Droughts, Marathons And A Campaign Make This A Special Spring

Being down in Georgia means that I think about water supply a lot these days. I have seen a few droughts come and go over the years. One of the worst occurred in summer 2007. We have been back to drought conditions since last year. Quite honestly, I would be surprised if we dug out of this current drought any time soon. We might receive a stormy spring, but will that put a dent in Georgia's current drought

I certainly hope that we will climb out of our drought after paying dues going through several bad storms - like what we had on Tuesday, March 21. Wow was that one a douzy and I’m afraid of more damaging storms this spring. They might be okay to wash away some of that nasty pollen, but that heavy rain, wind and lightning all of us can do without. A nice slow droning rain is just fine, thank you very much.

Right now, despite those ferocious storms/monsoons, it appears we would be out of this year's drought in a snap. I suppose the answer is that instead of being at that horrifying "exceptional" or "extreme" level, we are somewhere between "moderate" and "severe." Here's hoping we will improve with more steady rain without the high winds, hail and lightning.

This brings me to the fact that the world recently observed World Water Day 2017. The United Nations dedicated this day to get us think about something as simple as water. While we experience drought here in the U.S., it is far worse in many other corners of the globe. Each year the UN chooses a different theme for this day. This year the UN chose wastewater. Per the organization, over 80 percent of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused. Additionally, 1.8 billion people use contaminate water - putting the users at risk of cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio. 842,000 die each year due to unsafe water supplies.

On this day and especially this year, we are reminded that the UN has a sustainable development goal ensure safe wastewater on this planet. Click here to find out more.

A few days before World Water Day, I completed my first full marathon. I have been a runner for several years, but did not start joining races until July 2015. In that time, I completed 5Ks, 10Ks, 10-milers and half-marathons since that time, but I always wanted to do the ‘full enchilada. I confess that I was pensive leading up to the marathon. The races always start in the dark and it’s typically chilly on late March mornings. What was ahead of me was quite daunting, but I broke it all down mile-by-mile. I took advantage of all aid stations, but stopping to drink and eat – something that I refused to do in shorter races. When I hit mile 23, it was a wall that I feared I would hit earlier. So, from that point, I did a lot of run-walking. I finished around the time I had hoped for and felt all right the rest of the day. The biggest casualty in all of this was my left big toe nail. I’m in the process of recovering from having it removed. Evidentially, the marathon traumatized that toe nail. Let me tell you, it’s painful – at least for me. I was more than worried about my back, ankles, knees, legs and neck. They’re all fine, but this pesky toe nail! It’s torture getting the bandages off and on. Cami has been my nurse treating me like crazy. She has been putting up with a lot. Perhaps I do not have a great pain threshold after all. More than one week later, I’m already restless to at least get back out there, but I know that I will experience a long respite from running.

Now, here’s my epilogue. Remember those epilogues on TV’s The Streets of San Francisco or Barnaby Jones? Those Quinn-Martin productions loved dividing up their shows by acts – like a theatrical play. Oh, my am I “dating myself.” Honestly, I’m not that old. Anyway, this is a local ‘epilogue.’ Is everyone sick and tired of those political ads for the U.S. congressional sixth district race? This special election, to be held in mid-April 2017 has a lot of candidates in the race, but only a few have could mount big TV ad campaigns. I’m not sure if I’m more irritated by Jon Ossoff’s ads touting his video production career or Dan Moody’s old fashioned cynical spots featuring elephants. Early voting began in the Georgia’s sixth district and it looks like there will be a run-off in June. This is going to get worse before it gets better.