the rain was good but...

THE RAIN WAS GOOD BUT...
who would have thought  in the heat of july in central texas
heck on saturday it was 103 degrees here and it was
miserable
then in the last 36 hours its all changed
we have had our house opened up like we do in the spring
and the fall every year
then we got this nice slow rain for hours that where we lived
came to 3.25 inches with more possibly on the way
my rainwater tanks are almost full
had i cleaned one of my gutters correctly
i would have filled all my tanks up
this never ever happens in july

heck one year i was buying water like everyone else was
when i ran out of water
ok that one was my fault too as i left a valve on and lost
2 big water tanks full
equal to how much i ended up buying from the water tank
delivery company

i know have enough water to last me until through next summer

im happy about all of this rain and nice temperatures
so dont get me wrong
but its also sad too

sad too
why
see the fig tree above its about 10 ft tall and a few weeks ago
it was loaded with leaves and figs
within days the grasshoppers devoured all the leave on this one
and now they are working on the peach trees and pecan trees
why wont they eat weeds and cedar trees
and of course they have really chomped on my garden

had this grasshopper infestation not happened i probably would
still have a garden that was booming and blooming
especially with all this rain

i do get some revenge every morning as i go into my garden and
shoo all the grasshoppers into the beaks of my awaiting chickens
who surround my garden space
i love to watch the chickens attack and devour those hoppers
justice is served as the hoppers devoured my garden plants and
my fig tree

sad too since all this rain we got is apparently not going to make a
difference in the lake levels that are the major water source for
the cities around here

so this am im recovered enough from the gis and since my sciatica
is better with the bed rest i plan to reassess my garden and make
a definite decision on what to salvage

i have my summer garden under row cover
ill see how well thats working
i plan to replace the old row cover with new pieces that will
be cut to fit each bed better

then tomorrow i plan on getting my fall tomatoes from the natural
gardener in austin and plant them this week as soon as the soil dries
out
ill cover them well with the thin row cover so the hoppers wont
get to them

yes nows the time to plant fall tomatoes and its the best time
the fall to have a garden in central texas as the season sometimes
extends well into december

try the fall garden this year if you live here
heck you can even bid on the 4 ft square garden im building for
a fundraiser for our walk to end alzheimers team
more on that in the future

another sad thing is that i know that with the next rain that comes
my tanks all 30,000 gallons will start overflowing
if you are a rainwater connoisseur you know thats something that
is hard to tolerate

yes rain is good but it can be a sad thing too sometimes

my motherinlaw was here for 2 weeks
although i hardly saw her or my wife she as they disappeared all
day every day
i always wanted to follow them around like a detective to see what
they did all day
but i didnt
and its best i probably dont know everything

one thing she does along with my wife she is they string up my onions
that i grow
by putting them in panty hose tying a knot then putting in aganother onion
then tying a knot etc until that leg of the hose is full
last year it was easy as the harvest was small but
this year the harvest was bountiful and many of the onions were huge

here are some of these onion chimes
the large ones will fit in my hand like a softball

so i would say the spring garden was successful
just wish it would last longer

the organicgreen doctor