To live in a dry land...
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 02:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auntbijouThis is what an exceptional drought looks like...
This is the main U10 field at the town's soccer complex. We only have irrigation for one U6 field, and one U8 field so far (because we're not football, as in pads, helmets, and a ball that isn't even remotely shaped like a ball), and so, this is what the ground looks like.
This is one of the U10 practice fields, and as you can see, it's not in much better shape. When the kids run, dust clouds fly. But the worst danger are the holes.
This was one of the areas where we had one of those trawling irrigators for the fields, but... it got too expensive, and took hours. The city changed the watering schedule for everyone (except the high school and junior high football stadiums) to between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., which is great, but... it requires our volunteers to go out to the fields at, say, 2 a.m. to start watering. Because it takes 6 to 8 hours to get the job done. So... the grass has died.
And lest you think I sound bitter about the football stadiums... everyone, and I mean everyone is restricted to watering between 8 p.m. and 8 a. m. on their one scheduled day a week, with threats of fines and/or jail time for offenders. But you drive by the high school or the junior high and there they are at 11:30 a.m. watering the fields. Scalding the grass. Why? Because the city council here in our small town, and the county commissioners all said, "We won't turn off water to the football fields because... that's the safety of our children we're risking if we do."
O_o???
What, but it's okay to risk the safety of the kids at the little league baseball fields, the fast pitch softball, and the soccer fields??
I do not pretend to fathom this sort of mind-set, but I will say that we have been promised irrigation to our fields, and we have been placed on the agenda for tonight's city council meeting, so... keep y'all's fingers crossed!!
This is the main U10 field at the town's soccer complex. We only have irrigation for one U6 field, and one U8 field so far (because we're not football, as in pads, helmets, and a ball that isn't even remotely shaped like a ball), and so, this is what the ground looks like.
This is one of the U10 practice fields, and as you can see, it's not in much better shape. When the kids run, dust clouds fly. But the worst danger are the holes.
This was one of the areas where we had one of those trawling irrigators for the fields, but... it got too expensive, and took hours. The city changed the watering schedule for everyone (except the high school and junior high football stadiums) to between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., which is great, but... it requires our volunteers to go out to the fields at, say, 2 a.m. to start watering. Because it takes 6 to 8 hours to get the job done. So... the grass has died.
And lest you think I sound bitter about the football stadiums... everyone, and I mean everyone is restricted to watering between 8 p.m. and 8 a. m. on their one scheduled day a week, with threats of fines and/or jail time for offenders. But you drive by the high school or the junior high and there they are at 11:30 a.m. watering the fields. Scalding the grass. Why? Because the city council here in our small town, and the county commissioners all said, "We won't turn off water to the football fields because... that's the safety of our children we're risking if we do."
O_o???
What, but it's okay to risk the safety of the kids at the little league baseball fields, the fast pitch softball, and the soccer fields??
I do not pretend to fathom this sort of mind-set, but I will say that we have been promised irrigation to our fields, and we have been placed on the agenda for tonight's city council meeting, so... keep y'all's fingers crossed!!
