The Drought

Isolation is the sum total of wretchedness to a man.

          ~Thomas Carlyle 

     Where we live in Indiana is experiencing a terrible drought. We have not had any rain in almost 2 months. Additionally, the temperature has been breaking records-- 8 days so far at or above 100 degrees.  From our house we have watched storm clouds pass over, sometimes even with thunder and lightening-- but no rain. Our town and those around us all have lawn watering bans. We never have watered our lawn since there is almost 3 acres of it. But this year I have had to water our flower boxes every morning, and about once a week I tend to the other flower gardens with watering. Most of our flowers are either stunted or dried up a long time ago-- pretty much the only flowers that seem to enjoy the heat and dryness are the roses. The usual infestation of Japanese beetles has not occurred-- but we have more than usual bees and wasps buzzing about the yard. And just this week I discovered some deer had come out of the woods to munch on my drying hostas...

     The farmers in our state are reporting devastating damage to the crops -- usually soybeans and corn. Most of the corn grown in Indiana is used as cattle feed, so the price of beef as well as any product made from corn will likely skyrocket next year. Additionally, the farmers' markets are showing less produce and what there is available is smaller and a lot more expensive. My own garden will likely have very few tomatoes, and the green peppers are much smaller. We have had a bumper crop of cucumbers though!

     With crops destroyed, our farmers will suffer. With higher food and meat prices, the people who are struggling financially will suffer too. And with the high temperatures outside, the use of air conditioning will cause a huge increase in power usage. In Indiana that means burning more coal, which will bump up the cost of our power. And the burning of coal can have pretty negative health effects on the people who live close to the power plant.

     With all this misery around us, it may not seem like an important thing, but there is another consequence of this weather that I am just discovering:  it causes us all to stay indoors and that isolates us from others. We haven't seen or heard from our neighbors in weeks. We don't want to go outside during the heat of midday and early evening, nor do we want to expose our cars to the stress and damages of high heat and air conditioning running constantly. That means we have been staying home a lot more.

     And that means we have been isolated. Lanny has done just about all he can tinkering on our cars. I have been knitting like a fiend, but not much else. And over time, we have gotten more and more grouchy. The joys of summer-- sipping lemonade on the deck and gardening and driving around in the convertible with the top down-- are all slipping away from us unused. We can't stand the thought of being out in that heat, so we just stay home.

     That has made me think some about isolation and how important it is for us to get out with other people, and to get out in God's world some. It is no wonder to me that disabled people who can't get out may be depressed. Why elderly people afraid of falling on ice get depressed in the winter. Why parents with small children may be a little crazy sometimes... and why we are so grouchy!

     Predictions are for no real let up in the heat or drought until September. We are going to have to come up with some creative ways of dealing with it here at the Bertram's. Wish us luck-- or send us rain!!!