Jul. 10, 2006 - 21:11 MDT

STEADY AND FREQUENT

Hmph, twice I dumped my entry through stuttering fingers. Guess from now on will have to put it into Word Perfect and cut/paste, or some darn thing. Perhaps being a bit more careful of my movements. Oh, well . . . . . .

There is an article by John Aguilar with input from Staff Writer Bianca Prieto -- both of the Rocky Mountain News in this morning's paper. Quoted here, in part:

RAINFALL DIDN'T DO MUCH TO PUT A DENT IN DROUGHT

"Much of Colorado received a thorough soaking over the weekend but the rain didn't do much to beat back the state's stubborn drought, according to weather experts."

""It'll probably be forgotten in a month," said Kyle Fredin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder."

"Fredin said the weekend's rainfall, the product of a slow-moving tropical air mass making its way north from Mexico, brought Denver's precipitation total to 3.79 inches since the beginning of the year, just 44 percent of normal."

"Mike Gillespie. a snow survey supervisor for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the only unusual things about the weekend storm was that it occurred in July. "It would have been pretty typical of something in April or May," he said."

"Gillespie said despite flooding that devoured roads in southern Douglas County and that shut down Interstate 25 in the Pueblo area, the rain overall wouldn't do much to alleviate the state's tenacious dry spell. "It's not going to be a summer rain event that breaks the drought, but a couple of good years of snowpack," he said."

"Which still pleases David Eckhardt, a farmer in La Salle, who said the storm couldn't have come a day too soon. "Every farmer in the area needed to be able to take a breath and relax a little," he said. "It was a million-dollar rain coming down nice and slow, and it all got soaked in rather than running off," he said."

"But Eckhardt said he's been around long enough to know that one long weekend of rain will not solve his long-term problems."

++++++++++++

So it is just a respite for the farmers, probably won't help harvest a bumper crop, if any crop survives the dry summer. But at least it helps everyone, now.

I still can't see why present day residents here in town insist on keeping to the traditional view of the settlers and require huge lawns and water hungry plants. Denver Water Department has been trying to sell folks on the idea of Xeriscaping for many years, with few takers.

Nowadays a drive through town shows one, dry brown yards, some covered with crushed rock of different kinds and some with nice, lush green grass. Since Denver put water meters in all residences a few years ago, some folks found out they couldn't afford the tab.

This man wonders, how many more years of drought this time ? Will it be like in the Great Depression/Dust Bowl days ? About ten years ? Will it be as devastating as it was that time ?

I guess perhaps my wish is for a weather pattern change that will bring us adequate rain, slow, STEADY AND FREQUENT . . . . . . . . . .

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