Tuesday: It was time to water the few planters I keep on my porch, just to have a spot of life and color to cheer us up. This malabar spinach climbed around an ornament and caught my attention. So pretty! But the background revealed the lack of green vegetation in my yard. Because of the extreme drought, there's plenty of brown dust and dirt, as well as leaves that are drying on the trees. Can you believe that 106-108 degrees is forcast for each day this week? It's kind of "the nail in the coffin" for the last of our water and pasture. I decided to photograph the situation.
The tank has about 3 weeks of water left in it.
Lack of rain, 105 plus degrees, and the hot wind = dying catfish.
At first, I tried adding fresh water but soon figured out that it was a losing battle. So Mike got his big bait net and for the next 4 hours, we caught and cleaned as many fish as we could.
My freezer is full of fish and we are exhausted. I feel good that these fish were not wasted, but I'm really sad that today there are at least 20 dead fish in the tank. I'm afraid that's the last of them. Now I am worried about all the other animals finding a water source. Our tank was one of the last ones around here to have water. I'm thinking of buying some children's swimming pools and keeping them full of water in the edge of the woods. I pray that the heat breaks and the rains come. In the meantime, I will do what I can to feed and water the other living creatures.
4 comments:
I'm so sorry to hear things have become so severe for you there. I'm praying for rain for you all. It's good you were able to keep some of the fish from being wasted, at least. I hope things improve for you there soon.
This drought really is horrible! We are now on mandatory water conservation here in Temple. I'm trying really hard to keep the porchulacas alive that you gave me!My bird baths evaporate everyday, but trying to keep them filled for the birds and squirrels!
That's really heartbreaking. I am so sorry. I hope the heat has broken and you get much needed rains soon.
So sorry about your yard and fish. I can certainly empathize. We had to let our back yard dry up last summer (2010), and this year, we've cut back on the front and side yards, as well. We've been on Stage 2 water restrictions since before the summer started, and just this week, our neighborhood was notified that we are now on Stage 4 restrictions!
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