rain — Page 15

April Showers

April 4, 2018 at 9:59 am by Claudia

It’s that kind of day where the lamps remain lit all day long. So was yesterday, a day in which it rained all day and into the night. I have no idea what the forecast is for today; however, looking out the window indicates gray skies and general yuck.

April showers, right?

I’m just about to finish Avid Reader, which has been a complete pleasure to read. Do I try for fiction next, or more non-fiction? I have a copy of Russian Roulette by Michael Isikoff and David Corn and I haven’t started it yet. But the contents of that book will make me angry, as they should, so I’ll have to read it in fits and starts, if only to maintain some sort of equilibrium.

This succulent has been a part of Riley’s dish garden ever since I planted it, not long after he died. Other succulents have come and gone, but this one has remained and much to my surprise, it really took off this winter. Constant new growth. I think it likes its new position at the center of the kitchen table, as well as its buddies, the monstera and the rubber plant. I do know that houseplants often thrive when placed in a group with other plants and I think that’s the case here.

Or maybe Riley is speaking to me. I hope so.

The tulips are winding down and, like all flowers, there is a beauty in every stage of life.

I’ve been nursing a sore back, brought about, I’m pretty sure, by having to sleep propped up for several days when I had the cold/flu/whatever-it-was. It’s getting better.

Gosh, I’m ready for some work outside. And I still want to paint the remaining unpainted wall in the kitchen. It’s never been the right time, but I have to do it soon before spring starts to bring in more bugs. Maybe next week.

I have a whole list of things to do outside, including cleaning up the garden beds, raking the gravel that was snowplowed onto the grass back onto the driveway, picking up falling branches, and cleaning the side of the house and the porch railings. None of those tasks excite me, but they have to be done before I can attend to the gardens.

I saw a big rabbit sitting very still yesterday afternoon. He was up in the back forty. First rabbit sighting – a good sign!

Happy Wednesday.

Force of Nature

March 3, 2018 at 10:35 am by Claudia

As I said on Instagram, it’s interesting when the title of the book you are reading mirrors what’s going on outside.

The nor’easter was relentless and scary and insane. But our little pocket of the Hudson Valley was somehow spared the snow and, at least in this neighborhood, downed trees and power outages. For that I am truly grateful.

That being said, I was up here sitting at my desk when I realized that I could hear the sump pump, and it wasn’t going off. This has happened in the past, so I pulled on some jeans, donned my muck boots and a slicker and made my way outside. Our basement is the kind that you enter from the outside and it’s old (house was built in 1891) and full of cobwebs and not my favorite place to be, which is ironic since I ended up spending much of the day there yesterday.

Upon examination, it looked like the float had become loose. For those of you who might not know: a sump pump has a float, like a toilet tank has a float, and it rises according to the level of the water that is draining into the pit around the sump pump. When it reaches a certain height, the float rises, the sump pump kicks on, and it flushes the water out through a pipe and up to the ground outside.

I tried putting it back in place and it would work for a while, but then, back upstairs, I would realize I hadn’t heard it, and I’d have to go back outside and downstairs. Keep in mind that we had gale force winds all day long yesterday. I won’t make this story any longer than it needs to be, just fast forward through about 6 or 7 trips downstairs, at least three changes of clothes and a second shower, to the point where I realized I was going to have to come up with something to keep the float in place or the basement would flood. The rod that goes through the float and threads through a hole on the sump pump needed something to secure it in place and keep it from ‘floating’ away. I finally came up with the idea of using a cork coaster. I brought the float upstairs, poked the end of the rod through the coaster, and then trimmed the cork. Back downstairs, kneeling on the very wet floor (another change of clothes), I threaded the rod through the opening, gently pushed the cork down – it didn’t tear, thank goodness – and waited.

It worked.

But I spent the rest of the day listening for the sump pump to go on and off, in case I had to try something else. But it kept on working.

I guess I MacGyvered it, right?

Someone is going to come and fix it on Wednesday. I was darned if I was going to pay for an emergency call if I didn’t have to.

Tuckered out after all of this, I treated myself to a hot chocolate and watched It Happened One Night, one of my favorite movies. Then I took a hot bath and went to bed. All the while, the winds kept blowing and, as you know, that is very nervous-making for me.

I finally fell asleep, only to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to the relentless chirp of a smoke detector.

I am not kidding.

After a couple of hours of searching for the guilty party to no avail, then trying to go back to sleep only to have it happen again, I finally figured out which one it was. Triumph!

And I ended up going to back to sleep for an hour or two.

Can you see why I’m just plain tuckered out?

I know so many of you had it much worse and I’m thinking of you. This was a deadly storm and thousands upon thousands of people do not have power. Many, many trees have fallen. It’s terrible. And those of you on the West Coast are facing storms as well.

Today, I’m going to try to get out for a while. I feel extremely housebound, while appreciating that I have a roof over my head and am snug and warm.

Speaking of movies, did I ever show you the mug that Don had made for me for Christmas?

It’s from one of my favorite movies. I watch it often. And I mean, often.

Here’s the other side, the storefront of The Shop Around the Corner:

He’s a sweetie, that guy.

Okay. Have to get a move on. There’s debris to pick up in the yard.

Link to performance on the Today show. If you stay there, the second number will pop up, too.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Whoa, Nellie

June 1, 2017 at 8:40 am by Claudia

Except for snow, we had a bit of everything around here yesterday. The day started out with rain. Thunderstorms were predicted, but the sun came out for several hours and the weather forecast changed to no storms. Then in the late afternoon, the sky darkened and I checked the weather app. Oh. Severe thunderstorm watch. And we got a doozy. Thunder, lightning, torrential rain, and hail. Then the sun came out. And then, at about 10 pm, another thunderstorm.

Whoa, Nellie.

From the day:

I recycled. I weed whacked. I pulled weeds. I ended up mowing the entire front lawn on a very humid day. We don’t live in an area where there are orderly plots of land with orderly grass that grows in an even, orderly way. Nope. We have different kinds of grass, weeds within the grass, buttercups in the grass, etc. So when it starts to get out of hand, it looks uneven and messy. So after all the rain, I was itching to mow the lawn. And I did.

After I took a break and showered, I went outside to take some pictures. I love a freshly mown lawn!

The dead nettle is blooming

As I was taking these pictures, the sky started darkening and that’s when I realized we were under a severe thunderstorm watch – which became a warning.

Back in the house.

After the rain, birds were everywhere, looking for worms.

This female northern flicker was in the corral.

My lonesome dove had clearly been caught in the rain.

And spotted way, way off in the woods:

A baltimore oriole.

This morning, as I was waiting for my coffee, I saw a hummingbird and a bunny rabbit within inches of each other. Alas, no camera.

I’ve seen two young mourning doves resting on the porch railing on two different occasions. Newly fledged, I imagine. And after the storm yesterday, I saw four mourning doves together, looking for food. So I’m surmising that the two young doves are the progeny of the pair of doves that live on the property.

Now, if only my lonesome dove could find a mate. The pair chases him/her away. Breaks my heart.

Happy Thursday.

April Showers

Force of Nature

Whoa, Nellie

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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