It's So Dry:
It’s so dry the dogs are marking their territory with chalk lines. It's so dry the government has announced a water pistol buy back scheme. It's so dry you're only permitted to eat watermelon between 8pm and 8am. | It's so dry the trees are bribing the dogs. It’s so dry that the cows are giving evaporated milk. It's so dry the birds are building their nests out of barbed wire. |
The sky rumbles and roars with thunder, and lightning pops everywhere. We see a few sprinkles on the sidewalk, but our hopes are soon dashed. Deja Vu.
Yes, it was just a repeat of the storms that showed promise last summer and fall with their rumbling and grumbling as they teased us and passed over or around. What a hard year for the farmers and their animals. Although we had plenty of water for our gardens and orchards, it was a downer to walk in thick dust between only the hardiest of weeds. A neighbor said even the cows looked depressed.
Then we had a long winter with some snow cover now and then. We were thankful, and it gave us hope for spring rains - that never came. What happened to the old adage "April showers bring May flowers?" During this spring, all the showers together only added up to about an inch. Although we were thankful for every drop, we needed even extra to catch up. Once after checking the rain gauge, Todd informed us that it looked like a mosquito peed in it, and the predictions of rain became a joke. Then we got .45 when it wasn't forecast, so we thought it a bonus.
The end of May came and that 1.45 inch of rain had given us new grass, and of course, noxious weeds. But we were noticing that any place there wasn't a plant, we were walking in thick dust again, similar to last fall. It rained at our home in the city. Why couldn't it rain on the farm?
May 29th produced another storm and Todd noticed a very scary thing happening. The strong wind was blowing the topsoil off the neighboring field where corn was about 3 inches high. It was only May. What would it be like in July and August? Then miraculously, instead of passing over, it rained almost an inch! The whole place got it! All at the same time! Every garden, every orchard, every tree, and every pasture! You would understand the meaning of this if you had been moving hoses day and night as Todd had. Wonderful! Now that it rained once, maybe it could happen again! There is always hope.
* Five days later, it rained another .45 inch!
We are so thankful for our well to keep our orchards and gardens watered. Although a late freeze zapped some of the variety orchard, we have high hopes for the apple trees. We also enjoyed asparagus this spring and Larry actually liked it! We have learned not to expect everything to produce well or each year, but this unusually late and cool spring surprised us with an abundance of large strawberries. Nancy is freezing them and also making strawberry/rhubarb jam.
