Wow!!! Can't believe it's the end of July already. Summer is half over. Actually, I hate to say it, but it looks like September around here. Everything is drying up. The trees are drying out from extreme drought. And the leaves are falling! Perennials are shriveling up. What's going on here? New York State has issued a statewide drought "watch" in effect for the entire state: Current Drought Conditions in NY StateOf course Northern and Central New York aren't as severe as other parts of the Country so we can't complain too much. In northern Oswego and Jefferson counties, and along the St. Lawrence River there is not much top soil because of the rocky terrain so these areas burn up rather quickly from the lack of rain.
We actually had a little rainfall last week around the Mexico, NY area. About 1/4 inch. Syracuse fared better with over an inch of rain.
People that live in residential areas, while on a restricted usage, have been able to water their gardens and lawns somewhat. People that live in rural areas, that depend on well water (like us) have to be careful when watering so that our well doesn't dry up and burn out the water pump. If that were to happen families would have to have water delivered and have their well filled up. We've personally been very fortunate that our well has never ran dry. Once, when our children were young, that almost occurred when they were playing in the sprinkler and forgot to shut the water off.
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| Dog-sitting |
Last week we went for a walk in the Robert G. Wehle State Park in Henderson, NY, and the pictures in this blog post show the drought conditions in this area. The Robert G. Wehle State Park consists of 1,067 acres. The property was originally owned by the United States Government and was known as the "Stony Point Rifle Range".
Mr. Wehle was know around the Henderson area as a breeder and trainer of English Pointers. Mr. Wehle raised his famous dogs in this park. There are several sculptures of dogs on view in the park created by Mr. Wehle.
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| One of the dog sculptures by Mr. Wehle at the State Park. Elhew Kennels is Wehle spelled backwards. |
This State Park has recreational activities open to the public that consist of several trails totaling 14 miles for hiking, cross-country skiing, and mountain biking. The trails also offer beautiful views of Lake Ontario as well. NOTE: The cliff-side location may not be suitable for families with children.
Here is additional information on the State Park Robert G. Wehle State Park
Even though we are now currently under a drought "watch", earlier in the season we had sufficient amounts of rain for the gardens and area farms. I'm not sure how the drought will be affecting our local crops of fruit and vegetables. I am pretty sure that the local produce most likely will be smaller this year than normal.
Thought I would post some photos of our daylilies. Even though it's dry now we previously had an ample amount of rainfall until about the middle of June. The daylilies flourished in those rains.
Some of the daylilies have had buds that did not develop fully and dried up, but for the most part the buds were beautiful.
The drought has been so severe that the rhododendrons are curling up their leaves to prevent dessication (dehydration). This rhododendron did pick up when we watered it (don't forget- we're on well water so we have to be careful when it comes to watering our plants).
This photo kinda sums up our drought! Poor birds (robins and sparrows) have been looking for relief under the sprinklers!
Hopefully we'll all get some relief shortly-
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