A parched farm town is sinking, and so are its residents' hearts (LA Times)

[JDPriestly]

2. It's so dry in California.

I'm in Southern California and the conditions here are just awful. So very dry. It's really something I have never experienced before.

Floods, tornadoes and hurricanes get a lot of press attention. They are dramatically devastating.

Our drought is just slow, not very photogenic, really ugly. There are no falling houses, just ailing trees and dried grass.

Today, we went for a walk in the evening. A woman was out spraying down her empty garbage cans. My husband and I were horrified to watch the wasted water trickle down the street. Why would anyone worry about washing their garbage cans in the middle of a drought. That we had that thought shows you how bad the drought is.

Some people are even saving water by flushing their toilets less frequently. Our plumber seems to have reduced the amount of water that flows into ours after each flush.

Like I said, a drought is not dramatic, not photogenic. Ours could get a lot worse, but most of the country will never even know that it is happening. Even in LA some people seem to be oblivious to it.