Well, I'm feeling a bit ornery today so bear with me. The water crisis this area is facing didn't happen overnight - and many have debated the 'blame' ad nauseam. What galls me is that topics such as bathroom behavior and flushing etiquette are now mainstream and this is just not right. I can deal with 'no sprinklers, no car washing, no hose watering' but when the powers that be start telling me how to brush my teeth or flush my toilet I get ornery. That the governor's wife does 'public service messages' on tv about dish and clothes washers is just too over the top! How humilitaing is that? Humiliating for her and insulting to the populace. Personal hygiene is not a news item. A poster above alluded to personal 'time of the month' issues - this has no place in public rhetoric and the circumstances that led to that defensive post are just wrong. Not the post or poster, the circumstances, please don't read me wrong. Personally, I'm dealing with a life threatening illness and no way, no how is any politician or newspaper article going to alter my personal care criteria for the 'water cause'. I didn't create this mess - have always been very conservative. But I'm not going to compromise 'for the public good' - I'm going to take care of myself first. So there. And I will keep my gardens alive - by hook or by crook. I installed rain barrels, hardscaping and drought tolerant plantings way, way before it was 'fashionable' - I've done my part. So there, again.

Well, we live in town, although it's not a very large one, so I imagine Code Enforcement would be on me if I tried having a sawdust toilet. But I'm doing all I can to conserve. It's been very hot and dry here. Even though I haven't posted much lately, I do get on for a little while every couple of days to read and find out what the rest of you are doing. I'm so glad you all take time out of what are probably very busy days to post and I'm sorry I haven't been very good at it. In the house, we conserve several ways. I do run my dishwasher but there are always those pots and pans that don't fit, and I won't put certain other things in the dishwasher. So I'm doing a sink-full of dishes probably every day. I put soap and water in the largest of whatever is dirty and wash everything in it, kind of rinsing things over it until it gets full. I keep rinsed-out milk jugs at the sink for pouring extra sink water into, and that's where the water goes from that largest thing when I've washed it clean. I find I accumulate several gallons a day just cleaning up in the kitchen. We have a small pump, and we use that to pump bathwater, either into milk jugs (I saved them all winter), or sprayed directly on flowers and shrubs with a hose connected to the pump. DH and I, whichever takes a bath first, "save" our bathwater for whoever takes it last that day. DGS, though, tends to fill his tub too full in spite of my best efforts to remind him, "It's a BATHTUB, not a SWIMMING POOL". If you use bathwater to water things with, please only put it on flowers and shrubs, not on vegetables and herbs, as there's danger of e.Coli if you do. On days when I have enough wash for a load, we pump our bathwater into the washer and use it for the wash load, adding detergent, of course. This goes down the drain simply because we don't have a good way to do otherwise, and the washer uses new water for the rinse. DH and I do tend to wear our jeans two or three days instead of one. But our shirts and skivvies would be too stinky to put into service for a second day. With our toilet, we follow the motto that California is known for, adapted as such: "Welcome to Oklahoma, baked by the sun, Where we don't flush for Number One". Of course, at the end of the day I go around and make sure everything's flushed because I don't like it all sitting like that at night. I kinda don't like it much during the day, but it's just the three of us and two bathrooms so it doesn't get too bad. When we get rain, I collect the rainwater that pours off the roof into two sprayer tanks that I bought at Atwood's on sale. The first one that I got was mushroom shaped, capacity 210 gallons, and I really thought it didn't hold enough because a good hard rain would overflow it. Plus it's shape did not fit very well with where we placed it. So next Atwood's sale, we got another, this one shaped like a big barrel on it's side, capacity 300 gallons. It fits better where we had the mushroom shaped one, and we moved the mushroom one to the other side of the house. A good rain will fill them both up and then some. Both tanks have a 8" diameter round hole in the top that the drain pipe is dropped down into when rain is forecast. When the tank is full, we reconnect the drain pipe as for normal drainage and put the screw-lid on the hole to keep mosquitos from breeding and cats and small critters from falling in. When I'm ready to water, we lower our little pump in and connect it to the hose and water away. It seems to take about 100 gallons to water my garden each time. We completely emptied both tanks early last week and I've had to water with City water twice. Our water is pretty expensive because whatever we use also increases our sewage bill. We got a little rain yesterday morning and that gave us only about 5" of water in each tank. But it's better than nothing! I'm grateful for whatever, and also for the break in the heat. I was beginning to worry that I was going to lose my garden. I did lose my Nanking Cherry bushes, both of them. When I replace them, I guess I'll plant them where they will get partial shade, rather than full sun. I have been getting cardboard every chance I get. For some reason I'm unable to get it from my neighborhood furniture store any more, but I've found another furniture store that gets deliveries every day. DH goes right by there on the way home from his work-out at the hospital fitness center, so he's started stopping in and getting some on his way home. I really like the cardboard from recliners. It's heavy and just the right size to fit between my raised beds. Since it's in such big pieces, it doesn't blow around as much or have to be weighted down as much as the smaller pieces did. I got some old hay from a little old lady friend of mine who had it in her loafing shed and hasn't kept cattle for the last ten years, so it's that old. But it's good for mulch. I've also used up every single bag of leaves that I collected last fall. Some of you will remember probably that I went around my neighborhood looking for bags of leaves being left on the curb. I tried to go to the door and ask if I could have them, but most of the time no one was home, in which case I just threw them in the back of my pick-up, drove them to my back yard and threw the bags under my big back porch. We got really lucky and found a hardly used Troy Bilt chipper/shredder at a garage sale last weekend, for half what they sell for at Lowe's. We started it up and it only took one yank to get it going. It's overkill for leaves, I know, but it'll be nice for all those hollyhock and sunflower stalks and for next time we trim the privet hedge. I find that my raised beds are not such a good thing when the weather is dry, as they drain TOO well. But I am mulching heavily and hoping for the best. And I do agree with Dawn that it's wise to plant things that will take the heat and the dry. I have found that sunflowers, zinnias and hollyhocks will grow well in my conditions without much care at all. Sorry this is so long! --Ilene

