Its Hot . . .

It is hot, burning up here. Record high temperatures and now over 11 days over 100 degrees Fharenheit. Heat index up around 104 to 106. The grass is showing stress in places where the water is not quite as much as the other spots in the yard. Even one little Oak tree showing heat distress, the other is doing fine as it gets a lot of run off from the hill (well not a hill, more of a slope).

One of our neighbor's well has gone dry, again. He does not seem to manage water very well (no pun intended). We space out our stations with a 15 or 20 minute wait after each one. That gives the well time to recharge. And then we do spot watering here and there.

When you use the irrigation system you are flowing the well at max capacity. When you spot water using a hose and single sprinkler head, then the well has plent of capacity. That and using a proper cycle as described above and watering at night all tend to get the job done without over drafting the well.

Don't understand our neighbor. He is a civil engineer, or so he says he is. Yet he has drainage problems (I don't guess he pays much attention to slopes or natural drainages). Now he has dried up his well. Not sure about this guys sense of geography or use of resources.

So far we are still doing okay. Drought here and floods elsewhere in the Dakotas, along the Missori and even down the Mississippi this year. Water distributino is not so good or water management is not so good. Texas has only two natural lakes, one of which extends into Louisiana (Cross Lake near Shreveport, LA). Even the Red River separates Texas and Okalahoma and they have made a huge man made lake, Lake Texoma, but it to is subject to drought conditions. The Red River is not a raging torrent most of the time, but rather a slow moving small river that can be mean and out of control at times.

We depend on man made lakes all around us for our water supply. Lake Weatherford is near us and it is down six feet or so already and still a couple of dry months to go. They back pump water into it from Lake Benbrook down the Clear Fork of the Trinity River from us. Locals don't like it but it serves its purpose to keep Lake Weatherford going.

Birds and deer come often to drink. So we have lots of them because we keep the bird baths full and feed the birds too. The deer are scavengers, drink water out of the bird bath and tip over the bird feeders to get the seed.