Lord, I itch.
The legs, I think, maybe even the belly, are chiggers.
The back is mosquitos. Probably. Maybe all chiggers. Maybe all mosquitoes, except I have more bites on the ankles.
I know chiggers are indiginous to the South of the US. I don't know if they exist elsewhere and will google later. (pause. had to scratch.) Damn. just discovered the welt on my back. Right there in the middle, upper back.
My home state, the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico, has neither fire ants nor chiggers. This ranks it very high in my books.
Huh. I have new knees. That means more mobility. On grass. In Texas. in warm weather. I had my aerosol can of Off! with me. Didn't think to use it. (pause: I itch. had to scratch again.) Sigh.
I had hoped, with aging, my delectability to insects might diminish. Some 35 years ago, my son, my husband and I, set out for an impromptu picnic in a nearby state park. I spread a tablecloth over the burgeoning grass and set out the food. All three of us sat. We ate. We laughed and enjoyed.
The next day, my son and I itched. Chiggers, tiny,speck-sized bugs had dug into skin and raised itchy places. My 5-year-old had to go to the doctor. I used some of the ointment prescribed for him then.To his hundred bites, I had at least 40. His father had none. Snarl. The man was usually impervious to mosquitos, too.
With more activity, I am on turf more often and outside more. After this, I will use the stinky insecticide. So much of my body has changed, I assumed my delectibility to insects would too.
Sigh. Not to be.
My grandchildren run around in shorts and barefoot, with nary a chomp. Their parents are outside all the time with no chomps I know of. Maybe this is an initiation. After so many hours, no bites.
I need sulphur. I used to pat my ankles with it regularly to keep off the chiggers while I gardened. Worked great and washed off in the shower. Duh. I'm gardening again. Time to go back to old methods.
But if hair grows on my chin and not my shins, and I need yearly checks for skin cancer, why is the one consistent factor that I still am susceptible to chiggers and mosquitoes?
Ah, at least I am not embarrassed much at my age by pink welts on legs, tummy, back and nether regions. If I were younger, probably so. In a few days, this will pass. And I will remember to use insect repellent when I go outside. Because I itch.
I really do. Scratching doesn't help.
Damn chiggers.
I'll never say I'm itching to do something again.
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas. Show all posts
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Texas Weather Affects
Unless you are interested in nature,anxious about enough water to drink, or care if Texans have it, this is a dull blog to read.
It is cooler. This morning Gracie was running mad circles in the back yard, reveling in the 61 degree F temperature. She felt frisky.
With the drop in temperature, I have to remind myself to water. A half-inch here, quarter-inch there rain is enjoyable. It does more good than the watering. It is not enough.
I was trying to explain to my fourth-grade granddaughter that yes, it rained, and yes, we are in a severe drought. She respects me. She doesn't believe me. Only time will prove what I say.
And I am afraid it will.
I will take pictures today of the almost denuded sweet gum and Barrett pear. I have tried to water, but that has been limited, too. My sweet gum has no leaves in the top third.
Here, in this climate, trees stay green and full till at least late October. Then, if we are lucky, the pecans turn yellow. Most years, the leaves turn brown and fall off. The winds come, and clear the leaves for us. Won't be as many to clear this year.
Fall gardens are doing well. Young trees, with watering, have come through.
But.
I wrote a former Texas friend about a German Shepard puppy that fell in a "sun crack" and emergency services were required to get him out. Emergency services filled the large backyard cracks with sand for the puppy's future safety. My friend laughed, and said her Oregon friends would be amazed. It isn't uncommon in dry spells for the Texas clay to crack so much that small animals and even babies can fall in. Actually, it is so uncommon it seldom makes the news. The puppy, however, fell so deep it required attention to retrieve, which generated a registered call, which resulted in a short news story.
And you wonder about soaker hoses. They aren't for gardens, usually. They go around foundations or slabs built on this crazy Texas soil.
Looks like another La Nina is forming in the Pacific Ocean. La Nina created the first year of drought. This means a second year of drought in Texas.
What scares me is the cyclical nature of weather. In the 1950s, Texas endured the worst drought ever with four years of La Ninas. We have too many people now. OK. But we also have many more resources.
It may be a blessing we haven't had 28 percent of our water this year due to zebra mollusk infestation in Lake Texoma. Authorities think they can eradicate the mollusk this winter. And of course, all bets are off if people have no water.
