Most of the conversations around the Table of Knowledge, as of late, seems to mostly center around the weather and attesting to the fact of hot & dry. Any time the temperature hits the century mark we would say that it’s pretty warm outside. We also hear a lot of the younger folks saying that this is hot as it’s ever been. I’m not looking at any sheets of weather history, but do recollect plenty of 100 degree days back in the Fifties and during the mid-70’s. The drought of the fifties seemed to last about 6 or 7 years and rained very little. I recall the ol’ men around the stores at Algerita & Harkeyville getting excited when a lonely cloud might appear. George B. Walker’s & Davidson’s were really good places to gather or share information. Country folks didn’t have time to loiter around the town coffee shops back in those days and six of seven miles to town was way to far to travel except on Saturdays. The soda pops always seemed colder at those stores, too. Daddy had a place on the Wilbarger right across from the Skeeterville Store and he seemed to have the coldest big orange drinks. Odd, how that store seemed so big to me back then. Surely seemed like a little building when I was out that way a few years back. Anyhow, the weather men are sounding encouraging as to the possibility of precipitation in the near future and I think it will be truly welcome. If you might recall, we are a bunch better off this summer than we were at this time last year. We still have some water in Richland Creek up at the Gaddy place & I’d been hauling water for over two months at this time last year. Looking around at the pastures and fields doesn’t look nearly as desolate as this time last summer as most folks still have a good bit of forage left if you can find it among the good crop of weeds. That darned Blessed Milk Weed thistle seems to be taking the country and besides being pesky to walk through, the cows don’t even like to graze next to it. The cows are still in pretty good condition and the calves are still putting on weight in spite of the high temperatures. The sheep & goat people are still getting good prices for their animals. Bruce Moore’s ewes & nannies are having lots of twins, which is due to the good spring condition we enjoyed about 5 months back. I think the watermelon season might be winding down, though. Seems like the summer only just started and the Armadillos are already into two-a-days. They really have it easy now, though, as the coaches even let them have water breaks. Looking at the yard & garden calendar in August is not a very pleasant affair as the dratted Dog Days are still upon us. However, there are some useful hints that can prove helpful during this hot period. Watering and mowing can be a couple of the most useful practices for folks but can often be the most misused. Watering the lawn needs to be complete & thorough and not too often. Frequent shallow watering makes for shallow root systems and the grass doesn’t develop much drought tolerance. It’s all right to start watering before daylight, but you should turn off the sprinklers by noon. Late afternoon & night watering can be bad as it encourages too much of environment for lawn & grass diseases. Also, if you curtail lawn watering in the afternoon, it helps the water pressure in the lines for domestic use in the Town. You also need to raise the blades on your mower as cutting at a close level exposes the runners & roots to the hot, blistering sun. More leaf on the grass helps conserve the water in the root zone as well. City announced on Tuesday that we are going to Stage 1 of water conservation, which is “voluntary”. So I’d say it would be wise to heed their suggestion so we don’t have to go to mandated stages of use. Pay attention & use your head. Several folks have been asking about Fall gardening lately, so I’ll see if I can put some stuff together for next week’s edition. In the mean time you might want to till your spot one more time & keep the weeds down. Other than that, let’s say that the Mayor & yrs. truly will be trying to keep things together out around————Harkeyville!!!!!!!!!