its raining

It's raining, it's pouring
The old man is snoring
He went to bed and bumped his head
And couldn't get up in the morning...

Actually it isn't raining here, shocking.

Who owns the copyright for that rhyme? Do you think I could get sued?

It rained here about three weeks ago.

Aussies told to stop singing in the shower
Aussies told to stop singing in the shower

Australians have been told to stop singing in the shower in an attempt to save electricity and water.

Power supplier Energy Australia says exercising the vocal cords in the bathroom adds an extra 9.08 minutes to a shower.

Singing, daydreaming, shaving, and other "nonessential activities" in the shower are adding to the average family's power bills and also contributing to global warming, it says.

"You use enough electricity during one minute of showering to run your television for four hours," the company's energy-efficiency specialist, Paul Myors, said.

"If the average family cut their showers by two minutes, they would save just over $100 a year."

The company is distributing 500,000 shower timers in the Sydney area to remind consumers to be more energy efficient.

DadPad--

Congratulations!

dadpad, Is the rain helping the deficit? how far down are you?

We had less than 1/2 a millimeter which (as they say in the classics) is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Does nothing to ease the situation however. Need 3 inches of gentle soaking rain. This area normally gets (historical average) 750 mm anually (25 mm = 1 inch)



The red dot indicating lowest rainfall ever on the linked map (near the center of Victoria) is me, or close to me.

Normally this area would harvest ryegrass seed in December/January. All farmers have given up and cut what little crop there was for hay. Even this has no body to it.

Things are crook, I dont want to contemplate what it will be like in January/Febuary when it really is summer!

Wow, hard to get excited about 1/2 mm, but I suppose that once in a drought you have to accept what you get. Usually, around here, whenever we experience a drought (like happened between 1997 and 2002) our water table goes waay down and many people, used to the abundance of water in a 49" per year rain bounty, had their wells go dry. Well drillers were busy trying to drill deeper for many homeowners who lost supply.

Magnificent storm this afternoon! The lightning flashed, the thunder crashed and the rain exploded out of the sky. Normally I am petrified of fierce storms, but, thinking this might be 'the one' I rushed to the door to watch nature in all her glory. Within two minutes the rain had stopped and the storm passed out over the ocean.

This is good news, Oz. Let's hope it keeps it up, and falls where it's most needed.

As we speak it trying real hard but just not quite gettin to us. (Mt Buller)

radar

were expecting a downpour today and tomorrow. Theyve forcasted up to 2.5 " . Weve planted rye and mangles for next spring harvest

Mangles?

put out a bucket and send it to me when its full. I'll pay the freight.

I always misspell them. Its M_A_N_G_E_L_S. Theyre a large sweet beet that 's used for cattle feed. We use em to finish up cattle for market. We plant em in the fall, and they get a bit of a start till frost, then they slow growth till spring when they take off early and , by June, we have a crop to use as a finisher. Much more even feed value than grain and they dont have any imparted flavors like grass fed beef. Im sure you grow in Australia but I dont know what youd call em down there (probly something obscene) like "clacker packers"

eastern lake ontario :
we've had it with all the rain . overnight we expect another 30-40 mm (about an inch) of rain . this has been going on pretty well all october . while we have had a few sunny days , we should have "indian summer" by now (we had the first killing frost) with plenty of sunshine .
hbg

From wikipedia
Mangelwurzel or mangold wurzel (Beta vulgaris), is a root vegetable of the family Chenopodiaceae, genus Beta (the beets). Its large white, yellow or orange-yellow swollen roots were developed in the 1700s for feeding livestock. Contemporary use is primarily for cattle, pig and other stock feed, although this is recognised by conservers of heritage crops as being delicious eating.

Never heard of them little suckers before.

They dont taste bad but I wouldnt want to add em to the menu a lot, they have a high sugar content and this gets to be something of a bore after a couple with butter. Imagine a meal with a bunch of really sweet yellowish beets. bleegghh.
The reason animals can take em is that theyre not a brassica which can, as you probably know, cause a fatal bloat. Animals love sweet stuff. We actually have to dole them out in small feeders or the cattle will fight each other for em.

The damn things can keep for years and they , if allowed to get wet, will ferment into a very potent wine that can be distilled into a clear thick booze. Ill betcha the first vodkas had mangels in with the potatoes.

Glad to hear about the rain, wishing you more!