Drought

 This is the view from my front door.

It is not supposed to look like this in August.  In Texas, summer is green.  It is always blistering hot - but  you can look forward to fairly frequent tropical rain, warm thunderstorms with brilliant lightning shows and the occasional golfball-sized hail that sends me  running to my car to cover it with a thick bed quilt to protect it from hail dents.  Typically in the summertime, we have to mow constantly to keep up with the wild growth. The humidity will make you sweat through your shirt just walking to get the mail. Bugs are  everywhere and you can hardly hear yourself over the noise of the cicadas and crickets.

But this year is different.

I cannot remember the last time I mowed. Every creek is bone dry.  When I walk around, the ground crunches beneath my feet. The air is dry.

 This is frightening.  Will it ever rain again?  What does it mean for our frogs?  The average daily temperatures ranged from 105 - 108 last week.

The pond has been very quiet, with the occasional leopard frog hanging out for the day.  I spend time with the goldfish who nibble on my finger and beg for more fish flakes.  I have been putting a white sheet over the pond for shade in the middle of the day so the water doesn't get too warm for them.

Frogs and toads typically burrow into ground to escape the heat in dry weather.  They have to protect their skin from drying out.  But where can they burrow when there is no moisture anywhere and the ground is like cement?   There aren't even any insects out. No crickets. No cicadas. No crazy june bugs swirling their crazy paths seeming to try to fly up your nose and ending up caught in your hair.   The birds are gone.

The stillness isn't calm; it is ominous.

Last night, I heard a lonely frog song and wondered where this poor guy was taking shelter.  I think it is amazing that frogs can withstand the 100 degree temperature swings we have here in central Texas.   It just does not seem that long ago when I was watching the temperature dip into the teens and was panicking about the water lines freezing and the pond freezing over.  

Rueters reported that we have received only 40% of our normal rainfall this year.  They also reported that this drought would last through October, at least, and that the heat wave would persist through August.  This is the worst drought Texas has had for a century, perhaps in history.  Ironic that the climate change naysayers are thick here in Texas.  Kinda like mother nature is giving them a well-deserved slap upside the head. Nature has to do that sometimes so that we pay attention.   Time to pay attention.

 On the bright side, look who's ten days old today!


Watching him carefully, I can see his throat move as he breathes and his eyes blink.  His legs are striped and his back is spotted, so I know he is a baby leopard frog.  Leopard frogs will not grow more than an inch for their first year.  They live to be between 7-9 years in the wild, although another website cited 5 years in captivity.   I hope this one will be with me for a long time.  This frog doesn't move around much.  He likes to hide in the moss.  I think he is eating.  I keep his house full of pin head crickets and fruitflies.  I am actually terrified of losing him.  I check on him constantly and check to see if he is breathing.  I look for his ribs and whether his belly looks round.- Is he eating?  Please eat.  Please thrive, baby frog.  Do you like it cold or hot?  Would you like deeper water in your house?  I wish you could tell me.  I wish I could tell you that I am here to help and not to be afraid of me.  You scared me when you fell into the water and you didn't move. I thought you had died before my eyes, but then you jumped away.  Caring for babies is really hard. It terrifies me.  Always has.