HURRICANE MILTON

 I was reading a book yesterday and the mother asks her son to read some of "Paradise Lost". This book was written by john Milton. I have the TV on and it's about Hurricane Milton. He writes about paradise lost and a lot of people look at Florida as paradise.

 All that rain in Texas? That's what happens when an atheist prays for rain.

To Do List

So, this week is work on the 'To Do' list. My way to do it is to do the hardest one first. This year it's a drain pipe in the back yard. The rain collects in that area so I dug a drain, put a pipe in filled around it with gravel. I put a screen on the pipe and a hole in that area filed with gravel. I'm hoping the rain will run to the gravel as the easiest way out.
That done, the next chore was fix the garden. The boards around it were rotten and needed replacing. Also, I made the garden a little smaller. My wife says it's enough. Adding a picture of the garden. It's pleasing to the eye, like the rest of the yard.

A lot of rain yesterday. Rather have rain than snow. I don't have to shovel rain.

We had a lot of rain the other day. I'm glad I didn't see animals marching two by two.

Kill Devil Hills. It's claim to fame seems to be that it gets hurricanes.

Heavy rain last night. Snow almost all gone. What is left, is more or less ice.

15 cm. (6") of snow and they act like the sky has fallen.

Heavy rain & wind last night. Lucky it wasn't snow, we would be up to our necks.

Heavy rain yesterday. I was waiting for that, to check on something. When there is heavy rain,

the back of my yard is like a swimming pool. It takes a while for the water to drain off. A couple of weeks ago, it so happened that the house next door was getting new roof shingles and drains. The house is two story, so the drain pipes are quite long, coming in 12' sections. One of them was just what I needed for a drain in my back yard. So, I dug a trench, 1' deep. Had to use an ax and chainsaw to get through the roots. Laid the pipe, put some mesh on the front and filled the hole at the front with gravel. Filled it all in and waited for the rain. When it did rain, I noticed that the only visible water was just above the gravel, which disappeared when the rain slowed down. Now I have to get a flat rock, write drain on it, and lay it at the top of the pipe. If there is ever a problem, like the drain getting plugged, people will know there is a drain there.

Snow! Really?

A low pressure system is forecast to develop off the US coast and pass south of Nova Scotia overnight Saturday into Sunday.

Snow and strong winds giving reduced visibilities in blowing snow are expected to develop over much of mainland Nova Scotia overnight Saturday. As much as 10 to 15 cm of snow are forecast for Saturday night with additional snowfall expected for parts of the province on Sunday.
Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations. Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow.

Winter storm watches are issued when multiple types of severe winter weather are expected to occur together.

The heavens refrained from raining on us last night as it had for the past two nights, so I just may cut the grass. I cut it last Thursday, so it's due. My son grabbed the other lawn mower last week and started cutting the back yard. Normally, I go across or up and down, but my son is crazy - he went at it like he was making a crop circle.

More Work in the Yard

      Next thing to do was get my firewood racks in order, refill the rack I used in the winter, old wood up front, etc. That took a while. One side of the shed has a firewood rack. Get the sun most of the time. The other side has my compost bins. Three black plastic bins and one wooden bin. Each year, I move the stuff from one bin to another. The wooden bin is last, and that's where my wife get the soil for all her planters.
That side of the shed seems to be in shade most of the time. That's one reason I have to move them, and another reason is that I have to lift that side of the shed. A lot of water accumulates at the back of the yard during the winter. At the back corner, on the other side of the yard, I had a wood rack - gone now. And that is where the compost bins are going.
       There's a photo of my shed a few years ago. Wood on one side, bins on the other, but you can't see them. Shed looks level.
      And you can pick up a copy of my latest book "Mediterranean Mission" by clicking on the photo on the right.

