Tropical Storm Debby

An aquifer is a layer of sand or underground rock that stores water.  Since the water is constantly moving, it can fill spaces as small as between the grains of sand or as large as caves.  The thick layers of dolomite and limestone that underlie Florida are easily corroded by the weak acid found in rainwater so many cracks and crevices are created.  And that leaves Florida on top of one big aquifer (as are parts of AL, GA and SC).

Even though we had a lot of rain in early June, it had been pretty dry for an extended period before that and when that happens, rock dissolves and can result in collapse of the layers of ground above it creating a sinkhole.  These can be devastating as shown in this photo:

So why am I glad that Tropical Storm Debby has kept us inside and going stir-crazy for a few days?  Because the rain has been steady.  In light rainfalls, the majority of the water is returned to the sky through evaporation from surfaces and transpiration from plants.  It takes a lot of water to replenish the aquifer and a tropical storm provides just that.  Of course, flooding and high winds often accompany these storms so precautions must be taken, but seasonal rainfall is a good thing if 95% of your drinking water comes from an aquifer.  My area has done ok in this tropical storm – the ponds are full, some street flooding in low-lying areas, the rivers may crest high but not too badly, a few trees knocked over and the Sunshine Skyway bridge has been closed for two days from high winds – but mainly we’re ok.  North Florida will get hit harder as the storm stalls off the Gulf Coast and may see up to 25 inches of rain (we've probably had about 10 inches).

So we have been staying inside and I have been sewing.  I’ve almost completed Step 3 of the Quilts of Valor Mystery (the mystery just deepens!).

sorry about the photo color - Debby has it fairly dark outside!

I’ve started another QOV using the scrap triangles from my QOV groups’ blocks and I’m still auditioning ideas for what I’m going to do with this center block in a Round Robin.  Just keepin’ busy!