| I am 65 years old. I've lived in the heartland of Illinois and Iowa my whole life. I now live in eastern Iowa. Since I was old enough to push a lawnmower safely, I have cut the grass once or twice a week in the spring and summer months. This is the first time in my life I have gone so long without mowing the lawn. The last time I cut the entire lawn was May 30. Let me show you why. |
The grass where that photo was made is usually lush and green. Clearly, not this year. It is tinder dry. I have to admit I have run the mower once to trim a patch under the tree in our front lawn that gets watered every few days. See below. It was stressed and looked ill even before the summer months. The conservation service office suggested I water it more and fertilize at the appropriate time to possibly save it. If this tree dies, that's ten years of pleasure lost and an expense to replace.
This is not a diary about global warming, climate change, or the scientific arguments for or against it. This diary is about the impact our current drought is having on one aspect of my life. Granted, this is a pretty minor thing. But, drought has a very obvious impact in many different ways. I grew up on a farm in Illinois and have always been a close observer of the weather and climate. I was aware of changes from year to year in the course of the seasons. There were always departures. You never had a normal year. This year is very different and a big departure from the norms.
Are you feeling impacts, too? If you are observing changes in your surroundings that you would like to comment on, join me below the squiggle. I have a couple more pictures and some charts that show the local and regional conditions leading up to this drought.