My Little Drought

[Shiva]

It still sucks! Apparently "El Nino" is back which translates to a drier then normal winter as well I finally have all the trees down and out of here. I've been busy bust'in my chaps raking and shoveling "mulch" created from 17 stumps gridded up. Took pictures but haven't been in the mood to post lately.

Very sorry to read this, Rick. All I can say is good luck and keep the spirit. :fight:

 

[SlipperFan]

It must be terribly discouraging. I am hoping their predictions for Winter are wrong.

 

[SlipperKing]

It's said that only fools and newcomers predict the weather in TX but unfortunately these fools have been right about the summer drought.

 

[Gilda]

:sob: So sorry Rick...that is one tough drought !

 

[SlipperFan]

Rick, did you get any of that rain that went through Texas???

 

[SlipperKing]

Rick, did you get any of that rain that went through Texas???

We sure did Dot! It rained off and on Saturday then pour all day and into the night on Sunday! The rain barrel is full for now! Again, I took pictures of the storm but haven't bothered uploading them.

 

[cnycharles]

I've been hearing on the radio about a lake in texas that a lot of municipalities take water from that's getting quite low(?) is that near you and is it still getting lower, or has the rain helped that out?

 

[SlipperKing]

That could very well be here Charles. Houston is very large and all the surround cites/ communities buy there water from Houston. Houston gets it's water from two different lakes north of the city, I think their Lake Houston and Lake Conroe. One of the lakes was getting very low so they had to switch to the other lake now both were/are dangerously low. I'm not up on how well this recent rain has helped. I'm sure it had to some. The cities/ communities that buy water from Houston goes all the way south to the Gulf of Mexico (~50 miles) included La Marque, Texas City, Clear Lake, Seabrook, Pearland(me), Friendswood, League City, Bayou Vista, Hitchcock, Omega Bay and finally Galveston, TX (where hurricane Ike hit). That's just south not sure about east, west or north! At one time all where on well water but the whole huge area is sinking. Right now Houston is 4 feet below sea level from the subsidence alone! Another problem in the rural areas people with wells are finding them dry too.
Hopefully the rain from last weekend had a chance to soak in some and not all run off.
There is a third lake some distance off, Lake Livingston but I'm not sure if Houston is set up to tap it's resources.

 

[Rick]

That could very well be here Charles. Houston is very large and all the surround cites/ communities buy there water from Houston. Houston gets it's water from two different lakes north of the city, I think their Lake Houston and Lake Conroe. One of the lakes was getting very low so they had to switch to the other lake now both were/are dangerously low. I'm not up on how well this recent rain has helped. I'm sure it had to some. The cities/ communities that buy water from Houston goes all the way south to the Gulf of Mexico (~50 miles) included La Marque, Texas City, Clear Lake, Seabrook, Pearland(me), Friendswood, League City, Bayou Vista, Hitchcock, Omega Bay and finally Galveston, TX (where hurricane Ike hit). That's just south not sure about east, west or north! At one time all where on well water but the whole huge area is sinking. Right now Houston is 4 feet below sea level from the subsidence alone! Another problem in the rural areas people with wells are finding them dry too.
Hopefully the rain from last weekend had a chance to soak in some and not all run off.
There is a third lake some distance off, Lake Livingston but I'm not sure if Houston is set up to tap it's resources.

If TX is like OK, then probably all the lakes are man made since the dust bowl era. And depending on the age often sized on the basis of the population decades ago.

Rick when I visited Austin many years ago there where local laws prohibiting people from collecting and storing rain water and gray water. Is Houston like that? Personally I think its a load of crap meant to force reliance on the centralized water/sewer authority, and legitimatized by pretense of public health concerns.

 

[SlipperKing]

I have no idea Rick. I've done this for years at 4 different houses that I've moved a round to here in Pearland. No one has ever questioned me about it. As a fact, many of the society members store rain water too.

 

[Rick]

I have no idea Rick. I've done this for years at 4 different houses that I've moved a round to here in Pearland. No one has ever questioned me about it. As a fact, many of the society members store rain water too.

Good:clap:

 

[SlipperFan]

We sure did Dot! It rained off and on Saturday then pour all day and into the night on Sunday! The rain barrel is full for now! Again, I took pictures of the storm but haven't bothered uploading them.

:clap: It would be interesting to see the transformation!

...
Rick when I visited Austin many years ago there where local laws prohibiting people from collecting and storing rain water and gray water. ...

That would be classified as one of the stupidest laws on the books!

 

[Rick]

That would be classified as one of the stupidest laws on the books!

It's a surprisingly common law in many municipalities. Usually not well enforced. It often pops up when someone is building a "green" house, and the codes people get all over it.

Kind of like when Al Gore wanted to add solar to his house in Nashville, but local codes shut him down because the roof panels were not aesthetically in line with neighborhood standards. He finally got to put a modest installation in the back yard (below the fence line), but I'm sure it reduced performance.

 

[SlipperKing]

OK Dot, I finally uploaded a few Pics. Here is tree cutting day

team effort!

Lance the tree climber doing his thing. Notice the rope on the right side of the picture(blue sky behind it) The rope id used to tie onto the cut branch and hung in the next tree over to swing the branch away from the barn after cut

What's left after clean up. Not much!

Kids can still have fun

Then the rain a few weeks later

 

[SlipperKing]

The kids and I took a tripe to the "Big Thicket", central, east Texas. A few Pics here.
My step son standing on the "new" shoreline of the lake at sun rise.

Another shot

Here I swing the camera to my right to shoe the old shoreline

We foumd lots of clam shell in among the grsses now growing where the lake use to be.

Here is a long shot showing all the grass taking over the sandy bottom lake. To the right are old sunken tree stumps

Closeup

Some birds working the waters edge in a boat cut area

same birds

 

[Rick]

Those rain pics feel good just looking at them.

 

[SlipperFan]

Those rain pics feel good just looking at them.

Yes -- I could feel a smile coming over my face when I saw them. What a relief!

It's possible the lake will return to it's old shore line. But that will mean a lot of rain!

 

[NYEric]

Good to see the respite and some recovery.