Shiva wrote:

If you could only see the drowning roses. Full of canker. Damned near
defoliated from BS due to three full weeks without enough dry weather
to allow fungicide to dry. Very sucky. The way to look at piedmont NC
is "lush." Unfortunately we grow fab fungus and insects too.

I don't have to look too hard to see drowning roses. Unfortunately.
I'm beginning to think maybe an ark might be in order. Hard to believe
last year we were begging for rain...

I think I got a clear indication of how much rain we've had last night.
I took the grabage out about 10:30 p.m. but didn't bother to flip the
spotlight on for the driveway. About halfway down the driveway, I
notice this huge living thing in the driveway - darn near 6" long. My
first reaction was that it was a wolf spider (*yuck*) so I tapped it
with the bottom of the garbage bag figuring I'd know real quick if it
was a wolf spider. It scuttled away so I was reassured it wasn't a wolf
spider. Mutant cricket possibly? I put the garbage in the can at the
curb and went back into the kitchen and grabbed a big container. Back
outside, I maneuvered the mutant cricket into the container and took it
inside to examine it. It was a crayfish!

I was shocked. Our property uphill sorta so we don't really have a
problem with water laying. Our driveway is definitely an uphill
embankment so nothing there either. Either the poor critter was afraid
of drowning and looking for higher ground or heard rumors about this new
"development" going on behind our house and arrived a little too early
for moving in.

S/he's currently in residence in the hospital fishtank with the honor of
being the first resident to the new pond when I (hopefully!!) finish it
this weekend. Gotta move 3000 pounds of rock first, 300 pounds of sand
and 200 pounds of soil.

Hey Shiva, would you believe we had to jackhammer through 24" of
sandstone to carve otu the pond basin? If I hadn't been there, I would
never have believed it! Not in NC. Clay, roots, *maybe* a small stone
but not an area of 8' by 5' completely filled with solid sandstone. We
never even hit bottom. Guess I'm glad I never targeted that area of the
yard for a rose bed. *grin*

Susan
shsimko at duke dot edu