So much for a three day weekend

[altivo]

So, last night's projected ice storm did not materialize. It got too warm for ice. The temperature at dawn this morning was well above freezing and kept rising. Unfortunately, though it wasn't freezing, the rain kept falling. The winter storm warning was converted to a flood warning.

Now, we live on relatively high ground. It's downhill in just about every direction from here, at least somewhat, but when you have a foot of snow on the ground, water doesn't flow so well. The snow soaks it up like a sponge. Then what looks like snow turns into a puddle with snow floating on top like the froth on draft beer. Snow melt from the barn roof, combined with rain flowing downhill under the snow, started to seep into the barn itself. By 11 am, Asher's stall was largely wet, with a half inch of water. Outside the Dutch doors of the boys' stalls, there was a real flood, with five inches of water held back by dikes of saturated snow. This poses a serious hazard. If that water freezes at that depth, those doors cannot be opened because the bottom two inches of the door itself would be encased in ice. Even if the door can be opened, glare ice right outside is dangerous to the horse when he steps from his dry floor onto the slick surface. The water had to be drained, and quickly, before it could freeze.

So we spent most of the afternoon shoveling snow. It was necessary to create drainage channels to get that water through the accumulated snow and down to the creek. It's amazing how small an amount of snow it takes to hold back flowing water. By 3:30 or so, things were finally draining. We were able to get Asher's floor dry, put down new bedding, and bring everyone in early. Why? Because the wind was turning from NE to SW, and the barometer and temperature started dropping like a stone. By sunset all those puddles and lakes of water on top of the snow were looking decidedly gelatinous. It started to snow rather than rain. Now we're in for an inch or so (they say) of white stuff overnight, followed by plummeting temperatures down to zero F. for tomorrow night. Then it will snow again every day for the rest of the week.

I'm still waiting for the earthquake. We've already had everything else possible just since the beginning of 2008: blizzard, tornado, flood, ice, and heat wave (at least, relatively speaking.)

Comments

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

At least we won't get a plauge of locust for another 16 years.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Can you be sure? From the muddy color of the water we were draining this afternoon, I think I've already seen the rivers turned to blood.

[jmaynard.livejournal.com]

Erf. You've got it worse than me, that's for sure: all I have to worry about this week is which day I can go fly an airplane I'm looking at buying.

[rustitobuck.livejournal.com]

We had thunder!

Don't say anything about earthquakes.

[hrrunka]

Ugh. That sounds like an unpleasant mix of weather.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I couldn't even afford the fuel for that, let alone the insurance.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose we could have a monsoon instead.

The NOAA weather radio is turned on as I write this and their automated reading voices insist on pronouncing "furries" so that it sounds like they are saying "and a chance of fleas." Now there's a threat.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'd say that's putting it much more mildly than the weather is. It's snowing again now. Everything froze solid overnight, but fortunately we did get the flood levels down so that the barns are dry and the doors still open. Now that the storm center has passed, Canadian air is spilling in. For the next two days? High winds and temperatures in the -20C range.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan.
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.
Snow had fallen snow on snow,
Snow on snow.
In the bleak midwinter, long, long ago.
                   --Christina Rosetti

Only it's right now for us.

[hrrunka]

the barns are dry and the doors still open

Your hard work was worth it, then, I guess.

I don't envy you -20C at all, especially when high winds are added to the mix.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Wait till May, the Locusts come then...

@.@

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, the heating system is working again, and we have lots of firewood too. Unfortunately, the latest delivery of oak is a bit on the green side, so it takes a while to get a good fire going.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh that one's easy. We'll just let the gulls eat 'em up. After all, it worked for Brigham Young didn't it?

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Hey hey HEY! Lets not talk about Young!

Um...okay he sorta makes me feel the same
way this guy does:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXc8W0xS00g

The fundies cannot scam me with the bible, I
know how they pick a verse here, and their,
without understanding that the bible is a
collection of works over thousands or years.

But if your smart, and you understand how
needy people are, you can get some money,
or votes, out of them..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOsf_Fp6EwQ

Of course, personally, in that moment when
your standing in the snow, and you see ten
thousand geese overhead (thankfully not shitting
on you), or when you see an eclipse, and somehow
the moon is just the right size at just the
right distance so you /can/ see it. Or you
notice that the fundemental structures of
the universe just work...you can't help but
think...Maybe the Anthropic Principle isn't
such a bad notion.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Heatwaves? *perks up* Now there's something I can relate to... Imagine being stuck in a house with no air conditioning on a 03 degree day of nothing but opressive heat- not surprisingly one of the (only) two times I've passed out in my life :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't have to imagine. I've been through that, right up here in Chicago. I moved to Chicago in 1977, but never had any air conditioning anywhere I lived until we bought this place in 1998. Chicago normally hits temperatures above 100F on two or three days in a summer. However, in 1988 we had a drought with no rain at all for about 90 days. In July of that year, I think we had about ten continuous days of daytime highs over 100 and nighttime lows in the 90s. The relative humidity sat between 90 and 100% the whole time. It was unspeakably bad. The last couple of years in the city, from about 1996 or so, we had a tiny window unit that would dehumidify but not really chill one room. We used it in our bedroom when things were really bad, but I always found the noise it made nearly as intolerable as the heat and humidity without it.

Hot child in the city...

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

*nods* A tiny window unit was my salvation sometime afterwards. They are loud, but they can keep my face cool :P Being passed out on the floor naked is not the kind of thing I care to do everyday- especially if family should stop by :P