Driest in a Hundred�

2002-06-29

I think I know why there are no butterflies this year. It's the driest year in over a hundred years. They had it on the news the other day. 1989 - a very dry year. 1869 - another very dry year. 2002 - drier by half an inch than 1869 (wrong year, probably; right decade, I think). I knew it was the driest year I could remember. But I don't remember that much about weather before 1976, on of our wettest years on record. I spent most of it tromping through several inches of rainwater on my college campus. Lugging a semi-soaked 24 X 36 inch sketchboard and a fishing-tackle box of drawing materials. (Chamois, regular charcoal, sepia charcoal, kneaded eraser, pen and ink, grapevine charcoal, graphite pencils, etc.)

So now I know. There are no butterflies because there has been nothing for the caterpillars to eat.

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