Subject: It Looks Like I Made Another Mistake.                          Aug. 
10, 2011.

  Well it looks like I made a mistake again.  I said that I thought it was 
going
to rain in Texas due to tropical storm Don was going to bring rain to
Texas.  It turned out that Don, when it hit the coast of Texas just fizzeled 
out.
Although it did rain in Brownfied, Texas which is close to Lubbock, Texas
but it didn't rain in Meadow, Texas which is only a few miles, but that 
doen't
count for much because I was hoping and a prayin for good rains over the
whole area of Texas.
  My friend Ruth says that after middle of August this year we can expect
the rains to start in again.

  As I was coming out of the meeting last week a friend of mine told me to
pray for rain in Texas because she has some friends back there who a really
suffering for rain.  I told her that I would do that.  So you people please 
keep
on praying to rain in Texas.

  Something happened at the meeting at Ralph's house that I still can't
quite figure out. We were all stilling round the table eatting our brown
bag lunches we were all talking about our weird experiences.  A person
across from me was sitting with his hand over his mouth and I asked him
to take his hands off of his mouth so I could understand understand,
him because I can't hear very well even with my hearing aid on
but was getting to be a good lip reader.  He said that he wasn't saying
anything. The rest of the people said that no body there was saying 
anything.
Ralph then said I must be picking things from someone that is sending
me a message.  We all laughed about it.

  This last Sunday I did watch the TV Series two hours finale.  I was not 
very
well inpressed, just like I'm not impressed by the TV series V.  They
say the Falling Skies be be back on the summer of 2012.

  Now on to some information about the dought in Texas.

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Monsters and Critics.com
*Drought* is ravaging the southern tier of US states, from Arizona
across Kansas and east to the Atlantic Ocean, with 14 states firmly in
its brittle jaws. In Texas, *drought* has hit particularly hard,
stripping the land of green as more than 90 per cent *...*

  US drought ravages corn, sucks house foundations dry

By Kaitlin D-rbin Jul 23, 2011

 Dead corn stalks march across fields, cattle are sent to market early,
house structures crack and water supplies dry up.

In Texas, drought has hit particularly hard, stripping the land of green
as more than 90 per cent of the state stands in 'extreme' or
'exceptional' drought, the top two intensity markers on the federal
g-vernment's drought monitor.

Texas hasn't seen a quenching rain in nine months, one of the longest
dry spells since 1895 and the worst drought in 60 years.

'It kind of looks like winter time, but the temperatures are 110 degrees
(43 Celsius). We're cookin',' Travis Miller, associate department head
of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University told the German Press
Agency dpa.

This 'historic' drought, Miller says, has many in Texas murmuring: Could
they be in for the next Dust Bowl?

He was referring to the 1930s when drought turned many states in the
mid-west to, well, dust. Families were forced out of their homes as the
land dried out and literally blew away, becoming virtually uninhabitable.

'Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but
the dust came in so thinly that is could not be seen in the air, and it
settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes,' John
Steinbeck wrote in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Grapes of Wrath.

Miller says that it is very unlikely that Texas will turn to dust as it
did in the 'dirty-thirties.'

'We've got a lot better agricultural systems today; more conservation
methods to reduce the dust,' he said.

But tell that to Jeff Davis, 71, who watched 80 per cent of his corn
crop dry up and disappear.

'We've had dry years before, but I've never seen it this dry,' Davis
told dpa. 'It done gone from bad to serious now for farmers and
ranchers.'

Ironically, Davis says he's even better off in central Texas than
farmers further south.

'We were able to make a little crop here. You go down south and a lot of
them didn't make anything,' Davis said.

During years like this Davis says there is crop insurance to help cover
damages, but he doubts it will cover his expenses in growing the crop.

All told, losses in corn, cotton and other crops run into billions of
dollars across the country as farmers are forced to 'just abandon
fields,' as Miller says.

The drought's ripple effect means many farmers have sent their livestock
to market early because they lack grass, grain and water for feed. Bill
Hyman, executive director
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/news/article_1652718.p
hp/US-drought-ravages-corn-sucks-house-foundations-dry#>
of the Independent Cattlemen's Association of Texas, told dpa that
ranchers in central and southwest Texas have sold up to 40 per cent of
their cattle.

In towns across Texas, the picture is equally gloomy as wells and rivers
run dry. In state capital Austin, it's a question of how much water you
can use outside your house.

'Houses on the right side of the street can only water on Thursdays and
Sundays between midnight and 10 am,' Sandy Owen, 74, told dpa.

But she isn't watering her flowers or lawn. She's watering her house.

Residents all over Texas are being reminded of how important moisture is
to keeping their foundations from cracking amidst weeks of 40-plus
temperatures and the longer drought.

'A lot of people have cracks [in their foundations and walls],' Owen
said. 'We're used to heat, but we've never had a drought like this.'

Owen is fortunate because she can protect her home without sacrificing
her health. For 3,500 residents in Llano, Texas, north-west of Austin,
even drinking water is a luxury as their sole source of water, the Llano
River, nears zero-flow.

A typical flow this time of year is around 60-200 cubic feet, but that
has dropped to a mere trickle of 2-3 cubic feet per second, Llano city
manager Finley deGraffenreid told dpa.

If the drought continues, deGraffenreid says there is no doubt that the
river will hit zero-flow. At that point, an emergency backup system can
provide some water for up to 90 days.

'We really need some rain,' deGraffenreid said. 'But it's likely the
relief we need will not be here until September.'

Despite all of the hardships the state has already endured this year,
Texans are standing their ground, unwilling to let the drought claim
both their land and their s-irit.

'I don't want to p-each all doom, but it don't look real good
right now,' Davis said. 'But it could turn around. That's the thing
about farming in Texas, we can go from one extreme to the other.'

John Winston.  johnfw@mlode.com