Mandatory Water Restriction

In addition to the hawk sighting, another bit of news we got from our (wonderful, chicken-sitting) neighbors is that Newburyport is under a water restriction now.

It has been a very dry July, and that is combined with a snow-free winter, so I guess it was just a matter of time before we had to tighten our belts. So we are only supposed to water on even days (because we live on the even side of the street), and only early in the morning or later in the evening.

That's not going to be a big deal, since I only water twice a week anyway, and only if we have had less than a half inch of rain since the previous watering. 

Too bad our rain barrels didn't arrive until after all the rain we had in June:

Also, they would work better if we hooked them up. We just haven't had the chance between our porch renovation and travels. At least we don't feel like we've missed out on collecting massive quantities of water since it has barely rained at all this month. Even so, we're pretty excited to have gotten them for cheap as part of a program with the city. Back in Lawrence we got the same type of deal on our compost bins, so it's always smart to check out what programs your town offers through the public works department before you shell out mad cash at Hammacher Schlemmer (eye roll).

Finally, I do have some proof that, in addition to the run-of-the-mill summer drought we're having, we really do have rain shields here in Newburyport:

As you can see, the radar this afternoon shows that we (the red arrow) are right in the only little hole in the line of storms. This happens all the time. I can look west out our front windows across the hay field across the street and see black clouds typically pass to both our north and our south. Sometimes we can see it raining in the next town over, but it stays bone-dry here. 

It's pretty frustrating, since we are a) lazy and b) cheap, and therefore do not like to water.

It did eventually rain this afternoon — maybe about 1/4 of an inch. We are hoping for another thunderstorm later this afternoon to get up to our half inch goal for tomorrow.