Friday, November 29, 2013

Foggy Morning.....


This morning was cold and foggy....


I brought the paper into the house, grabbed the camera,
and headed over to the creek.


Played with some different exposures.


After over a year of being dry, the creek is still flowing from our recent rains.
You can see the debris still up against the trees, from the
Halloween Flood.

The rushing water, changed the creek a bit.  It's deeper in places.
And, it washed down some heavy rocks.  Powerful force....


The water now makes for some nice reflections.


But, it was cold.  So, I came on back up to the house.

I think next time, it would be wise to change out of my house slippers.
They got a bit wet.

The sun was out by afternoon.  We're warming up for the next few days.
And then, another cold front is forecast.

Is this what they mean by 'warmer and dryer than normal' this winter?
I guess only time will tell.

Stay warm...

Happy Gardening...
~~Linda~~

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!




Have a happy and safe
Thanksgiving!!

~~Linda~~

Monday, November 25, 2013

It Wintered Here....



Maybe not for long. Warm weather will probably return.
But, for November, in Central Texas, it's been cold.
And, rainy.


We haven't gotten out of the thirties here since last Friday.
Thursday was 80F.


The water is still flowing down the creek, and across the cart path.
That pipe has been clogged up, for a while.


And, wet, soggy leaves are stuck to everything.
We cleaned up several cart loads, just before the cold front blew in.

There'll be more sweeping and raking and hauling, once things dry out.

Hope you're keeping warm where you are.
Looks like our little piece of Winter, is spreading across the country.

Happy Gardening...
~~Linda~~

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Day by Day...



Yesterday, the day dawned, with a beautiful sunrise.



Today, the day dawned cold and drizzly.



Sometimes, Texas weather is like that box of chocolates.
You just never know what you're gonna get.

Happy Gardening...
~~Linda~~

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

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~~