Oct. 08, 2006 ~ Autumn in Texas
Autumn in my part of Texas is brown. Not the lovely browns, golds, yellows or reds of a typical fall palette, but brown as in dead. When we drive anywhere now I subconsciously count the dead pines and other trees. Our pastures are just dead grass, with a few hardy, inedible weeds.
The ponds are drying up. People whose ponds have never gone dry now have dry or nearly dry ponds. Creeks have stopped flowing. People who have been buying hay to feed their animals are now in the position of having to sell their animals anyway, because of the lack of water for them to drink.
Our ponds are extremely low. Husband said if this keeps up he's going to have to start going down to turn the fish over every day, so they don't get sunburned.
"You mean we still HAVE fish?"
"Don't know, really."
I expect we don't, at least in the small pond. When the water level reaches a certain low point, the lack of oxygen in the water kills the fish. I imagine that most of them died last summer. So this summer, no dead fish.
An average year brings us about 45 inches of rainfall. We've had about half that, this year and last. So we're about 45 inches lower than usual. Try to picture that, if you can. Nearly 4 feet less than normal. Lakes are so low that area marinas are going out of business.
According to the almanac this will last several more years. I don't see how WE can last several more years. Guess we will, though.
When I pull into the carport, I have to sit there for several minutes and wait for the dust to settle. I'm always tasting dust. It's on my skin, too, even when I don't do any work outdoors. Just walking outside a little is enough to do it. I lived in West Texas for awhile, where the dust blew constantly, where it came in through the edges of everyone's windows no matter what. It's not that bad yet, but I do remember that constant dusty taste in my mouth.
The feed store has a few expensive bales of hay for sale. It is corn stalk hay, something I've never heard of before. I'm told it's filler only, that it has no real nutritional value. But cows must have a certain amount of fiber every day to keep their digestive systems working. The other hay for sale is prairie grass, something else I've never seen. It looks bad. No one seems to want any of these types of hay. Yet. I guess they'll buy it if their cows get hungry enough, though. It was all trucked in from out of state, and it is terribly expensive because of the fuel and shipping cost.
Well.
We've been through droughts before. Don't remember them being quite like this, but no doubt there have been similar times.
We'll make it.
_______________________________________
Precious Little Sister is still with us. Husband says she tried to get up when she saw him.
All rights reserved
_______________________________