Sunday, May 1, 2011

observations in a state of drought


There's a little bug tapping out a little tattoo on the styrofoam ceiling tiles of the room I am in. It's circling the light fixture right above me. I can't see what kind of bug it is as it is moving too fast but it must be a small beetle of sorts since it's little body is making quite a whack against the styrofoam. It's dark out and the frogs, dependent on the daily watering we do, are singing accompanied intermittently by the wind chime.


Everyone around the country is getting pounded with rain and wants it to go away and I wish we could get some. We have had no significant rain since January. The ground is starting to crack and the grass that is in the sun is shriveling. We are a month ahead in the season. These temperatures are end of May weather and we have had no April showers.

I'm surprised how high the corn has gotten considering how dry it has been, but the fields look healthy and green. The farmer who tends the fields at the end of the street planted cotton again this year. He has always alternated between cotton and corn since we have been out here and this should have been a corn year. I wonder if cotton does better than corn in drought conditions but also my sister tells me that cotton is going for record prices.

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Sitting here this morning, having just arisen, looking out the open back door, a female cardinal is having a splash in the birdbath, a squirrel is in the ginkgo tree, the baby wren is in the photinia, the turtle is on her sunning stone and a crow comes to perch on the top rail of the fence. The crow files off cawing loudly as the squirrel makes it's way carefully down the trunk to the rim of the pond and nervously leans in for a drink and almost loses it's footing. The birdbaths have a steady stream of visitors and must be filled almost daily. I imagine all their other sources for water have dried up long ago.


It's overcast and windy today though, humidity in the air, but it's a tease. They say our next best chance for rain is not til Sunday evening. Fortunately we had a front move in two days ago and so it's not so hot as it has been. The hot dry wind has been making it hard to keep things well watered even though I water every day. The roses did not grow old, fade and drop their petals so much as become dry desiccated versions of their previously lovely selves. The azaleas I transplanted a month ago are still seriously unhappy.

But this wind! It has been nearly constant for months, unusually so. We do generally enjoy a nice breeze out here but this is not breeze. This is Wind with 30 - 40 mph gusts. It's like being pushed around by invisible hands every time I venture outside.

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Driving out to my sister's house I am startled to see that the roadside grasses are completely brown and dried, something that doesn't usually happen til August. After the beautiful display last month of evening primrose in the pastures they now sport a sprinkling of coneflowers and horsemint, seemingly too dry even for the summer wildflowers.


This constant wind is blowing the dead branches out of the trees. The burn pile, already taller than I am, is getting bigger and bigger and as I haul another load of branches to it I think we may have to start a second pile if the burn ban isn't lifted soon. I don't see that happening though as we are already about 7” behind in our annual rainfall with April being the driest ever on record.

The 13 acre field behind us is also filled with dead and dry grasses. The owners of the field have not had it mowed for two years. Some of the dead stalks are as tall as I am, at least the ones that have not been laid flat by the wind. In the past I have viewed the unmown field with pleasure but now it alarms me. If a careless spark lights it up, this constant wind will blow the flames directly into our yard.


I think I will borrow my sister's rain stick and give it a good shake or two.



22 comments:

  1. You promised me your snow [you don't get, heehee] and although I love rain and don't wish it away [it is soothing and we aren't getting floods] I would happily share if I could. They are mowing the lawns twice a week lately.

    Yep, shake that rain stick baby! :D

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  2. We have had virtually no rain since February - rain clouds build up but then just blow somewhere else or it spits gently for half an hour.

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  3. Ellen, give it a shake for me too - the weather is so unusual it is troubling. Love your images with all your creatures enjoying the services you have laid on!

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  4. We have had just the opposite weather in the northeast, with rain and colder than normal temps. Today May 1st we have hit 18 degrees celcius - 68/70 F. and it feels hot! Guess it all depends on what one is used to, but I would take cool and wet over dry and hot any day. But that's just me - my DH loves dry and hot.

