I report precipitation every morning at 9 o'clock.  There was only a little condensation in the tube this morning, but because this starts off a new month, I wondered how July stacked up against other Julys I'd reported.  I actually began reporting precipitation to Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snot network (CoCoRaHS) in late May of 2009, so when I reported 7.00 in. of rainfall that July, I suppose it didn't impress me one way or the other, and looking back, I don't recall that it was a particularly wet summer.  We have those summers fairly often at Joe's Pond.
However, in comparison to the next years, 2009 could be called downright soggy.  In 2010 I reported 3.92 inches; 2.70 inches in 2011; and this July 3.51 inches.  I'd say we're in the ball park this year even though it has seemed relatively hot and dry.  When we got rain, we got soakers, and in between long stretches with no precipitation at all for a week or more.

We're expecting showers and perhaps some thunder storms later today.  In the meantime, it's cooler (about 70 degrees) but still a bit muggy.

I happened to be out in our grape arbor yesterday and noticed all the grapes have dried up.  We thought we'd have a bumper crop this year as there were lots of little blossoms.   Right now I'd say there won't be any for the birds to beat us to pick.  I doubt they'll want the little dried seed-like remains I saw yesterday.  I thought the leaves look bad, too, but not knowing much about grape vines - we planted this one mainly to cover the rustic arbor we'd built over a big flat stone that was too large to move - we don't know if the whole vine is in danger or if it's just a blight of some kind that hit us this year and next year the grapes may come along just fine.  We don't pick the grapes to eat - even if we wanted them for jelly or wine, the birds would no doubt get them first.  

There is a comment about the testing being done in the middle pond.  Patty Coffrin asks at what location testing is being done.  All I know is that Mert Leonard said he took the sample at about "midway of the middle pond, on the Route 2 side."  I assume he did it in the same spot this week, as he was going to see if the high bacteria is still evident of if the high count a week ago was an anomaly.

There has been a great deal of interest in what might be causing the bacteria levels we're seeing in the pond this year, and some people have indicated they think it might not be just the geese.  I found some up-to-date information that may be of interest to property owners around the pond - especially new owners who many not be familiar with their septic systems.  This is from the Agency of Natural Resources, and give good information about septic systems at ponds or lakes. 
Everyone living on the pond is interested in keeping the water as clean as possible - it's in everyone's interest - and some systems may need to be updated.