Scorched earth

Deerfield has not had a measurable rain in more than 30 days. The ground is cracking beneath our feet like in some big-budget disaster movie.

I tried to keep the vegetable garden going, but when the first water bill showed a 400% increase over the average, I shut off the spigot. I'll keep the tomatoes watered, but that's it.

I know, however, that it will start raining on Monday morning. That's when the construction crew comes in to fix our built-in gutters on the back porch. They are scheduled to be here all week, so I'm sure that's how long it will rain. I may try to wash my car Monday just to make sure we get the rain.