Parched

Sunday, 8:32 pm

By Kate

Aug

26

2007

We have had a moderate cool front move in over the last 24 hours. It’s not exactly cold out there, but it’s comfortable. Sure beats 96°. The odd thing, though, is that a large band of raucous thunderstorms ushered it in to the north of us, to the west of us, and to the south of us. But nary a drop of rain has fallen here. We haven’t seen rain since early this month. What does it take to wring a few raindrops out of the clouds, anyway?

Consequently...my yard is brown, brown, brown. So are all the other yards in the neighborhood, save one. I notice the same thing all around town. I think most of us have given up the fight. With no rain, it simply takes too much watering to keep up.

There is, however, one homeowner in our neighborhood who has a veritable oasis going. Her yard is so lush and green it makes our brown yards look three shades browner. But she waters Every Single Day. Her sprinklers turn on for about 45 minutes at the same time each day. I surely wouldn’t want to have her next water bill. She’s new in the ‘hood. New in town, also, I believe. I wonder if she realizes that her next 6-month water bill will be equivalent to at least 3 mortgage payments.

I will admit that it’s a lovely spot in the parched landscape, but all that water swirling around every day makes me crazy. Grass is just not worth that much water. I guess it is to her, though. So far, anyway.