That’s the way I felt this morning. We’ve had rain for two days now. Last night it seemed like every time I dropped off to sleep another thunderstorm rolled through with thunder to wake me up and lightning to flash at my closed eyelids. It poured! We got 2.80 inches just since midnight. Add that to the 2.47 inches we got on Tuesday, the .59 inches yesterday and you get a grand total of 6.94 inches. That’s just about the same amount Irene left us with only one week ago! Enough already!

It’s standing room only in our little creek before it makes its first cascade down the little falls.

The second falls.

My feet were going squish squish squish as I was dodging large puddles of standing water while taking these photos. It’s really saturated in the lower part of our yard. Thank goodness our house is situated uphill from all this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much moisture around since we’ve lived here.

Our un-split stack of wood likes to grow fungi in rain like this. I love the ruffly look of them.

Here is a coral mushroom that I found growing near the road. Actually there were quite a few of them all in the same spot. They are rather odd looking.

This butterfly found a nice place to rest after the storm on my butterfly bush. I cut my butterfly bush back too late this spring, so it is just now blooming. Better late than never!

I’m hoping this rainy trend stops soon.

 

My wet driveway early last evening.

If you are reading this then you are a newly minted member to my blog site! Welcome, and thanks for joining! To have my blog become membership only has long been a wish of mine. I know you’ve heard me say it time and time again. Now thanks to computer guru (and husband) Rick, my wish has been granted. No more waking up to ten comments left by people whose sentences are mere gibberish with links to who-knows-what kind of web sites embedded within them. Hurray! And I doubt that anyone noticed, but our entire web site was transferred off an old and aging server over the weekend to a new one by our provider. All went smoothly thank goodness.

If only all things were going that smoothly. Last week I noticed that our 15 year old Maytag Neptune washer was not spinning the clothes anymore. This weekend we went shopping for a replacement and were surprised to hear that our particular Maytag model basically put the Maytag people out of business because it was such an unreliable machine! For us it was just the opposite. We chose a sleek new wave action LG steam washer and steam dryer. Delivery date was set for today. Last night we got a call that our delivery date had been pushed out to next Wednesday due to blah, blah, blah (you’d be bored if I explained). So, next Wednesday just happens to be the day before we leave for our cabin in Colorado. And, as you can imagine, I have loads and loads of laundry to do before then. Thank goodness I washed all the cabin bedding and towels before the washer quit on me. At least that’s done.  We don’t have a laundromat in our town either, can you believe it? Neighbor Kim offered her washer to me but she said hers doesn’t spin all the time either and she has to reset it to spin. I told her she needs a new machine as well!

In the past 24 hours we’ve had another three inches of rain. Good grief, not what we need at all! I’m glad we managed to get the lawn mowed this past weekend. What a soggy mess! Hopefully the flooding will be minimal down the mountain from us. They already have enough to deal with.

The trees are stressed from all the rain and are dropping leaves like crazy. Some even look like they are starting to turn which is way too early. I don’t think the color is going to be very good this fall.

Along with the rain comes interesting mushrooms. These were growing by our neighbors’ stone wall. I don’t know what they are but they were gorgeous. Maybe a type of chanterelle. We weren’t sure so we didn’t try them out!

 

A visiting fawn from last week.

On Monday we took the dogs for a walk down to Green Turtle Pond. The road leading down there had been closed off due to water damage from Irene, so we knew we’d have a nice quiet walk. It was pretty soggy through the wooded trail section and we had to detour off the path several times to avoid downed trees. Somehow both Rick and I managed to get stung by wasps: for Rick it was on his arm, and for me, on my knee. The road was full of deeply carved gullies but no major wash-outs like we had envisioned.  When we reached the pond we were the only ones there. I don’t think that’s ever happened before. It was so quiet and peaceful. The dogs got a much deserved drink and of course Bella had to go wading.

Alex shows off his silly side while Hailey looks on. Thank goodness the dogs are booked at the groomer’s this week!

Bella’s “spin-dry” cycle works better than the one on my washing machine at the moment!

