Stormy Ramblings

We've had some wild weather the past 24 hours. When I went to bed last night, I knew that storms were headed my way and we were under a tornado watch. That didn't really bother me since we are often under tornado watch this time of year. Still... I kept waking up in anticipation of the storm. That and the fact that the moon is waxing and bright moonlight always disrupts my sleep.

It hit shortly after 3:00 a.m. Oh my!  The wind, rain, thunder, and lightning were fierce!!  No tornado, but the storm was powerful. By 4:00 a.m. the power was out. The storm had blown through, but I kept waking up to see if the electricity had come back on.

When the power hadn't come back on by mid-morning, my husband hooked up our generator (welding unit). You know, we take so many things for granted in our lives. When our power goes out we also lose the pump on our water well. Fortunately, we just got a bigger holding tank for our well and didn't have to hook the generator through the well.  Since it was daylight I didn't really miss the lights. I think I was happiest to hear the hum of the refrigerator and the filters in my fish tanks when we switched on the generator.

The power came back on about 4:00 p.m., hours earlier than had been promised. It was then I realized that the extra fridge we have, one that came from my MIL's house after her death, hadn't come back on when we switched over to the generator! Some of the stuff in the freezer portion had started to thaw. So... that pretty much decided what I would fix for supper.

In retrospect, I realize just how blessed we were. The storms were much worse in many places causing much damage and taking several lives. If the worse thing we experienced was losing a few items from our freezer, I really can't complain. God is good and I'm thankful.

*Achoo!*

I'm encouraged. *Achoo!* Despite the fact it dropped below freezing last night, I think Spring is just around the corner! *Achoo!* *Achoo* Trees are starting to bud, grass is getting green, *Achoo!* and I'm starting to sense some pollen in the air.

*Achoo!*

Hey, it beats being cold!

*Achoo!* *Achoo!*

Our meager snowfall

Frozen precipitation is not an every winter occurance for us and when we do get it, it's usually in the form of freezing rain or sleet. I'm not a big fan of winter, but I do think the occasional snowfall is pretty.... especially when it goes away quickly like this one is doing. I'm sure many of you are sick of winter weather and looking at snow pictures is the last thing you want to do. Or, perhaps you're scoffing at our scant snowfall. Please bear with me, though. As one who rarely gets the fluffy white stuff, I had to post the obligatory photos for my friends and relatives.

Oh, and you might be entertained to know my husband said the cows had icicles hanging off their ears. Wish I'd gotten a photo of that!

Brrrr!!

Once again, despite having snow in our forecast, we ended up with the nasty stuff instead.  We did get a dusting of sleet and snow overnight, but most of today we've had freezing rain and mist.  Our temperature has stayed below freezing all day so thankfully the precipitation never got heavy enough to cause much damage. (In other words, we still have power!)

 Here are some photos I took on my walk to the mailbox.  

End of month ramblings

Usually February is the month that seems to drag on forever (despite being the shortest), but this felt like an extra-long January. I'm not sure someone didn't sneak some extra days in there somewhere!

I got a good start on my reading challenges by completing seven books this month! That's great for a slow reader like me. I usually do well to get three or four read in a month. (still contemplating the idea of someone slipping in some extra days)

Remember the donkeys I featured in a Shadow Shot Sunday post earlier this month? They're gone!! Turns out our livestock partner found a taker for them. They left before I even knew we were giving them away! I'll miss hearing them bray in the mornings. My husband says he won't miss them. They were greedy and got in the way when feeding the cows.

Duck season is over for another year. After all my enthusiam at the beginning of the 09/10 season, I haven't been back since. Oh well. It's gotten where I prefer dove hunting and I did get to do that several times last fall. Speaking of.... it's time I pull some of the little birds out of the freezer and prepare them for my husband. He loves my dove in mushroom gravy.

Mabel had a rough weekend. She must have eaten something in the yard that she shouldn't have. Projectile vomiting is one thing, but projectile diar...... well, I won't go into detail. Let's just say I don't know who I felt worse for, her for being sick or me for having to clean up after her!

Moving right along, it's been a month filled with wild swings in temperature. Hot, cold, warm, cool. Saturday it got up to 73F (23C). Another cold front is coming, though, and by tomorrow night it's supposed to get down to 25F (-4C) with a high Wednesday of 35F (2C). What I really dislike is when it's very cold at night, yet warms up considerably during the day. Makes it hard to know how to dress.

