Water Water Everywhere!

It's a lovely 46 degrees this morning.  Brrrrrrr!  It rained most of the night again, causing a few problems for the little town nearby.  This is the park, usually covered with nice green grass.  Now it has almost two feet of water in the middle and over a foot crossing the road.  No worries, it will recede fairly fast since we have lots of sandy soil here ... great for growing sweet potatoes.

A little known fact ... we are the sweet potato bread basket of the state ... maybe even the U.S.  The biggest grower here even invented sweet potato vodka.  I've never tried it, but they sell it around the world.  The best part is the harvesters never get all of them and sometimes you get to go gather up what's left. 

Speaking of rain, as I've mentioned before, it used to rain a lot here.  There would be a snowpack in the mountains of 20 feet.  When spring came, we always had the threat of flooding .. and flood it did.  Back then roads were built higher than the surrounding ground.  Our ranch was south of one such road, so we never had to deal with it.

One time however, my aunt and uncle were coming to visit in the midst of a storm.  I think I've told this story before.  The highway was closed due to flooding, so they stopped at a gas station to call and see how they could go around.  My dad gave them directions, but being afraid they would get lost, he and I took off in our 1950 pickup truck to guide them in.

Trouble was, we couldn't find them.  We went through section after section of flooded road, making me a nervous wreck.  On both sides along the raised highway, there were houses flooded with 3 feet of water.  We finally parked at an intersection and waited for them.  Don't laugh ... I was a little kid.  I watched my Dad nervously drum his fingers on the seat.  It's where I learned how to do the same thing.  Funny the things you remember.

They finally showed up, but were a bit unhappy with the water in the floorboard of their car.  We got back home safe, but all the houses north of us got flooded.  That was over 60 years ago.

Back to the present, I checked two more drain pipes.  Yes I could get gutter covers, but the real problem is not leaves, it's the dirt, sand and small stuff which goes right through them.  If you don't clean that out, the gutters will literally fall off the roof from the weight.  Up until now, those covers once put on, were a bear to take off for cleaning twice a year.  I'll check and see if they have an improved version.

I crawled up the ladder dragging a running water hose, which always make for excitement.  Seems anything can make it turn your direction and get you soaked.  I banged on the pipe a bit and it finally came out with a SWOOSH!!  Yay ... one down.  

The other problem is the run on these gutters is over 30 feet so they don't have enough drop to run the water fast.  I mean really ... I just cleaned them a couple months ago and they now have another 1/2 inch of dirt and sand in the bottom.  When the sun comes out, I'll be back up there cleaning again.

At any rate, I think I'm good to go now.  But WAIT!!  While up on the ladder ... what did I see?  All that rusty colored stuff is leaves.  BAD Nancy appeared in an instant!!  Yessirree ... my NEW gardeners emptied their mower in my corral.  I'm paying a fortune to make it fireproof and they just added to the problem.  Some words I never heard before came out of my mouth!!  Lucky for them I had a day to cool down ... they should show up this morning.

The good news is the leaves are gone from the three trees, so this is only a one time cleanup.  Cooper wasn't happy with all this trash on HIS patio.  He barked at it until I made him come in.

Once dried out and warmed up, I finished sewing this quilt together.  Not my favorite pattern by a long shot (yes there really is a pattern and it makes my eyes hurt), but it actually looks much better in person.  It's all made from scrap material I had laying around, so it was basically free.  I'll put a border on it and stick it in the donation pile.  

The guys are coming today to fix the hole in the roof ... hopefully just caulking will be required.  The problem is it's almost at the peak and the roof is very steep ... a 12 pitch I think.  Hopefully no one falls off.