On Watering

Dude.  Watering Plants Sucks.  That's right - watering sucks so much that it requires Capital letters.  CAPITALS!

I heard a rumor today that Cedar Park may be going to 'no outdoor watering' as of February 1 if we don't start getting some good rains...And there are dire predictions for this drought to last for another 3-5 years.  Which means that come hell or high water (ha!  get it?!), peoples' landscapes are going to be changing.  Even having a small vegetable garden may be changing in the near future.

Seriously.  Conserve your water.  We've taken to keeping a bucket in the shower that we move in and out of the stream of water as we soap up or whatever (it's kinda like a modified European shower - since Shawn and I shower together, it gets annoying to turn on and off the water every time we switch, hence the bucket - it actually works pretty well and we usually get about 3 gallons every shower).  If we're running water for the sink, we will use our big stockpot to collect the water until it's hot.  We've already replaced our shower heads, toilets and faucets with low-flow equivalents.  I've also been working on the landscape to get it more self sufficient - but we still have a ways to go.  Some of the plants I have just don't handle the heat well - the Philippine Violet and Firespike wilt easily and get watered frequently, but the Turk's Cap, Shrimp Plant and Liriope only get water maybe once a week.  The Rose Bed out front only gets watered once every other week - like that's totally awesome.  But I do have to put blinders on because otherwise I'd be watering everything all the time. 

Sigh.  Stupid drought.  But you know what they say - droughts are broken by floods.  So be sure to prepare for the eventual flood - if you're in a floodplain, have an escape route and an emergency kit, determine if you should get flood insurance (flood damage isn't covered by your standard home-owner's insurance), and always be situationally aware (actually, that goes for all of us).  If you use Windows or Apple OS (but not an i-product or Linux), you can view the City of Austin's floodplain viewer online to help determine where the floodplains are by your house or on your normal driving routes - http://ATXFloodPro.com.