Okay, we've had a good rain now this weekend and some of the water limitations have been lifted but here's mine: "military" or "eco friendly" showers. Quick showers and/or turn the water off when your sudsing up. Water on only to rinse. Using such little water has let us shower almost every day, yay! I've been saving the water from the dehumidifier (needed for the basement that got a little bit of water May 1 & 2) and been watering plants with that. I haven't set up my rain barrel yet, but went ahead and put some 5 gallon buckets out in the garden to catch water when it does rain. Then they're close to where I need the water when the garden dries out and I don't have to move them when they're full and heavy. Paper plates, plastic silverware, plastic cups. I usually hate to use these, but it's saving water right now. We're only washing pots as far as dishes. On May 2 we filled a 5 gallon water bottle for drinking/cooking and a number of other containers for dog & houseplant water. This was before the water restrictions, but we had heard rumor of it. Many locations citywide are giving out a case or two of bottled water per day. You don't have to be a flood victim, we're all on the same water shortages. Any mosquito concerns...you can put mosquito pellets/tablets in rain barrels, etc and they're not supposed to have any effect on the water as far as to water plants. Hope everyone stayed safe and dry from the floods!

There are already some excellent irrigation timers with even more features than those you listed available. Just one example from Home Depot: Blossom Model # AWICD-0100 Internet # 206400392 12 Zone Wi-Fi Smart Watering Controller Painless installation: replace your outdated controller in minutes and use your existing wires, valves, and sprinklersDesigned to withstand the elements: built to be deployed indoors or outdoors (IP54 rated) with no extra enclosure requiredIoT connectivity: Blossom provides Wi-Fi and power line for a highly-reliable connection making your networking range essentially limitlessSupports up to 12 zones: the watering schedule for each zone is based on local weather data, plant, and sprinkler typesComplete control: monitor and control your yard’s watering schedule from anywhere using your iOS or android smartphone or tabletWeather intelligence: uses real-time local weather data to personalize your watering planRenais