Re: Drought

For the past several weeks I have been staying in Utopia, Texas which is between San Antono and Del Rio.  The weather here went from spring directly into the middle of summer with temperatures 10 degrees above normal.  Tomato plants refuse to bloom and set fruit, as they are in a survival mode.  The same with the okra.

It is literally the parched earth here, with almost no rain in ages.  Most of the rivers and creeks are dry gulches, including the Sabinal and the Frio is barely trickling - though there are still some places where you can wade and soak.  A great many trees have shed their leaves or died and the grass lies golden brown and parched beneath the shimmering waves of heat.  It crackles when you walk on it.  The temperature guage on the porch has been regularly registering between 110 and 114 most late afternoons.  There is a breeze most of the time, but it is like an oven blast.

The poor hummingbirds flit back and forth looking in vain for blooms to succor them and the usually abundant wildlife has become scarce.  Vultures and flies are abundant though.  Perhaps they know something?

Somewhere Dante is laughing.