The dry season has set in, the creeks have dried up, and the soil is getting powder dry. Our tomato plants looked like they needed water, so one evening we turned on the soaker hose that we buried in the garden, and let it run all night. The next morning, some animal — a roof rat, a large bird, a cat? — had uncovered portions of the hose, presumably to suck water off of it. And this morning when I watered the kale and tomatoes we have growing in containers on our second-story porch, and Oregon junco (Junco hyemalis [thurberi?]) came to sip at the overflow. Although the last rainstorm was only a few weeks ago, water is already precious to small animals.