The Drought of 2007....

The National Weather service classifies drought areas with the following classifications: Abnormally Dry, Moderate, Severe, Extreme and Exceptional. Southern Ohio in the Cincinnati area has been classified as Severe all year. Following is an exert from the National Weather Service:

FOR CINCINNATI...DAYTON AND COLUMBUS...THE RAINFALL IS AS FOLLOWS:

STATION ...................................SINCE JAN 1............................INCHES BELOW NORMAL
CINCINNATI ...............................19.06.....................................................12.22
DAYTON ......................................28.96 ....................................................0.01
COLUMBUS ................................28.24 ....................................................0.20

STATION ...................................SINCE MAY 1 ..............................INCHES BELOW NORMAL
CINCINNATI ..................................5.49.............................................................12.26
DAYTON .......................................13.97 .............................................................2.79
COLUMBUS ................................12.95 .............................................................4.62

RAINFALL DEFICITS IN THE EXTREME DROUGHT AREA IS AS MUCH AS 12 TO 16
INCHES BELOW NORMAL FOR THE YEAR...WITH MOST LOCATIONS GENERALLY 8
TO 12 INCHES BELOW NORMAL FOR THE YEAR. EVEN IF NORMAL RAINFALL
WERE TO OCCUR FROM NOW THROUGH THE END OF 2007...THE CINCINNATI
AREA WILL LIKELY FINISH WITHIN THE TOP TEN DRIEST YEARS ON RECORD.

We have lived here since 2001 and we are normally unable to mow our entire yard until end of May because there is so much water sitting in the yard from the rain. But, this year there has not been one time that we could not mow the entire yard.

Also, our pond is 4 foot down. We have never seen the pond more than 1 foot low and that is usually in August. Following are some pictures of our pond.

By the way my pond is 25 foot in the deepest part so, it would be a long time before it went dry.

This area is usually about midway on the top board of the deck.

That back edge is where the water usually is.

The water at it's lowest in the past has been to the bottom of the front
play on the deck. That would be about 1 foot down.

This dirt is usually 4 foot under water.

We also went to see East Fork Lake yesterday to see the phenomenon of islands where we have never seen islands before. I grew up around here and do not remember ever seeing the lake this way. (unless it happened while I was away) Following are some pictures of what we saw.

This is dirt that was at one point completely covered with water.

You can now walk all the way around the lake.
Usually you cannot because the water goes up to the trees.

We have kayaked up into this cove before and
it is usually completely covered with water.

We have kayaked up into this cove before also.

If you look real close you can see the turkey that we saw.

This is the main place that we would put in our kayaks.
I do not believe it would be very easy to put in here now.

This is what we call beaver island and all the
stumps you see sticking up are usually barely seen out of the water.

If you blow this picture up you can see the tree laying over
near the back of the picture. We frequently kayaked
up this cove to see the big fish move around and we
would kayak all the way to the tree that was laying over.
We kayak under the tree that is leaning but, not all the way down.

Even if we get normal rainfall for the rest of 2007 we would still end 2007 as one of the top ten dryest years on record according to the National Weather Service.

I have also been told several times that we should expect a winter like the Blizzard of 1977.

I've Been Tagged!!!!!

I have been tagged by my my pastors wife Sister Eisenhart to list 7 random things about myself here they are:

I am Jewish (Jews from Germany) on my Grandmothers side and Cherokee Indian on my Grandfathers.

I do not like spiders.

I work at a Daycare/Preschool.

I am not a coalcracker - I grew up in Southern Pennsylvania (and Maryland, Indiana, Northern Ohio, Southern Ohio, Arizona, Texas)

I love to be around people and am getting over my fear of big crowds.

I married my boyfriend from school - (My boyfriend in 8th grade then moved away came back and he was my boyfriend again in 10th grade, moved away again came back 10 years later and married him.)

God saved me again at the age of 30.

I went to 5 different schools in 3 different states in 4 years of high school.

I am going to tag Deanna Kennedy, Sarah Susan, Heather Dickinson.

****By the way I just realized that Sister Eisenhart and I cannot count because that was 8 not 7 random things.****

Pledge of Allegiance in Schools Today

I had the manager of a local bank email me the following.
I thought it was worthy of repeating. It is oh so TRUE!

New Pledge of Allegiance!

Since the Pledge of Allegiance and The Lord's Prayer are not allowed in most
public schools anymore because the word "God" is mentioned....
A kid in Arizona wrote the following NEW  School prayer. 

Now I sit me down in school

  Where praying is against the rule 

  For this great nation under God 

  Finds mention of Him very odd.

If Scripture now the class recites, 

  It violates the Bill of Rights. 

  And anytime my head I bow 

  Becomes a Federal matter now.

Our hair can be purple, orange or green, 

  That's no offense; it's a freedom scene. 

  The law is specific, the law is precise. 

  Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.

For praying in a public hall 

  Might offend someone with no faith at all 

  In silence alone we must meditate, 

  God's name is prohibited by the state.

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks, 

  And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks. 

  They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible. 

  To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen, 

  And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King. 

  It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong, 

  We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.

We can get our condoms and birth controls, 

  Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles. 

  But the Ten Commandments are not allowed, 

  No word of God must reach this crowd.

It's scary here I must confess, 

  When chaos reigns the school's a mess. 

  So, Lord, this silent plea I make: 

  Should I be shot; My soul please take!

AMEN

Jesus said, 
"If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you before my Father." 

THE FERN AND THE BAMBOO

One day I decided to quit.... I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality..... I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God."God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"

His answer surprised me..."Look around", He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"

"Yes", I replied.

"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo". He said. "In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. He said. "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle." He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots. I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others." He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they both make the forest beautiful." "Your time will come,"

God said to me. "You will rise high!"

"How high should I rise?" I asked.

"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.

"As high as it can?" I questioned.

"Yes." He said,

"Give me glory by rising as high as you can."

Never regret a day in your life. Good days give you Happiness. Bad days give you Experiences. Both are essential to life.

Happiness keeps you Sweet, Trials keep you Strong, Sorrows keep you Human, Failures keep you Humble, Success keeps You Glowing, But Only God keeps You Going!

Have a great day! The Son is shining!!

"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it." Maya Angelou

~Settlers of Catan and The Seafarers~

Some of our friends have introduced us to a board game called Settlers of Catan. This is a buy and trade type of game. You have to use resources such as brick, wool, wood and ore to buy and trade. Kevin & Amy bought the expansion version called The Seafarers and the second expansion City of Knights. Now, we have only played with the Seafarers so far. We want to get that one down before we play with Cities of Knights. You build settlements and cities, roads, trade routes with ships, and you can buy developement cards. There is a robber and a pirate. It really is pretty fun. Below are some pictures of our last game. In the picture of the game board there are empty spaces and as we are able to open each of those spaces we turn over a hex and it could be water or it could be land/resource. You just never know for sure what you are getting.

This is one scenario.
You can change scenarios and with each scenario you change rules.

Mark is looking like he just can not decide where to put his settlement.
Sarah and Kevin just hope he does not settle on the spots they want.

Amy is usually pretty quick with her decisions.
She is a "no nonsense" kinda person.

I had to share this picture.
Derrick and my kids all like to see if they can
do something funny when ever I am trying to take pictures.
They all think it is funny but, I do not have the humor they do all of the time.It is good clean fun and it makes us use our brain.
DeAnna is even pretty good at it.