Thank you, Emily.

There are few blog topics less exciting than the weather. Well, unless you’ve just been picked up by a tornado and suddenly find yourself not in Kansas any more.

According to the statistics in our local paper this region has not experienced a dry spell sufficient to break any records, but when the cracks in the ground become big enough to swallow a golf ball you know you’re short of rain by at least a few inches.

After about three weeks of hot days and no rain, the fairways get to be like concrete. For short hitters (like me) this is a good thing. Then I can actually reach many of the greens in regulation and have some birdie putts.

But when six or more weeks pass with no significant moisture falling other than the sporadic sprinkling from the irrigation system, this black Texas “gumbo” soil begins to crack. I have (no exaggeration!) seen a golf ball roll down the fairway and disappear, only to be found a foot below the surface wedged in a crack that defies extraction of the ball. I wonder how many moldering golf balls lie interred under the fairways in Riverside Park. More than a few, I’d bet.

That’s the condition we were approaching last weekend. Emily has solved that problem for us.

Victoria was far enough north of the hurricane’s landfall to avoid any strong winds, but we did benefit from the spiraling bands of showers that are still (today) dumping water on this parched region.

We appreciate it. The golf course appreciates it. The farmers trying to get their maize and corn harvested do NOT appreciate the timing, but as Ricky Nelson sang, “You can’t please everyone.”

Btw, yesterday’s post was only about vacation PLANNING, not actually GOING yet. We don’t plan to leave until Labor Day weekend. I must have given several of you the wrong impression. Must have been unclear writing. Sorry.

(It couldn’t have been that you were scanning through the post in a hurry and missed a few key points, could it?? NAH!)