I see that others living on the west coast are celebrating the bit of rain we saw fall this weekend. I was delighted myself to wake up in the middle of the night on Saturday night to listen to the steady drumbeat on my skylights. The vegetation world has looked miserable, sick and ghostly, for so long. There is promise for something new and green to show up in town this spring. But still, the rain was not enough and is far too late in the year for us to have a cheerful outlook.

This drought is something more deep and serious, perhaps, than anybody alive in California today has seen. I've been in California since 1960 and I recall a few dry years that the population managed to fumble its way through. We have more people here now than ever before. We will get through this one too, but may see more inconvenience than we had anticipated.

The air these days is filled with news of death. I read just yesterday of the massive die-off of sea stars, or star fish, up and down the west coast of America. Only a few days before that it was the death sentence for monarch butterflies. Marine biologists are studying the sea stars and making commentary on what their symptoms look like as they die, but don't seem to want to hazard a guess as to why this is happening. The public mind, from what little I have read, is thinking radiation from Fukushima.

Sea Star Deaths

I see that there are other suspected reasons besides radiation. Ocean temperatures are at record highs. The same Monsanto Roundup product that is killing off monarch butterflies (and maybe honey bees), washes into rivers and out to sea. The ocean in general has become a basin for catching and spreading human pollution. Might not global warming or climate change be considered? All these possibilities and more.

I confess to having watched the football game yesterday. I don't know why. I'm not a fan. I'm surprised to hear that the citizens of Denver have not rioted and torn down the city, after such a humbling defeat. I would join the riot if it was about butterflies and sea stars.