When the Fourth of July has come and gone, I always think that summer is half over! Mother Nature continues to play games with our Bellville weather … one day hot and sunny and the next, rainy and cool. I’m a “rain gauge” volunteer with the Richland County Soil and Water Conservation District. We submit data on line on rain totals daily.
The rain total here at Mudville, for the month of June, totaled 9.19 inches! That’s a serious amount of rain.
I have been involved with Special Olympics for a long time, and June brings a special event to Bellville every year. That’s when the Ohio Law Enforcement Torch Run comes through Bellville as the officers take the torch from Cleveland/Akron to the official opening of the games in Columbus. Thank goodness, it was a bright sunny day! This year, more than 2,000 law enforcement officers participated in the Ohio Torch Run!
One of our Bellville Police officers has been participating for about 12 years, running 10 miles from Bellville to the next town, Fredericktown, over a very hilly state route with another Bellville officer as his “rear guard,” following closely behind in a cruiser for protection. Below is a photo of Officer Burt Skeen with Special Olympian Darnell as they get ready to carry the torch at the beginning of Burt’s 10-mile run.
Darnell traveled in the huge RV with officers from his home in Akron to Columbus for the games. He was on the road for about a week as the torch made its way in the hands of law enforcement officers to the Ohio Highway Patrol post and then to the stadium for the games. It’s an amazing sight to see all the officers as they run from town to town!
The farmers are feeling the effects of that much water with both corn and soybeans turning yellow with all the wet ground. A good friend, who has a large farm up the road from me, is lamenting the fact that the corn and beans are suffering but also that he wasn’t able to get the first cutting of hay done until July. The fields have been so wet, the huge tractor wheels leave massive ruts.
Another friend is a foreman for an asphalt company, and the company is about three months behind on contract work for roads, etc., because they can’t pour asphalt when it rains or when it’s too cool.
The garden isn’t doing all that well either. With 41 tomato plants, I have about two dozen little green tomatoes. Very sad…..
A friend told me a few years ago that her dad always says, “Preserve everything you can when you have a bumper crop in the garden so you have plenty for the year it isn’t doing well.” Thank goodness I heeded his words. The last couple of years have seen those bumper crops so I even froze tomatoes, just in case. I will probably need them this year.
The beans are a complete disaster, thanks to the rabbits! I’ve planted them twice only to have them eaten to the ground each time! I give up! I’ll buy them at the Amish farm near here … they always have so many and they are really nice beans. The rabbits also enjoy eating the young apples on the trees, standing on their hind legs and pulling the apples off the tree. Even the woodchuck picks the apples and munches them. It’s a good thing the trees are loaded this year.
With all of the wet weather, Delilah, one of my miniature donkeys, developed thrush in her right hoof, a bacterial infection that can be very painful. The vet immediately came out and examined her and gave me instructions for treating it.
Needless to say, she and her companion, Samson, have been “confined to quarters” with all the rain. They are great at making up games when they’re cooped up. The favorite one is with the big rug that’s on the floor of the barn. Delilah picks it up and drags it into her stall. Then she shoves it as close to the gate between their stalls so Samson can grab it and pull it into his stall. The other day, I caught him “in the act” of beating and dragging the rug all over his stall! He was having a great time and not about to give it back to Delilah.
If the rain doesn’t stop, I just might go to the barn and play with the rug myself LOL!
