A State in Stark Contrast to Irene: My Heart Goes Out to Texas

[RadiationTherapy]

I am a Massachusetts native from the 413 area who also lived in North Florida for six years, so I am very concerned about Irene and have friends and family who will most certainly be affected in some way. But within the bigger picture, the contrast between wet and dry weather has become stark.

I have lived in Flagstaff Arizona for the past 13 years, so I am also intimately, keenly aware of the slow, constricting death of drought. I know what it is like to watch the water go away; to endure the pounding solar radiation day after day after day. I understand the insecurity of smelling smoke and feeling the amygdala twitch in a primal, long term, low-grade emergency state day after day after day.

The report on NPR this morning had me transfixed; staring out at the drizzling rain we've been blessed with all summer while feeling those familiar feelings that may only be one summer away for anyone along the I-40. Texas, your people and your wildlife, my heart is with you. I can't send "vibes" and I can't "pray", but I can feel it. I know it and I am sorry. I wish you all well.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/26/139947317/drought-puts-texas-ranchers-and-cattle-at-risk

There was a follow up I didn't find that was about wild animals and the "distortion of the food chain" due to the drought. It was powerful and disturbing.

[peacebird]

1. I was awestruck listening to that report on the radio this morning. The mosquitos are gone

so the bats are starving... Deer, racoons and squirrels are abandoning their young... It was a totally devastating report.

[RadiationTherapy]

2. The mother squirrels "pushing their young out of the nest"

because they both can't survive...

Really tough stuff.

[seabeyond]

3. lol, that you should say this. i have been listening to all the irene threads and though empathitic

and understand the damage and danger factor, i cannot help saying to myself, water.... lots and lots of water. i want some. had a conversation in my head, lol.

:hi:

[RadiationTherapy]

7. I had to do a re-write because it wasn't sensitive enough to the hurricane the first draft.

I hope you and your family is well.

[MuseRider]

9. Me too, I hate to say it but me too

and we are nowhere near as dry as you are. My crop yielded about half of normal and that is far above what is happening to you all down South. Still, the ponds are down and some almost dry. The big one is down over a foot. We are dry and I want water. You can't help it, it is primal. If we had had a good crop I would be sending bales down to you all like before. Sorry, I really wish I could.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Thank You. nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. I was hoping Irene would bring them rain.

[RadiationTherapy]

12. Can is move that far inland?

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Maybe it's time to start working on improving wildlife habitats?

[FreeJoe]

8. I have to admit

I felt a disappointed when Irene turned away from us. Hurricanes suck in a big way, but I'd take rain just about any way I could get it.

[RadiationTherapy]

10. Drought leads to that desperation.

We can't avoid that we are 85% water. Good luck to you and I hope you are well.

[calimary]

15. Damn. That's a BRILLIANT analogy! But, of course! It couldn't be anything but.

But it's a great point, RadiationTherapy. We ARE, as human beings, composed chemically mostly of water. I think if there were an ingredients list slapped on our backside, the first ingredient listed would indeed be water. As a Southern Californian, I know the low-level discomfort that water rationing brings. You get a sense of true vulnerability as a physical being. You gain a renewed appreciation of what an ultimate essential resource water is, that's the key to the very existence and sustenance of life itself. Why else all the ballyhoo about any story from Mars or elsewhere in space, where indications of wate, past or present, have been discovered? You realize how dependent you are and how delicate you are as well. And for some mentalities, that's not the kind of realization they welcome.

[RedEarth]

11. KR

[XemaSab]

13. I really feel for what's going on down there

It's a testimony to modern environmental regulations and the efforts of the Natural Resources Conservation Service that this hasn't become another Dust Bowl... yet. :(

[myrna minx]

14. My heart goes out to those who are suffering through this horrible drought.

:grouphug: