And here's a view of my side yard. Did you know that mature trees absorb 60% of groundwater? Now this is a fully fledged mature tree yard. Neighbors that clear cut their back yards now have 'ponds' they could put bass in and fish out of right now. 7 days later and we are still drying out. The owls and hawks however love the little tadpoles and frogs that have taken up residency.
The heat and humidity have affected my tomatoes, watermelons and squash plants. The hot peppers however are continuing to thrive. The butterfly garden just loves the rain, as do the rain lillies.
So apart from the endless trilling of the frogs, the somewhat swampy odor of the standing water, and our favorite 'standing water' visitor 'the dreaded mosquito' all is well, just don't get me started on our internet (NOT) provider over the last 2 weeks.
I finally found a relatively inexpensive way to help keep mosquitos away from my front porch area! I bought a can of OFF spray, but spray it on the house walls, and bushes and plants around and on porch. It works. I have only sprayed twice over past one week. Not sure how it would work for you if you are out west. I am only 2 miles from ocean. You probably have a far worse mosquito problem than we do! My neighbor breeds frogs and the croaking is endless when we are trying to sleep! Amazing! Hope you are all dried up now. It is just so darn miserably humid and HOT! Now is when I wish I lived in Alaska or somewhere dry and cool!!! LOL.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie! I am always so 'amazed' when June comes around and the temperature gets into the high 80's AGAIN, LOL. I guess I just never learn. One thing to watch for this year is fleas, they are everywhere, I guess it didn't get cold enough to kill them off or something. Your mosquito remedy sounds quite effective, but I have caged birds on my patio and couldn't risk the backdrift, but thanks for the tip and posting it here, I am sure that one of our visitors will be happy to have come across something to control the skeeters!
DeleteAnd here I thought I had it bad. I had to stake several smaller trees as our ground turned to mush and they toppled over. But now I'm thinking that's nothing compared to your pictures above. At least the forecast is below 50% for the rest of the week.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the owls - that's pretty neat.
Hi Elizabeth, do you have a lot of clay in your soil? The garden is slowly drying up, we can't use the ride-on until it's firmer otherwise we will leave muddy tire tracks all over the yard.....so attractive!! The rate the grasses are growing though, by the time it's 'terra firma' (so to speak) I'll have to hire a machete, and a guide with a rifle before I venture out there - there have been coyotes spotted in our neighborhood a while ago, no seriously, no kidding here.
DeleteMust’ve been a hoot for the owls and other birds. The frogs must drive you nuts, especially if it’s the middle of the night and they decide to have a mini-concert in your backyard.
ReplyDeleteHow’s your house, btw? Usually when I see this much rainfall, it’s accompanied by house damage unfortunately. Hopefully it wasn’t the case.
Lino
If it was that flooded with mature trees around, I shudder to think what it looked like on other properties. At least it didn’t go up to your home, though the no-internet thing can be quite a downer, especially if it’s tied to your cable as well.
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