{"id":8687,"date":"2013-06-19T09:56:43","date_gmt":"2013-06-19T15:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/?p=8687"},"modified":"2013-06-19T09:56:43","modified_gmt":"2013-06-19T15:56:43","slug":"the-taunting-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2013\/06\/19\/the-taunting-sky\/","title":{"rendered":"The Taunting Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Doranna<\/em><\/p>\n

It should be, in some fashion, totally illegal for a sky to taunt the way ours has of late.\u00a0 <\/strong>Especially when we’re going on three years of drought, with no measurable precipitation in the past 8 months.<\/p>\n

(That means it might threaten and it might spit random drops, but those dry up pretty much before they even hit the ground.\u00a0 Even now, it’s rumbling thunder in the background of a dark, dramatic sky, but that only means chances for lightning-strike fires.)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Well, Mother Nature being who she is, we’ve seen plenty of drama skies and nothing by way of…you know…rain.<\/strong> Damaging wind storms, yes; amazingly unseasonal cold snaps (12F in early May), yes.\u00a0 But the wet stuff, no.<\/p>\n

I know that other parts of the country are moldering away, overflowing, and aching for sunshine…<\/strong>but after three years, we’re drying up and heading toward blowing away.<\/p>\n

It’s not a case of discomfort or inconvenience.\u00a0<\/strong> It’s trees weakened and dying, forests vulnerable to beetle damage, flowers losing permanent ground to invading foreign species…birds no longer seen and bears moving in on people.\u00a0 It’s loss of variety, loss of species, loss of grassland–and for ranchers, potential loss of a way of life.<\/p>\n

And if you think that doesn’t matter to you, you’d be wrong.\u00a0 It all matters.\u00a0<\/strong> The world is robust and resilient, but once it reaches the point of going past resilience, it just plain breaks.\u00a0 And since we live in the world, that matters to all of us.<\/p>\n

(Another way it matters to us, for anyone who did not mourn the passing of predators from our land, or the imbalances we’ve created in nature?\u00a0 Check this out:<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to parasitologists, 2013 will see an explosion of tick populations in many areas of the U.S…<\/a>Two types of ticks are especially problematic: the deer tick, also called the black-legged tick, and the Lone Star tick. These ticks have now invaded about half the U.S., and in many states both are present. Together, these species are associated with nearly a dozen tick-borne illnesses, including Lyme disease<\/a>, ehrlichiosis<\/a>, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis<\/a>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Irony for me, as I try to deal with the long-term-unto-chronic Lyme disease already in my life.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope those of you getting all those rains, and all those awful storms,<\/strong> find relief in your weather, too.\u00a0 But if you’re like me–even if you’ve been a flower child all along–you’re finding yourself more and more inclined to make resource management decisions as if they matter in the big picture.<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, in my email today:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Advisory: HIGH FIRE DANGER WARNING TODAY FROM 12 TO 8 PM MDT IN BERNALILLO COUNTY & ADDITIONAL FIRE WEATHER WATCH THURS AFTERNOON THROUGH THURS EVE<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

…<\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The front edge of the most recent storm. Virga at the right edge (a column fierce rain that doesn’t make it all the way to the ground).<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A scary moment when the dry storm front hits, bringing a ground-level cloud through at high speeds, with more virga to the right.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Still<\/a>

Still blowing. Didn’t leave any wet stuff behind, though.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"After<\/a>

After which it just got dark and threatening.\u00a0 With more virga.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Well<\/a>

Well done, Mother Nature. Well done.\u00a0 Now.\u00a0 About that rain…<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Doranna It should be, in some fashion, totally illegal for a sky to taunt the way ours has of late.\u00a0 Especially when we’re going on three years of drought, with no measurable precipitation in the past 8 months. (That … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,74],"tags":[54,72],"class_list":["post-8687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes","category-land-keeping","tag-land","tag-opinionated"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb2lc3-2g7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":430,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2010\/01\/29\/one-bright-shining-moment\/","url_meta":{"origin":8687,"position":0},"title":"One Bright Shining Moment","author":"Doranna","date":"1001.29","format":false,"excerpt":"The Friday Post Ahhh, Camelot. (If that means nothing to you, hasten ye to rent the Camelot DVD. Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero...just do it.) This previous week, the weather wrought much difficulty. The mud, in which my car has been stuck not once, but twice--in our own freshly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Arroyo"","block_context":{"text":"The Arroyo","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-arroyo\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/1001.22.sky_.12.SM_-150x126.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5519,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2011\/12\/26\/beagles-horse-snow-and-tracking-the-happies\/","url_meta":{"origin":8687,"position":1},"title":"Beagles, Horse, Snow, and Tracking…the Happies","author":"Doranna","date":"1112.26","format":false,"excerpt":"It's 10am Christmas morning, which is a whole lot later than this day started.\u00a0 Not because I have eager kids in the house, but because today was my chance to run a certification track with Dart Beagle. In order to enter the TD (tracking) test, a dog must prove he's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Belle"","block_context":{"text":"Belle","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/belle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Before the Storm","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/1112.prestorm.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1777,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2010\/07\/09\/you-cant-always-get-what-you-want\/","url_meta":{"origin":8687,"position":2},"title":"You Can’t Always Get What You Want…","author":"BlogPatty","date":"1007.09","format":false,"excerpt":"Patty Wilber You can't always get what you want.... If I had forecast my life,\u00a0I would NOT have pictured: Teaching biology to nursing majors and training good horses. (Ok I would have envisioned the horse training part.)\u00a0 Instead, I would have imagined a) me the wildlife biologist, out in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecx.images-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41EKqRqsO2L._SS500_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8230,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2013\/04\/05\/bungee-take-iii\/","url_meta":{"origin":8687,"position":3},"title":"Bungee, Take III","author":"BlogPatty","date":"1304.05","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber Last year about this time we went to California to try bungee jumping (see Bungee!!). (Not my idea.) \u00a0 The jumping was cancelled--for the first time ever. (I was not very sad.) So, we got a free upgrade--an extra jump--yippee. (Or, Not yippee.) We rescheduled for September.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"It was wet!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Bungee-071-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14277,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2017\/02\/24\/new-mexico-sky\/","url_meta":{"origin":8687,"position":4},"title":"New Mexico Sky","author":"BlogPatty","date":"1702.24","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber One of the advantages of training horses is being outside a lot. \u00a0One of the advantages of living in New Mexico is the beautiful skies we have. \u00a0Just ask Georgia O'Keefe. \u00a0Of course, you will have to get in touch with her via someone who can talk\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/20170220_070039-300x210.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14602,"url":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/2017\/06\/02\/memorial-day-weekend-cutting-logs\/","url_meta":{"origin":8687,"position":5},"title":"Memorial Day Weekend Cutting Logs","author":"BlogPatty","date":"1706.02","format":false,"excerpt":"By Patty Wilber The wind howled down\u00a0the mountain slopes, the ground was snow-wet\u00a0and the trees fell down all around, all around this winter\u00a0in the Pecos Wilderness! Luckily, Back Country Horsemen, Pecos Chapter, to the rescue (and a bunch of other people, too, but this post is all about US, not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Write Horse"","block_context":{"text":"The Write Horse","link":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/category\/the-write-horse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/tree-wreck-2017.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/tree-wreck-2017.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/tree-wreck-2017.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/tree-wreck-2017.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8687"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8775,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8687\/revisions\/8775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.changespell.com\/wordplay\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}