One of our water districts that covers several million people has announced they are going into Level 3 water preservation on Nov. 1. This will include Home Owner Associations. No refilling private pools or running fountains. No watering lawns except every two weeks. Water in restaurants only if requested. This lasts until March 31. If spring rains are as dismal as predicted, the ban will continue.
Which would you rather do? have water to drink or have a shower every day? Next year, it could get that drastic.
Which is why a lot of Texans prayed for a hurricane. That would bring the water.
Federal assistance to rebuild? Well, guess not.
It is cooler. This morning Gracie was running mad circles in the back yard, reveling in the 61 degree F temperature. She felt frisky.
With the drop in temperature, I have to remind myself to water. A half-inch here, quarter-inch there rain is enjoyable. It does more good than the watering. It is not enough.
I was trying to explain to my fourth-grade granddaughter that yes, it rained, and yes, we are in a severe drought. She respects me. She doesn't believe me. Only time will prove what I say.
And I am afraid it will.
I will take pictures today of the almost denuded sweet gum and Barrett pear. I have tried to water, but that has been limited, too. My sweet gum has no leaves in the top third.
Here, in this climate, trees stay green and full till at least late October. Then, if we are lucky, the pecans turn yellow. Most years, the leaves turn brown and fall off. The winds come, and clear the leaves for us. Won't be as many to clear this year.
Fall gardens are doing well. Young trees, with watering, have come through.
But.
I wrote a former Texas friend about a German Shepard puppy that fell in a "sun crack" and emergency services were required to get him out. Emergency services filled the large backyard cracks with sand for the puppy's future safety. My friend laughed, and said her Oregon friends would be amazed. It isn't uncommon in dry spells for the Texas clay to crack so much that small animals and even babies can fall in. Actually, it is so uncommon it seldom makes the news. The puppy, however, fell so deep it required attention to retrieve, which generated a registered call, which resulted in a short news story.
And you wonder about soaker hoses. They aren't for gardens, usually. They go around foundations or slabs built on this crazy Texas soil.
Looks like another La Nina is forming in the Pacific Ocean. La Nina created the first year of drought. This means a second year of drought in Texas.
What scares me is the cyclical nature of weather. In the 1950s, Texas endured the worst drought ever with four years of La Ninas. We have too many people now. OK. But we also have many more resources.
It may be a blessing we haven't had 28 percent of our water this year due to zebra mollusk infestation in Lake Texoma. Authorities think they can eradicate the mollusk this winter. And of course, all bets are off if people have no water.
One of our water districts that covers several million people has announced they are going into Level 3 water preservation on Nov. 1. This will include Home Owner Associations. No refilling private pools or running fountains. No watering lawns except every two weeks. Water in restaurants only if requested. This lasts until March 31. If spring rains are as dismal as predicted, the ban will continue.
Which would you rather do? have water to drink or have a shower every day? Next year, it could get that drastic.
Which is why a lot of Texans prayed for a hurricane. That would bring the water.
Federal assistance to rebuild? Well, guess not.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
A Largely Unreported Disaster of Sorts
Texas has unimaginable square miles of dry grass and vegetation in the winter. High winds and a single spark can decimate miles and miles in a day or two.
The fires more commonly happen in West Texas and the Panhandle, which are more sparsely populated. The rest of the state also gets the fires, which are more vigorously covered by media when a lot of people in a small area are threatened or affected.
I was surprised when I turned to page 2 in my local paper last Sunday and learned 200,000 people were evacuated in Amarillo on Saturday because of grassfires that totally destroyed 58 homes, damaged others. Live power lines on the ground made it difficult to get emergency aid to the people. One fire burned 45 square miles before it was contained. Lubbock was seriously damaged, too.
The firefighters did well--containing over 75 grass fires in 2-3 days that consumed more than 700,000 acres. One litttle five-year-old girl died in a car crash near Midland when the vehicle she was riding in crashed in the heavy smoke over the highway.
Talking to a woman yesterday, I asked if she knew about the fires. She said she was, primarily because her ears pricked up when fires were mentioned in the Lubbock area and her brother lives there. She said she called and he said he and his were all right. The fire came within five miles, but they were unscathed. Friends on the other side of town, though, had their home burn to the ground. They lost everything.
When something similar happened a few years back, media attention was aroused when the wind continued for several days. Grassland the size of the state of Rhode Island was burned to the ground, including the cattle, sheep and horses therein. Some of the homes destroyed were more than 100 years old.