Rain

      I'm trying to force good weather by wearing short sleeve shirts. After the last few days, I'm worried that it might be the recipe for a monsoon. It started raining yesterday morning and it is still at it. I had an appointment for tomorrow morning to put on the summer tires, but I cancelled it until next week. The problem is, my back yard is like a swamp and there is still snow in some spots. And that's a problem because my tires are stored at the back of my shed. I built an extension on the shed to house my snow blower, the tires, and all the snow shovels. So I have to drag the tires through the swamp. I'm going to use a wheel barrow. Those tires are heavy. I rolled them down hill getting to the shed, but I certainly can't roll them uphill, and, of course, it's still raining.

Spring Maybe.

      

So, here it is, Sat. and no snow. That's like a miracle. We have had a storm on Sat. for the longest time. We had snow last Tue. when I had to use the snow blower. After each storm, I would say, "Well, that's it for the snow blower for this year." That hasn't worked out too well, so last Tue. it was mouth shut." We are into rain and fog now. Last night the snow banks dropped by 6 ins.
      I put my latest book on Amazon. "St. Peters Bones." The bones actually tie into the story. I'll explain it all tomorrow. The what and the why and the how.

Flash Freeze

  

     Flash freeze is not a term that I am very familiar with - until yesterday. Two nights ago we had a bit of snow, 3-4 ins. Next, there was a bit of freezing rain. Then, the temperature dropped 10 degrees and everything wet, froze. The driveway, walkways with the 3-4 ins. plus small snowdrifts turned to ice. The van and car looked like two ice cubes. Ice all around, and the hood, windshield and roof wore a covering of 3-4 in. of ice.
    I had to let the vehicles run for about 45 min. to get the bottom of the ice heated. Then I could slide the ice away. I eventually cleared the roof of the car. The van still has a block of ice on the roof.
    That was yesterday. Today it is raining, and it is supposed to rain all day. Hopefully, I can clear the van because tonight we are getting another 12 ins. of snow.
    Of course, the snowplow had to go through early yesterday morning, forming a two foot wall at the end of my driveway. My snow blower was useless. Wished I had my coal-mining ancestors to dig that out.
   

Raining cats and dogs. In fact, when I opened the front door to get the newspaper, there was a strange cat sitting there.

Mail Delivery

    Well, it's official, home mail delivery ceases next year. Then it will be trudging off to some super mail box somewhere. It won't be one of the joys of winter.
    Went to the Rehab Center on Fri. My daughter was all measured up for the insert for the new wheelchair. Of course, it was raining that day. Hail and rain just as we wanted to get out of the van. Spent the next ten minutes answering questions. "When do you think it will stop?" " Is it stopped enough?" "Is that hail?" "Should we try it now?" It did stop and we made the mad dash.
    Did learn something new. They are getting a new system in and they want to see if she can use a computer by just using her eyes. That sounds intriguing. One can only hope. Don't know when the system is coming in.
    Back again next week for another fitting.

Rehab Center

    We were supposed to go to the Rehab Center on Wed. and get my daughter fitted with an insert for the new wheelchair, but that didn't happen. Tech. was sick, so we are supposed to go today. Just as well, it was raining heavy at the time we would have gone. Did you ever notice how it rains more when you are leaving or going to your vehicle? Got a call the other day hat my new van will be returned next week. Told them I want a rear camera installed before I pick it up. Over two months since we started this venture. Paid for the new wheelchair yesterday, $4300.00. Will have to pay for insert later. Just heard it may rain this afternoon.

The Old Truck

    Well, I didn't see that coming. My neighbor sold his truck, just as I got used to borrowing it. He took it in for a brake job and found out it would cost a $1000., so he bought an SUV. I certainly can't borrow that to haul topsoil. Oh well, at least I had it for the two weeks while he was away. I was able to bring in two loads of topsoil, one load of gravel and the wood for the fence.
    Most of the hard work for the summer is now done. Earlier this week, we painted the fence, and my wife painted the patio. Now its down to cutting the grass every week. Of course, my wife still has that list, and I've having been that anxious to look at it.
    Cut the grass last Monday, a non-rain day. Actually, I need a non-rain day and one or two days to let the grass dry before I cut it. It's raining today and Sunday, so there goes Monday's job.