Good Timing

Yesterday it rained. It started no less than an hour after I had moved the plants to the back garden. Why am I even talking about this? Well, we've been in a drought now for over a year that's gotten so severe that I think prior to yesterday the City had about 120 days of drinking water left. We run a well, so we're not that bad off. The City is under Stage 2 water restrictions, which involves a lot of things like no lawn watering, no car washes, etc. This has closed a ton of businesses, primarily car washes and landscaping businesses, and people are out of work due to No Water. How sick is that?

That image to the above right? That's supposed to be a lake. And in fact, it's the only water resevoir for the City. This image below is also supposed to be the same lake. This was back in November when things were pretty damn bad. 

Yeah, that's supposed to be a lake. I'm going to give a hint as to where I am and let you know that this is Falls Lake, which is in Wake County and Durham County in NC. Falls Lake is a man-made lake that was created in the late 1970s when they dammed the Neuse River. Falls Lake is where I fell in love with my husband, when he and I started dating, and he took me out on his boat (not Fuckingboat. This one was smaller and a lot more manageable. We ended up having to sell it in order to live). When he took me out on the lake the first time I was amazed. I had driven past the lake many times on my way to BFFs house, but I had no idea how huge it was until I got out onto the water. And in 2004 the water was wide and deep. It was a good year.

Things started going down hill in 2006. The rains just didn't come. By this past winter of 2007 there were sections of Falls Lake that you could walk across to get from one bank to the other. Boating cut down considerably, since the larger boats wouldn't be able to manage even the marked channels. Little bass boats and john boats were still going out, but they don't need as much water. As far as I could tell, fishing was still fine. We got Fuckingboat out once last spring before the water went away, and then as things worsened there was no way to get her out again. She's just too big.

Back in December they said that the City would run out of water in March. Well, March is halfway through and we've gotten some measurable rains since then so the situation is less dire. However, we still need 8.46 inches of rain to make it to normal. We need that prior to this summer when the heat comes (days of 107 degrees last year). 

Please cross your fingers that this spring is a wet one, no matter what the meteorologists say will happen. We just need the water so badly.