It's October 1st today, and as I write, a red-orange sun is peeking through the trees. It looks to be another sunny, dry day. It's cooled off considerably, but still cloudless.

With a severe drought going on, farmers are kicking up tons (literally!) of dust as they harvest beans and corn. Many of the ignorant ones disc or plow their fields soon thereafter. That makes for hazy skies and very red sunrises/sets. 30 mph winds yesterday didn't help matters any.

My lawn is really ugly, baked to the bone. I water some plants and bushes, but that's all. I've tried to keep broccoli and Brussels sprouts wet, along with some tomato and pepper plants. Otherwise, the garden is in a pretty sorry state of affairs.

I can tell when the water table is low, because my tap water, drawn from a 100 year old shallow well, turns a reddish black. Thankfully, I installed a water filter years ago for drinking water. But it's a daily task to clean the toilets and bathtub from iron stains.

I'm not complaining about the lack of rain. It beats what's happening to my Eastern neighbors. We'll pay for this nice weather one of these days. Have a good weekend, friends.