Paula, I saw that photo earlier today and got a kick out of it If you didn't know about the dumpster fire, you'd think it really, really got hot here in OK. And, of course, is has gotten really hot, but not quite that hot. I have heard of roads and bridges buckling, and our VFD has worked some accidents on the interstate lately that likely were caused by tires blowing out....and Chris is convinced it is heat-related.

I used up all my "it is so hot that...." jokes last year, so will have to repeat one of them in the hopes it will inspire future jokes.

It is so hot in Oklahoma this week that the popcorn is popping in the fields.

OK, all of y'all reading this, Paula and I want to hear your best hot-weather or heat-related jokes...or true stories. Laughing about it sure beats crying about it.

Dawn

It's so hot that when I came back in just now from hanging up some last minute laundry, I immediately checked weather.com, convinced a cool front had just hit, only to discover that my idea of "cool" is apparently 104 degrees.

OOH. ya beat me too it. Still, I'm in awe. Just incredible. I'm having such a difficult time explaining to my 4 year old why she just can't go outside. I can relate to her in that it just doesn't make rational sense while being very real.

bon

okievegan - LOL!!! Can't beat REAL life!!!

Bon - I hear ya. These little people just don't understand. My DH, who works out in this heat, says he can literally feel it thru his shoes. Out walking to check for gas-line leaks, his feet get ridiculously HOT. And his awaiting vehicle....sheesh. Dawn, I agree with Chris. I don't understand how my tires haven't melted as I drove down the road.

So ...."it's so hot....that you can bake cookies in your car while it's parked at work and have a snack ready on the way home!" True story.

Paula

My daughter claims it's so hot that clothes dry faster on the line than in the dryer. Truth, I think.

The weather hates me. We got hot really early here today....104 at lunchtime today compared to 100 at lunchtime yesterday, so I told Tim and Chris I thought it would hit 113 at our house. How hot did it get? 112.9. C'mon now, I think the weather held back and refused to go up that last 1/10th of a degree just so I wouldn't be able to say "I told you so."

I agree with Okievegan that my concept of what feels "good" now is different. I went outside when it was still 106 and it felt pretty pleasant. Now that it has dropped to 95 out there, it almost feels cold....and there's a big, beautiful full moon lighting up the sky.

Next week, when we have high temps only in the very low 100s, we won't even think it is hot at all. That will be because this heat has fried our brains.

Dawn

You just have to wait for it to get dark so the temp will drop. We went to 109 with a heat index of 110, but when I drove by the bank, the sign at 8:45 PM said it was down to 102.

We just had a small thunder storm pass to our north and another to our south. The radar looks like we are getting a little shower, but we haven't had a drop. I have been seeing lightening and hearing thunder for over an hour now. I'll be glad when Mother Nature gets over her fit, or takes her meds, or finds whatever makes her happy these days.

I know, my little car would not cool me down at all, in only three miles of driving... home from work, that I just go ahead and ride my bike.

How about this for hot, someone on another forum posted:
IT is so hot and dry here in South Dakota, that the birds have to use pot holders to pull the worms out of ground , and the trees are begging the dogs to water them.

and...

{{gwi:1127523}}

hahaha

lol lol lol

Y'all know, we have to laugh about all this in order to get through it, but this heat is dangerous. There have been lots of EMS calls all over the state for people suffering from heat illnesses.

Y'all stay hydrated and cool today!

Dawn

Last night I got woke up by a huge thunderstorm! Torrential rain and lightening strikes...I couldn't believe it!

This morning I got up to find that, although it did sprinkle, I was dreaming! I was soooooo disappionted!

What a dream! How cruel to wake up and discover it was only a dream.

Even sprinkles are better than nothing at all.

We're at the point now that it will take many inches of rain to make a significant impact for anyone whose area is in Severe, Extreme or Exceptional Drought. For the folks still in Moderate Drought, it also would take several inches, but not as much as for everyone else.

I am afraid August is going to be a dreadfully hot, dry month.

