Wishing for a little rain - some thoughts on the drought.

Today is Tuesday.  A watering day.  We are allowed to water on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.  I am beginning to remember those days.   At first I'd forget and then see my plants thirsty and sneak them a little water on the wrong day.  Now I'm starting to get with the plan.

Still a bit of green, but this was last year or maybe the year before.

Our part of California has suffered with a drought for several years now.  Things are getting tough when it comes to water.  Our governor has asked us for some serious conservation measures.  I think he hasn't asked for enough.

While our lawn has gone first dry, then mostly dirt, and we've trimmed our trees and taken one down (a water sucking tree), I drive a few blocks away to see a development covered by a HMO that has green lawns and plants and such.  Their CC&r's (the rules governing their Home Owner's Association) won't allow people to let their lawns go brown.

I resent that.  Sometime down the road I may need that water to drink.  Our water reservoirs are way down, way, way, down and the water that comes from them tastes of algae at times.  The water people close that reservoir, treat it, and open it up again later.  Meanwhile I drink filtered water.  The filter is on our new (smaller) refrigerator and I'm thinking we might need a larger one at the kitchen sink.

My grandmother used to leave a pitcher of water in the bathroom for us to use as drinking water. I can see us doing that - only with a small container.

A friend is catching the water that comes from her shower while she's waiting for the warm water.  She runs that water through her refrigerator's filter and uses it to drink.  (She didn't shower in it, she just captured it so it wouldn't run down the drain and be wasted.)

Our geese stand on their plastic feet on the remnants of our lawn.
This is also last year or the year before.

My neighbor still washes down her driveway and waters her beautifully green, but small yard.  I don't know if she's saving in other ways.  I do know that the back part of her acreage is dirt and her animals long for the green grass of the lawn.

You see, it hits each of us differently.  It would help a lot if we just had a wet winter.  What rain we've had just soaks into that thirsty ground.  A nice rainy winter.  That's what I'm hoping for.

Marilynne