rain — Page 20

Damp

September 8, 2011 at 9:19 am by Claudia

Someone stop me from screaming. This rain is endless. And I know how much some of you in Texas need it. As usual, the part of the country that doesn’t need rain is getting way too much while there are huge areas that are desperate for the stuff. This morning I woke to torrential rain and a bit more leakage from the chimney. The sump pump is working overtime. The dogs come in from their ‘constitutional’ outside looking like drowned rats. More roads closed. More flooding.

Yesterday in the early morning, I took the car in for its inspection. It passed, thank goodness, but I was given the charming news that ‘your exhaust system will be the next thing to go.’ Thank you, Bill the Mechanic. The Honda CR-V is ten years old, so I guess that is to be expected. I hope our county mobile DMV is on schedule today because I plan our renewing my registration. The mobile DMV is stationed in various small towns throughout the week. Thursday is our day.

Anyway, on the way back from the inspection, I viewed the devastation in our neck of the woods. Flooding everywhere. Crops decimated. Remember these photos from last year at this time?

This whole area – acres and acres of land in what is called ‘the flats’ completely flooded. No corn, dead sunflowers, rotten pumpkins. Water everywhere. It was really shocking to see. Our farmers are really suffering. I live in an area that is very popular in the fall. Pumpkins, apple picking, sweet corn – all of it is essential to our local economy. My complaints seem rather petty when viewing the larger devastation that has been heaped on so many in our area.

Let’s close with a happier scene from the porch last week:

Those are my hot pink garden clogs, by the way. Here’s to dry weather and more time on the porch – soon!

In Need of Sunshine

September 6, 2011 at 5:44 pm by Claudia

Rain, rain, rain. It seems to be raining endlessly here, which is bad news for the already swollen rivers and for those who are still coping with flood damage from Hurricane Irene. So many people in our area have lost so much. One of our friends still does not have power. Another has 3 feet of water in his house. Enough already, please?

I took this photo the other day – you know fall is on the way when the Sedum Autumn Joy starts turning pink. Such gentle splashes of pink all over the garden.

This vine is growing in our back forty. Does anyone know what it is? The leaves are star-shaped with spiky white flowers.

Growing all over the edges of our property – and everywhere else on my travels around the neighborhood.

The day after the hurricane I noticed this spectacular spider web. It’s stretched between two trees in our overgrown back forty. Amazing, isn’t it?

Mom is still in the rehabilitation facility. She is barely speaking to anyone – she says about 10 words to my Dad and my sister and then sends them home. I call her every day and lately I get about 30 seconds of phone time before she cuts me off. She is withdrawing from everyone. She wants to die and she says it fairly often. I wonder if this is her way of pushing us away so she can transition. I don’t know. I only know that my father is heartbroken and that my mom is desperately unhappy and determined to remain that way and that there is nothing but sadness permeating everything.

A little sunshine might help.

In the Gutter

October 1, 2010 at 10:16 am by Claudia

(taken from my perch on the ladder)

Too many leaves in gutter + torrential rains = leak in kitchen. Yes, that’s what we dealt with yesterday. I’m sure you’ve read that the East Coast has been getting heavy, heavy rainfall over the past 24 hours. Yesterday, I looked up to see water dripping down the wall near our stove. Uh oh. We put on our grubby clothes, grabbed the ladder and up to the roof went husband. At first we thought it might be the roof itself. But we soon discovered that the gutter was completely backed up and the water had nowhere to go but into the house. Luckily, as soon as we cleared it, water flowed freely down into our rain barrel. The gutters around the porch were full as well, even though the leaves have only been falling for about 10 days.

(again, taken from my precarious perch on the ladder)

So we cleared those. Lesson learned: when rain is predicted and leaves are falling, check gutters. We love our trees, but we pay a price for their close proximity to the house. Overnight, we had more heavy rain and I’m happy to report the kitchen stayed dry. Oh, the adventures of home ownership!

In the midst of all this, my rose bush presented us with a surprise:

I thought the bloom period had long ended, but perhaps because of our recent warm weather, there are several buds ready to open. It’s going to get cold over the weekend so I am urging my little buds to open today.

Damp

In Need of Sunshine

In the Gutter

claudiahillsparks

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives