I sat last night and watched the beautiful lightening show south of me .. lasted for hours but no rain made it my way. The radar looked like those south and east of me got some good rain. I sure hope so. I would love to hear reports of where you received some rain. If you live near a lake that is low, I would love to see pictures of the effects of the drought.... or any other effects. I just thought if would be nice to have a thread sharing our rain and drought experiences this summer. I personally have not seen any real rain since last september. We have had 20 second sprinkles about 3 times.. not enough to even wet the ground completely. That is all that has come down in my town. Water restrictions are twice a week right now and many have given up watering yards so there are a lot of dead yards now. Looking sad.
Did you get any rain today? Share effects of drought...
I slept thru thunder and lightning, but we got 2" in our rain gauge in Westlake, altho the weather guy said we got 1.5." We got a whole lot more at the lake house on Lake LBJ at Sunrise Beach. Just hope the chairs on the dock are still there...or someone will be diving for them...again. We are really afraid of the fire danger up at the lake. So many folks think it's fine to set off fireworks at the lake, but wouldn't think of letting anyone do that in Austin area? Makes no sense...
3 inches here
About 3 drops of rain here with LOTS of wind. Still having to water. :(
Very little here 1/10 if an inch, hardly worth mentioning, but I am very happy for those who got a good rain.
So sad!! are you not able to water your beds?
Yes, anti-bloom gloom thread... got a good laugh out of that. I thought we could share the misery. My plants are grudginly sharing a bloom here and there in spite of the watering.. we go down to the twice a week watering on the first and things are certinly going to wither. They are struggling as it is now. They really need rain to survive.. just watering does not cut it. I will share pictures after the weekend... I am headed to New Mexico, Ruidoso for the weekend... concerned on how it is looking up there also. Not much rain up there this year either. Will take pics.
Saw someone throw a cig out their window the other night... even in town it is now a big danger since so many have let their yards die! I wanted to pull them over and give them a talking to! Idiots.
We are happy when it even raises the humidity a little because it reduces the evaporation rate. Little favors.
My small primary irrigation pond at the orchard is now about 90 percent full. I finally checked and I received about 2.5 inches. Most of the cracks in the soil have filled in and closed.
The three other ponds are dry as they didnt retain any water from the rain.
Got 1.5" here. We aren't officially in a drought up here in the NE corner but it was awful dry. I'll take what I can get this time of year.
Josephine, I'm on self imposed water restrictions. The flower garden has gotten so big over the years that I really can't afford to used city water on it. The irrigation pond is so low. I'm worried if I use it up, I'll be stuck with watering the veggies, flowers and livestock on city water..that would break use for sure.
I'm keeping enough alive that I can propagate and rebuild the beds later. I'll give me a good opportunity to amend the beds over the winter.
Juju, glad those ground cracks are filling up. Another reason we stay off city water as much as possible. Dh spends at least three to six days a month repairing our city water lines that snap when the ground shifts. Our city doesn't give discounts for line breaks. One year he had a leak that remained hidden, didn't know about till we got a 2,000.00 (not a typo) water bill!
Tammie, have a wonderful time. I love Ruidoso! Can't wait to see your pics :0)
Well, you do have some good reasons to not water, I guess you do what is best for your situation.
We had some light scattered showers in the area.. unfortunately none made it here. Mom got about 10 drops of rain at her house.. absolutely none at my house. We keep hoping each day for SOMETHING... ANYTHING would be welcome. I am getting so desperate to see rain I am almost to the point of driving to wherever it might be raining just to see it.. just to know that it is real. Our big "Buffalo Wallow" renamed "freedom Park" by the city years ago is almost completely dried up. The ducks are standing in the few puddles left of the lake scooping up the bits of water.. don't know what is going to happen to all the wildlife when it is all gone.. the smell is awful even a mile away from all the dead fish and turtles. It is truly sad that the city quit adding water to it. It was reclaimed water so no loss to our water supply .. they claim they were 'doing work' on an errosion problem.. what errosion.. no rain or water to errode and no one has been seen there working.
We got a few drops this morning. Nothing to write home about, though my shirt got wet when I was outside in it.
We were gone to Joplin, MO, the last week of June, on a mission trip. It rained twice there! And apparently it rained about an inch at our house. This is probably the only reason any of my plants are alive after leaving them in the care of my 19 yr. old. We are on twice a week watering. My only problem is that I live on a corner lot and don't have a sprinkler system, so it takes a long time to water everything. I think the heat is killing things faster than the drought. Some things are well watered, but are still dieing, especailly my newer lavenders. My flame acanthus is bloomng and so are my pots of moss rose and purslane. My coneflowers are blooming but the flowers are burned around the edges, even though they are getting afternoon shade. My tomatos are infested with spider mites and I just found scale on several plants this morning. I guess the tough times help us appreciate the good. I'll just keep praying for rain.
spray your tomatoes with seaweed. I buy it in a concentrate form and mix it up in a hand sprayer and spray all my perennials, roses and veggies with it. keeps the bad insects away...doesn't hurt the good insects...helps the plants nutritionally.
Yup, got a downpour and pea size hail yesterday..
Thanks, lizzieshome! I'll try that.
Got 7 inches of rain! 5 inches one day, 2 inches the next and all of the moisture came from that tropical storm that went into Mexico below us. It sure was a nice change to have clouds and rain for a few days instead of this un-godly heat and sun lol
Dry weather is when you get into dry ponds and creeks and CLEAN em up, deepen, generally service. Even with water here also, we just have wet dead plants-except for stuff like the coreopsis, Mexican petunia/heather, pots are up aroun the house in shade and blocked from wind, flowerbeds are being dug and reworked, the ground is a soft powder with mole holes cave in when you step. What lives will do its thing, and the rest is dormant or old enuff to replenish and refresh. Had a fierce rainstorm rock our world in Texarkana, quik and cool, but the Texas side and south just gets light shows, hah! is that rumbel a plane or a thunderhead? Come on rain baby, I am home now
I went to my land yesterday and the local water company dug up my pond to do maint on their lines and drained 60 percent of all my water. It was supposed to last me to water my 350 trees for another month.
Sure was nice of them.
They could have just built a small 5 foot dam with the backhoe they were using but they pumped it into a field instead.
This message was edited Jul 6, 2011 3:59 PM
I just read that Tarrant County's water supply (area lakes) are at 85% capacity and it's decreasing daily. When it gets to 75%, water restrictions will start.
How horribly inconsiderate of them! I think they owe you some water to refill your holding pond! You should file a complaint with them. That was your water and they had no right to just dispose of it.
... still no rain here.
think I would consider re locating my pond a bit-doubt you'll get any thing in recompensation..
I have been getting a tattoo of a Jujube fruit tree on my left arm. Everytime I get work done on the tattoo, it has rained at my orchard and house within 24 hours. There is almost no chance for rain tonight and my appt is for 6pm. This will be a good test. If it does rain, I guess I will be getting tattooed more often.
Hmmm, tonite may be the myth buster...
Voluntary water restrictions here requested by the local entities. I am located in what is normally green east Texas between two major reservoirs and they are dropping fast. I just read that in serious drought conditions, only 15% of the state will have water and will need to supply the 85% that doesn't. And I am in the 15%. It does not look good.
Joining Cocoa_Lulu in her anti-bloom gloom thread. I think the conditions are too austere to be watering lawns, flower beds, filling pools and washing cars.
We are seeing wildlife that is growing desperate for water with temps of 100+. They are coming into yards, drinking out of dog water pails and wading pools. I watched a doe playing in the water in our pond, snorkling and circling while she splashed water all over. I am sure it felt good to her.
The lack of water reaches far and deep and is making me more of a 'tree hugger'. From everything we do... a friend told me the major power plant he used to work at needed 50 million gallons of water daily to generate electricity. The oil/gas companies use approximately 500,000 gal of water to frack each well that is drilled. Those thoughts cross my mind every time I turn on a light switch or crank the vehicle.
The food we eat requires lots of water from vegetable and fruit growth to the meats. Farmers are not getting any hay crops and selling livestock as a result. Food prices will escalate even further.
I'll see y'all on the Xeriscape forum I guess... joining Rampbrat and praying for rain...
This message was edited Jul 8, 2011 7:36 AM
Coal plants use a massive amount of water and I assume that your friend worked at one.
It is another good excuse for solar and wind power use during peak times. We should have 4 working power plants in the Austin/San Antonio area in the next year or so. They dont cost the taxpayer a cent and the wildlife stays intact there. Once we get a good method for storing the energy, they will catch on more.
Anyway, it didnt rain for my tattoo yesterday but the deal is that it has to rain within 24 hours of the tattoo. I still have my fingers crossed.
Strangley, San Marcos says they will not go stage 3 water restrictions until October. I am not sure how they managed that.
BABY WANTS A LOW GRADE TROPICAL DEPRESSION!!!!!!!
There is a drepression in the gulf.. we are hoping for some moisture from it.. possibly for tuesday.. they were saying on the news a few minutes ago that it is officially 10 months since any significant rain. The official measurable rainfall at the airport between Midland and Odessa for this area is .16 inches that is point 16.. barely measurable... for my house I can say it is more like 20 seconds one time and 30 drops another. Here is a picture of our now named "Freedom Park" It was Buffalo Wallow when I was a kid and my brothelr used to gig frogs there.. was a great marsh.. always full of frogs and fish. They redid it years ago and turned it into a small lake...All fish gone, the turtles and ducks are struggling in the mud that is left. I went by there and saw that the irrigation system watering the trees is running what seems a constant trickle from one area so it is keeping a shallow puddle in one area. Hopefully it is delaying complete evaporation. A 100+ day will outpace the trickle though.
I can't seem to get the picture to go upright!!!! Why????
Don't know why but here ya go...
Jujube ~ it is a papermill. Using wood to generate electricity and make paper products.
My area of San Antonio has not had any appreciable rain since November. We had a scant amount in March which didn't even wash the dust from our cars. The San Antonio area is close to going into Stage 3 water restrictions which means once-every-other-week watering which has never occurred before. Because only one day a week sprinkler watering is allowed now between 3 AM and 8 AM and 8 PM to 10 PM, very few yards have grass that is alive unless a sprinkler system is installed. On my assigned watering day, I have to stay up all night watering to keep my grass alive. I have been removing grass a little at a time and replacing it with mulch. In one small area, I planted frog fruit starts to test them out. They appear to be starting to establish themselves now. I just hope that the terrible nut grass doesn't get started in this area. Some of the plants (even native) that I planted in the spring are barely hanging on because they didn't have time to spread their roots before the high temps and high wind arrived. Several plants died due to too much watering gave them a fungus and/or fertilizer burn. It has been challenging to say the least. I do have lots of plants that are doing well, but take extra water having to water a lot of them every other day.
sounds like a good year to convert dying yards, my weather channel says we are starting to share our heat warnings with Ark/Mo/Tn now, this morning is a beautiful day-tho still dry- any of the plants you lost that you can seed in? It might let them grow with the drought
It sure is providing the incentive to remove grass and plant drought tolerant plants! I'm not planting anymore plants now and will hope that the ones I have will make it.
Thank you for fixing the picture.
My yard is still looking OK., a bit stressed and not as green. Many here have let their yards die completely. I am not ready for that.. I would have a complete mess in the house every time the dogs came in! I water it when I am allowed, now two times a week. It is a very small yard and I make sure the sprinkelers are working right every time I turn them on. I conserve water where I can and am careful not to waste water.
I am assuming the magic of the tattoo has run out and you did not get any rain. That is quite a work of art.
Unfortunately, that trickle of water into the reamining lake was not enough to keep up with the 103 temps and evaporation. I drove by there today and it is almost all gone. The ducks were wandering puddle to puddle.. I have no idea where the turtles went.. most probably are dead... so sad.
They should use this opportunity to dig out the center so it will retain water in a drought. That is a very shallow lake.
Yes, I agree. We has our pond deepened a few years ago when it went dry and it now holds much more water.
Why could they not build pipelines to deliver the flood waters from the northern areas to locations like yours that are in dire need of water. Holding ponds and lakes would serve if needed for fire fighting as well.
Small storm just hit with a bang. I was on the back porch of the house next door with my 2 year old nephew. Lightning stuck next door at my house and a giant ball of light sat in the air for a second in my backyard. We have an old glass ball lightning rod on the house and it didnt explode so the house didnt get. It must have been the guest house or pecan trees.
For all that, we got .15 of an inch.