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Written by T
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Thursday, 10 July 2008 |
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We continue to get plenty of rain, but also plenty of sun, and finally, now, summer's heat. The garden is thriving. In the last 10 days, corn, squash, and tomatoes have doubled in size. I've harvested 12 heads of broccoli and a few heads of cauliflower, garlic scapes, green garlic, herbs, lots of kale, new potatoes, a few raspberries, and even a jalapeno pepper. Sadly, the edamame (soybeans) and black beans might be lost causes. Varmints keep nibbling them down. (Note long empty spaces in rows to the left of the tomatoes in the photo below.) Sure, we have an electric fence, and I spray the plants with garlic-hot pepper solution, but these only deter the deer for little while, if at all. Once in a while we run out after dark and shoo them away. (If the windows are open, we can hear them snorting.) I see a 7-ft high fence in our future. June 30, 2008: 
July 9, 2008 (here I'm flanked by garlic and corn, which are in the middle left of the above photo): 
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Second 100-year Flood in One Year |
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Written by T
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Thursday, 12 June 2008 |
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We received about 7 inches of rain last weekend, and areas north and west of us received as much as 12 inches. The ground was already saturated from August flooding, record snowfall this winter, and heavy spring rains, so the rivers quickly filled and overflowed. Towns around us were evacuated Saturday night, some by boat. On Sunday afternoon emergency management personnel ordered everyone living below the county's 20 flood control dams to evacuate, because the dams were close to failing. We live below 3 of these, but the nearest one (which was losing water over the spillway) is about 7 miles to the north. We couldn't have evacuated, anyway, as we don't have a boat. A mile or so in any direction from our place the roads were covered with rushing water. We lost power for 12 hours starting on Sunday night. We were prepared, though, after losing power Friday night for three hours. The candles and flashlights were still out, and I'd filled a jug of water. On top of all that drama, on Saturday afternoon, while we were outside securing things in the yard in advance of another downpour, we heard a tornado, both of us for the first time. An unmistakable fighter-jet roar that went on for at least five minutes. It was spotted a few miles west of us on the ridgetop, but didn't touch down. By Sunday night flood gauges registered all-time records, beating the locally famous 1978 flood (which caused some villages in our area to disband or move to higher ground) by several feet. The river we live next to, normally about 25-feet wide and almost knee deep, filled the 1300-ft. floodplain across from our house. Our farming neighbors to the north lost fences and crops, not to mention topsoil. Livestock were left to wander and buildings and tractors were flooded. Even after the tractors are cleaned up and re-greased, it's unlikely that fields will dry out enough to allow equipment in for replanting anytime soon. The photo above was taken at about 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 8th from our second-story window. Normally we can barely make out the river below the band of grass in the foreground. Unfortunately, the snapshot can't convey how fast this water was moving, the amount of debris it carried, and the ocean-loud noise it made.
It's raining today. So far we've received about .75 inches. The river, which receded to its banks Monday, hasn't begun flooding, but again we are marooned in mud. |
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Written by T
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Monday, 14 April 2008 |
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This fellow circles the house every morning, crowing and flapping his wings. Of course, he's not actually out there to protect us, but to find a girlfriend--or several girlfriends. Yet he seems pretty intrepid. He routinely steps up to the glass doors and peers in (he's doing it again now, as I write). Maybe, given our below-freezing temperatures, he only wants to come inside and warm up. Or maybe he's trying to protect the outdoors from us. 
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