Life in a Drought

Living in an area that is in an area that is declared Exceptional in regards to the drought situation forces you to be creative. As most of you know, I enjoy taking good care of the exterior of my cars. When I have the time, I like to spend exorbitant amounts of time ensure that my cars look their best by applying some TLC to my cars. Well, since I've moved to Georgia, that has not been an option. My car is pretty dirty. The last time I had washed it was right before I went to camp in 2006. It got another bath while I was at camp thanks to Dad and Dana. Needless to say, I'm getting to the point that I need to provide my car some TLC.

The apartment complex that we lived in didn't have outside spiquots to wash our cars with. I had plenty of hose to use should I have found one, but to no avail. Then, in spring, we buy our house. Focus then was removed from the car and to the house. By the time the house was situated and I was ready to focus on the car again, we were in a drought condition. It became illegal for us to use our outside water except during specific times of certain days.

If I recall correctly, the way it worked was if you had an odd numbered house, you could water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. If you were in an even numbered house, you could water on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Fridays were banned for everyone. Also, for all houses, if you were watering, you could only water from Midnight thru 10am. If you were caught watering outside of those days and time frames, you would be fined.

Needless to say, I was not about to wake up at 5 or 6 AM just to wash my car. However, since the drought has gotten progressively worse, our water restrictions also have gotten worse. It is now illegal to use water outside on any day or time. It has gotten so bad that companies have been forced to stop using water. This includes car washes, street paving companies, green houses and floral shops, or anything else that you can think of that consumes water as a matter of business as usual. This drought is further complicated by the fact that the nearby lake, Lake Lanier, is being drained and shipping our fresh water down stream to Florida for an endangered mollusk.

Well, in the light of all of this build up, I did something that was likely not the wisest of things that I've ever done. Since it was raining still at the end of my shift today, I decided that I would take advantage of mother nature and wash my car in the rain. However, as most of you know, it now gets dark at about 7PM when I'm off work. So, not only was I in the rain, I was in the dark. It was getting cold out there too while I was doing it.

To wash my car, I used a total of 4 partial buckets. I used one partial to mix with soap to wash the car. Two partial buckets to rinse the car down, one by wringing a rag over the car and the other to wipe down with. The last bucket was used in conjunction with some degreaser for my rims. I think it took longer to get the water, wash and rinse down the car then it did to clean my four rims.

While I was washing and rinsing the car, the rain had subsided, but I was still getting water off of the roof to fill the buckets (we have a clogged downspout). However, once I thought that I was going to luck out and not have to finish in the rain, the sky just opened up on me. This was also about the time that I was starting to wash the rims. Then, not only was it raining harder, it was also getting colder by the minute. Once again, I remind myself, this is not the smartest thing I've ever done.

Finally, I get done with the car and close up the garage, it is time to dry off and get warm.