Weather: Dog Days of Summer Part 2

Time for a new weather thread to finish out these dog days of summer. We came from here, http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1366506/ where Speedie had finally gotten some rain, and SSG had a harrowing commute home in the thunderstorms.

They were showing pictures on the National News of the storm in College Park Md. WOW what a storm.

Phew, I guess I didn't see the worst of it but it was pretty impressive here!

It is raining heavily here. I love rain. Another bunch of days where I don't have to think about watering, and all the weeds will slide out of the dirt as if they were coated with Teflon (that is, if I get a chance to tug on them....).

Some of the lightning this afternoon was amazing, I stood outside to watch it. I love T-storms.

Raining here, too--so glad to see a long soak after so much dryness. They're saying the weather will be gorgeous tomorrow!

Teflon coated weeds! :-)

Tie dye afternoon, here, didn't get any gardening done, but I did tug a fee weeds out of the patio.

Critter - I hope all your weeds' roots were covered in Teflon and slid out super easily!! =) That sounds like a nice "Toast" - "May All Your Weeds' Roots Be Covered In Teflon!" Hahahahaaa!!!

We got another hour or so of gentle pitter-patter rain last evening, thank you Lord!!! Today I'm off, so after a few small chores I will be playing outside... including installing a new Rhodo that I just **had** to rescue from work! < =D The rain should have made for more agreeable digging conditions. (she says hopefully)

That looks like a peaceful place to be Cat.

We got 0.66" of rain last night. We were getting missed by the really good rain though, which was just east of us about 15 miles or so. That annoying emergency message was coming across our phones and it was barely raining at our house at the time.

It's back to 'puppy ' evening here!!

Cat seems to have melted on my lap despitr cooler temps

My rain gauge says we got 1.75 inches. It was enough to convince me I really need to give up on trying to keep my neighbor's rain water out of my yard and dig a swale to channel it.

Muddy: I really want to hear how you attack that (swale and all), because I have the same problem.

Muddy - a show-and-tell presentation would be great, please. :)
This morning already feels like a "puppy day of summer" out there. Aaaaaah, such a nice refreshing coolness, it's invigorating! =)

This is hilarious!

England and Wales are preparing for a "dangerous" heat wave -- with temps into the MID-80s! LOL

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/16/heatwave-alert-england-wales-humid-thunderstorms

And in DC we're enjoying our "cool" mid-80s temps thanks to the mini polar vortex!

Cute kitty, Sally!

Yes, I'll join in on the 'digging a swale' seminar!

SSG, that is too funny about England.

Sally, does your cat have an eye injury or is her face just squished?

Muddy, are the fish okay? I think Fairfax/Vienna got the worst of the storms.

Lol...nice cat pic! Makes it a little difficult to type.

no worries, ssg his face was all squished into the arm of the chair. His eye was partly closed with membrane showing. How was that comfortable?? And he's not fat, just melted and spread out!

63 at BWI this morning! Wonderful! I slept with windows open and heard the katydids. I love katydids!!!!!!!!!.

Mark made a swale (I guess) on the wet north side of the house this spring. That's where the sump empties. We feel sure it helped A LOT. Before that the sump emptied within fifteen feet of the house on a barely sloped area that also carried drainage of part of the yard. The sump would cycle like crazy at times, with really wet events. So now the sump and the downspout of a small roof section both are directed over to a small grassy ditch, just a foot wide and a few inches deep, which goes out to the front corner of the house. From there its all downhill to the street ( slight grade, but it is a slope)

Last year he installed some buried 4 inch black corrugated pipe to carry the downspouts in back over to the other side of the driveway, where they can run freely downhill. Mostly works but we need to perfect the traps that make sure they don't fill up with roof gunk.

Burr...I thought it was chilly this morning. I put the heat on in my car a little bit on the way to work. It's too early for this and I don't like it. Bring back the hot heat!

Jeff--HUSH!!!! Enjoy the few cooler days!!! A rare treat.

