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!

Pilots & Controllers

WhiteStone has a good entry at her blog today about the Northwest pilots who recently lost their jobs after overshooting their intended destination.

When I first heard about the incident, it brought to mind something that happened to me a long time ago. Those who read my 360 blog might remember an entry where I told about getting my single engine pilot’s license (VFR) shortly after I got married. My husband was bound and determined to get his and with a history of heart disease in his family, I decided I needed to have mine, too. I sure didn’t want to get caught up in the air with him and not be able to land the plane if I ever had to!

I have no idea what getting a license these days entails. At that time, one of the requirements was to plan a “long cross country” flight. It had to include stops at several different airports, one of which had to be a specific distance away. It was a lengthy solo flight and required refueling at one point. My flight plan took me from Arkansas to Texas, then to Louisiana before returning home. As I neared the final airport on my route, the tower put me on a heading for approach. I complied, saw the airport ahead of me, and then watched as it receded into the distance behind me! I called the tower again and it was obvious what had happened. They’d forgotten about me!! I could hear laughter in the background! I was already pretty nervous, so it was no laughing matter to me at the time (even though I can tell the story now and it seems funny). Once I landed, I vaguely remember getting my log book initialed by someone on the ground then getting back in the air as soon as possible to get back home.

My experience was pretty trivial in the big scheme of things. It was just me. But you think about the hundreds of flights each day carrying hundreds of people from one place to another. It’s important that pilots AND controllers stay vigilant and never get complacent.

My squeaky wheel

I’m not an assertive person. My husband is. Let me back up…

Tuesday morning I headed off to the church with laptop in tow. First of all, let me say I feel a little silly now. I guess it’s been quite awhile since I dealt with using a wireless network other than our own setup at home. I had no idea that once I logged on to the internet at my church that I would be able to download the mail from my server through their server into my Outlook Express! Duh! Both of my college-age kids said they could have told me that, but I sure don’t remember getting that assurance from them while I was obsessing about it on Monday! Yeah, well. Live and learn.

Late Tuesday afternoon my husband called me at the church with good news. (I was working on church stuff, not still messing with my computer) After some frustrations trying to line up a local installer he decided to contact the company again. He told each person he talked to that if they didn’t give him the satisfaction he was looking for, then to transfer him to their superior. He finally convinced one that, although we had been with them for a number of years, he was going to switch to another satellite provider if they didn’t do something this week. They agreed to install our upgraded system the next morning, and at price much less than what they originally quoted us. Wow!

I guess that old saying about the squeaky wheel getting the grease really is true.

Woe is me

See the box in the picture? That is the remote terminal for our satellite internet system. Notice there are only two blue lights lit up. To work properly, there must be five.

We've been without internet since Saturday evening. ETR (estimated time for repair) doesn't look good. With an upgrade (yes, that means extra money) it might be in a couple of weeks. Repairs on the current equipment could take months!!!

Switching to DSL or cable is not an option. We live too far out in the sticks for that. Even switching to a different satellite provider would take awhile.

I can do limited things on my Blackberry (which is how I'm posting this, if I remembered how to do it correctly), but that's also "iffy" since we don't get good cell reception at our house.

At least I'm getting more done at home since my #1 time-waster has been curtailed. *sigh*

Not what I planned

I had every intention of posting the recipe for the cookies I made today. I clipped it from my Simple & Delicious magazine awhile back and thought they would really be good. They weren't. They're edible, but definitely not worth sharing (either in print or in reality).

Instead, I'll share a recipe for piecrust that my cousin gave me years ago. She took it from the January 1977 issue of Gourmet. I rarely make piecrust from scratch (it's too easy to buy good ready-made ones) but when I do, this is simple and very good.

Cream Cheese Pastry

In a large bowl cream together 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter and 4 oz. (1/2 cup) cream cheese, both well softened. Thin mixture with 2 Tbs. milk and sift in 1-1/4 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and 1/2 tsp. salt, stirring the mixture until it is well combined. Form the dough into a ball, dust it with flour and chill it, wrapped in waxed paper, for at least 3 hours.
Makes a double crust.

Favorite Five - Fairy Tales

I didn’t plan to post another Favorite Five entry this soon, but I thought it would be appropriate after reading the post about Fairy Tales over at Pen and Paper.

