Tough August

-Bone Dry...Hot and Dry....
- Less than .5 inches of rain for the month and today is the 28th......
- Creeks all dry...vegetation dying...leaves falling prematurely....pastures a wasteland....
- Wildlife struggling...birds, deer....I wonder where they are finding water......They find ways.
- Unprecedented conditions.....but forecast is for more normal conditions...and 30%!

Questions For The Ages

- May I ask, Mother Nature, what is going on here?
- Have you confused us with perhaps The Sahara?
- Near 100 F again today...and August is in line to be the hottest month on record...by a long shot.
- Three weeks in a row of hot dry conditions. Even the mature deciduous trees are wilting in the oppressive heat. Sad. No rain in 18 days and none in the forecast. Only .3 inches for August.
- Wildlife seems confused. A 6-point buck wandered through my yard this morning...a stranger...I see deer daily...many times the same ones come to the mineral block/food that I set out for them...but I had never seen this one....he meandered aimlessly through the yard and off into the forest. It was in the low 80s this morning at 7:30 AM! Never have I seen such conditions here.
- The forecast for the valley is for near 100 through Saturday...and then perhaps a cool spell...down to 95. But no rain! Help!
- I hope the next entry reflects more favorable environmental conditions.

Dog Days

- Record breaking heat all this week....102-104 in many local areas....and dry...

- Even mid 90s on the mountain properties....unprecedented in my 5+ years here...and the 'old timers' say unprecedented period. Are times changing?

- Nights stay in the 70s....a stagnant hot air mass.....

- Trees struggling....a giant (80') Chestnut Oak in my front yard has died....record breaking cold in April hurt it badly....then drought...then record breaking heat......A sad ending to a long life....Tulip Poplar leaves already turning yellow and brown...Blackgum already turning burgundy...too early!

- Three deer....two does and a buck (see attached for two smaller bucks in the front yard recently)...at the mineral blocks early AM. Nervous but healthy looking despite the hostile conditions.

- With the hot, hazy conditions...the old warning...."Red sky at morning, sailor take warning".....must not apply to southeast Tennessee....as the sunrise has been quite red the last couple of days.

8-11-07 Observations

- Unseasonably warm for a week now...highs near 100 in the city...around 90-92 on the mountain....
- I can see a few signs of the onset of my favorite time of year however....the angle of the sun through the late PM trees, the late PM breeze, the reduced time from sunset until darkness, lower night humidity, despite the heat.
- Have not seen a deer in my yard for six days....too hot! I did see one bedded in the long grass just south of the cabin as I was on a late PM walk....the deer tensed as I walked by 75' away, but did not rise...and was still there as I went on down the road...too hot to move! I did see five, including two very young ones on a late PM bike ride yesterday.
- Say another Coyote recently...making six this summer....after none last summer??????
- Saw a huge Whitetail Buck a few days ago...with a smaller buck and two does....antlers in velvet...A royal stag to be sure....the big 10 pointer (more or less) sailed across an open ditch and melted into the dense forest as I unsuccessfully grappled for a camera. Priceless.
- Squirrels raid the bird feeders......and some have to jump 7-9' from a tree trunk to access the suspended feeders.....risk/reward. I get the sense that they are not finding much fodder in the forest....and their sightings and numbers are increasing daily. Freeze back in April?????