What is it With Halloween?....

I love the way the creek looks, and sounds, when the water is flowing.

The problem is, sometimes that will only happen

if we have a TON

of rain.

Just like two years ago on Halloween,

we had a lot of water come through here.

We had taken a quick trip. So we weren't home.

Our neighbor showed us a video she took, and the 

amount of water was mind boggling.

We have these water barriers. You fill them with water,

and they settle down like sand bags.

Well, too much water can pick it up and toss it to the side.

And, twist it like balloon art.

And, allow that water to get into the garage.

It only came up half way on the front porch. 

Didn't get through the door.

It piled up debris against the fence and gate.

Which backed it up against the garage wall.

I've taken ten cart loads of this out of just this area.

It washed out mulch, dug up a couple of new plants, 

and knocked down the wall in the Grass Bed.

The power of water is just amazing.

But, the land is already responding.

We had rain the weekend before, too.

It doesn't take long to turn dry and crispy into green.

Not to mention this always seems to happen right after they 

overseed the golf course for winter.

So, more grass to pull up.

The trampled and almost washed away wild onions, are already sprouting.

They must have strong toes.

Each time this happens, it changes the bed of the creek.

Look closely...see the deer watching?

We'll clean up and keep going.  

After all...it's still a beautiful place.

Foggy mornings are pretty here.

It's mostly quiet and calm.

And, we like the view.

Even through the bathroom window.

We just need to watch out for scary Halloween weather.

Hope you're safe and happy, where you are.

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~

Into Each Life, Some Rain Must Fall....

Or, maybe a lot of rain.

On October 30th, it started raining here about 10:00 p.m.

Softly at first.  Then it began to POUR.

And, it poured and it poured.

By 4:30 a.m., it began to let up.

By then, we had over a FOOT of rain here.

Remember my boast about my new bed?

How it had worked with a three inch rain?

Two of those inches in a hour.

Well...after two inches an hour, for SIX hours,

it wasn't so pretty.

The water came pouring over the brick edging.  It rolled up the cardboard

and the newspaper we'd laid under the mulch.

It washed out gravel and picked up stepping stones, 

and stacked one on top of another.

It sheared off weeds and grass, from under the newspaper and mulch.

It washed debris against our not-so-sturdy new fenced area.

It washed stones from the Rio.

And, crushed granite, .....

....into the Rio.

It built up debris against the house and the fences.

3:00 a.m., Thursday, October 31, 2013

It rushed like this, through the circular drive, for many hours.

And, deposited about 4" of rain IN the garage.

We worked hard to keep it out of the house, 

sweeping it off the front porch as fast as we could.

That worked.

By morning's light, the waters had receded a bit.

But, it had done some damage.

It washed away some of the cart path.

But, the creek had gone down enough to be inside its banks.

Large trees, and a smoker from down the street, deposited on the 10th tee box.

These trees, slammed against a low water crossing bridge, must have contributed

to the water backing up.

We were SO lucky.  The water is out of the garage, with no real damage.

We can restore the mulch and the plants.

But, many of our neighbors had water rushing 

THROUGH THEIR HOUSES!

Carpets are ripped up, and laying in driveways.

Not sure how much wall and furniture damage there is.

But, as far as I know, nobody was hurt.

In other areas of this flood, that wasn't the case.

9:00 a.m. October 31.

People were being smart, and not trying to cross Cypress Creek here.

This was way higher than we had seen before.

So, today I'm grateful we are all OK.

We're looking into flood insurance.

And, we're buying some sand bags.

We had about 20" of rain at Patchwork Garden, in October.

That's plenty, thanks.

Did I mention, we have rain forecast for today?

Happy Gardening...

~~Linda~~