I had barely closed my eyes to go to sleep when the heavy rains began accompanied by thunder and lightning it must have been around 2:15 a.m. I say "must have been" because the power went out as is a common occurrence anytime there is a thunderstorm.
This deluge was different as the intensity did not vary and it was coming down in sheets. It was leaking in the usual places where I already keep buckets close by. Electricity came back on and the telephone rang around 5:00 a.m. a robocall from the city alerting us to the fact that we were under a flash flood alert as it had already rained more than three inches and more was on the way.
We ended up with 4.75 inches and Laughlin Air Force Base received close to 8 inches. Both the front as well as the backyard were a lake. I do not know why the boys did not go to the garage or the little shed to seek shelter from the rain as they do during the winter. They were by the kitchen door getting wet...silly cats!
It did not dry out until the afternoon when the sun came out. My old pulverized horse pine pellets that I used to cover the ruts and bury the snake floated away. I was not happy to see that the darn snake had been disinterred and that I had to once again deal with it. Where is my tall weathered cowboy to deal with things that frighten me? Had to drink me a beer to give me the courage and another one to calm my nerves after I finished the deed.
I still had not finished shoveling the old horse pine pellets so I could lay some fresh ones down. If you are wondering why? We live downhill and when it rains water ponds behind the kitchen. If you are not familiar with horse pine pellets...you lay them down in stables and it makes cleaning up a snap. In case you did not know horses...when they urinate, they urinate a lot...horse pine pellets absorb this liquid and also eliminate the smell.
This evening and around the same time period as last night we are expecting more storms. Starting Thursday the temperatures will be the high 90's to low 100's.
Good night. May you all have Terlingua Dreams.
Terlingua Dreams
Governors Landing Campground - Lake Amistad - Del Rio, Texas
Good luck with your rain storms and hope you don't float away.
ReplyDeleteThanks George, the second round was not as bad as had been predicted.
DeleteI always tell myself that the rain is there to keep things green... but that was in the Pacific northwest, I suspect it's not the same in your part of Texas :-)
ReplyDeleteStay dry MsBelinda!
When we first moved down here in the sixties rain events were few and far between since Del Rio is technically in the desert.
DeleteWhile it did rain it was usually a one day event that ended dumping the equivalent of a total year's worth of rain.
We always need rain, but like everything else, it is better in moderation.
ReplyDeleteI agree but mother nature has her own set of ideas.
DeleteHeard that Houston area got hit hard by the same rain event.
Thanks for explaining Horse pine pellets. What a marvelous thing to help keep the water form invading your place. Wouldn't it be nice if everything came in moderation - heat, cold, sun, rain, snow, and all the variation in temperatures?
ReplyDeleteI lived in Hawaii for some years, as a kid and later as an adult.
DeleteGenerally not too hot, too cold, too wet, too anything but boring. I moved from Hawaii to type he Midwest & it's 4 seasons climate. I enjoyed it!
After 13 years I left, the too cold (minus temps) got to me.
Knowing that "just right" all the time is boring is a real let down :-)
Gypsy, I had the horse pine pellets around for a different purpose...as port-a-potty material for the Terlingua Chili Cook-off. Here is a link to that post if anyone wants to read it https://terlinguadreams.blogspot.com/2017/10/so-you-are-new-to-camping-how-to-make.html
DeleteIn my answer to JO, I explain how I came to figure out other uses for it literally on the fly. Wish I had known about them when I was potty training the first and only dog I ever had...it would have saved me a lot of aggravation and mopping time!
Rob - If I had been fortunate enough to have lived in Hawaii in two different stages of my life like yourself...I do not think I would have ever left.
DeleteAs humans we are a complicated species. Some of us like predictability and others do not. Wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same?
You recently left the cold temperatures and I now want to leave the hot ones behind.
You probably need to hang around the livestock commissions and auctions to find a real cowboy nowadays. I believe Uvalde, Hondo or SA are the closest to you. The rest are of the drug store variety. Take a couple of your cats and tell them you want to auction them off and go from there!
ReplyDeleteSb, I do not know much about livestock auctions but I am pretty sure they do NOT "auction cats off"!
DeleteBesides I love my boys and they do a good job of hunting snakes, field mice, crows, frogs and other pesky wildlife...that is when they are not napping.
PS - that's a lot of rain! The kind we get when there's a hurricane or TS in the gulf. Mosquitoes already here and this will make them hungrier.
ReplyDeleteIn this area I do not think mosquitoes ever left. They are bad inside the house. I have tried all types of home remedies to get rid of them but none has worked.
DeleteOutside I have to go with the "big guns" and use commercial sprays on myself, long pants, long sleeves, gloves, protective eye wear and a big hat...and the suckers still manage to bite me!
Sure sorry that dang thing washed up again, should have thrown it over the wall. Good thing you had more horse pine pellets. Lets just hope the rain isn't as severe as last night. Be safe
ReplyDeleteHad I known I would have had to bury it twice I would have thrown it over the fence as it is an empty lot anyway.
DeleteThe horse pine pellets I used to fill in the ruts and bury the snake were the pellets that I had been too lazy to remove. When horse pellets degrade they turn into coarse sand but still manage to absorb liquid just not as much as new ones.
I knew it was going to rain but I had no idea it was going to be so much in a relative small frame of time. Ever since water came in the house (not the main house) but an addition dad used as his reading room (it sits in a separate foundation) and that I basically literally stumbled upon as I was bailing water...I keep at least three 50 lb bags around.
Fortunately this go around it did not rain that much.