Fire

The satellite maps show evidence of the work of the fire fighters. There were flame icons on the map, indicating that the fire had crossed the 3000 acre pasture and was in the woods just SE of Altamira, only a couple hundred yards away. Then a long, straight cloud image showed up, and the flame icons disappeared.

Wildfires in Central Texas

I am in San Antonio at the moment, watching (via satellite) the relentless advance of the wildfire that was burning in the Bastrop area yesterday. It is now less than one pasture away from my land. The pasture separating the fire from my land is 3000 acres that was planted in Bermuda grass with only a few trees. I hoped that maybe the relatively wide expanse with not very much fuel might have stopped the fire, but it doesn't look as though that's going to happen. I heard that the fire easily jumped  Colorado River in Bastrop County.

None of my domestic animals are on the land at the moment. There's furniture and stuff I'll be sad to lose, and most of my books. My cute little travel trailer, and the pole barn and the 3/4 ton Ford pickup and the pump house and pressure tanks. But I can live well without these things. I guess the old oak and hickory trees will be the saddest loss.

My losses are nothing compared to the losses of my friends who live there and who will lose their homes and livlihoods.

It's weird to think back to two days ago when I was last at my land. Sometimes, I stop for a moment as I"m about the close the door and walk away and think, "Goodbye, little house." I didn't do that when I left Saturday. I was in a hurry to get to Lockhart to take care of some work I needed to do there. It never occurred to me that it might be the last time I'd ever see my cozy little trailer.

Texas Drought Continues, Despite Rain and Floods Elsewhere

TEXAS DROUGHT: SPOT THE OUTLIER

"The year 2011 continues the recent trend of being much warmer than the historical precipitation-temperature relationship would indicate, although with no previous points so dry it’s hard to say exactly what history would say about a summer such as this one.  Except that this summer is way beyond the previous envelope of summer temperature and precipitation."

In the city, there are dead shrubs, and even a few large trees that have not been able to withstand the desert-like conditions. In the country, corn and even milo crops are brown and shriveled. Many farmers have plowed everything under, and the fields are just sitting there, waiting for wind to blow the soil away. It's pointless to plant winter wheat with no rain. Pastures, like many of the front yards in the cities, are bare soil with a few tufts of dead grass. Most of the cattle are gone. Ranchers with the means to move their breeding stock to other parts of the country did so. Some are importing hay from states such as Montana. But many ranchers have sent even their breeding stock to slaughter, beause they could not afford to keep them alive.

Former ponds are now dry depressions lined with cracked clay like shards of broken pottery. Creek and river beds are dry. Even large lakes have been reduced by evaporation to less than half their former volume. 
Rain will show up in the 7-day forecast from time to time, but the meteorologists have to revise the forecast later to 0 precip.

There is one very small bright spot in all this: the drought has been so severe that it even seems to be affecting the grasshopper population.  If the grasshopper population is low at the time of year when they lay eggs, the population next year will be relatively low. 

Tea Shortage from Droughts in Kenya and India

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/tea-shortage-to-widen-as-drought-in-india-kenya-hurts-crops/369478/

A global tea shortage may increase by 10 per cent next year as drought in Kenya, Sri Lanka and India, the top exporters, damage crops and propel prices to a record, the world’s biggest tea plantation company said.
The deficit may widen to 110 million kg (243 million pounds) by May to June next year, compared with 100 million kg this year, Aditya Khaitan, managing director, of McLeod Russel India, said in an interview. Record tea prices in Kenya and India may gain another 15 per cent in the next 12 months, he said.
Reduced supplies will increase costs for tea marketing companies including Tata Tea, owner of Tetley brands, and Unilever, while boosting earnings at producers McLeod, Goodricke Group and Jayshree Tea & Industries. African tea prices rose to a record at auctions on August 29, while Indian prices have gained an average 25 per cent this year.
“I don’t see any relief for tea consumers for the next one year,” said Harsh Gupta, an analyst at SMC Global Securities. “The global shortage isn’t likely to be overcome anytime soon as prices will firm up further.”
Stagnant prices for almost a decade since 1999 caused some tea estates to close and forced plantation companies to cut investment in replanting old bushes and adding new machines, said McLeod Russel’s Khaitan. “Tea is playing a catch-up with other agriculture commodities, which have shot up in the past couple of years,” he said. “The tea deficit is here to stay and the prices will continue to rise.”

A Few Drops of Rain

The San Antonio garden has been getting a half inch or more of rain every day since Wednesday. The Lockhart garden had gotten less than half an inch total when I got here Thursday evening. No rain at all yesterday, and only a few spatters late this afternoon.

But the little bit we've gotten, together with the 75% cloud cover has made a significant difference. I actually enjoyed being in the garden today and spent some time just sitting and relaxing this afternoon, breathing in the fragrance of 4 0'clocks, listening to the neighborhood sounds -- grackles, bluejays, cicadas, a neighbor's rock music (faintly), dogs barking. Every evening this summer until this one, a flock of wood geese has flown over toward the end of the day. I wonder where they are today ...

The Irish potatoes still survive, but I fear the heat stress has been too much for them. I don't expect a good crop. I dug up a marginal one last week. There were 8 tiny spuds attached to the roots. If the weather stays relatively cool like this, I may yet get a potato crop, but I'm not counting on it. I didn't plant the potatoes until February. It's always a crap shoot for me -- plant them too early, and they're likely to be killed by frost. Plant them too late, and they're likely to burn up before they have a chance to produce a crop. Don't know if it's something I'm doing wrong, or if this just isn't a good place to grow Irish potatoes.

There are baby melons on the cantaloupe vines.