Texas

[MandyJ]

we did not get any....yet.
Still hopeful.

We just got about an eighth of an inch, not enough to do any good, just enough to raise the humidity! Ugggg!

Mandy

 

[kjscortez]

Any of our Texas folks have jersey giants?
I'd like just one...for fun. Wondering how they do in the heat?

 

[Ren2014]

Good rain in the last 2 days, not too much, not too little, excellent relief. Hope it rains again like that today.

ABIA set a record today for most rain in July.

Send some of that rain this way please. If the cracks in our fields and runs get much larger we will be able to order Chinese take-out from Peking.

Same here. I watched a gartar snake slither into a crack the other night.

I hear what you are saying about the cracks. It looked liked our ground was buckling in places it was so dry. Fortunately for us we got 3 1/4" yesterday. I pray some of it comes your way today!

Yay for your rain. We didn't get much here.

Can't believe a couple of months ago we were begging the rain to stop. It is like this all over out here. If they get much bigger we will have to be careful to not fall in..

I was just thinking of that last night. Our ground looks just like yours.

Interesting you should talk about cracks.

When I was on the ranch -- one of the drought-related cracks in a field was large enough that a calf fell in (think of 300-350# baby)---and was trapped.

That drought dried up all 10 stock watering tanks on the ranch -- it was dreadful.

There was no hay to harvest to feed the cattle though the winter for a couple of years -- It had to be hauled in by 18-wheeler truck loads (we were feeding 22 bales per week back in those days.) Not only that, hay had to be purchased at a rate for as much as $125 for a 6' round bale. - since hay was so scarce and needed to be hauled in from farther away (i.e. land outside the drought) -

That drought is one reason -- because the overall USA cattle herd was sold off by ranchers who couldn't afford to feed their animals -- the size of the USA entire cattle heard (all the ranchers that raise cattle throughout the country) has shrunk.

Drought is so insidious because 1. it comes on slowly and 2. you are always hoping/praying/tihinking that it will end. It bakes the soil and the micro-organisms die off -- it is horrid. Those were wildfire years too -- that's when the Bastrop fire happened...and some local fires I smelled smoke (we were too far away from BastroP) -- and was trying to figure out how to protect and evacuate as many animals and chickens as possible (and back in those days I had far fewer chickens)

I know flood is also horrid also - at least you know when it is over. (til the next time) -- I have parts of my land here that had gone back to being dry-land -- by mid-July last year - but they are still underwater (a few inches)--- The parts are 'flood plain' in a sense and aren't used -- but the spring rains this year were sure healthy up here in the Piney Woods. --

Like someone else mentioned I was really GLAD to see the rains this week.... besides watering the woods -- it cooled the temperatures by 20-30-degrees.

We are not far from Bastrop. We took our min donkeys and horse to our Vet to board for safety. My parents lived near the Cedar Creek fire that was occurring at the same time. Helicopters were flying over dropping water nearby as we were moving their cows out. That was a very scary time. We didn't have chickens and ducks then. I don't know what we'd do now.

 

[hungnguyen]

we did not get any....yet.
Still hopeful.

It was weird at Austin yesterday. At the airport, it's a record breaking day. Then not too far north, there is nothing. Just like LIberty, my house at Pflugerville did not receive much. I was at San Marcos all day and there were too much rain at Buda and San Marcos. At 4pm another heavy round of downpour at San Marcos so I ended up skipping going to Bastrop to check how my yard got affected. Hope everyone still there today !!! Hang in there boys and girls ..... Papa coming for the rescue ... for sure today.

PS: Hens, are you moving?

 

[needlessjunk]

I was one of the lucky ones and have been getting rain everyday here in Round Rock. Maybe the crack in my house will start shrinking? The ducks love that we finally have a little puddle going for a few hours.

 

[ChicKat]

ABIA set a record today for most rain in July.

Same here. I watched a gartar snake slither into a crack the other night.

Yay for your rain. We didn't get much here.

I was just thinking of that last night. Our ground looks just like yours.

We are not far from Bastrop. We took our min donkeys and horse to our Vet to board for safety. My parents lived near the Cedar Creek fire that was occurring at the same time. Helicopters were flying over dropping water nearby as we were moving their cows out. That was a very scary time. We didn't have chickens and ducks then. I don't know what we'd do now.

Agreed - very scarey --- I guess an evacuation plan is something to put in the filing cabinet in the back of our minds if we face some natural disaster. Glad you all came out OK and hopefully that was just a once-in-a-lifetime-thing.

 

[Ren2014]

Agreed - very scarey --- I guess an evacuation plan is something to put in the filing cabinet in the back of our minds if we face some natural disaster. Glad you all came out OK and hopefully that was just a once-in-a-lifetime-thing.

Thank you, yes definitely need a plan.

 

[Ren2014]

Good rain here today

 

[hensfortherapy]

It was weird at Austin yesterday. At the airport, it's a record breaking day. Then not too far north, there is nothing. Just like LIberty, my house at Pflugerville did not receive much. I was at San Marcos all day and there were too much rain at Buda and San Marcos.  At 4pm another heavy round of downpour at San Marcos so I ended up skipping going to Bastrop to check how my yard got affected. Hope everyone still there today !!! Hang in there boys and girls ..... Papa coming for the rescue ... for sure today.

PS: Hens, are you moving?

Yes,we will move when we sell the house. We looked for something smaller and I really do not think we will have a hard time finding something we like. It is a pain having a house on the market. My grandkids stayed with us last week and it was fun keeping it picked up.

 

[hungnguyen]

Best of luck Hens. When my chicken yard getting too large, I hate moving. When I received multi job offers, I chose the local offer, although it was the lowest offer, thus because I don't want to involve in painful moving. I ended up driving 115 mile round trip daily to work and my chicken stayed where they are. Life !