I wish your dream had been true and that we'd had torrential rainfall over the entire state, and the entire region.

Tomato brought in around 5 pm today:

{{gwi:1127524}}

Just see, how hot that mater is!!!!

Moni, It is too hot. I bet the tomato is happy to be inside. I pulled a cherry tomato off a plant today and popped it into my mouth and that was one hot little tomato. It was 110 degrees at the time. I ate it anyway.

At this rate, the tomatoes can boil and turn themselves into stewed tomtoes right there on the vines, and save us the trouble of having to cook them.

Dawn

Just got back inside. Realized, all my peppers have sun burn, and lost another tomato. I finally found out who gets them. I have a possum living in the area. Or, at least, I am thinking he/she is guilty.

Moni

Moni, I had a possum and he ate my only ripe cantaloupe. It took a couple of nights, but he finally had to check out the dog food in the back of the trap. He now lives in the woods. I have found a lot of peppers on the ground that have just fallen off. A few had sunburn, but most of them had nothing wrong. I can't speak for every possum, but there were plenty of tomatoes in my garden that the possum could have eaten, and he didn't seem to be interested.

One question for you. Did you ever get the canning things out of storage that I was going to buy, or did you decide to keep them after you bought a house?

It's so hot.....the chickens are laying hard boiled eggs....

Oh, Yes, I kept the pressure canner, and found out, it needs a new seal. Haven't done anything about it yet.

But I am glad, we never connected... as I would hate, if you bought it, and it didn't work.

Moni

OK Moni, I didn't bug you about it because I thought you probably had a need for it now that you have a yard to garden in. I dug out my old one this week and got some advice from the Harvest Forum on it. They say it is a good one, but newer ones from the company are not so good, but they also advised me to buy replacement parts while they are still available. DH wants me to buy a new canner, but I may do both. LOL So far this year I have only used a boiling water bath and have made lots of pickles, salsa, and fruit jams, and a few other things.

Are you in the OKC area? You can take it to the OSU County extension office at 9th & Portland and they will test it for you and make sure it is safe, and give you a written report. I think that most counties in OK have county extension offices but not sure if they test pressure canners or not, you might need to call.

I have an old Presto #7. I will NOT buy a brand new Presto, to the best of my knowledge they are made in China. I don't trust that. There are lots of older ones out there and that are perfectly good and safe, made in the USA. I just bought a new All American, made in Wisconsin USA, a bit pricey but a good unit and made by Americans in the USA. Tons of good used Prestos on Ebay, occasionally on Craigslist, plus estate and garage sales.

I know about the extension center. But they test the pressure gauge... I do need a new gasket, without it, it's just a fancy hot water bath canner.

I will get the pressure gauge tested once I get the new gasket. So far, nothing in the yard/garden I need a pressure canner for.

Moni

Moni, There's nothing in my garden either. LOL

I do have a lot of apples but they didn't come from my yard.

Carol, are going to tell us that you did not CAN the possum after feeding it all this time?

No, but I should have boxed him up and sent him to George. He would have come up with a new dish.

He came head to head with my dog and size-wise it was a pretty good match, but Rico kept biting him on the nose, so he kept backing away. I finally took the sidewalk broom and held Rico back till the possum could get away. After I found the cantaloupe remains I was sorry I was not beating the possum with that broom. Now each time Rico hears a frog jump, he thinks the possum is back and goes running over there.

If I had everything that is dead cleared out of my garden it would sure look better out there, but when it is 109 during the day, I have learned to look away and just leave the ugly brown things standing.

I'm like Dawn though, I really can't complain about production, it was good while it lasted. Most things produced all at once and then the heat came and they were done. I would have liked more broccoli in the freezer, and had hoped we would have a decent Fall for that, but I didn't even start any.

I have peppers and eggplant producing. I let one melon patch die but have kept one going along with some winter squash that blooms, but doesn't seem to be setting fruit. I planted Zuchetta on one side of an arched cattle panel and a Seminole pumpkin on the other. The Zuchetta is over the top and was half way down before I re-directed it. I probably planted 10 Seminole seeds about the same time and I have one plant about 3 feet long. I think I saw a bud forming today. The Zuchetta has had dozens of male blooms and only 2 squash. I guess even the birds and bees think it is too hot. Oh yeah, I have a few black eyed peas, and some very hot chickens.

