Today's walk report: 092522

Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.

This event certainly put a damper on things. I was on the phone with Docken and soon as I entered the local botanical garden, I exclaimed, uh oh, this isn't good. 

Even male Calypte anna hummingbird, Dusty seemed a bit perturbed about, well, something.

Docken mentioned calling the campus Sheriff's office which was a good thing because the first idea racing through my head was to walk over there and that's counter to my general state of mind. It was only about 350 yards from where I was standing but that's not the point. Thanks Dockie. So, I hung up with her and called the Sheriff's office. A few minutes later, while I was pursuing a better shot of Dusty, a Sheriff's deputy came walking into the garden. I pointed out the source of the problem and thanked him. I thanked him a couple of times until he thanked me. We're in a serious drought. We're under some rather severe restrictions for water usage. Best I could surmise, this had been going on for hours, perhaps all night.

Here was the problem, about 20 yards from where I took the first image.

Water had pooled up inside the garden and was running off in all directions. I found it difficult to convey the scope of the problem with just having a 70-300mm lens.

It was like a small creek in some areas and I measured it out at least 130 yards from the source.

This shot was taken 100 yards north of the source.

After circling the almost 2 acre garden, about half of which was reasonably flooded, I went back to where I had left the Sheriff's Deputy and saw the water had been shut off. On a Sunday, with no maintenance staff and perhaps few visitors who knows how much more water may have been wasted. 

From here I did my loop west and back to the car. No ancient car worshipers this week. Instead a large crowd of people was accumulating for a vintage fair day. I could turn this house into a vintage fair if I had the wherewithal. Trust me. 

 I drove up to the top of the hill, looking for birds of prey as usual but there was nothing. I added about a half mile to the walk and drove home.

Big brother was watching.

When the flood calls, you have no home, you have no walls
In the thunder crash, you're a thousand minds within a flash
Don't be afraid to cry at what you see
The actor's gone, there's only you and me
And if we break before the dawn, they'll use up what we used to be