Monsoon Season

For quite a few years our summers here in Central Illinois were hot and dry. We were actually in severe draught for several years. But for some reason the last few years have been totally opposite. We have had such wet Springs that the farmers have had a rough time getting their crops into the ground. And if you have noticed a canned pumpkin shortage, it's because the ground was so wet last Fall that, altho there was a decent crop, no one could get out to bring them in and they rotted on the ground! This year hasn't been quite as bad as last year, but it took me forever to get my garden planted, and now it's been so wet I haven't been able to hoe. At this point I have more weeds than plants, so there may not be much of a crop this fall. To top it all off, we have had some pretty strong storms move through and the one that passed us on Tuesday had a little tornado action going with it. There is a "mound" outside town that seems to divert actual tornadoes around us, but occasionally we get some damage. This time it was our turn! My poor Bradford Pear took a hit. The gooseberry bush got smashed a bit, but otherwise we were lucky. Our neighbor down the block--not so much. A huge limb fell on his garage and car. I haven't heard how the dog is.