March.

I used to open a window during the day in either my bedroom, the kitchen or the living room and they stopped that practice. I spent months almost to February or March before I killed all of them in the house. Every time I change a light I find their little dead bodies. They liked heat.

The after the long dry spell this summer the entire neighborhood is overrun with fleas. I spray my garbage with RAID twice daily, never open a window in the kitchen, rinse every dish, tediously pick up every crumb they might live on, leave nothing wet like a demented cleaning lady... and battle them one by one. Thankfully, I don't have pets. My friends that do are overrun and have extra flea collars hanging around the pets dishes and beds etc... They'll die off this winter like good little pests.

I see signs that this winter will bring a bumper crop of leaves to clog the gutters. It's starting already.

I wonder what pest will be next.

I have noticed a lack of things this year. No large butterflies. In fact, few small ones. I have killed only 2 tomato worms. When I was a kid, it was a daily job to hunt them. Fewer wasps. I used to fight them all summer long. I did notice an abundance of HUGE cicada killer wasps, literally the size of hummingbirds. I have seen few orange honeybees. Lots of the mini-bumblebees.

As for plants, very very few milkweeds. Hence, no Monarch butterflies. The wild phlox is blooming for a 2nd crop.

There are fungus popping all over, of all varieties. Some I have never seen before.

I saw a beautiful white "Angel of Death" amanita last week.

There are loads of crayfish in the lower field and creek. Minnows are abundant. Some of them are huge - the dark 1-stripe type. Big enough to clean and eat. The blue heron loves them. I also saw the biggest soft shell turtle I've ever seen about a month ago.

I have seen 1 box tortoise this year.

It's been very odd, and I have a headache. Amazing what you come up with when you cannot sleep.