Friday, August 15, 2014

It's Official

The drought in California has finally beaten my pond into submission. Today, August 15, 2014, I officially declare the pond .....Dry.

By the drain pipe

Across the pond
Not in the 10 years we've lived here has it gone dry.

The drought is causing the trees to shed "leaves" if you will (remember the trees are all pine, fir, and cedar) at an alarming rate. They are also shedding dead limbs as if they know something hot is coming. I certainly hope not.

I remember the drought back in 1976. Once it started raining again the trees (where I used to cut firewood) having been so dry, couldn't handle the water and a good many just toppled over. 

Toppling trees wouldn't be a bad thing as long as they don't topple on the house or shop. I can always use the firewood.

California is still on fire and just in case, we have our evacuation plan in place, so long as they give us enough time to pack everything up.

I think I'll give Lower Blue Lake a try next week. Stay tuned.

15 comments:

  1. Nuts to this drought stuff! About time to call in the old timey rainmakers.

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  2. A good opportunity to dig the bottom and make the pond deeper so that you could plant some trout to fish.

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    1. You can't see in the pictures, but there are a zillion bird prints. Most are a couple inches into the mud. I think I'll pass on any digging. The last time I threw a rock in, it sank a good 6 inches in the mud.

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  3. Mark
    I wonder if California is just in the mist of drought year or is this the norm for California? I know Jason tells us all the time that is the one thing he can't get use to out there, no rain!!

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    1. The first thing to understand is that the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and valleys south were desert before controlled water storage. Second, as the song goes "It never rains in California" and there is a lot of truth to that which is the reason for the water storage. We normally don't get any rain between about May and October. Last year we didn't get much between October and May, thus the drought. Hope that helps.

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  4. Wow. You are very much in need of rain.
    Lets hope the season change brings the rain.

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  5. Pretty sad Mark and sorry to see it. On the other hand, this might be a good time to buy stock in bottled water?

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    1. The bottled water we get is from Crystal Geyser bottled in beautiful downtown Weed, California. I probably can't afford their stock.

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  6. I sure feel for you and the others in California that are so under nourished by the lack of rain. I say this as I just came in from outside where it is raining very hard for a bit. Giant raindrops......................................

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  7. That is definitely dry. A summer on edge for you folks. For your sake, I hope fall comes early.

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  8. You are always invited to fish with me out here in Utah! Well, hopefully your mountains will get good snowpack this winter.

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  9. Oh man, I'm sorry to hear the pond is gone! I hate to say it again but we need some rain NOW! hopefully we have a long cold and wet winter!

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