April 2, 2010 Chautauqua

From the Editor's Computer

Every year about this time, my car is usually sitting in a mini-lake created by the melting snow. If there is a lot of snow to melt, then there is a matching mini-lake across the street and we speculate as to whether or not they will meet in the middle of the laneway.

This year is different. This year we had a few days with a large puddle and then nothing. The ground across the street is hardly damp.

That is a sign that the ground is very, very dry. So dry in fact, that hopefully the water we did have - it seemed like we got lots of snow in December - all got sucked into the ground and didn’t all evaporate.

We have had too many years of late with little moisture falling to replenish the depleted moisture levels in the ground. Sloughs have dried up that seemed to be in existence forever.

These dry conditions affect not only the wildlife and domestic animals, but all of us too, whether we are farmers or not.

Unfortunately, the situation is also compounded by the winds that we are experiencing. Valuable moisture that we need in the land is whisked away by days of wind. As more and more windbreaks are being cleared out, wind conditions, and the dryness, will get worse.

I am crossing my fingers and hoping that the old wife's tale of moisture 90 days after a fog is true. With the many foggy days the end of February and beginning of March we should be in for a real soaking this spring! And we need all the rain we can get!

Beth

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