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[clhw AT infoave.net (clhw)]

Here a little east and south of Bev, we had several gullywashers over night
and it is still raining. Last evening, a truly awe inspiring lightning
storm lit the skies for about an hour. This was accompanied by constant
alarms of the weather monitor, giving tornado watches and warnings, as well
as severe thunderstorms. Since I already had my computer totally unplugged
from electricity and telephone, I didn't get all the electronic alarms;
they were there to download this morning.

The water is standing in the yard and fields. All our rain barrels and
buckets are full.

The current weather statement, coming from Paris Mountain north of
Greenville, SC, which is about 70 miles north of us, says it is 60 degrees.
The recorded rain at the Greenville/Spartanburg airport yesterday was 0.41
inches. This makes April's rainfall 1.19 inches above normal, but the
year-to-date for 2008 is 11.19 inches, which is 3.31 inches below normal.
Where I'm located has probably gotten as much as an inch more than that. I
need to put my rain guage out again. The fence post it was mounted on is no
more, so I need another which is not overshadowed by trees and is somewhat
easy to access.

The peaches were hit somewhat by the frosts and the blooms have fallen off.
The forsythia is in bloom. In parts of the area around us, the wisteria is
in bloom but the bush in our front yard isn't. The lilac bush I got from
Stark about a decade ago is putting out buds. The trees are greening up.
The pasture grass is growing enough that the horses prefer it to alfalfa
cubes. We had to go on a couple of sacks of TNT, which is compressed
alfalfa and timothy hay, which our Tractor Supply store had for a short
while before the producer in Georgia ran out.

Our poultry is foraging far and wide, including crossing the 2-lane road
which runs through our property. This has meant the demise of 1 or 2
guineas. 2 others have disappeared, possibly done in by
coyote/fox/hawk/owl, maybe skunk. Earlier this week, feathers from a golden
Orpington hen were found all over the barn yard; no remains so we don't
know if it was a battle royal or a true disappearance.

The garlic growing in various places around the home lot is green and
begging to be re-planted. I'm not allowed to dig yet and husband hasn't
brought any hanging baskets to the house. Daughter re-planted some tulip
bulbs she had dug in the fall and forgotten about. They were sprouting in a
plastic bag in the living room. She reports the tulip bed has at least 20
plants budding. In some locations, the iris is in bloom. Not yet in ours.

A story about the tulips: back in the 1980s, I thinks, a friend paid me for
some secretarial work with about 3 small (like sold in grocery and feed
stores) bags of tulip bulbs. Said friend was the southeastern salesman for
the 3rd largest bulb manufacturer in the world, which was owned by his
uncle, in the Netherlands. Friend, Jack, told me that the bulbs should be
dug up and thrown away at the end of the first blooming season. He declared
it not worth trying to perpetuate them as they were hybrids so they would
not reproduce.

Well, the colors have changed. We have about a single color now instead of
about 4 originally. But the bulbs are still vigorous, blooming,
reproducing, needing dividing every year or two. Some years we're better on
the upkeep than others.

Possibly the same would be true of many of the store-bought veggies, like
the garlic James and Gene are getting from Wal-Mart. I got some of my
garlic from Park Seed -- those were Spanish garlic and elephant garlic. I
got others from the old house garden of a farm we bought. The original
gardeners there are long dead, so I don't know what variety they are. I
have sitting on my table two other bulbs: a shallot and an elephant garlic.
I think these were purchased at Wal-Mart. Maybe tomorrow I'll get them
planted. Daughter is home and can dig some soil out of the garden for me to
put them in pots.

Yes, we need the rain, like Bev. Our new well is performing well. I can
wash dishes, clothing, bathe, all without having to plan and ration.
Lynn

>If only the rains would continue throughout summer like this.  Wouldn't
>that be awesome?
>
>Bev