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  5. We turned the heater back on this morning. It's cold, windy, dry and cloudy. Poor GK was supposed to have her birthday party at an amusement park today....uh, no. They have gone to the childrens museum instead....I wouldn't be my daughter for anything today. I'm warm, not wind blown and don't have to put up with giggly girls....only Ry the pirate ship builder supreme. Have a good Sunday

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  6. ellen i bet in the big patterns of jetstreams and ocean upwellings it all makes sense but the reality is that it's tough on the environment - the micro of you and the macros of the world around you. balance will come in the form of rain and it may be that the pendulum will take a while to swinf the other way. remember these very dry times when it does. for now, shake the rain stick. steven

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  7. I can feel the drought through the words you choose as well as the images.

    People complain here in the NW about the constant rain, but in my mind a drought is much worse. I hope your weather pattern changes soon.

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  8. It's been very dry here, too. About 12 inches behind for the year. But, be careful what you wish for!

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  9. I saw your title at syn-chro-nizing and was caught immediately. I'm south of you in League City, and like you I'm hoping for rain. The waiting is beginning to wear a bit. My posts have oblique, subtle titles like "Waiting for Rain".

    It's really a delight to find someone from the area. I'll be back to explore a bit, especially since I saw Wharton mentioned, too. Wharton always means El Campo is next, and El Campo means we're almost to Hillje and those wonderful kolaches at Prasek's.

    I've got a rain stick, too. I'll give it an extra shake.

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  10. It has been bone dry here too and windy. Up to 70 MPH winds!!!! Amazing and awful! Fires abound!!
    We too are hoping for some moisture. We did get snow!! Ha!
    But not enough...and I mean we just got the snow...yesterday!!! Weird weather for sure!!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  11. I will shake a rain stick up here as well and try to send some of our rain down to you

    I bet the birds bless you for the bird baths every time they fly over

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  12. You are dry, i have had to wait until this week to turn over my gardens. We are just getting warm enough to plant here in IA.I have to water a few plants that are new, but it has been a plush spring as always.

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  13. This post made me thirsty, made me remember the drought here a few years ago. Drought frightens me on an instinctual level.

    Hope you'll give the rain stick a good long shake. I'm continually visualizing a nice soaking rain coming to your corner of the world.

    May it be so.

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  14. nomads survived for this very reason- the globe is a moody girl- go where the weather suits your clothes- I do have wander lust- always- especially now with all of the rain we are having, have had, rain rain rain, dark wet, cold rain.
    Trying to whittle down that which is physically important to me- maybe jump on my horse and head on out... when I lived in the dessert I spent a lot of time in a tub of water.

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  15. I'm guzzling water as I read this - and trying to push our weather down to you with my thoughts...

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  16. sn't that ironic? I complain about all the rain, and you...
    We will need to exchange commodities the way we exchange oil and wood products.

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  17. Gosh, Ellen, I am so sorry. I had no idea you were having such weather. I guess you guys are used to maybe 70-80 inches a year, eh, with spring being your wettest season.

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  18. No rain for weeks here too, the season is about three weeks ahead of itself and now the wind has added itself to the mixture. What's wrong?

    First the excessively cold winter, now temperatures far higher than normal. We've had the driest and hottest April since recordings began.

    The blossom came and went, shrubs and trees showed off for a much shorter period than normal.

    we'll soon have a hosepipe ban.

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  19. We are getting soaked in southern Ontario. The farmers are getting worried. It's planting season. What goes around comes around?

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  20. I hope you get some rain soon.. you're welcome to much of ours. We're also getting a lot of very windy days lately. And way too cold for the time of year. Strange weather all around.

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  21. I'll dance a rain dance for you.

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  22. It looks and sounds dry! Maybe you should take your sister's rain stick and have the bug perform a rain dance around it. I'll say my rain dancing prayers too...

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.