Behind the Digital LensMusings of an Amateur Photographer

31st Jul, 2011 Into the desert – Summer 2011

It’s hot.  Actually, it’s scorching hot.  Thirty days in a row of temps 100 degrees or more and it is just July 31st.  Six more weeks of Summer and this coming week our temps are heading toward the 110 degree mark.  To add to the misery, we’ve had no appreciable rain since May.

Texas is in an extreme drought situation.  Our ground is so parched it is visibly cracked.  Fires have been rampant across the state, burning thousands of acres of grasslands and forests as well as homes.  Cattle are dying for lack of feed and water and many of the rest have had to be sold.  Rivers, lakes, and ponds are drying up and the States’ water table is declining.  I heard on the news a few days ago that the way the drought is going Texas could soon become the world’s 7th largest desert.  That is quite easy to believe.

I don’t “do” heat well.  For me, that means that taking photos right now has been very hard.  Other photographers may do okay with heat, but I just can’t spend much time outside, especially in th esun, attempting to get decent photos of, well, anything really.  Even standing in the shade to take photos is not comfortable.  The best I have been able to do this summer is take lots of photos of the dogs and sunflowers.  The dogs, who usually enjoy spending time outdoors, now just want to go out, do their business, and come back in.  I don’t blame them.

And so, until this heat pattern breaks I am bound to be frustrated without my one creative outlet.  Pray for rain, pray for cooler temperatures.