Rain - at last

a very dry dogwood tree

 The paucity of posts has been due to a paucity of news. About a week ago, a rough draft of a post, complaining about the on going drought, was in progress; even the poison ivy was wilting. Then, at long last, the skies opened last Friday to yield 1.2 inches of rain; the ground was so dry that there was no observed run off. Until this most recent blessings from the clouds, only one rain all summer has amounted to more than half an inch. Although the area has not been in a drought, Floyd county has been gripped by the dusty devils. Surrounding counties have, not infrequently, been under flash flood watches. 

A post early in August prematurely forecast that summer had already begun to wane. Well, although most of August was relatively mild, the last fortnight has been unseasonably hot with most days in the low 80s. The National Weather Service has prognosticated a return to more seasonable temperatures by this coming weekend, which would be pleasant.

Time to get back to cutting firewood. The National Weather Service three month outlook is for damper than normal conditions and cooler than normal temperatures, which may - or may not - presage a hard winter.

Wishing you and yours a colorful, temperate and pleasurable autumn.