The winds last week blew for a blessedly short interval. Few Texans paid attention, much less the rest of the country.
Burn bans are now in effect over half the state. Accidental sparks, however, can ignite fires from the most innocuous events. More fires are likely. More high winds are also likely. According to the forecasts, our usual quota of spring rains is unlikely.
I guess, overall, we are still the West. What happens here doesn't get out to the rest of the country necessarily, despite our World Wide Web. It would have been a little dangerous to stand and video the approaching fire and consequent destruction of the family home. Even for a chance to go viral on YouTube. And maybe it wouldn't even have done that.
It makes me wonder what other big events go on that no one knows about, sees, reports or notices. I expect quite a bit, actually.
Huh.
The fires more commonly happen in West Texas and the Panhandle, which are more sparsely populated. The rest of the state also gets the fires, which are more vigorously covered by media when a lot of people in a small area are threatened or affected.
I was surprised when I turned to page 2 in my local paper last Sunday and learned 200,000 people were evacuated in Amarillo on Saturday because of grassfires that totally destroyed 58 homes, damaged others. Live power lines on the ground made it difficult to get emergency aid to the people. One fire burned 45 square miles before it was contained. Lubbock was seriously damaged, too.
The firefighters did well--containing over 75 grass fires in 2-3 days that consumed more than 700,000 acres. One litttle five-year-old girl died in a car crash near Midland when the vehicle she was riding in crashed in the heavy smoke over the highway.
Talking to a woman yesterday, I asked if she knew about the fires. She said she was, primarily because her ears pricked up when fires were mentioned in the Lubbock area and her brother lives there. She said she called and he said he and his were all right. The fire came within five miles, but they were unscathed. Friends on the other side of town, though, had their home burn to the ground. They lost everything.
When something similar happened a few years back, media attention was aroused when the wind continued for several days. Grassland the size of the state of Rhode Island was burned to the ground, including the cattle, sheep and horses therein. Some of the homes destroyed were more than 100 years old.
The winds last week blew for a blessedly short interval. Few Texans paid attention, much less the rest of the country.
Burn bans are now in effect over half the state. Accidental sparks, however, can ignite fires from the most innocuous events. More fires are likely. More high winds are also likely. According to the forecasts, our usual quota of spring rains is unlikely.
I guess, overall, we are still the West. What happens here doesn't get out to the rest of the country necessarily, despite our World Wide Web. It would have been a little dangerous to stand and video the approaching fire and consequent destruction of the family home. Even for a chance to go viral on YouTube. And maybe it wouldn't even have done that.
It makes me wonder what other big events go on that no one knows about, sees, reports or notices. I expect quite a bit, actually.
Huh.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Gettin' Ready for the Super (Texas) Bowl
Super Bowl primping is going on everywhere in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
Did you know the NFL has some fund to pay for planting trees to make cities more beautiful? Why, that's right nice. Heard today some 6,500 trees have been planted hereabouts by school and garden volunteers getting ready for The Big Day.
Traffic has been disturbed a bit lately by maintenance crews planting flowers in the medians.
The sister of a friend of mine was surprised when city maintenance crews came through her neighborhood last week and mowed and trimmed every last lawn on the block. She lives a mile from Cowboy Stadium, you see. In a year where the state budget shortfall indubitably is going to impact county and city costs, the City of Arlington simply has reorganized its schedules of operation to tidy up the city as much as possible for tourist scrutiny.
So has every other city remotely involved around here. Believe me, folks, we aren't usually this neat and clean. Of course, shortly after a kazillion or so visitors hit the 'Plex, it probably will look a little...disheveled?
Will the cell tower coverage be sufficient for the phones? The cell phone companies say so.
D-FW is getting ready to throw the biggest party ever held in these parts. Like any hosts, we want the visitors to have what they want when they want it to the best of our ability. No shortages. Enough amenities.
And Lord help us, this week is beautiful. Feb. 6 could be anything from 70 degrees on down to the 20s with sleet and freezing rain.
I'm not going to any parties. I'm not making any money off this. My cell phone may not work sometimes, but the traffic probably won't be too bad. In my whole family, I'm the only one who might actually watch part of the game, but probably I'll just go shop. It's a great time for it.
