Late June, water scarce for cows
heavy with September’s calf
reclining like hippos in the shade
of thin-leafed oaks. On vacation,
gathered to catch a breeze, they
gossip silently, chew their cuds.
They don’t know, don’t worry,
watch us scurry from the distant
well to tank to empty trough—
listen to us talk with tools
as the morning’s entertainment.
Miles from asphalt, we make
our circles on dirt tracks
from pasture to pasture until
the rains might come November.
drycrikjournal 
To make wine on a dry Sicilian hillside takes deep roots . . .
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It’s going to take deeper roots in the San Joaquin as well.
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With zero snow pack, how long can the wells hold out?
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New and deeper wells on the West Side are pumping from the Pleistocene, some a half-mile deep. Water banking with recharge basins below the Sierras has undoubtedly helped the aquifers, but with no substantial river flow since 2011, drillers have been busy deepening wells for the past three years. Obviously, this can’t go on forever, it’s like deficit spending.
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So true – it will be a long summer.
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