Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Well, this is timely:
Weekend Assignment #163: "Take a Picture of Your Local Weather."
Very timely considering I spent today cleaning up after last night's storms.
And now we have more rain on the way:
Gathering Storm Hosted on
Zooomr
Don't get me wrong: We've been under drought conditions and we could really use the rain. But I can do without another severe storm, thank you very much.
Our lake levels are still about three feet low. Considering that we were 15 feet down last fall it's pretty good. But when you factor in that one teeny lake serves as a reservoir for most of the high-population areas of our county and that growth continues unabated, it doesn't look good at all. I suspect we'll continue to be under stage 3 watering restrictions for some time to come. Stage 3 means we get to water for two hours on set times for two days a week. We can water with a handheld hose or watering can all we want as long as the hose has some sort of "positive shutoff valve." In lay terms that means something like an attachment that doesn't let water through unless someone is squeezing on the handle. We can water the foundations as needed. If we go to stage 4 they'll probably disallow most foundation watering, which will really hurt the homes around here. We live in an area that has constantly shifting soil, and extra water is needed to keep the foundations from cracking. Yep, most of us have some sort of foundation problems, and there's a big business in repair of said foundations.
As long as it's raining like this (or if we have a good rain at least once a week) we have no need to water the yard. I just water the container garden as needed and I place a watering can so it can catch rainwater. I haven't had to fill my can in several weeks.
So there's the "drought and you" lesson for today. I can tell you're thrilled. ;-)
Tags: Pictures, Weekend Assignment, Weather
Pictures