Most of you will readily agree that we are still experiencing our fair share of summer weather, even though we got to enjoy some cooler than usual days the latter part of last week with the 3-4 days of intermittent thunder showers.

The afternoon temp. is still getting up around the hundred degree mark, but the mornings have seemed a bit more crisp the past couple of days & the low spots are cooling a bit more around dark. Fall is always a welcome season around our parts.

Many of the rainfall reports from various parts of the County seemed to be anywhere from around 2-3 inches, totaled from the 3-day rains.

Floyd H. said he got a 2" rain out at Pecan Grove from the Friday rain and the Traylors got about 2.5" on the Highway just this side of the Red Bluff bridge. Jr. Goode got about 2.75 total on upper China Creek, and Crockett reported about the same out at Fairview. Emmett Lee measured an even 2 inches off Johnny Brown Lane at the Garvin, and Sam Tisdale said about the

same over on Barnett Spgs. Ruben Almaguer said he measured an even 2" in one rain over the weekend, while his neighbors on each side got a good bit less than that.

Sort of reminds me of an ol’ saying that Joe Ellis used to use in reference to the “Just and the un-just”. Regardless of what we all received, it was extremely timely and well appreciated. The recent addition of moisture brings on some extra activities around the pastures, patches, orchards, yards and gardens. August is a good time to do some brush sprout control on any of the undesirable species in the pasture. Some tender Mesquite re-sprouts will be emerging following the summer rains and we will always have Juniper coming up under the Oaks as long as we'll still have Robins roosting in the Hill Country. Prickly Pear can be sprayed or grubbed at any time of the year, but you will have to take some extra duty procedures to maintain any effective control on the Lotebush or Bluethorn.

Bee brush (White brush) is somewhat easier to control whether you use chemical or mechanical methods. Being as we had a few consecutive days of “wet” periods this past weekend, one would do well to keep an eye out in the orchard for any appearance of Pecan scab or other leaf or nut diseases. If you happened to put a fungicide in your 2nd generation Pecan nut Casebearer application, you might have gotten by on the Scab, however, it is still advisable to monitor for it on the more susceptible varieties such as Wichita, Burkett, and Western.

We probably won’t have to irrigate for a couple of weeks now, depending on how much rain you received. Most varieties are still in the water stage while some are approaching soft-dough, so they need timely watering.

August is also a good time to getting started with planting your Fall garden. Tender crops can be planted from now until the first part of Sept., with most of the cool season varieties being planted in late Aug. through Sept. We can still get some very high temperatures during this time of the year, so certain tender crops can be seeded in peat pots, etc. and then transplanted to the garden in 4 to 5 weeks.

Fall gardens give you an excellent opportunity to grow and harvest high quality produce for the basket or canning and the cooler weather combined with less insect and disease activity give a greater growing experience. You can check with the County Agent’s office if you would like a chart listing seeding rates and timing of planting on the various vegetable varieties.

Audrey’s daughter Heather and Hubby, Bryan brought the kids down this past weekend to visit with Daddy and the Lindseys as they were not able to be here for the Harkey Reunion. They took all day Saturday to take the kids, Dean, Tyler, & K. Ivy, down below the Bend and visited the State Park, Sulfur Springs, and Barefoot’s.

Then they made their way over to Lampasas, Burnet, the Lakes, and Llano making it back to the Harkey House by about five. We grilled a big Pork Loin, as well as some Cooper’s & Inman’s sausage and enjoyed platters of the smoke Pork on the Patio. They took off to get back up to Ft. Worth early Sunday morn, leaving only one pair of lil’ bitty girl shoes in the kitchen.

Shaw and yrs. truly have foregone fishing during the hot spell, but if the temperature keeps on the cool side, we might have to put the Perch traps back in the tank. Milton Gage reported taking several nice Yellowcats off his trot-line early this week out around Shaw Bend. That might be enough to get us to put some lines back in the River out around———————Harkeyville!!!!!!!!!!