Rain, rain, and more rain

Category: Daily Happenings | Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:27 am

It has been so dry here and the scattered showers have scattered everywhere but here. Yesterday we drove through such a thunderstorm on the way up to work but it was still dust dry here when we got home.
This morning we picked apricots and I washed them and sat down and cut them and threw the seed out. I put them in the food processor and chopped them, just chunky. Then, I found jars, boiled water and scalded them, boiled more water and filled the jars with water and put the lids in a pan and covered them with the boiling water. I made three batches of jam. That's six pint jars and 15 half pint jars. I thought about making another apricot pie but I had dr give the rest of the apricots to the boy across the street. I used up my blueberries and made blueberry pie instead. It got really hot in the kitchen because I turned off the big fan so I could bottle the jam without cooling it off any. It got 103 in the kitchen before I was done. Just as I was finishing the last of it, I heard thunder outside.
I looked out and it was getting very black. I didn't think of my camera like Glenda does. I told dr he'd better go shut the truck windows. I didn't really expect it to rain because usually the storms go around us. This time the whole sky was black, not just a part of it. It started to rain about 3:10 pm and it's still raining off and on. But, for two hours it poured rain, heavy rain with hail in it. When it finally quit the heavy stuff, I went out to check my plants. They were still standing and didn't seem to have any amount of damage from the hail. I think they will probably double in size in the next few days. I know that you can water them every day and keep them from dying but just a little rain makes them grow like crazy. It's very muddy out now. I had an empty flower pot out there and it has about half or three quarters of an inch of water in it. I have this nice rain gauge held up by a little turtle. It doesn't ever get rained on though because I don't want it to get wet. It's really cute. Anyway, it's still raining but not so hard. Chance doesn't appreciate the rain or the thunder so she's stuck so close to me that every time I turn around I trip over her. She's in with dr now. There is more rain in the forecast for the next three days. Of course, the forecast says isolated or scattered showers so who knows if we will get more rain. We're just thankful for what we do get.
I do hope the rain was widespread and the wild fire got as drenched as we did. It would go a long way toward putting it out. This morning it said it had burned about 9.835 acres. I wonder how they measure it. Probably by satellite or something. It was 10 percent contained. But, when we talked to the forest service spokesperson yesterday he said they really weren't trying to put it out, just keep it from burning toward and structures or small towns. They were building fire lines and containment areas and letting it burn up to them hoping the winds wouldn't be strong enough to blow it across them.
We could see it burning when we came home from work last night. Not just the glow but the flames shooting up and large areas of sparks blowing around. It was amazing. I'm glad it's not closer than the 8 to 10 miles. I'm not sure just how far it is but it's not really close to us and has several ridges to cross to get to us, I think. We are in scrubby brush and the fire is up in altitude so it is burning the large trees and brush. Anyway, we are happy with the rain we have and hope for more tomorrow. We had to cook our steak inside but it tasted just fine. dooley

This blog entry has been viewed 701 times

Comments (5) | Leave a Comment

You're reading one of many blogs on GardenStew.com.
Register for free and start your own blog today.

Comments

glendann wrote on Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:55 am:

I'm so glad ya'll finally got a really good rain.
You sure have worked hard
today putting all those apricots up.
I hope the rain was where the fire is and it was put out.I am sure everyone around there is hopeing the same thing.

Droopy wrote on Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:18 pm:

Congratulations on your rain, please share your double-size plants with us! Well done with the jam, you're so busy I can't believe how you manage to do all that you do. I hope the fire got drenched and died.

gardengater wrote on Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:24 pm:

Yeah rain!! You don't appreciate it until you don't get it. We're having a lot of thunder here, but so far no wet stuff. Congrats on all your apricot jam, I'm sure it's delicious.

Gardengater

BJ wrote on Sat Jul 05, 2008 4:42 pm:

Love that apricot jam. You girl! But I no it's hot work.
We got drizzling rain. Tried to drive to next county to shop. Arms and hands hurt so bad from the rain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and helping move that my hubby had to take the wheel. We still have two more days of hard work to be finished with boxes, dishes, clothes, vaccuming and shampooing. Movers took the furniture on 3rd and we later rested yesterday. Glad you got your rain. Hope you enjoyed the 4th.
BJ

kuntrygal wrote on Sat Jul 05, 2008 5:39 pm:

So happy for you Dooley that you finally got good rain. And I hope it rained ON the fire! Sounds like your kitchen needed some help with temps of 103. WOW that was hot.The pay off is all your goodies! Chance sounds like Lexi when it thunders and storms. Poor babies...