Not the worst hard time, but…

As of October 2nd, this is the driest it’s been so late in the year in Okarche.  Our current precipitation total sits at 17.22 inches which is 12.17 inches below the normal of 29.39 inches.  Previously, the driest January 1 to October 2 occurred in 1998 when the total was 17.45 inches.  However, during that year, 3.45 inches of rain fell on October 4 and 5.  That is very unlikely this year and we are going to soon be several inches below the previous driest period.

On top of the 2011 deficit – we finished 2010 at 10.40 inches below normal.  This current drought has us nearly 20 inches below normal over the past year.

Keeping the house clean is nearly impossible these days.  Anything that gets dusted today will have a fine silt over it by tomorrow.  This was common over the summer and gets particularly bad when the wind blows.  It’s amazing where it manages to get inside.

I have just finished the book ‘The Worst Hard Time’ by Timothy Egan, which tells the story of people who lived and died during The Great American Dust Bowl.  First of all, I know there are those that don’t believe that I can finish a book – and yes, the last one was probably ‘The Cat in the Hat’ about 40 years ago – but I did and I would recommend it to those that have an interest in weather history or just Oklahoma history.  Second, I’m not going to try and compare what “cleaning” we have to do these days to what those folks went through, but it is tougher to keep a house clean now more than it has ever been around here.

On to this morning… I walked outside and saw my friend Billy standing in my friend Jim’s yard across the street.  He was waiting for Jim before they went to get in a round of golf; a great morning for that by the way.

I walked up to Billy about the time that Jim came outside and the conversation turned to the weather and went something like this:

Billy: Are we ever going to get any rain?

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Billy: We were out at Ryan’s lake over the 4th of July and couldn’t shoot our fireworks because of the ban.  We all agreed to just keep them a couple of weeks and fire them off when the ban was lifted… we still have them.

Jim: Shit man, it’s never going to rain again.

To which we all laughed and Jim followed it with: You know it’s bad when tumbleweeds are rolling down Eischen Avenue.

We just about pissed ourselves laughing after turning around and seeing, yes – a tumbleweed rolling down Eischen Avenue.

I couldn’t let this opportunity get by, so I grabbed my camera and fired off a couple of shots.  A little more laughing and then Billy and Jim were off on their way to knock the little white ball around.  I stopped by the outdoor bin and dumped my third vacuum canister and went inside to fill it up again.  Ahh…life during a drought – life in a rural area during drought – life in Okarche.

Okarche tumbleweed rolling down Eischen Avenue...
Okarche tumbleweed rolling down Eischen Avenue...