Everything here is dry. We had a bit of rain yesterday and the high temperature has dropped a bit but it is very dry. We are surrounded by woods filled with tinder and I worry about fire. We are in our 80s and I have curtailed outside activity due to the temperatures. I can't weed; it's too hot and the grounds too hard. I am filling gallon milk cartons with water and loading a golf cart and hand watering small struggling shrubs. We are conserving water and I am not irrigating and we try not to waste water in the house. I have water out for struggling wild life in a futile effort to keep squirrels, birds, etc out of my tomatoes and figs. Even with hand watering I don't think I will have a harvest. Two days ago I noticed brilliant orange tulip poplar leaves on the ground. It's not a wholesale leaf drop yet. We have "severe storm" warnings, hear thunder, have wind gusts, but little to no rain. Last Saturday I noticed blowing wind that had a desert quality to it. Hard to describe what I mean but it felt more like Arizona than NC woods. Very dry air. I wouldn't allow sparklers on the 4th. Working outside even for the healthy and young is difficult and I am so grateful for air conditioning. I'm asthmatic and if I go outside and try to work out in the garden, two hours is about my limit. My clay soil is a brick. Mostly we are staying in the house in air-conditioning . It is very dry.