Pictures are worth more than 1000 words.

2011 Texas Drought

http://www.flickr.com/photos/texasparkswildlife/sets/72157627429641925/show/

You know it's dry when 60+ year old trees are dead and dying from thirst.

Ya gotta wonder if they will ever fill back up. That's a whole lotta water!!!!

1.5 inches last night. Praise the Lord.

They will fill up again mother nature has a way of correcting herself. It may take some time but it's amazing how far 1, 5 or 6 inch rain can go. Hang in there Texans hang in there!!!

California was in much the same condition during 2008/2009. Folsom Lake was way, way down. Many of the boat launches were closed. DIED's pond and mine were at the lowest levels I'd ever seen.

This is Folsom Lake in October, 2008


I feel for you folks in the drought stricken regions, it's disheartening to see such a drastic water loss. I sincerely hope that you folks get relief this winter/spring.

Reminds me of the tour I took at the Hoover dam hydro power plant. After walking thru the area by the turbines and ultimately winding up nearer the top where you could see the massive high tension electric lines and towers, I asked the guide to compare the value of the electricity generated against the value of the water backed up. He actually had some mega figures readily available, and all I can recall is that the value of the water outweighed the value of the power it produced by thousands of times.

I planted some wheat this weekend and what do you know, Saturday night I got 2 inches! My big pond is down about 4 feet but it came up about 8 inches overnight. Maybe the wheat will come up this year. Last year it came up about an inch and then it dried up.

Especially if you are dying of thirst

All it would take is a slight change in weather patterns and things could change dramatically. Let's hope that happens sooner rather than later!

It's all cyclical. We are in drought conditions now, but 2010 was 45 inches, 2009 was 62 inches, 2008 was 46, and 2007 was 58. Yes, 2006 was a droughty year.

My pond went down FLIPING 13 FEET! IN 1 YEAR!

Mine is dropping at the rate of roughly an inch a day.....

I hope it slows down pretty quickly, or the EWM won't have any water to live in and the Fluridone will have gone to waste.

I'll give it 2 more weeks. If it is still dropping at that rate, the well has to get turned back on and the Fluridone will have to wait 'till next year.

We were guessing our ponds during the heat of summer (when the temperature was 110+ during the day) were dropping 10 inches in 7 days.

This drought is a serious mess. We got some (at least in my college town but not at home) and it only soaked into the soil about a half inch.

Yes, big mess, there really was no rain to speak of last fall and this spring. (Or much in between).

A fairly large oak died and fell over on my place. It fell a couple of months ago and I decided to cut it up last week for firewood before all of the moisture went. Too late. It was like trying to cut 50 year old lumber.

Dave:

Toss the safety chain and get one of those dangerous chains "for professional use only" and if the wood isn't dirty (i.e. soil or sand) use a full chisel chain. If the bar is over 24" long, full chisel skip tooth.

32" bar:


Old and new (both with 24" bars)

I'm giving up on that tree. It's not going to make good wood. It's already one step before full decay.

I have one of those big saws but really don't like HAVING to use it.

I hear ya!

They make short work of large pieces of wood tho. The new one is literally half the weight of the old one and has slightly more hp as well. LOTS quieter too!! Dad bought the old one new in 1965.

I had to cut an old tree apart that was lying directly across the path of a new fence I was hanging. It had fossilized and was like trying to cut granite with a pen knife.