Remember that Steve Martin movie, L.A. Story, where he plays the wacky weatherman? Every day he tries to put a new spin on the forecast, which is exactly the same: "Sunny. 72." He ends up getting a little nutty, and those electronic highway signs they have all over LA start talking to him. And he has an unusual date with Sarah Jessica Parker -- "Well, it was a great lunch and enema, thanks." But I digress... Lately, our weather in Atlanta makes me think of that movie. For the last two months or so, the forecast is basically the same every day. Sunny. And much hotter than 72. But no rain.
I never thought I would mind a constant string of good weather days. But there are consequences. For one thing, we are now in a "level one" drought. This means tighter restrictions on outdoor water use, low water level in lakes and rivers, and the prospect of things getting worse if it doesn't rain. Three different states depend on, and fight over, the water from Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee River. The crisis with the lakewater was made much worse because the Army Corps of Engineers released an extra 22 billion (yes, with a "B") gallons downstream by mistake. It seems that they did not properly calibrate a new gauge, and didn't apply common sense when the gauge reading (3 feet low) did not seem to jive with reality (5 feet low). To give you some perspective, 22 billion gallons would supply the metro Atlanta area for 118 days. That is a lot of water down the drain.
Back when the drought was first announced and we were under a total watering ban, I started collecting stormwater from my gutters. Yes, we still get occasional thunderstorms here.
They don't help the plants much because most of the water simply runs off and doesn't soak in like a nice steady rain would. The water collection process was labor intensive, but I got about 100 gallons the first time around. I am planning to make or buy a rainbarrel, so I can collect rainwater without having to sit by the downspout with a bucket, getting completely soaked.There is something about collecting rainwater that has made me very conscious about how much water we waste. So now I try to be more careful with it. What else have I learned? 1. I learned not to take water for granted. We really are quite fortunate to have it. 2. I learned that the bed of a pickup truck makes an excellent raincatcher if you park it with the back of the bed facing uphill. 3. Dead grass does not feel nice to walk on barefoot. Too crunchy. 4. Bugs don't come into the house as much in dry weather. Yay. 5. Having the same weather every day is boring, even if it is really nice weather.
5 comments:
Bah... rain's highly overrated anyway.
As for the rainbarrels, go out and buy a couple of those big rubbermaid trash cans. The lid locks on, and they have wheels so you can roll them if you need to. As long as you're just using them for non-potable uses, you don't need to keep it "clean" anyway. Trash cans are always less costly than rainbarrels.
I considered making them out of trashcans, but am worried that the dang squirrels will chew a hole in them trying to get to the water. They have destroyed every hummingbird feeder I own, and I have to believe it is because they are thirsty. Or they have a major sugar addiction. One or the other.
The rainbarrels made out of drums have a bigger wall thickness and might stand up to squirrel abuse longer than a thin-walled trashcan.
I think we got everyone's rain. And we are in for some thunderstorms for the next few days. (Which I actually like.)
Yeah, the northeast seems to be getting a ridiculous amount of rain. My old yard in New England used to get such a large puddle in it during springtime that ducks would arrive and stay for weeks. I kid you not.
We had one of those in our side yard! My sister and I named it Cherry Lake. If we got lucky, it would form again just as fall was turning to winter and freeze over so we had our very own skating rink! Good times that large puddle.
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