Rain, Rain Go Away
If you live in the mid-west, you have probably had your share of rainfall for the year! I am certainly tired of seeing nothing but dark skies and dreary days. Honestly, it is having an affect on my personality. I think I may even be suffering from SAD! And, no doubt, thousands of others that have been rained on this year have probably had to seek professional help to get through these dreadful days! But the numerous days that I have experienced serious cabin fever and felt like building the family ark are nothing, and I do mean absolutely nothing, compared to many folks that have truly suffered from this bizarre weather season.
I have nothing to complain about really (well, I did want to be gathering some veggies from my garden at this point as opposed to just getting the thing planted). I haven’t lost any personal belongings and I have suffered no flood damage although the van almost fell victim to water damage when DH took it to work one day and his parking lot flooded! Thank goodness DD risked sacrificed his shoes, socks, and pants up to his knees to save the thing. I am certainly thankful for so much. We have been spared from the damaging storms and rain while others around us have lost so much. But I am sick of it!! Will it ever be sunny for more than 20 minutes? Ok. I am exaggerating but not by a whole lot! We went to the lake (Lake Monroe) yesterday while there was a break in the water falling from the sky, and it was still flooded. The beach is closed and the water is now completely covering the parking lots. The estimates, at this point, are that the waters will not recede enough to see the beach until late August - and that is with no more rain!
And here is the real troublesome point of all of this rain. My family and friends in the southeast have not had a good rain in months! The ground there is hard and cracked and crops have died due to extensive draught for several years running. Last year, my sister had to buy hay to feed her horses and cattle from several states away! And the cost was unbelievable. The draught continues for these areas and many farms are suffering as are many of the farms here in Indiana. All of this rain has delayed planting or required replanting due to wash-out or rot. In a twisted way, it is a good thing that we have just planted our garden - maybe we waited long enough and will have some crops flourish - that is, if the amount of rain we get returns to ‘normal’.
And for my friends and family in the south - I wish there was some way that I could bottle this stuff up for you and bring it your way. You would think that we could engineer some great process to redirect all of this water. It is sad that most of the rainfall is going to runoff, picking up contaminants along the way, and then polluting the bodies of water downstream. Can’t we come up with something to quickly remove the flood waters and reduce the impact on the environment caused by all of the run-off? And once we ‘collect’ all of the excess, why can’t we get it where it is needed? Didn’t we send people to the moon for goodness sakes?
It doesn’t seem to matter where we live these days. Everyone is being impacted by mother nature. Floods, draught, earthquakes, wild-fires, melting ice-caps, tornados. If you aren’t sure about global warming, just look around you. It may not be evident by the actual temperatures in your neck of the woods, but I think the earth is trying to tell us something. Are you listening? It sure has my attention.
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