Got Rain?
by John Weckerle
It’s 6:20 a.m. here at New Mexico Central headquarters, and it’s raining. It’s been raining since some time since yesterday afternoon. Just a little while ago, your editor grabbed a flashlight and popped out to check the rain gauges, which currently hold 1.8 inches and 2.2 inches. Even though we’re on a community water system, we harvest rain for various purposes, here; we have five 100-gallon rain barrels and two 1,550 tanks. A cursory examination reveals that even the previously empty rain barrel next to the office door is completely full, suggesting that the others probably are, as well. We’ll wait for the mud to dry up a bit before we go and check the big tanks, but we anticipate that a good bit (maybe as much as a thousand gallons) may have found its way into the tanks. This is a welcome respite from the long, warm dry spell we’ve experienced in recent weeks, and we’re grateful for it.