Do you know, Jerry Jones is selling $200 tickets to people--in groups of four, or $800--so they can stand in the parking lot outside the stadium and watch the game on some big tvs? Watching the hucksters score definitely is part of the event. Dadgum. The price of those parking lot tickets would pay for some primo dental work I need. Or the attic insulation. Or, more fun, tickets to the Pacific Northwest again.
We've never had the Super Bowl before. It will be interesting to see what happens.
But a lot of the people in every city where it's held simply go on about their daily business and skip the gridiron entirely. Just as well.
Someone has to tend to bidness.
Did you know the NFL has some fund to pay for planting trees to make cities more beautiful? Why, that's right nice. Heard today some 6,500 trees have been planted hereabouts by school and garden volunteers getting ready for The Big Day.
Traffic has been disturbed a bit lately by maintenance crews planting flowers in the medians.
The sister of a friend of mine was surprised when city maintenance crews came through her neighborhood last week and mowed and trimmed every last lawn on the block. She lives a mile from Cowboy Stadium, you see. In a year where the state budget shortfall indubitably is going to impact county and city costs, the City of Arlington simply has reorganized its schedules of operation to tidy up the city as much as possible for tourist scrutiny.
So has every other city remotely involved around here. Believe me, folks, we aren't usually this neat and clean. Of course, shortly after a kazillion or so visitors hit the 'Plex, it probably will look a little...disheveled?
Will the cell tower coverage be sufficient for the phones? The cell phone companies say so.
D-FW is getting ready to throw the biggest party ever held in these parts. Like any hosts, we want the visitors to have what they want when they want it to the best of our ability. No shortages. Enough amenities.
And Lord help us, this week is beautiful. Feb. 6 could be anything from 70 degrees on down to the 20s with sleet and freezing rain.
I'm not going to any parties. I'm not making any money off this. My cell phone may not work sometimes, but the traffic probably won't be too bad. In my whole family, I'm the only one who might actually watch part of the game, but probably I'll just go shop. It's a great time for it.
Do you know, Jerry Jones is selling $200 tickets to people--in groups of four, or $800--so they can stand in the parking lot outside the stadium and watch the game on some big tvs? Watching the hucksters score definitely is part of the event. Dadgum. The price of those parking lot tickets would pay for some primo dental work I need. Or the attic insulation. Or, more fun, tickets to the Pacific Northwest again.
We've never had the Super Bowl before. It will be interesting to see what happens.
But a lot of the people in every city where it's held simply go on about their daily business and skip the gridiron entirely. Just as well.
Someone has to tend to bidness.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Spring is Sprunging
I see the drift of falling white and smile.
On only March 21--the first day of spring--it was snow. Today it is crabapple petals.
When I step outside, there is a constant buzz. The bees are so happy and busy. Out my back door is a sea of several hundred purple iris. I'm not that fond of the plant, but right now they sure are pretty.
December through March had a preponderance of cloudy days and rain. Now suddenly the temperatures are normal and we actually could use a little rain. Gardeners have finally gotten their seeds and potato eyes and green onions in. It is time for the squash and beans. A couple of weeks and the okra and tomatoes go in.
Texas is a big state, but our tomatoes are mostly small. We can't grow Beefsteak or Big Boy or whatever tomato that will cover a slice of bread with a single slice. We get too hot too soon. Porters, grape tomatoes, Romas, Celebrities, Carnivals, these do well. Anything smallish to middle-sized will continue to produce some in 100-degree weather.
I had to laugh the other day leaving my son's home. My daughter-in-law had bought green onions for a dish she was preparing and had several left over. She simply plugged them into the dirt of one of her patio planters. They have gotten hearty and healthy on their way to becoming fullsize white onions.
I like to eat, and I love fresh produce. But my real love is the flowers. Bluebonnets are spectacular is south Texas this year, I hear. I love Indian Blankets, Texas primroses, wild larkspur,fairy cups, yarrow, painted daisies, paintbrush in red, yellow and white. The wildflowers are a wonderful dividend in Texas, sometimes stretching in a colorful blanket as far as the eye can see. Once you get out of the Metroplex, of course. But we have our fields--no, not meadows--in the complex of many cities and highways and buildings as well. The redbud was spectacular but went really quickly, less than two weeks.
