The temperature yesterday in my backyard hit 95°. The US Drought Map has us at the highest level of drought they differentiate. The good news for the state of Texas yesterday was that the storms causing so much damage across the country in the last week managed to drop enough rain on the few counties in northeast Texas that they are no longer in any state of drought…So now just 98% of Texas is in a drought situation the lowest in weeks…

The last time we had a rain shower blow through here, all of the neighbors were out watching the storm line approach. What looked beautifully colorful on radar managed once again to fizzle out as it got to our neighborhood…Though to be truthful, even the 1/4″ that managed to fall was appreciated.

My mark of summer actually starting is when the daybreak temperatures are already in the 80’s. We actually had that a couple of months ago before mother nature remembered what the date was and pulled them back down for a bit. We have been flirting with them again this week. I really don’t want to see them get here anytime soon.

This morning dawned foggy…Moisture of any kind is welcome. My coffee muses were accompanied by the dripping of the condensation  falling from the leaves above my head. But it seemed as if even the trees were holding back as much moisture as they could to tide them over a few more days. Still air, heavy fog, a coolness we had not felt in a week or better…I mean the temperature was low…It was only 72° when I carried that first cup of coffee out before the sun came up.

Now the fog has mostly vanished and the sun is up in a sky that promises to warm up quickly. I think I’ll spend my day, virtually anyway, in the mountains…Will I see you there?

Related articles

• Small portion of Texas emerges from the drought (chron.com)
• Cost of Texas drought climbing with each dry day (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• And the landscape of merry and desperate drought (texasvox.org)
• Pray for rain, Texas governor proclaims (msnbc.msn.com)
• As drought tightens grip, farmers’ losses mount (chron.com)