Rain, Glorious RAIN!!!
Thursday, March 12th, 2009 07:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auntbijouIt's raining, it's pouring,
The old bear is snoring,
He rubbed his shoulder on a great big boulder,
And wouldn't get up in the morning!!!
It's raining!! It's raining!!!
*is very excited and happy*
When I went to bed last night, the rain gauge at the elementary school down the street said .06 inches of rain (it's a WeatherBug station). When I got up this morning, it said .69 inches of rain. And just now, when I checked it, it said 1.26!!!
*does a happy dance*
I've filled three recycled cat litter containers with rainwater, and my buckets are filling again. Those are for the kalanchoes, aloe, alyssum, star cactus, portulacas, bougainvillea, cyclamens, and antique rose I have on the back porch. I'm wishing I had the energy yesterday to turn two more beds for our vegetable garden. We've done three so far, having to do it by hand since we don't have a tiller. Oh well, it's good exercise, and I'm good with a hoe! Mind you, I'm not complaining about the ground being wet, because I'm telling you, there was no ground moisture at all when I was turning the soil! It was dry, dry, dry, even ten inches down!! I've even had to water our compost pile at least once a week, because it was DRY!!
I know this is just a proverbial drop in the bucket, rain-wise. It won't break the drought. But it's so nice to see everything wet, really wet, and to go outside to feel the rain, even if it is only 40 degrees outside, and not expected to get any warmer until Saturday. I can live with that! I got my thermals (yes, Chan, I finally found my CuddlDuds! And y'all, Chan is laughing her ass off right now, because she can probably hear me saying "cuddle-duds" in my Texas drawl), I got my thick wool socks, I got something to wrap around my neck... I'm good!
It's sad, though, that this rain won't be enough to fire up the bluebonnets in all their glory. It didn't get cold enough to crack the seeds (we need sustained periods of below freezing weather to do that), and we didn't get any rain in the last two or three months, which all adds up to little or no bluebonnets. Oh, well... there's always next year. Maybe we'll trek out to the Wildflower Research Center this spring and take pictures. It's not the same, though, as seeing waves and waves of hills covered in blue and white, with spots of red from the Indian Paintbrush, and the big red/gold faces of Gallardia spotted here and there among them. And the smell! One bluebonnet alone has little to no fragrance, but a whole field of them! It's such a light fragrance, but it's sweet and fresh, and cool. I'm going to miss that this year.
Now I need to sit down and plot out my herb garden, decide what I'm going to grow. Oregano, basil, peppermint and spearmint... rosemary... dill... parsley... balm? Comfrey? Hmmmm... guess I'd better get out my sketchbook and start planning...
*rubs hands together with glee*
I can't wait!!
The old bear is snoring,
He rubbed his shoulder on a great big boulder,
And wouldn't get up in the morning!!!
It's raining!! It's raining!!!
*is very excited and happy*
When I went to bed last night, the rain gauge at the elementary school down the street said .06 inches of rain (it's a WeatherBug station). When I got up this morning, it said .69 inches of rain. And just now, when I checked it, it said 1.26!!!
*does a happy dance*
I've filled three recycled cat litter containers with rainwater, and my buckets are filling again. Those are for the kalanchoes, aloe, alyssum, star cactus, portulacas, bougainvillea, cyclamens, and antique rose I have on the back porch. I'm wishing I had the energy yesterday to turn two more beds for our vegetable garden. We've done three so far, having to do it by hand since we don't have a tiller. Oh well, it's good exercise, and I'm good with a hoe! Mind you, I'm not complaining about the ground being wet, because I'm telling you, there was no ground moisture at all when I was turning the soil! It was dry, dry, dry, even ten inches down!! I've even had to water our compost pile at least once a week, because it was DRY!!
I know this is just a proverbial drop in the bucket, rain-wise. It won't break the drought. But it's so nice to see everything wet, really wet, and to go outside to feel the rain, even if it is only 40 degrees outside, and not expected to get any warmer until Saturday. I can live with that! I got my thermals (yes, Chan, I finally found my CuddlDuds! And y'all, Chan is laughing her ass off right now, because she can probably hear me saying "cuddle-duds" in my Texas drawl), I got my thick wool socks, I got something to wrap around my neck... I'm good!
It's sad, though, that this rain won't be enough to fire up the bluebonnets in all their glory. It didn't get cold enough to crack the seeds (we need sustained periods of below freezing weather to do that), and we didn't get any rain in the last two or three months, which all adds up to little or no bluebonnets. Oh, well... there's always next year. Maybe we'll trek out to the Wildflower Research Center this spring and take pictures. It's not the same, though, as seeing waves and waves of hills covered in blue and white, with spots of red from the Indian Paintbrush, and the big red/gold faces of Gallardia spotted here and there among them. And the smell! One bluebonnet alone has little to no fragrance, but a whole field of them! It's such a light fragrance, but it's sweet and fresh, and cool. I'm going to miss that this year.
Now I need to sit down and plot out my herb garden, decide what I'm going to grow. Oregano, basil, peppermint and spearmint... rosemary... dill... parsley... balm? Comfrey? Hmmmm... guess I'd better get out my sketchbook and start planning...
*rubs hands together with glee*
I can't wait!!
