3.25" here just east of Richmond, plus a 1:30AM tornado alert which brushed by but didn't land. Tree limbs down all around and one big one on top of neighbor's car that's no where near a tree - weird. 2 of my late corn polts were flattened out. Be interesting to see how the almost ripened melons do, probably popping fresh later today as well as some big green tomatoes. But at least the mini-drought's back is broken here. Dennis may head westward according to latest projections. You Poor Gulf Coast folks ain't used to a Cat 4 storm of recent years - heaven help you. vgkg Here is a link that might be useful: Dennis the Menece?

I hate to be a bumper but...any news famartin? All of mine recovered completely; by late summer you have had no idea anything had happened to them. Am increasingly concerned about this winter as the "polar vortices" seem never to have retreated this year. OTOH, NOAA CPC is not calling for a colder than normal winter. So maybe there's a ray of hope. The northern tier of states getting snow covered so early does not bode well though...and apparently the Great Lakes never really warmed up to normal temp. levels this summer.

Jay, I don't know what's happening in the rest of Oklahoma, but here at our house, very light rain started falling around 3:45 a.m. when the temperature was 36 degrees. Then, as the temperature fell, the rain transitioned, first and briefly to freezing rain, then to sleet which fell for a while, and then to snow, which has been falling for about an hour-and-a-half. Within the last 5 minutes, the flakes have become huge but also have smaller ice pellets mixed in with them. Our temperatures have been hanging right around and just below freezing all morning. The thermometer on the front porch has dropped from 33 degrees, which is what it was when the snow started falling, to 30 degrees, where it has remained for the last 55 minutes. Tim drove home from work in it this morning, but the temps had stayed higher than initially expected in Dallas, so they were getting rain only and nothing frozen. Of course, the further north he drove the worse the weather became. Overall, our forecast is for slightly colder weather and a little more precip over the next couple of days than initially forecast. However, since the freezing rain was very brief, we don't seem to be in danger of having power outages, which is always my primary concern with weather like this. We are likely to lose internet service at some point. The deer are out there eating the deer corn and the wild birds are eating the seed I put out late yesterday evening. The fact that they came out to eat in the snow tells me they think it will last a while. Generally, they stay under cover and wait for the snow to end and then come to the feeding area to eat. I have coffee in the big thermos bottles and a pot of ham bean soup bubbling away on the stove, so I'm ready to feed the firefighters if we have calls today, except I still need to whip up a couple of batches of corn bread muffins to go with the soup. It is going to be a long, boring stretch of cold days, but it certainly won't be as bad as last year's winter weather that wouldn't end. And, as long as the internet and satellite TV are working, we can at least amuse ourselves with them. The snow is pretty, but after about 3 days without sunshine I start getting cabin fever. We had sunshine in great abundance yesterday, so I shouldn't start feeling sun-deprived for another couple of days. Dawn

Yeah, Animal Services can be a really bad place. Dallas has improved a lot. We have a new huge facility. But still, there are too many pit bulls and chihuahuas and not enough owners. We have a large illegal alien population. They seem to love both and they don't believe in spay and neuter. They aren't too crazy about keeping them up, either. The rescue organizations are doing a great job of turning the dogs into pets. The number of dogs put down is way down because of their efforts. Yes, we have named her. So, she's ours. She's "Fuzzy". I guess the vet knew she was ours, too. He said bring her back and he would "shoot her up". He said you have to assume she's had no shots. She has what may be a scar on her belly, so he said she may have been spayed already. We just have to wait and see. I can't get her to sit still long enough for a photo, though. I'll keep trying. That's the great thing about digital - if it's no good, you just delete it. bk