Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again in...5 Days

Two weeks without rain. For days and days, they promised us rain. We watched the skies, hoping for it from the dark clouds that hovered over us, the gray clouds that skidded over us, the blue-gray clouds that skated around us. It never rained. Our strawberry plants started to wilt, our fruit bushes started to crinkle. The plants all started looking the worse for the wear.

I consulted the weather: possibility of thunderstorms on July 4, 20-40% chance of rain (depending on the day I looked). This would never do. And we're going out of town this weekend for a week. So the plants will have to be watered. Two days ago, we started. M watered the garden with the hose. I filled a 5-gallon bucket and the 2-gallon watering can and put them in our small gorilla cart and pulled it behind me all the way over to the orchard/berry patch, sloshing water out of the bucket and into the cart and over the sides of the cart. Over four trips, I lovingly watered every strawberry plant--all 133 original plus the new plants started from runners.

Last night, M fertilized some of the garden plants that seemed to be nutrient deficient. I watered the fruit bushes and trees, the boxwoods, the magnolia trees, the maple saplings--again, 3 or 4 trips with the 5-gallon bucket and the cart. (M was using the watering can, so I had to carefully pour the water from the bucket around every bush and tree.)

Today, July 4, I consult the weather when I get up: Thunderstorms, 90% chance of rain. No thunder. No storms. Rain the whole ever-loving day. So far, 10 hours of it--nice and gentle. Perfect for plants. I have discovered the Crawfordsville rain dance--water your own damn plants. When Mother Nature lies down on the job, take matters into your own hands. Then M.N. wakes up and makes good on her shirked duties. I love her, but sometimes she's a real bitch.

* Stringham high: Rain
* Stringham low: Rain, so no good fireworks displays tonight.
* Stringham super-high: From our yard, we have an excellent view of ANY fireworks that might be set off up to 25 miles southeast to south to southwest to west of us. Only the immediate east and the north are limited, because of the trees.

****Disclaimer: The title of this blog links to a page that I found accidentally. I agree with most of what it says, but I have to add that the bits about Native Americans unfortunately lump all NA's together, completely disregarding the fact that the NA ways of life were varied, including hunting-fishing, hunting-gathering, farming (plants), farming (livestock), farming (plants and livestock), and others besides. (And yes, of course, some NA societies/groups lived as the author of the linked page states.)