From Rainy Spring To Hot Summer
Greetings from the island everyone. Hope all of you are doing well, and making plans to either spend the day with or contact your dad on Fathers Day in a few days. My plans are to run in and go with the siblings to visit our dad, Henry, in Brazoria.
Well, the last few weeks in May brought a lot of rain to the island, and everywhere else as well. But as I sit here on the morning of June 12th, I need rain again! I certainly did not think that I would be saying that so soon after the 8-10” that fell a few weeks ago.
The ground dried out so quickly because of the very warm sunny days and wind that has occurred since the rain stopped. It’s amazing how fast the hot weather will suck the moisture out of the ground. It just seems like overnight the weather went from pleasant to dang hot! Oh well, welcome to South Texas. But the forecast shows rain might be falling for a few days starting tomorrow, so fingers crossed.
My raised bed gardens, and yard, really took off and began to flourish after all the rain we got. The tomato plants grew a foot overnight it seemed, and began putting on clusters of nice full fruit. I tell you what, there is no better feeling than making a sandwich and walking outside and picking a fresh tomato off the vine, and slicing it up to put on that ham and cheese or BLT. Yes sir, that’s a true feeling of gardener satisfaction and pride.
The melons took off as well, but so did the grass on the ground outside of the raised beds, meaning all the melon vines are entwining through the grass and fighting for sunlight and moisture. I can’t mow the grass due to the vines mixed in with it, so I will see how the crop produces this year. Next year, a month prior to planting, I’ll kill off all the grass, so that should help. Every single year, in my gardening endeavors, I realize there is a way to improve on my crop success. Never too old to learn.
Well, there is no shortage of firewood on the beach right now! The flooding rivers further north have emptied a deluge of debris in the bays, and this debris, or at least a lot of it, has washed ashore on the beaches. Mostly tree limbs/trunks and large logs, but also an assortment of plastic containers and household items. It’s sad to think that some of these items were once an everyday part of people’s lives, and now it sits hundreds of miles from where it was. And the loss of these material things have no comparison to the loss of lives that also occurred. Godspeed to their recovery.
Despite the heat, my 25 chickens are still laying very well, averaging 18-22 eggs every single day! These are the best breed of laying chickens that I’ve had out here on the island, and I’ll certainly get the same breeds again when it’s time to replace them in a year or so.
Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone take care and stay cool, and have a great day.
