After watching a far off lightning show on Wednesday evening yesterday morning brought a wondrous sight…A rather large thunderous rainstorm blew through our immediate area. The winds blew, lightning blasted the ground over and over again setting car alarms off all over town and then it rained for a couple of hours at least…Good, soaking, much-needed rain.

Even the temperature moderated for a while. In the middle of the event the outdoor temperature even managed to match the much conditioned temperature in the house. It was a low of 74°. We haven’t seen an outside low of that kind in months…Sometimes it seems even longer.

After the sun came out after noon, everything rapidly returned to normal…Hot and humid.

This morning as I was having my morning cup of coffee muse I noticed the change in the look of the backyard. Where just two days ago all was brown, bits of green are showing again. Even the morning glories in the fields on both sides of our place are showing their purple faces this morning.

Watching the sun light up the scene was a treat for a change. Sadly, the forecast for the weekend is sun and temps above 100 as usual.

Will fall ever get here?

As I lay in bed this morning the alarm kicked the radio on and NPR was doing a few stories about our Texas drought. The main point of one was how this is affecting farmers in the state. One of the farmers they spoke to had bred up a herd of cattle for the past 40 years…selecting for this trait and that. A lifetime of work…He’s 70 and he had to sell all of his cows because there is no water…no grass…no outlook for either. All those years of breeding going to the feedlots to make hamburger.

The same thing is happening with all the livestock in the state. What isn’t noticed as much is the same thing is happening to the wildlife. The only difference is it’s mostly hidden from view. And that was the focus of another report. The lack of water and food is affecting this years young of every species across the state. From squirrels to deer, from raccoons to coyotes, no wild animal species is being spared. Even if this drought ends soon, major changes will affect the state for a long time to come.

The drought is affecting wildlife’s behavior patterns. On Wednesday I was standing out at the end of the driveway when I looked down towards the woods. There, sitting in the trail, was what looked like a good-sized dog. It was just sitting there watching me. The more I looked though the less like a dog it appeared. I wandered back up to the house and picked up my field glasses. Once I walked back out and sighted in on the animal I could see it looked like a large cat…I immediately thought “bobcat“. It had that square looking head with a tufted looking “beard” on both sides of the muzzle. I began to walk toward it to get a better look and it began to walk off. As it rounded a bush two more cats came into view. Now they still looked like bobcats except for one thing. All three had long flowing tails. Now I have always know we had bobcats, and for that matter, coyotes living in the small woods along the bayou, but I have never seen either in the middle of the day standing out in plain sight. Blame it on the drought?

Mentioned Above

• Drought Puts Texas Ranchers, And Cattle, At Risk : NPR.
• Texas Drought Takes Its Toll On Wildlife : NPR.

Related articles

• The Rain Is Welcome…Anyway (coffeemuses.com)
• Beef Prices Set To Soar (friendseat.com)
• Morning Muse (coffeemuses.com)
• How To Stop A Drought (coffeemuses.com)