Enough ramblings for one day!

Not the weather, the Internet

No, this isn't snow, it's sleet. Somehow I knew those promises of the fluffy white stuff would fly out the window and we'd be cursed with this stuff! Instead of the peaceful silence that comes with falling snow I heard the tinkle of sleet pellets for most of yesterday. It's an icy mess out there!!

But that's not why I'm here. We're having some Internet problems (not related to the weather) and I'm attempting to post this from my phone. I do it so seldom I'm never sure if I'm doing it correctly. So... I hope this posts!

Anyway, if I don't manage to get around and visit all of you like usual that's why. There is an upside. I'm reading more.

An unexpected outing

We usually do most of our fishing in the Spring and early Summer. After that it just gets too darned hot. Once things cool down in the Fall it gets dark too early and we're usually busy with other stuff.

This afternoon my husband came in from doing some chores in the pasture and suggested we try our luck since he'd seen some activity in the pond. I had about an hour to spare, so I agreed. Besides, I was curious to see how the pond looked. He had mentioned earlier in the week that it was lower than he had ever seen it before.

We quickly gathered our gear and headed to the pond. He wasn't kidding!! The water level has probably dropped at least three feet! We had a couple of small storms pass through last night, but the little bit of rain they provided mostly just settled the dust. Since there were fire ants in the boat and we were pressed for time we just cast from the bank. He caught a fairly decent bass along with something that got away before he could reel it in. I managed to snag three small bass. All of them went back in the water for another time.

Not much of an adventure, but it was a pleasant change of pace. Actually, the best part of the outing was getting to wear my new rubber boots! Aren't they snazzy? They sure beat my old black ones!

Refreshing

The heat and humidity have been oppresive recently. This verse (Isaiah 58:11) appeared in one of my devotional readings over the weekend. I found it nourishing on more than just a spiritual level.

"The LORD will guide you always;
He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail."

Now that's hot!

Favorite Five - Flowers

All this cold weather has me turning my thoughts to Spring. If I take the past into account, we still have our coldest weather ahead of us here in south Arkansas. That doesn't stop me from dreaming about warmer days and what they'll bring. Flowers!

Here are my favorites. What are yours?

1. Pansy

2. Hibiscus

3. Moonflower

4. Camellia

5. Hydrangea

The Day After

Looking around our house tonight you'd never know we just celebrated Christmas. I've never been one for keeping the decorations up after the fact, so the afternoon was spent UNdecorating.... not nearly as much fun as putting it out. Mission accomplished. Everything is back to normal in the house.

I wish I could say the same for everything outside. In yesterday's post I mentioned the large amount of rain we got in a short amount of time on Christmas Eve. Turns out the damage to our pond was much more extensive this time around. The gravel we had brought in for the repairs a month back is all gone, along with most of the road around it. Many of the items kept under our equipment shed are now somewhere out in the surrounding woods. The good news is that the pond is still holding for the moment. The bad news is that rain is in the forecast again for the coming week and it's too wet to try and make temporary repairs.

When I think of the horrible weather people across the US have been faced with the past few days I feel a little guilty moaning about our problems. They might seem trivial by comparison... but they matter to me.

Christmas 2009

What a wonderful Christmas we've had !! Things got off to an iffy start. The weather system working its way across the south decided to stop over us and dump more than 6 inches of rain in just a few hours. We seriously feared for our pond since the area we had just repaired from the flood this fall started washing again! So far, though, things are holding.

The bulk of our celebrating takes place on Christmas Eve and by mid-afternoon everyone had gathered at our house to begin the festivities. The afternoon and evening were filled with lots of laughter, game playing, gift opening, photo taking, and of course.... eating.

There were several new recipes on the menu, but my younger daughter's cookies were the hit of the holiday. I'll leave you with a photo and the recipe:

Gingerbread Sandwich Trees

contributed to Simple & Delicious by Steve Foy of Kirkwood, MO

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup molasses
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
M&M's miniature baking bits
3/4 cup vanilla frosting
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
Green food coloring, optional

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses. Combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, ginger and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 3-in. tree-shaped cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Gently press baking bits into half of the cookies.

Bake at 325F for 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine frosting and confectioners' sugar until smooth; tint green if desired. Spread over the bottoms of plain cookies; top with decorated cookies. Store in the refrigerator.

Favorite Five – Words

Words are an important part of our everyday life. Reading, speaking, listening… we all use them. Etymology is important to some folks and there are several “daily word” sites, such as the one I subscribe to, which provide this along with pronunciation, meaning and an example of usage.