As I have mentioned before, I am going to experiment with what I can grow in winter in low tunnels. I have been trying to keep a few things alive hoping rain would come, but we have had 19/100 of an inch in 30 days, and just over 6 inches in the last 90 days. That is just unreal for this area.

I have a recipe for Roast Possum. It is in the 'Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe' cookbook. Y'all let me know if you want to try it. If you don't have possum, you substitute pork, making me wonder if possum tastes like pork.....or chicken?

It is too hot to clear away dead vegetation. I tried a few days ago and it got too hot too early in the day and I fled inside.

I'm still getting peppers, tomatoes, okra and melons that were doing well as long as I was watering. They're dwindling now. The 'Seminole' winter squash wilts all day and looks pitiful by sunset put perks up again by morning. That surely won't continue for much longer in these temperatures, especially with Friday's and Saturday's wind speeds.

I have black-eyed peas that are holding their own in the heat, but the grasshoppers are eating them. There's a purple hull pea farm here and if they are still irrigating and still getting peas, I may just buy a bushel of peas from them next week. I can buy them cheaper than I can get them by continuing to irrigate my southern peas.

The tomato plants in containers by the garage are blooming, but I don't have high hopes for any fruit to form from those blooms.

I can remember when people around here would eat possum, coon, rabbit, or anything else they could catch. I dont remember eating possum or coon but I may have eaten it without knowing.

I have a project ahead of me that I dread. I have a water leak out near the meter and it is too hot to be digging. This soil is as hard as a rock when it is dry and when it is wet you cant beat it off your tools. I dont know it the very dry cracking soil and then the 7" of rain had anyting to do with the leak or not. I dont think it make a difference, I have to repair it anyway. Sometimes I sit lights up at night and work when it is too hot in the day.

Larry

Didn't read all of the posts. Scanned a few. It has been hot. And I have had some things ruin after I picked them before I got back around to pick them up. In areas where I have mini jungles I usually just go through and pick everything and lay it in an open space and go the whole length of the row and after I pick everything I will pick it up. Sometimes it is 30 minutes before I get back. This year that has been too long. I've had tomatoes that stewed and burst, onions that sunburned and a few others things go bad like squash. And this has usually been in the evening at 7-9 pm. Overall I've managed to keep most things alive although a lot of it has suffered some damage. I'm going to post a garden update on a new thread. Today is such a relief. Enjoyable to be out today. Heading out to see if I can find boxes for two more tomato plants to take a little journey in. Jay

Larry, That is exactly when our waterline broke last year--right after good rain fell and the ground shifted back quickly instead of more slowly. It happened twice, about a month apart. We had to dig in red caliche clay filled with rocks, and it was not pleasant. I do not envy you having to do that job.

Jay, I've had the same issue. Things burn almost as soon as I pull them off the plant and put them into a bowl. I've been trying to get out early enough to harvest before the sunrises, but don't always make it out there that early.

I've also had the fastest ripening on cantaloupes I've ever seen. One day they still are very green and do not look or smell ripe at all, or even close to being ripe. The next day, they green has been replaced by golden/tan color, the delicious melons smell permeates the air and the melons have slipped off the vine. Yesterday I went to the garden in the afternoon to see if I had any big Armenian cukes I could feed the chickens to help them stay hydrated. I found six melons on the ground at the foot of the melon trellis. The day before I would have thought they were at least 4 days from ripening.

The evening hours are my favorite time, but with the West Nile Virus running rampant in mosquitoes (and humans) here, I have been limiting my time outdoors a great deal.

Dawn

True Story: It is so hot, that the bank time and temp. read 116 degrees here in midwest city the other day, when I came inside from driving home from work I had to put drops in my eyes to cool them off. They were knots in my head!

That is hot.....