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Water water everywhere
Dec. 29th, 2003 09:33 amThere's a huge rainstorm going on here in Northern Calif. today, but yesterday was overcast and dry. I did a 2-hour hike yesterday, and thoughts about water occur to me while hiking that I've been wanting to put down.
They're a little inchoate - in fact, these are jottings. The way people - I - think about water is so different from East Coast to West Coast. Flying from Maine to La Guardia to change planes, hanging out the window, practically, the whole way, I was shocked & amazed at how much water is down there in the East Coast - creeks, ponds, lakes, rivers in the summer/fall! Then I remember how much of my play with friends involved creeks when I was a kid, building creek crossings out of rocks, looking under rocks for crayfish. The creeks didn't dry up in the summer, the way they do here. It rains in the summer back east. There's enough water all the time. Lawns aren't a disturbing ecological travesty back there - you just cut the meadow and grass grows.
I remember going to Jamaica during one of the biggest droughts in Calif., was it in 84 and 85, or later? We had barrels out to collect rainwater in the winter. We saved the grey water from our showers so we could use it to flush toilets. Plants were dying all over the place. Then we went to Jamaica in Nov. and in the first rainstorm, of warm rain, I went out and danced in it. Yesterday, I only had to take a 1/2 bottle of water with me. In the summer I have to take 2 bottles, and extra if I'm a trip leader in case someone runs out because the air's so dry. I know where every spring (but that humans don't drink from) and every potable water source is in the Marin watershed. I remember hiking around Bon Tempe Lake with a friend during what turned out to be the hottest day of the year, and running out of water; we nearly got heatstroke but were unwilling to drink straight from the reservoir for fear of giardia. I remember backpacking, and waiting to pump water, or waiting for the iodine to work, now that I eschew pumps for the PITA that they are. I remember visiting Alaska, and being astounded at how much water they have, and aware of how unconscious the people who live there are of what it gives them. It's like anything, if it's naturally plentiful, you take it for granted.
Today's rainstorm is a pain, my pants got all soaked just getting into the car. Traffic's not too bad because schools and universities are still out; yay for that. I'm just so glad that we're getting rain, and snowpack in the mountains, so glad that I won't have to feel like a criminal if I water outdoor plants this coming summer.
It doesn't rain out here All. Summer. Long. At. All.
They're a little inchoate - in fact, these are jottings. The way people - I - think about water is so different from East Coast to West Coast. Flying from Maine to La Guardia to change planes, hanging out the window, practically, the whole way, I was shocked & amazed at how much water is down there in the East Coast - creeks, ponds, lakes, rivers in the summer/fall! Then I remember how much of my play with friends involved creeks when I was a kid, building creek crossings out of rocks, looking under rocks for crayfish. The creeks didn't dry up in the summer, the way they do here. It rains in the summer back east. There's enough water all the time. Lawns aren't a disturbing ecological travesty back there - you just cut the meadow and grass grows.
I remember going to Jamaica during one of the biggest droughts in Calif., was it in 84 and 85, or later? We had barrels out to collect rainwater in the winter. We saved the grey water from our showers so we could use it to flush toilets. Plants were dying all over the place. Then we went to Jamaica in Nov. and in the first rainstorm, of warm rain, I went out and danced in it. Yesterday, I only had to take a 1/2 bottle of water with me. In the summer I have to take 2 bottles, and extra if I'm a trip leader in case someone runs out because the air's so dry. I know where every spring (but that humans don't drink from) and every potable water source is in the Marin watershed. I remember hiking around Bon Tempe Lake with a friend during what turned out to be the hottest day of the year, and running out of water; we nearly got heatstroke but were unwilling to drink straight from the reservoir for fear of giardia. I remember backpacking, and waiting to pump water, or waiting for the iodine to work, now that I eschew pumps for the PITA that they are. I remember visiting Alaska, and being astounded at how much water they have, and aware of how unconscious the people who live there are of what it gives them. It's like anything, if it's naturally plentiful, you take it for granted.
Today's rainstorm is a pain, my pants got all soaked just getting into the car. Traffic's not too bad because schools and universities are still out; yay for that. I'm just so glad that we're getting rain, and snowpack in the mountains, so glad that I won't have to feel like a criminal if I water outdoor plants this coming summer.
It doesn't rain out here All. Summer. Long. At. All.