Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here today to complain about the weather. You may remember me from such posts as “The New Arrivals”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
We haven’t had a decent rain in about a month, which is very unsettling, but here I am trying to put a brave face on it.
I’ve heard thunder almost every evening but nothing has happened except for a few sprinkles.
It’s been very dark here almost all day, every day, and hot, too, and if this sounds really gross, well, it is. Totally covered with dark clouds most of the day, thundering, almost no rain at all, and hot.
The guy I live with took a bunch of pictures in the last couple of days so I thought I would post them here.
A lot of these were taken in the evening.
You can see how much rain we get in the next picture.
I really need to show you a picture of my Private Lawn. This is ‘Cody’ buffalo grass which the guy I live with started from seed. Buffalo grass seed is now super expensive (90 dollars for three pounds) so he hasn’t continued the lawn for the path in the distance.
He admitted he could have done a better job mowing my lawn, but I don’t really care. He uses a push mower for this.
The grass needs to be watered after it’s been mowed, but not much at all after that.
So that’s it. A bunch of pictures. Not much else to say since it’s been so hot, so dark, and so dry. The guy I live with says if this sounds sort of like a gardener’s nightmare, he wouldn’t argue.
I’ll leave you with a picture of me, a Livingstone in search of a Nile, in the tall smooth brome.
I really am there, if you were wondering.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
Ick! Hot, dry and dark! I can imagine hot and dry, but not while dark. That sounds just icky.
It is very icky,
We are presently being relieved after a long hot and dry period and it is raining at present.
Today it was hot, dry, dark, and windy.
The guy I live with was not thrilled.
Gross is a good description. We got .03” of rain from a brief storm last week, which is just enough to make the air feel sticky, which is even grosser.
I think I see some mountain-mahoganies in your photos there, Mani; maybe Cercocarpus ledifolius? I like those shrubs.
The guy I live with says the lack of rain is distressing.
Those are mountain-mahogonies.
He got them from the late Jerry Morris. One is dwarf, and one is fastigiate, but Jerry said we’d have to wait for a long time to see which is which.
There are gigantic ones in the front garden.
Today’s release of the Drought Monitor https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?fips_08031 claims no drought or abnormal conditions in Denver County. What’s up with that?
The guy I live with says that map is very general, while rainfall events are highly localized.
The CoCoRahs station which most replicates the rainfall we’ve been receiving recorded 0.73 inches within the last month, of which 0.71 inches fell last night. That leaves 0.02 inches for the last four weeks.
Dark, dry an *hot* sounds like a Dessert….umm, no…wait…Desert to mee Mani! You’ss barelee gotted any rain at all. Yore place does look lovelee even withour prpurr rain. An wee can see you inn THE Brome 😉
**nose bopss** BellaDharma an ((hugss)) BellaSita Mum
Thanks. We kind of do live in a desert. Semi-desert anyway.
But this is the time of year, and spring too, when we get rain. Sometimes in autumn as well.
Wee wundered if youss’ were sorta close to a Desert Mani. Wee purry fore rain fore youss’! An us two!
Thanks. Very close to a desert, at least right now.
The weather does indeed sound awful and I know how much you hate thunder. Hope you aren’t suffering too much. Despite the dryness the garden looks pretty good and your lawn looks very lush. It’s weird weather all around. We have been very dry too but yesterday got over 80 mm (3 inches) of rain and tonight there is a risk of frost (it is July right?). Hopefully some of this rain will head down your way. Keep cool and don’t sweat the noise.
They said today would be our rain day, but the guy I live with says they mean all of eastern Colorado, which is a very big place.
The guy I live with saw lightning for the very first time this year, yesterday. I don’t like lightning, but I do know that it’s very unusual not to see it at this time of year.
Sadly we share the same weather patterns in NW Denver. Hot and dry. Even though we’re lucky to not have that doggone awful humidity they get back east, we need moisture. Nice job with the buffalo grass. A similar grass grows fairly well here and unfortunately tends to roam in places we’d rather not see it. I have to pull if up all the time to keep it from taking over between the flagstone paths. Luckily agricultural strength vinegar helps when I can’t pull it all out. Stay as cool as you can. We’re ready to start raindancing and just hope the monsoons will start soon.
Some rain would be nice, if just to help the smoot brome stay green.
Buffalo grass makes an excellent lawn. It does get weeds in it, but requires vastly less watering than bluegrass.
We also have it in some of the paths.
I think humidity would drive the guy I live with right up the wall.
Yeah, trust me, we don’t do humidity. Got a tiny shower about an hour ago and sure hope there’s more this evening.
It rained here a little, with thunder, but not enough rain to make a difference.
The guy I live with said that Colorado Springs and places south of there, and Cheyenne, are getting all the rain, but hail, too.
Glad I missed the hail but wish nature wouldn’t be so stingy.