Saturday, July 23, 2011

Thank You, Goddess!

I am so honored.
I was awarded the Goddess button!  Yup!  For the second time, I was mentioned on the Goddess’ Posts of the Week list for my “Dry Dry Dry” post.  I honestly don't know how she does all she does - and then figures out the best blogs of the week?  Wow.  I am so honored (didn't I already say that?), and for those of you that are new to my blog, coming via the Goddess, you are welcome here to Mi Vida Loca!
The first time I was awarded was in June, when this happened to me enroute to Alaska for vacation.  I had to write about it, that sweet lady broke my heart as she sobbed in the airport.
And this time, it is for my half-plagiarized joke e-mail I received.  I did tweak it, and add to it.  I feel a little guilty.  It is funny, too!
But it is dry in Texas, and I can prove it.  Because my darling little brother and I went trekking Friday afternoon through the oilfields.  The same oilfields that were burned to a crisp about three weeks ago.
And I, being the ammy photographer who wants to get a Pulitzer be somewhat recognized for her merely wanna-be portraits and frantic capturings of everyday life stupid I think they should be posted on every wall in North America pictures try as I may I never quite master the natural lighting ,took some photos.
Just so you could see how Dry Dry Dry it really is out here.


We are top of a hill, looking down at the destruction.

Hundreds of thousands of acres.

A sign of hope - a deer hoof print.

And this?  Looks like water.  But it is...salt.  Dry saltwater river bed. 

Here, at bottom of hill, looking back up to the green.  Across another salt flat.

At the edge of the burn.  See it?  And these are all baby salt cedars,  growing back.
They will ruin the land. Livestock won't eat them.

Closeup of baby salt cedars.  They can grow 12-16' tall

Beautiful - but I don't want them on my land.



Looking up to the hill where we started.

Burned mesquite tree.  Beautiful, even dead.  But look
at the bottom - a new tree is beginning.
Mesquite tap roots grow deep - so should we.

An entire yucca family - dead.  Those little clumps?
They were clusters of grass.

Mequite family - deceased.

Another sign of hope - baby grasses.

Cactus family - deceased.


Healthy prickly pear cactus on another portion of land.
My hunting dogs wish cactus didn't exist!

We SO need rain.  This has been going on for months, no rain and plenty of wildfires. Lots of the fires are started by mere static electricity.  And these fires are killing people, livestock, and wild animals.  


When good ol' West Texas and New Mexico come to your mind, please offer up a prayer for rain - we will be eternally grateful.


And did I say thanks for coming by?  I greatly appreciate it.  And Goddess?  You rock!

12 comments:

  1. Congrats, Janie Girl!

    thanks for sharing these images. i know i've complained about the drought in my area of NE Texas and how crisp and brown and dry everything is. but i know other parts of Texas are worse off. i sure hope you get some rain soon.

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  2. Oh gosh that IS dry, and to think we moan about our rain! I do hope you get some soon.
    Excellent pictures ... maybe a pulitzer will be your next award :o)
    A big Congratulations on your Goddess Award x

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  3. I have a sister and brother-in-law trying to live with the drought in Hockley, Texas with the chickens they raise for egg selling and their huge garden. It's quite tough for everyone. I looked through your posts and you have a very nice blog. So nice in fact, that even though it takes me forever to read all the blogs I already follow, I'm going to have to add you to my list. Hope you all start to get rain soon. We've been lucky here. Usually it is droughty in July and August, but so far it is still raining enough (the humidity is a killer in this high 90 degree heat) that I haven't had to water the gardens yet.

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  4. Oh my goodness I have never seen anything like that. We have certainly been having some destructive weather across the nation lately.

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  5. Just won my third Goddess award and nothing makes me prouder as a blogger.

    You definitely need some rain. But hey, at least it's not humid, right?

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  6. If I could ship you some rain I would. It's almost the end of July and it's been so wet for us that I haven't had to water the lawn once this summer.

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  7. Guess what????? Our first Thunderstorm just came after a LONG LONG TIME without rain.


    WHEW.

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  8. That salt bed really does look like water. Thank you for all the pics. And from here in So Cal, I can relate to the dry!

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  9. Yowzer, girlie,
    that IS some DRY!!
    Reminds me of the
    back drops to so
    many old western
    movies....probably
    not as charming when
    you are living for
    weeks with no rain,
    though! Sending you
    WET thoughts full
    of rain drops!
    xx Suzanne

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  10. Over the weekend, we got about 7 inches of rain in 2 hours at O'Hare. I think that would be exactly NOT what you'd be looking for.

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  11. Australia suffered a drought like this over a period of years... the drought finally broke (big time) at the start of this year. I hope you get rain soon .. the land looks so parched!

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  12. Oh Janie,
    The photos make me cry. We were in Ft. Worth last week and it was soooo dry.

    I'm so sad for all living things there, where you guys are.

    I am happy that you got the Goddess award!

    I wish and I pray for rain on your land and the land throughout West Texas and New Mexico.

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