I know it’s kind of a lame post but that’s all I have for you today. Again, my heartfelt thanks for sticking with me and continuing to read! Somebody please leave a comment so we can see if that’s working too!

 

Like I mentioned in my previous blog entry, Rick took Friday off and we went to the Dutchess County Fair in Rhinebeck, NY.  We had planned this day weeks ahead. A very wise choice as it turned out, because they cancelled the fair for Saturday and Sunday—their biggest days— due to Hurricane Irene. So sad.

The fairgrounds are also home to the Sheep & Wool Festival that we’ve gone to for the past two years that takes place in October. And, for those of you that don’t know, I spent my childhood years growing up in Dutchess County, New York. My sister tells me that we used to go to the fair but I honestly don’t remember! This is the first time Rick and I have ever gone.

The fair’s grounds and buildings don’t change but instead of barns filled with sheep, wool and everything to do with wool, they are full of cows,

 

 

pigs,

 

 

 

chickens,

 

 

 

Note the name of this one: Fluffy Pants

photo by Rick

 

photo by Rick

 

photo by Rick

rabbits,

Poor bunny! (Read the sign above him.)

photo by Rick

and of course 4-H projects.

There are many more food vendors, in fact it’s hard to decide what and where to eat and drink.

 

 

 

 

photo by Rick

But the heart of any fair is the midway with its games, silly side show attractions and rides.

 

You could see the world’s smallest horse or the largest: you choose!

 

Or how about these oddities? Rick did go into this one and paid $3.00. I wouldn’t go in. He said some of the things were real (poor animals) and some were just stuffed versions. He said it was pretty sad.

Rick took this photo too which I absolutely love!

Even the cloud seems to be asking why? as it forms a question mark over this ride! Does this look like *fun* to you?

Or how about this one?

Here it is in action.

 

This little boy was in an attraction called The Hampster Cage—plastic tubes that you could roll around while inside them. I loved the surrealism of the way the photos came out.

 

We took the back roads home and found a way to get there with Mia without going on the interstate even though at one point it takes a lot of zigging and zagging in the towns. We fell in love with the historic Rondout and Stockade districts in Kingston (which we stumbled on by taking a slight detour that we didn’t mean to) with its old stone houses and also the beautiful countryside and charm of the town of New Paltz. Sadly, the area around New Paltz had a lot of flooding with Irene. We’ll be headed back before too long because I want to take a walking tour in Kingston and explore New Paltz.

All in all, a delightful day!

 

Can you feel it? The changing of the seasons, that is. Over the past few days suddenly the days are getting shorter. The nights are becoming cooler. In the mornings I run around the house closing windows to stem the flow of cool damp air into the house.  The sun is rising later and last night we barely got through with dinner and walking the dogs before it started getting dark. How did this happen so quickly?

The hummingbirds feel it too. They are hitting the feeder at a frenetic pace.  Whirring and chittering around it, fighting over whose “flower” it is. I see it as a last final sugar charge before starting their long journey south. I haven’t seen this many hummingbirds all summer, so maybe we have a few visiting interlopers that have already started their migration from points further north.

The pool, of course, is done for the year. It’s closing is scheduled for the 13th of September. It might be swimmable this weekend. Maybe. But, right now it’s full of leaves from good old Irene. And of course, all the pool furniture was put away and most of the cabana was taken down last weekend in preparation for Irene. Somehow I can’t see us bringing it all back out again only to put it all up again in a few weeks.

I’m not sad. I don’t mind seeing summer end. Especially this one when it’s been so hot and humid. I’m ready for the change, are you?

In other news, the flooding “down the mountain” (as they say around here) is at epic proportions. Rick can make it to work but it takes twice as long. His company has adopted a shorter day work week (9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) to allow people more travel time. The gas station where he normally gets gas has sunk into the ground and there is standing water 6 feet deep around it. I feel so badly for all of the people who have been forced to leave their homes in the advancing flood waters. We were so lucky not to lose power or any trees. Lots of tree limbs down, some very large, and lots of stripped leaves everywhere, but that’s about the extent of our damage. It’s going to take some time for things to return to normal again.

The battery of our battery-powered light sources (and a few oil based ones) for which (so far) we have not had to use.

