Along with the rest of the state, I’ve talked and worried about the drought we have been in having all year last year. We were in a bad drought situation last year so the city governments urged all its users to conserve water. While the conservation methods were at first met with resistance, people soon fell in line when confronted with visual proof of the drought, our beloved lakes turning into dry beds. Many of us implemented water conservation methods throughout our homes and businesses and I think we helped ease the burden some.

Thankfully, this year, the rains came back and our lakes are back up to capacity again. The great thing is, even though the lakes are full again, people have gotten into the habit of conserving and were continuing to save water even when it’s not necessary anymore. That’s wonderful, isn’t it?

Well, you’d think so, but as this article from our local paper says, “all this good news does have a potential downside”. The down side is, that people have been conserving so much that the city is now not making enough revenue from selling water. So they are proposing a tiered rate program where anyone who is using a higher volume of water will pay more than someone who is using less. The problem comes with large families like ours though. Although we may be using less water than we did this same time last year, we still use more water than our neighbors who live by themselves and may not even be consciously conserving their water usage. Does that mean that our rate will be higher than theirs? I don’t really know how it will impact us, to be honest with you. Our water bill has not gone down despite the water conservation methods we’ve implemented.

I received this via email today and all the tips they mention, we are already doing without seeing much change in our water bill. But, the way I look at it, whether it makes a difference in the amount of my water bill or not, it is just good common sense practice to do all the conservation methods anyway. We have gotten to be such a wasteful society that we take for granted the conveniences we get. There are still places on this world where running water is a luxury; a luxury that we shouldn’t take for granted lest we lose it.

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photo credit: I Love Durham
Saturday was dreary and cold. Then it started to rain. And I was happy. I was happy even though it was dark, cold and wet because, well, we needed to get wet! We need to get drenched!Durham and most of North Carolina has been in drought conditions for at least a couple of months now, and we, Durham especially, are running out of water. See the photo above? I borrowed that from the I Love Durham website since I didn’t have my camera with me when we went by another major lake last week.  There is very little difference in how they look though. Most of our lakes look like this lately. The photo is of Jordan Lake south of where we are, it was also a major body of water before the drought. Now it looks like a mere brook slicing the river bed and grass has actually started growing on the banks. This ‘lake’ should be full of water all the way to the line of trees in the background. Pretty scary thought for a pretty picture, isn’t it?

It’s even scarier when you realize the magnitude of the drought problem. WaterTechCrunch looks at the water problems that many states in Southeastern United States are facing. We are not alone. This is a huge problem! And yet, it seems like many people here in Durham are quite complacent about it or just don’t realize that it is a problem. I’m not sure if it’s ignorance or apathy? But it just seems like it’s not a big deal to most people around here.

I guess I have been moaning too much here and there about our dwindling water supply. What can I say, I love water! Scary, but we have just a little over a month’s worth of ‘premium water’ according to the City’s website.  So a friend sent me the following inspiration to give us hope:  It must be God

God help us!

One tell tale sign that fall is upon us again, besides the changing colors of the trees and the cooler weather is that it is festival time again, and more importantly, it’s time for the annual State Fair. The Clone’s birthday is next week. On the year that she was born, I went to the state fair hoping to jog her out of me. The girl was heavy even then! I was a week shy of my due date and went to the fair. Sure enough, a couple of days later, The Clone came into this world. Ever since then, she has been the only one of my three daughters who just loved going to the fair.

Last year, it just so happened that her third grade class had scheduled a trip to the State Fair so I went with them on that field trip. This year, there are no scheduled field trips to the fair so she asked if I would take her for her birthday. This is the week of the fair and it also coincides with PSAT testing at the high schools, and since I refuse to go on evenings or weekends, we decided to make a mommy and clone day at the fair this week. We’re both ditching on Wednesday and make our own special field trip. I thought she would be disappointed that she would only be going with her mommy, without friends or sisters, but she is really looking forward to it! I am too now But then, I only go for the food. hehe!

Sometimes when we have nothing better to do and just feel like stretching our legs, we go out and take a walk. Some of Durham’s many attractions are the various hiking trails that provide us variety in scenery and keeps us from getting bored. Sometimes we just walk around our neighborhood but sometimes when the mood strikes us, we go to the Duke Gardens which is just a couple of miles from our house. We started going to this garden when the children were smaller because it is pretty secure, away from busy streets, and we can let them run loose. They can run ahead of us, climb trees, find hideouts, all within our sight with no worries of them getting too far ahead or lost. Many a times we’ve brought a picnic blanket and just lolled around on the lawns or napped under trees.

One of the girls’ favorite activity during these walks is to feed the ducks. The girls never fail to clean out the kitchen of stale bread for the ducks before we leave the house. I remember one snowy day a couple of years ago when we had been housebound without power for a few days due to an ice storm. We were all suffering cabin fever and needed to get out for some air. At the first opportunity to get out of the house, this garden is where they wanted to head to, to check on the ducks. We trekked through icy trails and broken tree limbs to this pond just so they can feed their ducks. You see, they don’t worry about the ducks too much when the weather is nice as they practically get overfed from all the other children bringing them bread crumbs. It’s when the weather gets cold and uncertain that the girls want to make sure they have enough to eat.

Click here to see more photos of our walk through the garden.