> my part should be called the e-glob for electronic glob which is an
> electronic anagram for blog and globe

> I'm kinda fond of being called a glob

. Wheat Harvest

> quite ironic as we are to have huge storms in northern Virginia today and
> tomorrow, and that my two memories of Alabama are WET -- Mobile Hurricane,
> and Birmingham burst water main flooded us out of hotel

> (Source for both articles: Associated Press, 6/19/07)

> "2007 Kansas Wheat Harvest Shattered"

> WICHITA, Kan. -- Sodden wheat lies flat in fields across southern
> Kansas. Insurance companies are writing off acreage as total losses.
> Test weights for the few truckloads of grain straggling into area
> elevators are awful. And it is still sprinkling.

> The start of the 2007 Kansas wheat harvest will long be remembered for
> its shattered prospects. After seven years of drought, the wet winter
> and even wetter spring had nourished a crop that once promised a
> bin-busting harvest.

> But that was before the Easter weekend freeze, before the disease
> pressure, before the insect infestations and the heavy rains. Before
> the floods.

> "Everything combined has really challenged this year's crop --
> especially in southern Kansas," said Dusti Fritz, chief executive
> officer for Kansas Wheat, a venture of the Kansas Wheat Commission and
> the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.

> The government's outlook is equally grim. Kansas Agricultural
> Statistics Service reported Monday that 37 percent of the wheat crop
> was in poor to very poor condition. About 29 percent was rated in fair
> condition, 25 percent was in good condition and only 9 percent rated
> as excellent.

> At the Anthony Farmers Co-op, manager Dan Cashier said most wheat
> around Anthony has been abandoned, and custom cutters have moved on in
> search of other work. "I wish I could give you a happier scenario, but
> it is not there," Cashier said.

> He blamed disease and freeze for the crop's problems in his area this
> year. Wheat samples brought in to the Anthony elevator have been
> averaging about 50 pounds per bushel -- far below the 60 pounds per
> bushel needed for No. 1 graded wheat. And yields have been running
> anywhere from zero to 20 bushels per acre.

> He expected harvest to resume in a couple of days, if it ever stops
> raining.

> "We probably got in 5 percent of the crop, but it might be all we get
> in if it keeps raining," Cashier said.

> On Monday, the Statistics Service reported just 2 percent of wheat
> fields in Kansas have been harvested. By this time last year, about 48
> percent had been cut, while the average for this late into harvest is
> about 19 percent.

> Kansas is not alone in its late harvest start.

> In Oklahoma, about 41 percent of the crop has been harvested -- far
> short of the 92 percent that would have been normal for this date. In
> Texas, about 31 percent has been harvested, compared with the 63
> percent that was in the bin by this time last season, the National
> Agricultural Statistics Service said Monday.

> But there is a bright side for farmers.

> While the untimely rains at harvest time have wreaked havoc on the
> Kansas wheat crop, the moisture has helped spring-planted crops like
> corn, soybeans and sorghum thrive.

> ---

> ATLANTA -- North and South Carolina are fighting over a river. In
> Tennessee, springs are drying up, jeopardizing production of Jack
> Daniels whiskey. The mayor of Los Angeles is asking residents to take
> shorter showers. And in Georgia, the governor is praying for rain.

> More than one-third of the United States is in the grip of a menacing
> drought that threatens to make its way into Illinois and other
> Midwestern states before the summer ends.

> While much of the West has experienced drought for close to a decade,
> the latest system is centered over Alabama and extends to much of the
> Southeast, afflicting Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi,
> Tennessee, North and South Carolina and Virginia as well as parts of
> Arkansas and West Virginia.

> A level D4 drought, the most extreme level charted and the worst in
> the nation, is centered in northern Alabama and touches parts of
> Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia. Severe drought conditions are
> moving north into Kentucky.

> "It's one of the worst droughts in living memory in the Southeast,"
> said Doug LeComte, a specialist with the National Oceanic and
> Atmospheric Administration. "This happens only about every 50 years or
> so."

> The severe conditions have forced cities to set tough restrictions,
> barring everything from watering lawns on weekdays to wiping out
> summer rituals such as cooling children with hoses.

> The Birmingham, Ala., area has tough repercussions for those who
> ignore a ban on using lawn sprinklers or decide to wash their cars in
> driveways. Residents are being told to use hand sprayers or fill
> buckets to water flowers and grass. In Birmingham, violators face
> hefty surcharges for using more than the allotted amount of water.

> In Atlanta, where rapid growth is contributing to the water shortage,
> outdoor water use is banned during the week. In suburban Forsyth
> County, violators can receive up to $1,000 in fines and up to 60 days
> in jail for the second violation. The fire chief in suburban Roswell
> is considering banning 4th of July fireworks, fearing that a spark
> could ignite fires.

> Extreme drought in at least 95 Georgia counties has hurt the state's
> $54 billion agricultural industry. Officials said farmers throughout
> the South are being hit hard, with losses to cotton, peanuts and corn.
> Farmers in Kentucky and Alabama are selling their herds because of a
> shortage of hay to feed them.

> "Farmers are reporting nothing but dust. It's dire straits," LeComte said.

> Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue proclaimed June 11 a Day of Prayer for
> Agriculture and joined more than 250 people at the Georgia Farm Bureau
> in Macon to pray for rain.

> Some residents are finding ways to conserve. Suzan Satterfield said
> she uses "gray water" from her morning shower to water her plants.

> "I have a big potted begonia that looks like it's on death's door if I
> don't water it every evening," said Satterfield, 40, of Norcross, a
> suburb of Atlanta. "So toward the end of my shower when I am rinsing
> off, I stop the drain and collect about 6 inches of water in a bucket."

> She said she usually collects about three bucketfuls each day, and her
> plants seem to thrive on the soapy water.

> Jerry Hamilton, the manager for Jack Daniels in Lynchburg, Tenn., said
> the stream that supplies iron-free water for its whiskey recipe was
> flowing at less than half its normal rate. Officials said the
> distillery is conserving the water from Cave Springs, which has been
> used for 140 years, using it only for whiskey.

> South Carolina and North Carolina are battling over the Catawba River,
> which provides drinking water and electricity for the two states.
> South Carolina has filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to
> bar a plan by two suburbs of Charlotte, N.C., to pump up to 10 million
> gallons of water a day from the river.

> Unless a resolution is found quickly, the states could end up in a
> water war like that involving Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Those
> states have been embroiled in a court battle over how to share the
> water in the Chattahoochee River for 16 years.

> Experts blame the Southeast's drought on a persistent high-pressure
> system that has kept rain away. In California, an abnormally dry
> winter is the culprit.

> Americans use an average of 100 gallons of water a day, and they're
> being urged to cut their demand to put less pressure on the supply.

> Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants residents to reduce their
> water use by 10 percent through small changes, such as taking shorter
> showers.

> People will have to learn to conserve or pay a price in the future,
> LeComte said.

> "This is a reminder that these major droughts can happen anywhere," he
> said. "Whether this is a trend or not, it will make people rethink
> their use of this valuable resource and realize that it is not infinite."

> > Also did you know that Nadia Turner, an Idol contestant sang for Bill
> > Clinton at the G8 summit.

> <<Did not yet know about.>>

> another quote from Nadia

> "after I got voted off, I was in the airport and this woman had me in a
> choke hold, cutting off my air pipe, and was like 'you shoulda won!'"

> > "But a nice girl wouldn't tell you what you should do
> > Listen boy
> > I'm sure that you think you got it all
> > Under control"--tell her about it, billy joel

> <<That's perhaps, in general, what women feel and think about men ;)>>

> funny!  maybe, I don't know.