Tornado watch for NW Georgia; Almost hurricane season

There is a tornado watch posted for northwest Georgia, as close as Bartow, Polk & Haralson counties, until 7 PM EDT. So far there has been nothing of merit, but there are potential tornadoes that are rolling through the northern and southeastern suburbs (including Vestavia, Hoover and Homewood) of Birmingham/Jefferson County, Alabama. We'll keep an eye on this one...fortunately I've got my trusty phone which sends me the text messages of potential severe weather. I'm sure Action 2 and 11 Alive will have everything on in high def should it come to that (let's hope it doesn't).

Other than that the new drought maps came out this week and they are about the same, putting us in the 2nd highest drought category still, while the SE suburbs are in the next lower category. It's going to be a long summer and I can see my grass starting to dry out. In addition, it is getting hot enough that the annual ryegrass is dying out. Funny thing that less than a month ago we were talking about snow!

Also, I watched the Derby even though I was dog-tired. I'm excited that Big Brown won because I think he has a real shot to win the Triple Crown, but I'll be excited enough if he can first win the Preakness. I think Eight Belles' death was horrible, except I think the only "fault" lies in how horses are bred these days. It was not the fact she raced with the guys, it was not the track and it was not the jockey.