It's also hard to imagine, unless you're one of my neighbors watching disdainfully from a curtained window, a weary and wild-eyed forty-something dragging a lawn sprinkler and 200 feet of garden hose from tree to tree, adjusting the angle and velocity of the sprinkler head at each new location, delicately setting the appropriate radius of spray, then stepping back--just for a moment--to savor the sight of water seeping into cracker-dry earth.
This wouldn't be so unimaginable perhaps, except that most of the trees are not in the yard at all, but in the woods. For several weeks now, I've been watering the woods.
Am I insane?
Yes. Certifiably so.
But I like our white flowering dogwood trees. And I hate droughts. And for the second summer in three years drought conditions have plagued our homesite, claiming more than one cherished dogwood.
When we moved into the house in May of 2007, the previous owner, who had been here about 5 years, said the little creek that runs along the lot had never dried up, not even in summer. Well, that first summer it dried up completely, and this summer (cursed thing), only a few small puddles remain.
All this because we've had only 4 inches of rain since June. Three hot summer months and only one lousy rain shower. (You might think that 4 inches is a lot, but just try growing some 'maters in 90+ degree temperatures with only a single application of water).
The strangest part is that Charlotte and the surrounding region is not under any kind of drought restriction. Why? Because it's been raining EVERYWHERE but at our house. I'm not kidding. I watch satellite imagery incessantly, searching for any small inkblot that woul
d give the impression of impending rain. Oh, the dark clouds come. They well up and thunder all around us, dropping inches of rain at a time to the north in Charlotte, unloading tons of water to the south in Monroe and east in Waxhaw. But NEVER in Matthews. At least not at our house. I swear, we must be surrounded by some kind of invisible hoodoo water-repellant force field. There can be no other explanation for why rain falls north, south, east, and west of us, but NEVER at our house.
So I water. And I water. And I water. You do what you have to when you're desperate for a draught of water in a drought-stricken landscape. This is a photo of our dried up creek. Pathetic.
Tonight's forecast? 80% chance of rain. Think we'll get any? I've got a better chance of winning the Powerball jackpot. Twice. In two years.
ADDENDUM, 9:30 PM
See, I wasn't kidding! Below is an actual screen capture of tonight's rain event that had an 80% chance of hitting us. Notice the hole in the image RIGHT OVER MATTHEWS! This happens EVERY TIME!
