Today is Tuesday July 17th, 717, my lucky number day, as discussed in the blog post of 7 10 12. Here’s hoping you have an extremely fortuitous day on this lucky number day. Fortune be with you.

Dry weather is upon much of the U.S. The headline in the paper this morning was: “Drought covers half of U.S., and it’s spreading — Crops wither in worst dry spell since the 1950s.” A prayer for rain is very timely and appropriate for much of our land.

The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Flagstaff, Arizona describes drought as a period of unusually persistent dry weather that persists long enough to cause serious problems such as crop damage and/or water supply shortages. The following paragraph on recent dry periods is excerpted from their web site.

The Dust Bowl days of the 1930’s affected 50,000,000 acres of land, rendering farmers helpless. In the 1950’s, the Great Plains suffered a severe water shortage when several years went by with rainfall well below normal. Crop yields failed and the water supply fell. California suffered a severe drought around 1970. The worst drought in 50 years affected at least 35 states during the long hot summer of 1988. In some areas the lack of rainfall dated back to 1984. In 1988, rainfall totals over the Midwest, Northern Plains, and the Rockies were 50-85% below normal. Crops and livestock died and some areas became desert.

I was driving in Iowa during the 1988 drought and I remember the car radio reporting the number of animals dying daily from the hot weather. For an Iowa boy with a love for the green land, corn swaying in the breeze and pastures full of grazing cattle, it was a sobering and sad time.

We control little directly on our planet. Our climate is a great mystery. It is fun to talk about and I had fun with the making and melting of ice yesterday, but it is good to remember that we are in charge of very little and graced with a great much. I watch Uncle Joe and he stays somehow calm whatever the weather. He may say a few inches would help, but in the next breath he’ll say it may not happen. He’ll scuff the ground with his boot, adjust his hat, smile and move on to the next task. Farming the land brings an understanding I do not understand, but greatly admire.

May the weather treat you well this day,

Grandpa Jim