the southeast is in a drought.
where i am it is higher than extreme - it is exceptional.
i moved here from southern california because i missed rain. i felt guilty every time i turned on the faucet knowing that they dammed the colorado river to get water to san diego, a desert, and that's not right.
the past couple weeks ive really started to notice all the lawns in asheville are brown like hay.
it's depressing.
there's nothing i can do about it but move.
i don't have to live here - my job is on the internet and i can live anywhere with electricity.
i love it here and i love all the people i've met.
i feel guilty about sucking water out of an overtaxed system.
i absolutely would not have moved here had i known about this drought.
i'm thinking of vermont. i'm thinking of colorado. i'm thinking of oregon.
is that crazy?
i hate feeling guilty, and every time i use water that's just how i feel.
the rivers are way down, the lakes are way down, trees and bushes are dying of thirst, this is no good.
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11 comments:
Wow, I looked at that map for a while. I didn't know the south was so dry! So is Texas, the OK panhandle, and North Dakota!
So where are those thunderstorms? Is it that there isn't enough for every Asheville folk?
It's totally depressing when you can see changes occur so suddenly. I hope you find a good place.
Skippy! Those red areas on the map roam around from year to year. If you moved, there would be just as good a chance that the area you moved to would experience a drought next year. It just happens to be bad here this year. It isn't here to stay forever =) Don't move. This summer is just a bad hand of poker in the game of season rainfall data.
remember studying that all of oklahoma was a dustbowl at one point? without the drought we might never have had
the wonderful works of woody guthrie.
two years ago all of the lakes in okie land were down and dry. now people can't get to their boats because the water is so high.
Skippy... I've been in Colorado for over four years now, and I can probably count on my hands and feet the number of times we had prolonged rain. That is, a good soaking rain, that lasted for more than 5-10 minutes.
Then again, I'm on the front range, (think Colorado Springs->Denver->Fort Collins from south to north) which is classified as high desert. Everyday around 2pm some nasty looking thunderclouds start to boil up over the mountains and move eastward, but we get nothing. Nothing. It's so incredibly irritating.
I washed my wife's car this weekend, and felt incredibly guilty. Like everyone passing by was cursing me for my gluttonous ways... stupid conscience.
If you get serious about Colorado, here are my top three recommendations... in order on the kick-ass scale:
1) Crested Butte, CO. This small, out-of-the-way town, is by far, my dream location in Colorado. Excellent scenery, the people are laid back ski-bum types, amazing spring and summers with wild flowers that will blow your mind, and world class skiing in the winter. Excellent food too!
2) Ouray, CO. No other place in Colorado makes me feel like I'm in the Alps the way Ouray does. Nestled into the San Juan mountains. My friend Jack Brauer lives there (also makes a living via the internet http://www.jackbrauer.com), which is a reason in and of itself. This guy is rad.
3) This is a hard one. Because those other two places are so fantastic. But I'm thinking Fraser, CO. Located near the Winter Park ski area, it's in a gorgeous valley... very pastoral. Pretty damp by Colorado standards.
That said, I'm pretty sure we'll be moving to Oregon within the next five years. :) Hopefully somewhere in the vicinity of Portland.
Oh... Jack in Ouray has a more blog-like site...
http://www.mountainphotographer.com/
Didn't want to give the impression I was marketing his wares.
Some nice shots of Ouray in some of his recent posts.
thank you all for the comments!
phil - there are only 70,000 people in asheville, there just has not been the same rain for the past 28 months or so.
omnibus & kid d - yessss! i dont want to move! i hope it starts raining!
jason - thank you for the colorado info! i will have to visit crested butte and ouray! jack's photos are incredible, the mountains are so much craggier (younger) than the blue ridge! portland is my thought too, we'll see how it goes in the next year but i don't want to live in a dust bowl! even for a couple years. 'i won't be here when it comes a day it all dries up and blows away'
Skippy Hound Dog
Your gonna get 5 days rain in the next 10 at least that's what the weather man says. Besides you have to stay down there for when Joey and I end up moving in the area.
fully endorse crested butte. very cool town, great mountain--though taking t-bars on a snowboard to the top make the legs burn!
great tamales at Teocalli Tamale"
hanzer, they say that every week, there are thunderstorm clouds over most of the days, and we have gotten not even one drop in the last 2 weeks or more. i don't want to leave! i want to come visit you & YAITW in your trailer! i'm going to give it another year or so but really i can't stay here with all the burnt out grass and leaves, its making me crazy!
Hey Skippy,
I found your blog through VV and I check it out from time to time. We've never met but I totally dig your photography and your worldview.
Anyway...I grew up in Portland and just finished law school in Eugene and I heartily recommend Oregon. There is PLENTY of rain here, but it's also so easy to access the beach, the mountains, the high desert (Bend, OR is awesome). There's been tons of stuff written lately about how Portland and Austin, TX are the new "destinations" for the creative class - young, educated, people who don't want to live like their parent's did. Keep up the good work on the blog and I'll keep checking in from time to time.
thank you so much, DSO! i have really enjoyed the few weekends i've spent in the pacific northwest - or the pacific northwet? i say it pretty much like organ, how is that? portland last summer reminded me of a huger, greener asheville, which is really sweet. thanks for the info, maybe we'll be neighbors sometime :)
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