Thursday, April 30, 2009

Rainy Days

'April showers brings May flowers' has new meaning to me. Well not new meaning, but it actually means something now.

I grew up in Arizona and the changing of seasons didn't necessarily mean springtime showers and cool spring days. It meant it was changing from cold and windy to warm and windy, which would eventually be replaced by HOT and windy.

Living in Utah for 8 years made me realize there are actually 4 seasons in a year, just as I'd been taught in preschool and kindergarten.

But moving to Kansas has helped me realize I knew nothing about the seasons.

Spring actually occurs in the months of March through May; Summer occurs in the months of June through August; Fall occurs from September through November; and Winter graces us from December through February. It all makes sense now!

I only bring this up because of the non-stop showers we've had this week. Last week I was dying of heat and humidity, almost even enough to turn on the air conditioning. I trudged through with ceiling fans and an oscillating fan, which I'm glad I did. Immediately the weather turned cool again, the blue in the sky was replaced with a smoky gray, and we had rain.

Lots of rain. Off and on since Saturday {or was it Sunday?} and I am at a loss as to what to keep busy after work. Not that I spent all my afternoons outside anyways, but I'm getting stir crazy, people! I've bored of the internet {that's almost sacreligious to say} and I don't want to do any crafts {don't act shocked}. I want to plant the freaking tomato plant and strawberry plants we bought on Saturday, for the love.

I attempted planting last night after the rain seemed to let up for a few hours, but the soil is like clay. Clay we call dirt. It sticks on the end of the shovel after I scoop it out of the ground. It collects like cookie dough on a beater {and oddly has the same consistency}. If I wait until the ground dries enough to plant, I'll miss the prime time for planting. Would mixing in potting soil make a difference? I'm tempted to try.

What does everyone do after a week of rain?

4 comments:

Micah and Melinda said...

I think somepotting soil would totally help! You have to love the changing seasons... next try the new england seasons... fall will be your fav!

Me said...

Oh--and they're predicting another week of rain!

Ya--moving here I realized that I quite like actually having 4 seasons. I know people think that UT has 4 seasons...but after living there for 29 years, I realized that UT was far more like AZ than like KS. There's basically 2 temps in UT. Hot and cold---and anything in between might last a week, or come in during the wrong month to tease for a week or so, then switch to the exact opposite. Pure insanity (although weather here is pretty insane too!)

The nice thing here, is that since there is a REAL fall, the growing season is longer, so I wouldn't worry too much about not planting until after the ground has dried out some. Of course, all that's growing in my strip of a garden right now is major weeds, cause I have no time to get to them!

Good luck! These are the days where I talk to the skies and try to tell them to go back to Seattle where they came from!

:) Mary P.

exclusive_remedy said...

I will tell you what I like to do after a week of rain. I live in Oregon, so usually after a week of rain, I settle in for another week of rain. Repeat. It is nice that there isn't much snow in the winter, but geez louise am I sick of the freaking rain!

rebecca said...

Accoding to accuweather.com we should have SUN at 3pm. Ok, its part sun, but its still not clouds!

I would buy a bag of compost/humus/manure stuff and work it into the soil. The clay actually has lots of nutrients, and the humus will make it workable.