Slogging Along

I know I keep complaining about all the rain we've been getting but it doesn't ever seem like things will get back to normal. After it quit raining one day I went outside to take some pictures of the flooding. Bear in mind that the water had gone down a lot already. 

This is our neighbor's driveway. Water runs down the middle of the driveway and floods over into our circular driveway. Water floods across the gravel we got last year and flows toward us.

The water forks off towards the corner of the house, puddling  up next to the foundation, and continues to run by the gravel all the way across the front of the house.

I can't believe we are having this trouble. We thought the gravel would keep us from parking in mud. Instead it diverted the path of the water and caused another problem.

The  backyard gets it's share of water every time it rains, too. That's why Scout built the bridge a long time ago. It's usually a dry ditch but when it rains, oh buddy, the bridge comes in handy.

                                     

The water runs around beside the carport and down the ditch beside the hedge that grows between our property and the neighbor's on the south until it finally runs into the ditch beside the highway.

We are going to build up the soil in front of the house and have a raised flower bed to keep the water away from the foundation. I hope that helps.

Every spring Don treats the house for termites. Termites thrive on a water supply so it's important to keep the house as dry as possible. If we can get guttering up and redesign the landscape a little bit I think we can fix this mess. The only trouble is, we have to wait for it to quit raining so much.

Who'd of ever thought I'd be complaining about rain again? Instead of complaining, I should just be thankful we have a house. I guess the drought is officially over. I wonder what kind of summer we're going to have this year. Hot and humid, or dry as a bone?

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Redneck Engineering

I told you that we had so much water running under the house that we had to put a sump pump under the house when it rained hard didn't I? Our old sump pump quit working so Don bought a new one. It wouldn't fit under the house where the old one was so Don put it under the house through the hole in the hallway. It's not attractive, and we can't shut the doors because the hose has to run outside to drain the water, but it's better than nothing. Don cut the hole in the hall floor a while back so he wouldn't have to crawl all the way under the house. The crawlspace is very small and claustrophobic. We've done lots of things around here that aren't particularly kosher. This is just one small example of our handy work.

                                     

The hose had to run from the hallway, through the living room, and out the front door.

Notice the black hose is attached to another white hose to make it long enough for the water to drain into the front yard.

All covered up and back to "normal", whatever that is, around here. Watch the soft spot!

I know this looks really, really redneck but you gotta do what you gotta do to get by and this is the only way to get the house dried back out. Don's going to dig a hole and put a bucket under the house for the sump pump to sit in. Hopefully we will be able to figure out how to get the pipe to run under the house and maybe next time we won't have to leave the front door open when it rains and floods. Now you know why I hate it when it rains.

We've already decided to build up the flower beds in front of the house to keep the water from running under the house. We have to put up new guttering, too. If that doesn't work, I don't know what we're going to do.

We took the old guttering down when the guys put our metal roof on the house a few years ago. Whereas most people feel inconvenienced by the rain, we live in dread. We have always had to deal with flooding when it rains too hard, but when the roof started leaking it ramped up the fear. We put buckets under the drips, hoping it would quit raining until we got the new roof on. You don't know how thankful you can feel when it rains and you have a new roof. It will make you smile. I didn't mind the rain after that until recently.

Ever since we got the gravel in our driveway last year, when it rains, the water funnels towards the house. It has become a mess. The situation became obvious when we could see a brown muddy residue after the rains running down the side of the graveled driveway. It's also running over the grease trap in the front yard. That clogs up the kitchen sink. Oy! What a mess.

We get all our neighbors runoff when it rains. This has been a running battle ever since we bought the house. We bought it during a drought and it was high and dry. Right after that the rain gods, or the fickle finger of fate, or whatever you want to call it, decided to switch tactics and the drought broke. It would rain so long and flood so badly, it felt like we were living on a boat. Water surrounded the house.

After we moved here Don's stepfather, Charlie McAllister, helped us level the yard and make the runoff turn away from the house. Charlie used to be a bulldozer operator and he knew what he was doing. The problem is, our property is a couple of feet lower than the property next to us. Every time it rains water runs down the ditch between our property and we take on water. I'll be glad when we finally figure out a solution.

I just wish we could afford to move somewhere high and dry. I'm tired of living in a dry riverbed. 

AS ALWAYS

PIO