What was once a beautiful garden is now nothing more than a dustbowl. The grass is brown. I’m trying to keep some shrubs watered in the hopes of keeping them alive. That’s about all I can hope for at this time. Newly planted birch trees requiring buckets of water are being kept alive – just barely – with what is left of the water in the cistern. My vegetable garden is slowly dying.
I’m afraid of using the well water in case the water-table is low. I don’t know what I’m going to do if the well runs dry.
Every day they call for possible showers. Every day, the relentless sun and heat are baking us with not a drop of rain in sight. There is barely a cloud in the sky. Even mature maple trees are showing the stress. Their leaves are starting to look drier. They seem to hang differently. The farmers are complaining that their crops are not coming to maturity due to lack of rain.
It’s raining north of us, west of us, south of us. Even those folks are complaining that it’s not raining enough or that they get those sudden downpours that don’t penetrate the earth but rather just run off into the storm sewers. I wouldn’t mind a sudden downpour. The eaves would collect it all and direct it into the cistern. But, there is no downpour. There is not a drop.
The common theory is that it’s due to global warming. Maybe. But I’m more inclined to think it’s those solar flares that are playing with our weather. It has been reported that unusual solar activity is potentially threaten life on earth. I’m no alarmist but those flares could be partially responsible for the very unique weather we’ve been experiencing. March was so warm, people were wearing t-shirts and shorts. Sidewalk cafes were busy. Those owning convertibles drove with their tops down. Oh, life was wonderful for a few weeks. Lilacs were budding, fruit trees were blossoming. Nobody was complaining. Then came April and along with it came a heavy frost. The blossoms on fruit trees perished, ergo no fruit production. There were barely any lilacs this last spring. Their buds were killed by the frost.
The town of Norwood is limiting watering. No sprinklers. The town of Hastings has no such problems because they get their water from the Trent River, but we don’t get town water. We have a well and there is no way of knowing how much water is in it.
They’re calling for possible rain tomorrow. I’ll believe it when I see it.
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