“Roundup” watercolor painting by kayti sweetland rasmussen
We aren’t the only creatures longing for water. The golden hills are dry as tinder and crackle under the feet of the herd as they are moved toward a water source. A water truck makes its way painstakingly up the hill to replenish troughs which sizzle in the unfamiliar heat. There is a now long-ago memory of lush green hills with cattle grazing contentedly and gazing up now and then to contemplate a high flying hawk.
Pachofa-Unfinished 
May the rain come bucketing down soon. Great painting
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Thanks Gerard. I have my buckets lined up to collect anything that falls from the heaven.
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Excellent painting. How long have you been without rain? We seem to have been hearing about your drought on the news here for quite some time.
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This is the 4th year of it. The last one was in the 70’s but I don’t remember it being so disastrous. It is the extreme heat this time. They say maybe we will have rain this winter.
But that’s a long way off and everything is dying in the meantime. Oh well.
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I’ve been following the El Nino gurus, and it is sounding rather hopeful for you for this winter. We’ll see. During our 2010-2011 drought, there were a lot of cattle sold off.
I had stored up a good bit of rainwater for my plants, but I’ve nearly gone through it now. I have to keep two quarts per week for my African violets and Christmas cactus, but the others can make do with tap water if they have to. Where I was working today, they had turned on the sprinklers for a while, and the grackles and squirrels had a party. They weren’t just drinking, they were bathing, chasing one another through the sprinklers, and so on. Anyone who thinks the animals don’t miss the rain hasn’t been paying attention.
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They say it will take more than one winter’s rain to help the drought problem. The poor farmers are letting fields go fallow, and it is painful to watch the animals. So thirsty. I filled a birdbath the other day and even the yellow jackets were trying to jump into the stream. I can see that certain house plants would not do well with tap water. It’s good that you save when you can. We are saving grey water from shower, laundry and even dishwater. We’ve lost some potted plants and even a few large camellias. I am just hopeful for the trees. But there isn’t anything we can do about the weather, just relax and try to keep cool. Remember that old saying the kids used : Don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all small stuff.
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I’d like to observe that this is one of your greatest paintings.
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Thanks Cheri. Glad you liked it.
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