I like words. You may not think you do, but surely there are a few you like better than others. I’ll tell you mine if you’ll tell me yours…. and please, keep it “G-rated”.

1. Vacuum - Hands down, this is my all-time favorite word. I love the sound of it and especially like spelling it aloud! There’s something about those “u”s.

2. Ominous – I remember learning this word not in spelling, but as a vocabulary word from a story in school. It was used in reference to “ominous clouds” before a storm and I’ve used it in weather discussions ever since.

3. Business - When I learned to type in High School (on an Underwood manual), I liked the way this word seemed to flow from my fingers. Why this particular word I don’t know, but it always just “felt” right.

4. Ombudsman – A fascinating word! I rarely see or hear it, but when I do it jumps out at me. Mainly, I think, because it’s such an awkward word that doesn’t flow from the lips easily. (interesting note: When I checked its spelling in my dictionary, I discovered it’s on the same page as “ominous”.) (additional note: Yes, I tend to use a real dictionary more than “spell-check”.)

5. Viaduct – This is not a word most small children know. However, due to having one over our community’s train yard near the downtown, I would venture to say most kids in our area are familiar with the word. When I was little, it was a known fact that if you didn’t hold your breath the entire time you drove over it, a murderer would come to your house that night and chop off your head while you slept!

Washed Out

This has been an exceptionally wet fall for south Arkansas. Our unofficial rainfall in September was more than 20 inches. October surpassed that. The weather between noon Thursday and noon yesterday brought torrential rains, high winds and spawned several tornados. Thank goodness we didn’t have a tornado at our house, but we sure did have the rain! By my estimates, more than six inches.

Fortunately our pond is well constructed. The levee which surrounds the west side, and is also the road to our pasture, has a spillway built into it along with two overflow pipes. Actually, I think there is a third pipe with a valve on it for draining purposes, but it stays closed. The road from our house forks once it reaches the pond. To the left is the equipment shed, the right leads to the pasture. This is where we had our troubles. I wish I had taken pictures while there was still water rushing across the road, but I didn’t get down there until this morning.


Here’s the view of the road leading to the shed. The bucket on the right is as high as the water got.


The boat we use for fishing got washed down along with various other things. It makes my husband sick to see all the gravel that washed away.


You can see how the flow of the water flattened out the grass in its path.


Here’s a lily pad in the grass. Too bad its roots aren’t still attached. Ripping up those nuisances would have been a bonus!


This view is from the other side of the washout, looking back towards the road to the house.


I don’t think I’ve ever seen the pond this full. Many of the tops out of the dead trees broke off and washed to the bank, some clogging the overflow pipes. My husband said they were probably only draining at about 50% capacity due to this. He had to clear the pipes several times.


Here you can see a log he pulled up onto the levee. Water was starting to cross the levee some in this area, but not bad enough to do any damage.


Looking towards the east pasture.


You can make out some of the cows watching us. Fortunately my husband can still ride his 4-wheeler to the tractor in the shed in order to put out hay.

All in all, I’m quite thankful. It could have been so much worse, and was for many people. My husband is already noting ways he can improve things in the event something like this happens again. Let’s pray it doesn’t any time soon!

Blue Skies and Dogs

There’s no doubt about it. We’ve had an exceptionally wet September and October. I’ve been told that my rain gauge is probably not very accurate - therefore my readings may not be correct - but, we “unofficially” had more than 20 inches of rain in September and we’ve already dumped more than 15 inches from our gauge in October!!! Even half those amounts would seem like a lot!

The sun came out yesterday for the first time in several weeks. What a glorious sight! I’ve wanted some new pictures of our outside dogs, so I grabbed my camera and headed out into the sunshine.


Blue skies never looked so good! Of course the grass is nice and green from all the rain.


The begonias I planted at the beginning of the summer have done well.


Now that she doesn’t have to feed puppies and is getting fed regularly herself, Mama Dog has a soft, thick coat. She’s gotten back her figure as much as a girl can after having who knows how many litters.


Jed joined the ranks of the “spay/neuter club” in September. No danger of future puppies from any dog at our house now.


Blue had obviously been sticking her nose somewhere it didn’t belong. At least that was the only part of her that was muddy!


Mama Dog and Jed love to romp and wrestle with each other. Blue will sometimes join in.


This time she chose to watch the woods for something more exciting than romping with them.


