You ActiveRainers must have been doing your best rain dance. Finally, after two spectacular thunderstorms in the last few days that were entertaining, but disappointingly did not bring any rain, the one last night did. It was wonderful.

We still need lots of rain, though. The drought affecting San Antonio and South Texas for almost two years is either the second-worst or the worst in recorded weather history. Here is the scary map from the US Drought Monitor website:

It doesn't help that there have been two solid months of 100-plus-degree days, and it seems to have been unusually windy this year. All the farmers and ranchers in South Texas have it really bad.

I made a list of all the plants we're going to have to let go, along with our grass, and those we'll continue to water by hand. These include a lot of shrubs and small trees we planted in the spring. We've already lost one mature redbud tree, as well as a fig and a pear as well as a lot of beautiful gingers and other flowering perennials. I don't want any more of our trees to die!

La Nina is the weather cycle to blame. I am praying for the return of Greg Nino's cousin, El, to bring the rain back to South Texas.