This morning on KVET, Troy Kimmel said that the storm came “in the midnight hour,” which was just about right: 12:05 am was how we called it. Before we closed the windows, we thought we could feel a pressure-drop. There was hail briefly, some of it between the size of a baseball and that of a grapefruit. It sounded as though boulders were being dropped on the roof. Mercifully, that stage was brief, and subsequent downpours melted the accumulation. This morning there were power outages within sight of us, but we had lights and a dial-tone.

At suppertime, we had enjoyed the beans from the third picking of plants grown from a packet like this. The air was so sultry that we’d been tempted just to forget about it. These beans have been perfect, the best ones we’ve had in years, and the plants have been so productive. This morning, though, we found them pounded into the ground and lacerated into ribbons. So it’s a good thing that we havested last night. Tomato plants were beaten up and wind-whipped, but will probably recover.

I’ve tried to form a complete collection of Lonestar Seed packets. I used to buy them at the feed and seed on South Congress that has since become the second home for Guero’s. We used to buy dog food and bulk seeds there, too, and there were those who came away with chicks to raise. Some old Lonestar varieties have dropped out of the catalogue. Over the years, letterpress packets from old chromolithograph plates became produced by the photo-offset process, but often still using the old images. The year packed was added and so was bar-coding. According to the Lonestar site, the price for a packet of beans this year was $1.55; this packet was bought at Buck Moore’s for a mere $1.05. We used old packets this spring and didn’t buy any new ones. Lonestar is a San Antonio company, and I’ve always loved it that the vegetable and flower packets show the Spanish names and offer cultivation instructions, usually more complete and precise, in Spanish, also.

Farewell for the season to Top Crop, Tender Crop, Tendergreen, and Contender. You were very good to us during this long spring. We’re happy that we planted you and that we didn’t waste any of your production by not picking what you gave us, although last night it was a near thing.