Biggest storm of the year just passed.
Yesterday was bright and partly-cloudy most of the day, with some storms blowing past on the horizon in the early evening but not real threat of rain. Today was damn near cloudless, still and warm until mid-afternoon, when the thunderheads built and it was time to pay the piper for two nice days.
This very morning I finished digging out the drainage trench for the gully behind the Lair, and I was tremulously interested to know if all that work would come to nothing in another mudslide. When the storm finally broke around five it was clear all precautions would now be put to the test.
Oh, man. Y’know, last year I got to dreading the storms because it seemed like the lightning passed right over the Lair. I huddled inside and thought in terms of pagan sacrifices to pacify the gods or something. But wet as it has been, this Monsoon has been quite a lot less threatening. Until today. Today lightning struck all around and close. Ghost demanded I make it stop, and finally climbed into the kneehole of the desk and told me to let him know when it was over. The rain poured down, and every gully flowed, and the wash flooded, and I wondered if the damn storm was ever gonna run out of water.
The new ditch filled, and filled, and vanished from sight. Of course I can only see the outlet from the window, but the outlet overflowed its banks in seconds. Maybe the main body was doing its job and maybe it wasn’t, but at least no unusual amount of water was emerging from under the Lair so the berm was still working even if the ditch wasn’t. Which meant the chickens were probably still alive.
And when the storm finally passed – and it took its dear time – I went outside to assess damage and found almost none! The outlet of the ditch filled with silt, but that’s fifteen minutes’ digging. The main body worked perfectly. The chicken yard was high and dry, the new chicken house appears leakproof, and all was well. I had some water blow into the Lair under the door, but it always does that when the wind is from the north. Hopefully it’ll stop when I tile the floor and grout over the bottom of the doorframe.
I got two phone calls from neighbors wanting to know if the boys and I are still here. I was able to report that we’re just fine, there’s hardly any damage at all.
And wonder of wonders, when I plugged the electronics back in and booted up the modem, it sort of got connection! So now I’ll try to send this.
Seems like there are more of these Biblical grade storms these days.
I’m glad that your preparations worked. I hate reading about failures of the 7P principal. (Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.)
It’s ironic that as I was writing the above it was storming outside. My wife calmly informed me that there was a lighting and tornado warning in effect. I simply stopped typing and took the steps required to make sure all was secure. I must say that now the storm has passed it was a nasty one.
Take care Joel, be safe.