Hope Is Not A Plan

In the last eight days, we've gotten three inches of rain. This is more rain than we got in the previous eight months.

Both my house well and the farm-yard well have been dry since November. I haul water in to keep the house (and the six cows who are living on my side of the hill) covered.

The ponds on the other two home places are way low, and it's hard for those seventy animals to get to those water sources, so city water is our backup.

But how long until the rivers and reservoirs that supply the city water supply run out? How long until those sources have to ration water?

That's hard to say.

We could get extremely lucky, and start getting moisture again, and maybe the ponds could refill. I can't see how the wells would be restored, though.

But as John Maddux says, "Hope is not a plan. Drought tends to happen in slow motion, lulling some producers into a wait-and-see approach. Now is the time to identify key dates and action plans in the event the rains do not come."

We're keeping an eye on everything, and will be ready to do whatever it takes to maintain at least some of the herd.

Check out more drought advice here.