Texas doesn't do fruit trees so well. We have a lot of peaches in certain locations, but the clay soil right here carries cotton root rot, which kills many of the trees. It is a fungus found in clay and the reason cotton no longer is grown in central Texas. Small apple trees do pretty well, but cherries don't grow at all. We have some areas to grow strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. Others, not so much. Apricots don't thrive. On the other hand, pecans do well. We get a fair amount of pistacios from New Mexico. We like our pecans because they are sweeter than walnuts. and they are what we are used to. Parker County peaches will come in July, and we will flock to buy them, peeling and sugaring and freezing some for later. We don't usually have vidalias, but we have 1040s, which are sweet onions. We have all kinds of peppers--banana, Bell and chiles of all kinds. Green beans. Pintos. Blackeyed peas. Sugar snaps but no English peas.
I try to buy organic when I can and always cook from scratch, avoiding the high sodium and preservatives. It balances out some of my bad habits, I think. I used to buy a popular cooking magazine until I realized every recipe pushes some prepared product high in sodium and products. Tsk, Tsk.
I will fix a fresh garden salad for lunch when I get back from the store. I need to drive the block there and get some more cigarettes. With the windows up to block the pollen from all these blooming plants.
Yeah. I have a lot of bad habits to balance.
On only March 21--the first day of spring--it was snow. Today it is crabapple petals.
When I step outside, there is a constant buzz. The bees are so happy and busy. Out my back door is a sea of several hundred purple iris. I'm not that fond of the plant, but right now they sure are pretty.
December through March had a preponderance of cloudy days and rain. Now suddenly the temperatures are normal and we actually could use a little rain. Gardeners have finally gotten their seeds and potato eyes and green onions in. It is time for the squash and beans. A couple of weeks and the okra and tomatoes go in.
Texas is a big state, but our tomatoes are mostly small. We can't grow Beefsteak or Big Boy or whatever tomato that will cover a slice of bread with a single slice. We get too hot too soon. Porters, grape tomatoes, Romas, Celebrities, Carnivals, these do well. Anything smallish to middle-sized will continue to produce some in 100-degree weather.
I had to laugh the other day leaving my son's home. My daughter-in-law had bought green onions for a dish she was preparing and had several left over. She simply plugged them into the dirt of one of her patio planters. They have gotten hearty and healthy on their way to becoming fullsize white onions.
I like to eat, and I love fresh produce. But my real love is the flowers. Bluebonnets are spectacular is south Texas this year, I hear. I love Indian Blankets, Texas primroses, wild larkspur,fairy cups, yarrow, painted daisies, paintbrush in red, yellow and white. The wildflowers are a wonderful dividend in Texas, sometimes stretching in a colorful blanket as far as the eye can see. Once you get out of the Metroplex, of course. But we have our fields--no, not meadows--in the complex of many cities and highways and buildings as well. The redbud was spectacular but went really quickly, less than two weeks.
Texas doesn't do fruit trees so well. We have a lot of peaches in certain locations, but the clay soil right here carries cotton root rot, which kills many of the trees. It is a fungus found in clay and the reason cotton no longer is grown in central Texas. Small apple trees do pretty well, but cherries don't grow at all. We have some areas to grow strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. Others, not so much. Apricots don't thrive. On the other hand, pecans do well. We get a fair amount of pistacios from New Mexico. We like our pecans because they are sweeter than walnuts. and they are what we are used to. Parker County peaches will come in July, and we will flock to buy them, peeling and sugaring and freezing some for later. We don't usually have vidalias, but we have 1040s, which are sweet onions. We have all kinds of peppers--banana, Bell and chiles of all kinds. Green beans. Pintos. Blackeyed peas. Sugar snaps but no English peas.
I try to buy organic when I can and always cook from scratch, avoiding the high sodium and preservatives. It balances out some of my bad habits, I think. I used to buy a popular cooking magazine until I realized every recipe pushes some prepared product high in sodium and products. Tsk, Tsk.
I will fix a fresh garden salad for lunch when I get back from the store. I need to drive the block there and get some more cigarettes. With the windows up to block the pollen from all these blooming plants.
Yeah. I have a lot of bad habits to balance.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
THE RAIN FALLS MAINLY WHERE IT CAN
The sun came out Friday, then all day Saturday and today. For the time being, the rain is past. The ground is so wet, and so much standing water is left that the humidity is huge, and the weatherman predicts it will continue for months. And the mosquitoes--we need to import bats and swallows. We have millions of the insects. (read a funny recently--a mosquito is an insect that makes flies seem not so bad.)
