Slugs love relentless rain

Farmers don't so much. We had a terrible flood here in 2006. It did much harm to the small villages that line the Mohawk River Valley, not to mention making it nearly impossible to grow or harvest crops. I believe it was one of the worst years we have ever experienced, although I am still proud of the reaction of valley folks. People pulled together and stories of courage and sacrifice abounded. Friendships were made that still endure today with the foundation of shared hardship keeping them strong. It feels pretty good to live in a place where folks rise above such a natural disaster and pull their friends and neighbors right up with them.

However, I don't ever want to go through anything like that again. The farm barely survived. We couldn't get enough feed in for the cows and milk prices were at an all time low when it came. We lost a lot of businesses that folks in the valley relied on and roads were closed for weeks.
Now we are getting rain. Serious, relentless, heavy, long-term rain.
And more rain,
And more rain. It is falling on already saturated ground.

Some predictions call for more than seven inches in a single storm expected this afternoon. The last time it flooded our Agway was under about 8 feet of water. There was no power. We had barely enough diesel to run the generator to milk and authorities wouldn't let us off the farm to buy more. I don't want to see it again. As far as direct damage we were comparatively well off. We live on a near mountain. The driveways washed out but the boss is good at fixing them. We lost some trees and farm roads and some corn was ruined. Our town and our neighbors weren't so lucky.

However the slugs are having a regular slug fest out in the yard. I must have picked fifty off two pots of marigolds last night. I put the pots up on a table to protect them from the voracious little buggers, but I think I am going to have to bring some house plants back indoors. That is usually an October chore.
Anyhow, I sure am hoping for some dry weather. Folks need to make hay. I am so sorry for my brother, a part time farmer, who took this week off to bale up his hay. It has rained every single day. We don't even have any green chop left for the cows and may have to open a just finished ag bag to feed them. Pretty counter-productive in terms of winter feed storage.

I am hoping the authorities are paying attention to the dams and spillways, especially Gilboa and the dams at the river locks. There was some pretty harsh criticism of how the canal was handled last time. I wonder if we should buy in a load of diesel even though prices are dropping and it might pay to wait......