None of the inside girls really mind going out in the rain, but they do love a cool, sunny day! Mabel, Alice and Esther wanted me to put the camera down and let them out.


Betty loves to bask in the sun on the back steps.

A productive weekend

I love having visible proof of a productive weekend!

Since we actually had some sunshine this weekend and the temps were a tad cooler (only in the 80sF), my husband and I decided to start gathering up firewood for the winter. The natural gas pipeline that crosses our land was widened at the beginning of this year. As part of our agreement with the gas company, they left some of the trees they felled with the tops and limbs already removed. Once my husband dragged a couple of them out with the tractor and chain, we were set to go.

He used a chainsaw and an axe to cut and split the wood. I came behind with the tractor, loaded it into the bucket, then carried it to the rack and stacked it. Watching my husband swing that axe, I think I definitely had the better end of the deal!

On a side note, one of our outside dogs had a productive weekend as well. Somebody, we think it was MamaDog, brought a dead muskrat to the house yesterday morning. We’ve seen evidence of them at our pond, where they are a nuisance. Maybe she thought she was helping out.

Now I can’t get that song out of my head. “Muskrat Susie, muskrat Sam….”

More?

…and I’m not referring to rain, even though we did get another inch overnight and more is on the way.

What I am referring to is my Cash for Clunkers purchase. We received a call from our car dealership yesterday afternoon that the government had rejected some of the paperwork they’d sent in. The government was also requesting the registration records for a full year prior to the transaction. In other words, the registration that was current when we turned in the vehicle wouldn’t suffice since it hadn’t expired yet and didn’t actually cover a full year. We needed the previous year’s registration papers, too. However, if you follow the instructions given at the revenue office, that copy is supposed to be replaced by the new registration and you shouldn’t even have that copy anymore! As for us, we had disposed of all the old records for that vehicle after a full month had passed.

So… I made another trip to the revenue office this morning followed by another visit to the car dealership.

Surely this time everything is in order!!

Tidbits

I think the rain is finally moving out. We had a few sprinkles yesterday and it was misting this morning, but the forecast has dropped to only a 40% chance of showers today. After more than 17 inches of the wet stuff in a week, I’m ready for it to be gone!

The pond held up well through the heavy rains. At one point the road was completely flooded and water was pouring over the spillway making it difficult to get into the pasture, but things have already drained off considerably. It’s now up to full capacity after being as low as we’ve seen it since it was constructed.

My husband celebrated his birthday this past week. I cooked steaks for the actual day, then two of our kids came over last night for an additional celebratory dinner.

On Thursday evening a friend and I attended a lecture series at our local community college. The speaker for the event was best selling author Charlaine Harris, creator of the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series on which the HBO series True Blood is based. The hour long program consisted of her sharing a bit about her history and writing methods then the floor was opened for a question and answer session. Based on many of the questions, I would say a good portion of the crowd was there because of True Blood. I’ve only read her books and really have no desire to watch the TV series. In fact, after hearing her speak, I’d really like to read some of her other books. Overall it was a very entertaining and informative evening.

Rain!

Rain, rain, go away!
Come again some other day.

I know I’m not the only person chanting that nursery rhyme. I usually try to be positive about the weather, no matter how extreme it gets, but this rain is getting ridiculous!!

In less than a week we have had almost 13 inches of the wet stuff at our house! That doesn’t count what has been falling all morning and is pouring down as I type. To top things off, it’s still in the forecast for the next couple of days.

*sigh*

A death

One of the buppies died yesterday afternoon.

It was the little girl on the right in the bottom picture from yesterday’s post. I called my “dog expert” friend and she assured me that it wasn’t unusual in a litter this size, even at four weeks. I had wondered if it was the heat, malnourishment (they’re still nursing exclusively, but obviously look well fed) or even the fact that Mama Dog often steps on one or another when charging into the run to bark at the inside girls. She told me it could have been any, all, or none of the reasons, but probably nothing I could have prevented. I'm still sad about it.

We had quite an electrical storm blow through last night. Only dropped .3” of rain at our house, but oh…the wind and lightning! Utilities are above ground here, so of course we lost power for close to three hours. Fortunately the tarp over the dog run stayed in place and I think the bups remained outside throughout the storm, despite the fact they’ve figured out how to get into the doghouse. It probably felt good after the 102º temps just hours earlier. Thank goodness it’s supposed to stay in the lower 90s for the next week or so.