When it gets like this more regularly in August I get bummed out for a couple weeks because winter is coming. I like it HOT. I should have grown up in the tropics. Geez when it's in the low 70s I think it isn't warm enough to have all the windows open while driving in my car.

Are you crazy, Jeff!? =P Oh I was sooooooo loving the "low" (60's) temps this morning, driving to work with my window ALL the way down, Wheeeeeee!!!!!! These little respites make the "hot" heat much more tolerable.. in my humble little opinion. :)

Well I don't work outside all day like you do. Although many people do say that I'm crazy. Right now in the office I'm wearing a fleece over a t-shirt and long sleeve polo with a beanie hat on and a little space heater running at my feet. I also had the heat on during this morning's drive to work. Seriously, I was meant to be a tropical person. I think I would die if I lived any further north.

One of the offices I work in is chilly most of the time. The library can be, it depends. You just HAVE to dress in layers , if you spend time indoors.

My new office space is clammy and cold--definitely have to keep a sweater there.

Seq, have you ever had your thyroid checked??

Yeah, all systems are normal. Just the way I am I suppose.

I sure didn't mean any disrespect Jeff, sometimes I just blurt things out. < =/ You're just a Tropical Beauty!! < =)

Sequoia, you must have a cold office because you weren't bundled up at the plant swap, at least not that I noticed.

SSG, my fish were fine; thanks for asking. The stream of water was flowing around it in the little channel I created. It helped that I had made the pond sides 3 inches higher and pounded in landscape edging around the danger zone, too.

Here's an ugly photo of my backyard in December so I can show where the swales should be.
You can kind of make out a swale where it flattens out towards the top of the hill. That swale's not too bad, and it helps direct water towards my new garden bed.

There's a new swale right along the patio that also works well, but I've been trying (not very successfully) to block most of the water that should flow into it.

There used to be a 3rd swale in the middle of the hill, but 44 years of erosion have eliminated it. I think I'll start by getting that one re-done so that my neighbor's rainwater gives a Japanese maple and holly in its path a good soak as it flows through.

Muddy, sounds like a good idea to try to work with it rather than fight it.

Yes indeed. Fighting it hasn't worked anyway!

Muddy, a friend posted this photo on FB of the zen garden her brother made and I totally thought of you when I saw it:

What do you think? :-)

Looks like the weather will be wonderful today for gardening--temps in the 70s and comfortable humidity! Woohoo! And I'm even able to limp around better today! :-)

I like that garden; he did a great job!
I really like the fake crocodile or alligator in the water, and the way the dog is staring at it; I wonder if it keeps herons away?

I have extra water lettuce and water hyacinths if she wants some to provide cover for the fish. They multiply so fast that I throw some on the compost pile several times a week!

That is an interesting question about herons! I'm not sure where her brother lives. She lives in Connecticut.

I like the way he used natural features of the yard to create the downward water flow, emptying into the pond. And the end result is really peaceful and pretty!

Oh, somehow I thought he made the garden for your friend! Drats, and here I thought I could pawn off pond plants on someone.
I like the look of a stream emptying into a pond. I could have had a nice one if I hadn't planted a holly smack in the middle of where it needed to flow.

LOL Muddy! I'm sorry I can't deliver them to her--she'd probably really enjoy it!

hmmm, is that holly too big to move? ;-)

Muddy, by "swale" do you mean a trough that forms a stream when it rains and that funnels the rain water from spot A to spot B, or do you mean a depressed area like a rain garden that gradually soaks up the rainwater?

I think it must be the bald head that makes me cold. All that air conditioning blowing on the dome and it sucks the heat right out of the body :)

No offense taken Speedie, everyone asks me if I'm crazy. I visited my parents in Phoenix in the summer of '11 and we went to the zoo on the other side of town. It was blazing sun and 108 degrees. I was fine. I really didn't think it was that hot. It was weird though because you sweat but it dries so fast that the brim of my hat didn't even get damp.

haha, could be (bald head)
Visited San Antonio, was darn hot there. Didn't realize I was sweating till I put my arm on the glass case of the jewelry shop and left a big sweat smudge (embarrassed)

Cooled down nicely last evening!