Even though Disney has its darker moments (think about Bambi’s parents or Mufasa’s death in the Lion King), most of its stories are candy-coated. That’s a far cry from the way many of the traditional fairy tales were meant to be told. If you don't believe me, just go back and read the Brothers Grimm!


Some of my favorite fairy tales:

1. The Ugly Duckling

2. Aesop’s Fables

3. Shrek

4. Hansel and Gretel

5. The Three Little Pigs (check out this version my sister gave my kids when they were little)

Others: Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk.

TV Sets

I posted the following entry on my 360 blog a few years ago. I thought it would be an interesting follow-up to yesterday’s post about sitcoms. The book is evidently out of print now and only available from third-party sellers. My copy is paperback and has a different cover from the one shown on Amazon.

If you grew up watching shows like Leave it to Beaver, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Honeymooners, The Munsters, M*A*S*H, etc., you will LOVE this book!


TV Sets Fantasy Blueprints of Classic TV Homes by Mark Bennett


I've actually had this book for years, but thought about it again when my daughter was flipping through the channels tonight and landed on I Love Lucy. My degree in college was in "Design & Housing" (I still don't know why I didn't go ahead and get an architecture degree instead) and I always loved drafting (by hand, not computer). So... the hand-drawn plans in this book are right up my alley. It's great fun......full of "blueprints" and maps for tons of classic TV shows, including some of my favorites: Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, The Flintstones and more. Check it out for a fun trip down memory lane!

Favorite Five - TV Sitcoms

Watching television is an activity I’ve enjoyed in spurts over my lifetime. I don’t remember watching a lot of TV while growing up, but I must have since I can remember so many shows from that time! The first couple of years in college were lean TV years, then my viewing time picked up once I moved out of a dorm. I watched a fair amount during the early years of my marriage, only to slack off in recent years. I watch very little TV at this point in my life.

One of my favorite types of programming has always been the Situation Comedy or “sitcom”. Many of the sitcoms I’ve enjoyed over the years were shows that I could watch with my family, either when I was a child or when I had children of my own. Often mindless and silly, occasionally witty or clever, but always a pleasant escape from reality. If only all life’s problems could be resolved in the space of thirty minutes!

Here’s my list, with a few runners up. Tell me some of yours!

1. Gilligan’s Island – I refuse to make excuses for this being on my list. I’ve always loved it and have seen every episode multiple times. I even own it on DVD.

2. The Brady Bunch – Another that I should probably be embarrassed to have on my list (but I’m not). At least I don’t own the DVDs of this one. Jan was my favorite Brady.

3. I Love Lucy – A classic in every sense of the word. Lucille Ball has to be one of the best comedic actresses of all time. It was great from the early episodes all the way through the birth of Little Ricky, the Hollywood & European episodes and the move to Connecticut.

4. Seinfeld – The show about nothing. It was hilarious! Enough said.

5. The Wonder Years – This show is sometimes considered a dramatic comedy rather than a sitcom. The pilot began with the main characters entering junior high school in 1968. I started junior high in 1970, so I readily identified with the events and emotions portrayed in the series.

Runners Up: Home Improvement, Cheers, Smart Guy, The Munsters, M*A*S*H, Psych.

C.J. Sansom

While browsing through back posts over at Petty Witter’s blog (Pen and Paper), I discovered an author that I’d never heard of. Okay, that’s not so unusual. There are plenty of authors I’m not familiar with. This author, however, writes Historical Fiction mysteries set in Tudor England. I love Historical Fiction, I love mysteries, and I love British history!

C.J. Sansom is currently a full-time writer, but began his career as an attorney. The central character in his mystery series is Matthew Shardlake, a hunchbacked lawyer practicing at Lincoln's Inn in London. Shardlake starts out as an avid supporter of reform, enjoying the patronage of Thomas Cromwell. Throughout the series his passion for reform wanes as he embarks on missions for Cromwell, then later Archbishop Cranmer.

The novels are very well written and, although fiction, contain a tremendous amount of accurate historical information woven into them. I thoroughly enjoyed the three I’ve read, Dissolution, Dark Fire and Sovereign and look forward to the US release of the fourth, Revelation.

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.