During the recent marathon deluge, several of us noticed our dogs reacting to this year's storms. Dogs that have never minded storms were seeking laps--and at least one of the dogs is way too big for a lap. His owner refused him firmly, so he squeezed behind the love seat where she was sitting and lay down, she said, as if he were hiding there. Funniest of all is Sharon's dog, Kipper, who has already established a command post in the master bedroom closet. Amazingly, he has made a connection between the beep-beep-beep-beep that heralds weather bulletins on the TV or radio and storms. Doesn't matter what the bulletin is about, when Kip hears the bulletin start, he heads straight to the closet. His owner says if we ever get a tornado alert, she'll just follow Kip's lead into the closet with him. It's got to be one of safest spots in the house.
Texans and their competitiveness. We've had so much rain, but by a spare half-inch, June was only the SECOND wettest June in recorded history. And we missed the longest run of consecutive days with rain when the airport rain gauge only registered a trace the ninth day, even though it rained elsewhere in the Metroplex. The water at Lake Texoma is going over the spillway for only the third time since the lake was created. But no big deal, because only a foot and a half of water will go over, where 17 years ago five feet of water went over. We've had some truly terrible flooding. Lives have been lost. Every lake in Texas reportedly is full past the brim. In fact, last Fourth of July, many boats didn't go out because the lakes were so low, unexpected sunken trees and debris was a danger. This year, the lakes are so full, most of the boat ramps are unusable, and the water is so high, once again, unexpected trees and picnic tables may be under the rising waters near the shore.
Last year, we had large pecan ond oak trees that had lived for decades die from the unrelenting drought. We had some big grass fires, one in the Texas Panhandle that burned acreage as large as the entire state of Rhode Island, destroying century-old homes and burning several thousand head of livestock to death.
This year, we've had more than a year's quota of rain already. We are all pleased that in the last few days, the regional water district has relaxed its level 3 water restrictions and officially declared us no longer in a drought. We're not quite sure what took them so long, but we are pleased. But there is water to drink, and wash in, and wash cars with and---we're really ready for some sunny days now for awhile.
The sun came out Friday, then all day Saturday and today. For the time being, the rain is past. The ground is so wet, and so much standing water is left that the humidity is huge, and the weatherman predicts it will continue for months. And the mosquitoes--we need to import bats and swallows. We have millions of the insects. (read a funny recently--a mosquito is an insect that makes flies seem not so bad.)
During the recent marathon deluge, several of us noticed our dogs reacting to this year's storms. Dogs that have never minded storms were seeking laps--and at least one of the dogs is way too big for a lap. His owner refused him firmly, so he squeezed behind the love seat where she was sitting and lay down, she said, as if he were hiding there. Funniest of all is Sharon's dog, Kipper, who has already established a command post in the master bedroom closet. Amazingly, he has made a connection between the beep-beep-beep-beep that heralds weather bulletins on the TV or radio and storms. Doesn't matter what the bulletin is about, when Kip hears the bulletin start, he heads straight to the closet. His owner says if we ever get a tornado alert, she'll just follow Kip's lead into the closet with him. It's got to be one of safest spots in the house.
Texans and their competitiveness. We've had so much rain, but by a spare half-inch, June was only the SECOND wettest June in recorded history. And we missed the longest run of consecutive days with rain when the airport rain gauge only registered a trace the ninth day, even though it rained elsewhere in the Metroplex. The water at Lake Texoma is going over the spillway for only the third time since the lake was created. But no big deal, because only a foot and a half of water will go over, where 17 years ago five feet of water went over. We've had some truly terrible flooding. Lives have been lost. Every lake in Texas reportedly is full past the brim. In fact, last Fourth of July, many boats didn't go out because the lakes were so low, unexpected sunken trees and debris was a danger. This year, the lakes are so full, most of the boat ramps are unusable, and the water is so high, once again, unexpected trees and picnic tables may be under the rising waters near the shore.
Last year, we had large pecan ond oak trees that had lived for decades die from the unrelenting drought. We had some big grass fires, one in the Texas Panhandle that burned acreage as large as the entire state of Rhode Island, destroying century-old homes and burning several thousand head of livestock to death.
This year, we've had more than a year's quota of rain already. We are all pleased that in the last few days, the regional water district has relaxed its level 3 water restrictions and officially declared us no longer in a drought. We're not quite sure what took them so long, but we are pleased. But there is water to drink, and wash in, and wash cars with and---we're really ready for some sunny days now for awhile.
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