ALPHABE-THURSDAY..."T" as in TREES

Welcome to Alphabe-Thursday sponsored by Ms. Jenny over at Jenny Matlock..."off on my tangent." Today we are studying the letter "T" as in TREES.

In Texas we are in the middle of a drought. I know that's probably hard for the folks along the east coast to believe, but in Texas it is dry! We've also had record high temperatures. I guess in the last 25 days or so we've had one day where it didn't go over 100, and that's because we actually got a little badly needed rain that day. We've had temperatures as high as 109 and then when you factor in the humidity it feels even hotter.

It's really started stressing the water supplies. We're fortunate in that our town has voluntary water restrictions. We can water every other day during certain hours. Some of the surrounding towns have very strict water restrictions.

All of this is hurting lawns, shrubs, and TREES. I water as much as I can, but it's never enough. Over the years I've been trying to grow a forest in the backyard with seedling that were given away on Arbor Day. Some of the smaller ones are a few years old and they're suffering the most. Can you see the little one in the center of the picture? It's only a couple of feet high and it's losing leaves. I guess it's competing for water with the big Live Oak in the background.

And one of my little Pine TREES is starting to droop...

Our last water bill was $400!

I don't have St. Augustine grass back there because of the shade. It's just monkey grass that I let grow all over the yard along with the weeds. Monkey grass is normally used as an edging around the base of TREES and along flower beds and grows kind of tall. I leave it tall around TREES and beds and then mow it short every place else. Right now the yard needs mowing, but I'm waiting for the temperature to go below 100 before I mow. I have someone that mows the front, but I do the back myself. For the most part I've managed to keep the grass and shrubs green.

Anyone that's every flown into Houston will tell you how green it is when you look down from the plane, but it's not as green this year. In parks and natural areas large trees are dying. I try and give my large trees a deep watering every once in a while by leaving the hose run slowly under the tree for a couple of hours.

All over the area TREES are dying. I went to a local park today and took some pictures.

There are areas a lot worse, but it was over 100 and I didn't want to stay outside too long taking pictures. I've noticed a lot of pine TREES dying, but I read in the paper that when they're stressed from the drought the pine bark beetles move right in.

The good news is that the temperatures are expected to drop towards the end of the week...all the way down into the 90's! Brrrrrr. They also say it may even rain. I sure hope so because I'm tired of watering. I also want to get outside and do something. I'd love to take a nice long walk. I find myself avoiding going places because of the heat. I've been putting off regular grocery shopping and running into the store for one or two items at a time. I just don't feel like lugging a lot home in this weather.

Now head over to Ms. Jenny's for a list of this week's participants and for information on how you can join in the fun!