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That's literally how it's been for us here. This week is a bit better (high 80s) but the humidity is still there. There's been no rain. Indianapolis (hour south) has a water ban in effect, and most of the state has a burn ban. My hard is brown.

So far no water ban here, but there is a burn ban with $2000 fine in the county. Doesn't include grills, although what idiot would grill in this weather...(okay, I have, twice...).

Also I ordered some plants maybe a month ago and they happened to come just now, so I did a lot of landscape work this past week. I drank a couple of gallons of water a day and popped electrolyte pills (usually reserved for runs or bike rides of 1 hour+) like candy to keep going. And now I have to water the plants daily because they don't have a root system, it's dry and hot and they're needy. I'm going to lose about $200 worth of bushes and flowers if we end up with a water ban...

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did you at least mulch to keep some moisture in? got something you can partially shade them with as well?

Yeah, they're mulched. I did some of it after dark so there's some...iffy coverage in parts, but I'm fixing that as I realize how thin the areas are.

The more fragile plants are shaded half of the day by the house, the ones in the sun all day are pretty hardy (and cheap) so I'm not as worried about them. I have some rose bushes that were a bit more expensive, but they were chopped down to stalks, so with very tiny leaves at this point they're not losing a ton of moisture.

Hopefully since this week is a bit cooler it'll be a bit easier on them, but...I guess it's better to lose some plants than have our well go dry.

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"This whole world would be successful if everybody stopped quitting." - Evander Holyfield

Tried it once, was told definitively never again.

So it goes.

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Support my friend and local artist, get unique, amusing, handcrafted cards: http://www.etsy.com/shop/kevinthecat

yep, so it goes

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"This whole world would be successful if everybody stopped quitting." - Evander Holyfield

They say if you mix peat moss in your soil it will hold the moisture in it.

The Friday before the 4th we had a bad storm that knocked out power all over around here. So bad that some places went a whole week without power with each day being in the 100s. My work was one of those places that didn't have any power and was being run on a back up generator. Which meant no AC, I checked the break room one day at it was at 96 degrees in there.

Man, it's snot

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34-17/ 29-7 / 34-13 / 27-17

2010 & 2011 Baseball National Champs

May be going to he11 in a bucket, but at least I'm enjoying the ride.

We call that a dragon. Bubbles larger than a quarter get a cookie.

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"This whole world would be successful if everybody stopped quitting." - Evander Holyfield

Something that might be on interest: on a disposable chiller package (Alaska brand) they noted that if you mixed whatever was in the package with the soil in houseplants it helps to retain moisture. I've used what looks like tiny gelatin cubes before to help keep the soil loose as well as retain water, but not the slushy mix in the disposable version of the blue ice packs. Could be worth looking into as a short term help.

As an intermediate step, you definitely want to get a thick layer of mulch (2-3 inches) around each plant. It will help keep the moisture in the ground instead of evaporating off. The down side is that you need to really concentrate the water right on the plant stem for it to do any good (think open hose vs. watering can with shower head). Newspaper can also be substituted, but look it up first as the ink/paper can lower the pH in the soil a bit.

Yesterday was another hot day so I put the thermometer out in the loading dock where I was working again. 119 in the sun, 100 in the shade. Luckily it was a "dry" heat.

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Only 99 today, but huuuumid.


Tell ya it's getting difficult to find a regular watermelon anymore. All the supermarkets only have those little tasteless seedless things. Even the eco yuppie stores don't have the good ones. It's a shame.


I'd grown some but I just can't dedicate that much space. I know it's too early in the season yet for local grown real ones, but even when the come the roadside stands will have more seedless than the tastier big seeded heavies.

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HoP, Wall, Dyno$, P$B, FSDM, BluShk6, FSNFL, Uber, College

It's weirdly cool down here. I went running last night at 7 PM, and it was 78 degrees. On July 17. In SE Texas.

Never seen anything like it.

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Please don't tell my momma I work in the oilfield - she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse.