Perpetual Ruminations

Sunday

I'm late getting in here again; I should be in bed already. But, Rhonda closes tonight, and won't be home for another half hour, and I wanted to wait up for her. Besides, even if I had gone to bed, the dogs would have kept me up running back and forth watching for her. And we won't even mention the kind of wake up I would have when she pulls in the drive and they both start barking.

Some brighter news is that when I talked to her on the phone, she said that we have already gotten one person to stop by for an application from the advertisement in the paper. He only wants part time, but that may be the best route to go, a couple of part time people. Now, if he can work the days and times we need, and if he finishes the two day training part and sticks with us, I may just be able to get a day off again.

Other than this, it was a nice day, just too windy. But, that's been the norm for a long time now. It's dry, warm, and we are under red flag conditions for fire. Not only us, but all the way into Minnesota. It's just dry all over. I had a guest talking about how so many people around here have removed the irrigation systems because it's been so wet for the last twenty years or better. Now, we are getting hit with a dry spell, and they may just need to irrigate again.

In fact, not only have a lot of farmers removed the irrigation systems, they have been putting in drainage systems to dry out their fields. So, even if we get a little rain, they won't be able to hold the water. It's just a sad situation for so many people around here. But, it's not like they didn't get warned, for the last few years they have been predicting a severe drought for us. But, when it didn't dry out, everyone thought they had it wrong. As it turns out, they may have just forecast it a little early.

A gentleman stopped and talked for a while, telling me about a friend of his who is a meteorologist, and who has been studying the weather patterns for the last one hundred years, or in some cases, more. He has looked back as far as he can find records of the weather patterns for this reg eon as well as other areas around us. It seems we are in a pattern that matches almost exactly the weather leading up to and into the dust bowl years. He thinks we are going to get it again, possibly even worse than before.

I don't know about that, but I do know they have been cutting down shelter belts, draining wetlands, and putting in drainage systems all over. If we do get hit with an extended drought, it's going to be bad. The winds have been blowing twenty to forty miles per hour quite often, with gusts as high as fifty and sixty miles per hour. I can imagine just how bad things will get if we don't get some rain soon.

In fact, we had a week of rainy weather that just ended, and I don't think we ended up with a quarter of an inch total out of it.  What we did get, dried right up in the winds and low humidity that followed it. Water levels are dropping fast, not only in the slews and wetlands, but even the rivers and lakes having dropping water levels.