Well, not quite Goodnight, but close. Most of you out there are probably too young to remember the song of the same name. I lifted these two sentences from the lyrics:

You cause me to weep, you cause me to mourn
You cause me to leave my home

We did not have to leave our home like so many others, nor did we do any weeping although there was quite a bit of anxiety involved. Mostly now we are worried about all the huge trees surrounding our house and what the rain saturated ground and now escalating winds will do to them. Hopefully all will be as well as our weathering the storm last night and into this morning.

Yesterday the turkeys were acting very strangely. They all came to feed as they usually do, but then they all starting digging in the mulch under our burning bush hedge in front and laying down as if they were all trying to nest. Trust me, the sight of 18 turkeys (grown plus 13 babies) all doing the same thing was very odd. The dogs were acting strangely too. All on edge and jumpy. I am thinking the huge drop in the barometric pressure was to blame.

As it was getting dark last night Bella was barking from the back yard and looking into the front yard. She was pretty adamant about it and it wasn’t because neighbor Finnbarr was out. Rick went out front to check it out and saw a big black shape in the driveway. By the time he got out there it had gone. More than likely a bear who felt the strange air preceding the storm as well.

Here are a couple of captures from yesterday’s weather report on the television from ABC news with Lee Goldberg. I love the shape of Irene in this photo. She is one awesome and quite beautiful force of nature.

I just had to take this photo which shows the county we live in being dissected by one of the course projection lines. (The furtherest to the left: blue and pink converging on each other.) Now that was scary!

Overall we had right at 7 inches of rain since just before midnight last night. This does not impact us, but further down in places like Wayne (where Rick works) it spells disaster and flooding.

The “little” creek behind our house has overflowed its banks and is more like a river.

Our power went out in a tiny glitch around 11:00 p.m. last night. Not enough to disturb the clocks or anything else. It went off and on again twice close to 4:00 a.m. which was enough to reset the smoke alarms and send everything else in our house into a tizzy. The dogs hate the beep of the smoke alarms, so they all ended upstairs wanting attention with us. The winds were really strong around 2:00 a.m. and wind driven sheets of rain were pelting the windows. Then it all seemed to calm down a bit until later when the rains set in again big time.

Right now the sun is sort of out at 1:20 p.m. and it is very breezy to windy. I would love to go out and explore now that the rain has finally stopped but I am worried about trees falling over. After one man died last spring in our community when a tree landed on the car he was driving and killed him (his wife in the passenger seat was spared), then a few months later a colleague of Rick’s was killed in the same way. Again, his wife survived and he was killed instantly. Since then I have a whole new respect for wind and trees. (Katie, I hope you’re doing well!) I think now it’s become a phobia for me.

Airports closed, public transportation shut down, roads and bridges closed. WOW. Seems hard to believe. But I agree with their choices wholeheartedly. There are always those people who go against the grain and need to be “rescued” from situations they should never have gotten themselves into in the first place. Yet the tax payers always seem to end up paying for their stupidity. What a system. And might I add that it seems no American can be responsible for their own actions anymore. There is always someone else to lay the blame on. Truly sad. I think I’m getting old.

ANYWAY, in honor of my Mom’s birthday yesterday, or should I say what would have been her 85th birthday, I made her spaghetti and meatball recipe. I had never really been a fan before, but after trying various different recipes and having them all taste not so good, I went back to a classic. I miss you so much Mom! I would love now to ask you if this is Nana Monroe’s recipe or if you made it up yourself?

I am happy to report a resounding success! It was delicious! Yummmmm.

So, enough for now. Just wanted to let anyone out there who might be concerned that all is well at the moment. Now we have to decide which things to put back out around the pool before we leave for Colorado. Maybe nothing since we mostly took down the cabana except for the side curtains which we just tied to the structure; the canoe is safely tucked inside the basement (thanks to neighbor Mark for his help!); the deck planter boxes are down and the flowers pretty much done.

Maybe I should thank Ms. Irene for helping us jump start the fall clean up?

Maybe not. She’s been a disruptive little bitch. (Please pardon my language.)