Still Hangin' in There...

Well, I don't have to tell anybody who has been within 500 miles of here in any direction but it's HOT! We have set record after record here for the number of days in a row that it has been over 90 degrees. I think it has been almost 4 weeks now like that. It always gets hot in August, but hardly ever stays that way relentlessly.

Even that would not be too bad if we had gotten any kind of rain at all. The last good rains we had were in late June and a few minor events in early July. Since then....nothin'.

Tobacco kinda thrives in hot weather, but it still needs a good rain now and then, not as much as corn or soybeans, but some. My tobacco was bearing with it til about a week ago and then it started 'firing'. That is when the bottom leaves start dying, turning brown and crumbling up to fall off. Then it moves up the plant the drier the weather gets. Crops across the state are losing tens of thousands of pounds per week as this continues on. Tobacco that was topped before it began will fare better, but there is a large segment of the total crop that is just now being topped. Tobacco gains about 1/2 of its total weight in the last 1/3 of its life except when something like this happens. It is not going to be a very good year for tobacco farmers, I fear. We will have to cut it before full maturity just to stop the losses in the field. But there is always next year, eh? rofl

And I ain't even gonna get into cattle and pastures and the lack of hay for this winter. Just understand it is not looking good for the home team there either. "But what about government aid programs?" Yeah, right...and then you woke up. rofl.

Oh well, you pays yo' money and you takes yo' chances, as they say.