Drought

This bird bath rests on the cap to our septic tank.
So the green you see in the background is localized.

It was another insulting afternoon. The thunder rolled in. The clouds darkened. It spat a bit, but not enough to wet the cement patio completely or even to drip down the downspouts. Then the thunder and clouds rolled away. 

Such is the story of our summer. It has been so hot and so dry for so long, that the deer come to eat over our septic tank and its drainage field. It's the only green grass around! I have actually photographed the area from above so that if our septic system ever fails, I have a "map" of the drainfield and its fingers!

The weather has been so unfavorable this year that the county I live in has been declared a natural disaster area by the USDA. Public service bulletins keep advertising how to conserve water since reservoirs are drying up (not to mention the wells.) More and more farm ponds have completely dried up. Our trees have been dropping leaves and yellowing for over a month. There are quite a few dead limbs, and I expect there will be quite a few dead trees next year. Birds are already flocking and migrating.

I couldn't quickly find data for my sparsely populated neck of the woods, but a ten day old blurb from Indianapolis (about an hour northeast of us) will give you an idea of records for this year.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Central Indiana is in the midst of record-breaking heat and drought.

Forecast 8 Meteorologist Ken Brewer said so far, Indianapolis has tied or broken 12 records, and it’s only the middle of July. The area is also on pace to break several more records in the days ahead.

Here is a list of Records tied or broken so far with information from the National Weather Service in Indianapolis;

Longest Dry Spell (No measurable rain in Indianapolis):

• June 1 – Current
• Old Record: 45 (Aug. 13 – Sept. 26, 1908)

Warmest Streak for Overnight Lows Above 70 degrees:

• 20 straight days (current)
• Old Record: 20 (June 26 — July 15, 1921)

Driest June Ever:

• 0.09 inches of precipitation
• Old Record: 0.36 inches of precipitation (1988)

Record High Temps:

• June 28 (104 degrees)
• June 29 (103 degrees)
• June 30 (97 degrees) (Tied)
• July 5 (103 degrees)
• July 6 (105 degrees)
• July 7 (105 degrees)
• July 16 (98 degrees) (Tied)

Warmest Six Months Average Temperatures

• January – June 2012
• Old Record: January-June 1880

Hottest June Day Ever:

• 104 degrees (June 28, 2012)

Brewer said Indianapolis could possibly break the record for the most number of days with highs 90 degrees or higher. The record is 58 days set back in 1983. Tuesday will mark day 31 in 2012 of 90 degrees or higher.

  (http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/marion_county/heat-drought-smashes-indianapolis-records) 

This report states that their hottest day was 105 degrees fahrenheit, but I know that we hit at least 108 degrees here. I also know that it hit 113 one day in my home town in Iowa in early July (two states away.) To folks in the southwest, these temps are probably not very impressive. But I assure you that contending with them when the humidity level is 85% in the morning and about 50% at the hottest part of the day is challenging, especially when the nighttime lows have been high too. It has not been nice weather for me to be pregnant and nauseous in. (The temperature which our heat pump/air conditioner can keep it indoors is proportional to the outside temperature.) As my midwife stated, "It's been brutal, because there is just never a break."

My husband has been tracking the local going rate for hay, since we raise it as a cash crop. As of last night, round bales of grass hay were selling for $65 dollars a piece. Square bales of grass hay were selling for $10. Round bales of corn stalks are being sold for cattle feed for $45 per round bale. "Very weedy grass square bales suitable for cattle" were being sold for $4. I hate to think what a good bale of alfalfa is going for! If we could keep from being generous, kind-hearted suckers, we could make a killing on our good quality first cutting grass hay come January! (So far we have been overly generous to our neighbors. And I suppose we will continue to be :)

Most people don't need to supplement hay until pastures freeze in the fall. This year, due to the lack of green pastures, they have been supplementing for the last month or more, starting sometime in June instead of what is customarily the middle of October. And due to the drought, only those who baled early got any hay, and there won't be a second cutting. Many local cattle farmers have simply sold their animals early before they were properly finished. They simply couldn't afford to feed them, let alone manage to water them when the creeks and ponds are dry. And some farmers, as I indicated above, have lost their crops of corn and are baling them in order to sell them as fodder since they aren't worth leaving in the field for the rest of the usual growing season.

A friend of mine in Wisconsin described the corn fields as looking like palmetto fields. It's a good description. A cousin in Arizona asked when the midwest became the new Sonoran Desert. She said our weather was similar to AZ during June before they get their monsoon. If only it were as arid here!

This is my lawn. It is crispy, dusty, and brown. 

So at this point, I want to voice my gratefulness for having some sort of air conditioning, a deep well that has not run dry, a pond that has not dried up, and no loss of livestock due to the extreme temperatures. I also want to ask for your prayers for those hit hardest by this drought. And if you're not one who prays, perhaps you might consider at least appreciating what you have. Think of families who now have no running water in their homes. (I know one.) Think about folks who do not have any air conditioning. (I know several families who do not.) Think of the cattlemen who can't feed and water their animals or who have lost them to heat stroke. Think of farmers whose crops are a total loss, and who have already suffered through last year's losses caused by the flooding that was followed by drought conditions. Think of horse owners struggling to feed their animals before the cold weather even sets in. They are already being squeezed by gas prices and increasing food prices. Now hay prices are skyrocketing too. (My husband read me a request from an elderly gentleman offering to trade a hay wagon for two round bales of hay for his granddaughter's horse.) 

This is a widespread drought, and I predict that produce and meat prices will skyrocket this fall. Many processed food stuffs may be affected as well, as so many are dependent upon ingredients which are derivatives of corn. I think that this crisis may only be beginning. So if you've only been mildly affected, perhaps it's time to count your blessings, like that hokey song from the movie White Christmas.


When I'm worried and I can't sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep
And I fall asleep counting my blessings
When my bankroll is getting small
I think of when I had none at all
And I fall asleep counting my blessings

That's what I'm prompted to do.