Dec 06

Finally Got Out To The Property…

But had to take the long "back" way to do it. Even had to go about 4 miles on a slippery wet dirt road. Got to the property and could not believe the amount of damage running water has done to the road and the dome hole! I am going to have to redo almost everything I’ve done to date. Damn! Took a lot of pictures of the property and the washed out Tahuya River Bridge and they are posted on my gallery site (link at right then under "Property Pictures"). There are washouts and "Runnel’s?" down the whole length of the road. The two catch basins I had to put in are full of mud. I mean FULL of mud. One you can hardly tell there was a hole there before the storm. Major water is still running out of the dome hole. I’m going to have to figure out and install a completely new drainage system with lots of gravel to try and direct the water to where it won’t do any harm. Hmmm…

Then I had to take the same way back that I went in on. Was kind of a nice drive really. Got home just in time to help the Plumber dig up the drainage pipe for our toilet so he could run a snake through it. The pipe was blocked by roots. Thank Goodness! If it had been blocked by something WE did we would have had to pay the $300 the job cost. But since it was blocked by roots the landlord was responsible for it. Phew!

Our new "Sleep Number" bed came by delivery today also. So after the Plumber left I got to drain and mostly disassemble our waterbed and install the Sleep Number bed into the frame. Only took a couple of hours. Hope it helps me get a better nights sleep! I’ve been sleeping on a waterbed for the last 30 years (or so) and this is really going to be different for me. I doubt it can be any worse than sleeping in the sand or on a concrete floor like we did in Desert Shield/Storm.

Smallville was a rerun. Again!

Dec 04

11.6 Inches Of Rain In 24 Hours!

11.6! Damn! Beat anything we had as far back as 1996 when we had that big ice storm. I have never seen it rain so much around here. I wanted to go out to the property today to check for damages but most of the roads are closed between here and there. The Tahuya River Bridge has washed out so I’d have to take the LONG way around through Tahuya anyway. (Damn. It is raining like crazy out there right now!)

Yesterday was a trip. Power went off at 0800. Came back on around 1000. Back off again around 1200. On again at 1500 or so. Off again at 2030. On again at 2110. Brownouts bad enough to shut my computer down between times of power or not. And of course I can’t get that damned generator started again. Damn!
Today a friend that lives about 30 minutes away called and asked if I could come over and fix the tarp they put over their roof to slow the leaks down. (They’re older than I and just barely ’making’ it. As a lot of us are…) The tarps blew off in the wind yesterday. So SWMBO and I gathered some tools together and went over. Wasn’t really too bad on their roof except for the SLIPPERY WET MOSS that covered most of the roof! Did what I could, got soaking wet and came on home. Got into something warm and dry immediately.

Dec 03

Wow! What A Weather Day!

Started out with 6.5 inches of rain in our area from midnight to 0800. Wow! Winds knocked out the power at 0800 (my UPS woke me up beeping) and it was out for a couple of hours. Came back on for about an hour then went out again for 4 hours or so. Back on now but it’s still windy out there so there’s no telling how long it will stay on. Heavy rain has this whole tri-state area on flood watch. There’s been mudslides and a sink hole opened up somewhere in the area.

Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a statewide emergency Monday after strong winds and heavy rains lashed Western Washington, causing record flooding, mudslides and power outages across the region. (NWCN)

Not sure if I like hearing the wind whistle around this house. I think the wind coming from all directions is the reason we have a water leak from one of the overhead lamps in the living room. Called our Landlord about it and he came down and crawled into the overhead to check it out. Small leak from the roof. He put a bucket under it as a stopgap. (Uh oh, lights are flickering again…) That is one nice thing about renting; you can always call the Landlord for problems. (Still wish we were living in our dome though…) Now we just have to remember NOT to turn on those lights until they dry out!
Had the generator running so I could watch the news this morning. Power came back on so I turned it off. Power went out again and I got tired of sitting in the silence after a couple of hours so I went out to restart the generator. Wouldn’t restart. Damn! Switch to “on”. Plenty of oil. Full of gas. Generator tank full of gas too. I get a little red light flashing when I pull on the starter cord. Hmmm. Sometimes wish I knew a bit more about engines. Damned thing won’t start even spraying a (small!) amount of starter fluid in the air intake. Usually that starts it right up.
Think I’ll make taco’s for dinner. I’ll log in and add anything later if I can and if there’s anything new.

Dec 02

Snow to Rain to Wind & Rain…

Started snowing pretty good early this morning; but it’s all turned to rain now. Bummer! The weather is supposed to get much worse over the next day or so too. Bummer! Guess I’ll have to get off my ass and make sure I have enough gas for the generator and give it a test run today. I grew up mostly in Southern California or in the Southern States and, if not hated, never had any really good feelings about snow. But I have lived up here so long, and it has rained so much, that I prefer snow to rain any day. Might feel differently if I had a ’regular’ job and had to drive in it everyday.

Not much else going on. Normal first Sunday of the month. Think I’ll make a roast for dinner. Get some dishes and laundry done. Maybe.