Tropical Storms

It's odd to not hear about nor think about hurricanes here. About all we here on the radio at the top-of-the-hour news is something like "Tropical Storm Eduardo is headed for the Texas coast sometime Wednesday." Then they move on to give the Texas livestock and crude oil prices. Not that I ever got too worked up over hurricanes to begin with; there was nothing I could do about them anyway, so why panic? But I was always paid attention to what was brewing in the Gulf or the Atlantic lest it come our way. And I was always grateful when the official "Hurricane Season" was over. This far north, we hardly get the rain caused by a hurricane as it moves inland and weakens. Eduardo will give some of the DFW Metroplex some needed rain, but not us. I have cracks in my yard ranging from 2"-4" wide, where the ground is hard and drying up. Water is expensive, so forget daily watering. (On the upside, grass really does grow quite slowly here, requiring a mow only every 10-12 days or so. In south Louisiana, where we'd get daily rains every afternoon, you'd better mow twice a week if you didn't want to lose a small dog in your yard.)

We've been issued "Pet Advisories" this past couple of weeks, as temperatures hit over 100ºF. Basically, make sure your pet has water and shade. We let the lab in during the day if we are here, and she sure is grateful. Of course the weenie dog comes and goes through her doggie door as she pleases, and her pleasure is being wherever her people are. Which is indoors, I assure you.