“I think we are bound to, and by, nature. We may want to deny this connection and try to believe we control the external world, but every time there’s a snowstorm or drought, we know our fate is tied to the world around us.” Alice Hoffman
This isn't how a willow tree is supposed to look. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
From the heights of the morning’s glorious Texas sunrise, my first since mid-April, my journey to just north of Austin descended into horrifying reality of the drought the state has been suffering.
The sights hit me especially hard when I left Interstate 10 to follow Highway 190 for over 200 miles.
The scorched earth, brown and dying cedar trees, total lack of grass and yellow and stunted cactus were hard to stomach.. While I had been luxuriating beside a lake enjoying a mild Idaho summer, my native Texas had been suffering record temperatures without rain.
My Texas family had frequently informed me that this was so, but seeing it still broke my heart, especially when I saw skinny deer wandering the roadside huddled around one small patch of grass. It was very close to the road, and the deer stayed nearby instead of scampering away as my RV approached.
Laughter is not a bad thing when faced with hard times.
It made me glad I was traveling a lonely stretch of highway, especially since a bit farther on I passed two deer that had given their life for staying too close to the road. The turkey vultures seemed to be the only ones prospering on the landscape.
At my oldest son’s home in Harker Heights, I found his usual green lawn brown, and the limbs of the vibrant willow tree in his back yard scantily clad. And today, the water pipes buried in his front yard sprung a gigantic leak.
“It’s happening a lot all over the place,” said the plumber, who was too busy to come until the next day. As the landscape dries, it shifts around, often breaking things in the process.
Even Maggie noticed how things were different. A bit of a tenderfoot, she found the stiff dry grass on the edges of the road we walked not to her liking.
I watched as she carefully place one paw down, and then looked for a softer spot to place her next step. When she didn’t find it, she quickly came back onto the paved road to continue our evening walk.
In some places, this beautiful lantana plant is considered an invasive weed. It looked awfully good to me, however, when all else was suffering from the drought. -- Pat Bean
My daughter-in-law, meanwhile, has still managed to maintain a bit of color around their house. Her backyard flower bed , filled with what she called hardy plants, hinted that all was not lost.
As I looked out on them this morning, I saw house wrens playing among the blossoms, while bright cardinals, finches, mockingbirds and sparrows visited the yard as well.
. I think they liked the color, too. And perhaps the bird feeders scattered about the yard as well.
Pat Bean's blog 
We’ve had below normal rainfall here in FL for the past four or five years. We are just coming out of our rainy season, so things look pretty good right now, but at the beginning of the summer, everything was brown from being frosted last winter and not much rain. I refused to water – everything in my yard had to sink or swim on its own. But a brown yard was too depressing for me, so I put up some cheap pinwheels and artificial flowers to brighten things up. I feel for the wild animals in the drought areas.
I’d love to see pictures of your yard.
Its been a long dry summer here in France too. We think the weather is just about to break, but too late for some crops. And if it rains too much to soon, it will just flood the rivers and do no good to the overly dry land.
At night you can hear, and see the lights, of tractors down by the river as the farmers get water for their animals and crops. Its cheaper than paying through the metered water. But not everyone has a bowser for their garden. Luckily ours is still a building site, but the apple tree is a bit poorly.
My drive to the Texas coast was much better, actually had rain on the way, and while things aren’t as green as normal, the color was still quite visible, unlike west Texas. I find it interesting how people adapt to Mother Nature’s quirks.
Keep writing … Pat Bean https://patbean.wordpress.com
Speaking of adapting, I am constantly amazed at Nature’s resilience. Fifteen or twenty years ago we had forest fires in the Columbia Gorge, and instead of driving through dramatic, forest-covered cliffs I drove past blackened snags and parched earth. Within a few years the only remnants of the fire were a few of the snags, poking up between the trees that had, somehow, found strength to fight past their terrible burns and not just survive, but thrive. It’s not to be taken for granted, and I do believe we are pushing the earth to its limits, but still, I take comfort in the fact that often, when all seems lost, Nature finds a way.
Yellowstone is another good example. After a horrendous fire season, it came back better than ever.