I saw on the news last night that Nashville is almost entirely in the “exceptional” drought category, which is the worst it can get. We are 15 inches below normal for rain, it’s been over 99f for the entire month of August, our water tastes like pond water, and everywhere is brown. (Well, except for my asshat neighbor who is watering his lawn.) My backyard isn’t any different. All my grass is dead. One of the two little slow growing pine trees I planted 6 years ago has died. My elephant ears are dying. My crape myrtle , which took a hard hit during the late spring freeze we had is trying hard to hang in there. It never did bloom this year. The food supply for the birds must be low because my feeders are busy all day, when normally in the summer I rarely see a bird at the feeder. Even my hummingbird feeder is busy.
But there is one bright spot in my yard. I planted some cosmos by the air conditioner, so they get their water from the water that comes out of the AC. I’ve never paid that much attention to butterflies before. But their beauty stands out, and my kids and I love watching them (from the comfort of our air conditioned house!).
Just letting you know that we suffered too with heat and drought. And as for the Asshat neighbor, I sneak over and punch little holes in his hose and kick at all his sprinklers. What a moron to feel that they have a right to a green lawn.