May 15, 2015 A Break in the Rain

Raindrops on lupine leaves.

Wednesday 5/13. The steady rain soon became a downpour and 46 remained our high for the day.  The memory of all those depressing Seattle days is returning. . .

Blondie had already laid her egg for the day by the time I went to give the girls their breakfast and clean the hen house at the usual time.  It was still so warm that I think it had just barely hardened.

We received 1/2" of rain from 7:00 am Tuesday to 7:00 am today.  I had to clean the drainage channels of needles and other dam building materials.  I have watched the water run down those channels for the past several year and tried to think of a way to capture it.  I think I have devised a way that involves some pvc pipe and 50-gal drums.  Will see what we can get done this year.

The skies gradually brightened and the downpour let up a bit around noon.  At that point we had received a total of 1-1/2" since it all started at 5:30 pm on Monday.

I was a little more successful in cleaning up my crafting area today, but mainly read a book I just started from the several that JB's Mom sent back with him.  It's by a new author for me, Chris Kuzneski, and is reminiscent of Clive Cussler but better written.  I also made another large batch of humming bird syrup.
JB worked on his computer a lot, a project in politics/government that he and Larry are working on.  He also started to get the stand for the generator ready.  And together we worked on some crossword puzzles.  The ones we can't complete, we send to Sandy.

I made scalloped potatoes and ham for dinner.  My Mom made this a lot when I was growing up and taught me how to make it.  It has become one of our favorites.

Thursday 5/14. It was 40 and still raining this morning.  So far we have received about 2-1/4", which is a lot for over here in such a short time period.  The well-pump company says they will be up as soon as we call, as they put people who have no water at the top of their list.  Unfortunately there is no way they can get their truck Up Here until the road dries out, and we don't even have the generator unloaded from JB's Jeep yet.  The pump project will cost anywhere from $1000 to $2400.

After breakfast we started up the other generator and washed the dishes.  Haven't had to use it in a long time.  Left it on a little longer to help juice up the batteries.

There are so very many balsam root plants this year that is looks as if they are what is holding the mountain together.  Their roots can get six to eight feet long.  And I am sure that every plant, shrub and blade of grass has doubled in size from the rain.  JB is going to have a lot of mowing to do when it all dries out.

The rain finally stopped falling around mid-day.  JB took the dogs on a walk at 1:30 pm, and I lay down for a nap at 2:00 pm.  When I awoke at 3:00 pm, there were patches of blue sky and the sun was shining!  I took the dogs on their regular afternoon walk and it was quite obvious that they were thrilled to be out and about.  So was I.  After the sun popped out, our high for the day was 50.  Looks like I may have a dry birthday weekend after all.

I plan to go Down There tomorrow, but just for shopping and running errands.  No laundry.

Friday 5/15. It is 50 with blue skies this morning.  Hopefully the road has dried out a bit and I won't slip and slide on my way Down There.

A note to my "anonymous" brother-in-law: We do appreciate the gluten-free, but bark, balsam root, miner's lettuce and pine nuts are the good stuff. . .

Thought for the day: A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. Paul Dudley White