More Rain!

 We had another good day of rain overnight and during the morning. It quit a little after noon here, but a few minutes ago there were more sprinkles. In the meantime, work stopped on my porch, and Bob, my lawn-mowing guy, called to say he wouldn't be here. Good decision - there are spots on my lawn that have standing water on them, and I'm sure on the "lower 40" it's downright swampy in places. Shelly Walker has been watching the rainfall and the water level at the pond. Here's what she wrote early this morning: 

I thought I would add my 2 cents on the rain down on the pond.  I have a rain gauge on my patio.  It is no where near as accurate as your equipment...a simple 6 inch test tube held by a ceramic cat.  In the last 5 days it has collected 5 inches of rain, the majority in the last two days.  Some of my lawn is pretty soupy, but not under water.  The lake level is pretty high, up about 6 inches from Friday.  The boat is OK and I haven't noticed any stray summer toys floating by.

The last significant rain I measured was on July 9th when we got 1.15, according to my gauge. Int he past 5 days, I have measured 3.09  in. That said, the rain has been very spotty and there easily could have been rain where Shelly is and not here. My gauge is actually a 1" tube graduated by 100ths and has a funnel within a 4" overflow tube that allows for overflow. When the smaller tube is full, it is 1 inch of rain; any overflow is caught in the larger tube and I measure that separately and add it to the 1 inch. This is a nationally-approved measuring setup, but is not as precise, I expect, as the equipment at Fairbanks Museum of the National Weather Service station in Burlington, etc. However, it's close enough for "government work," as my boss at Social Security Administration used to say.

Thanks, Shell, for your observations - I expect the pond will continue to rise for a while as runoff pours into it. I do think that a lot of this rain soaked into the ground, though, so the runoff may not be as much as it would be in a more normal year when it wasn't as dry as this summer has left the ground.

I appreciate the rain, but wish it hadn't interrupted my porch progress. When I first got home from my appointment just before noon, I was surprised when I walked into the garage. I immediately thought something was different, but I had an armful of groceries and didn't pay close attention until a little later. Then I realized that all the 14 ft. cedar planks I'd had laid out were on edge. I'd left the ones I'd finished with two coats of finish on edge, but the others were in different stages between one and two coats on all four sides. Apparently Randy and Curt had decided the lumber would dry faster if they were spaced further apart on edge. They had goofed up my system! At first I was a little annoyed - well, perhaps more than a little, but then I realized I should be able to tell which side of each
board had only one coat on it. And that proved to be very easy. I put them back in order so I knew where I was going with the process, and am finishing up now. I'm waiting for the last three to be dry enough to flip so I can put the final coat on the undersides. Then these are done. I'm also at the bottom of the first gallon on stain. There will be more to do on some of the interior, but I think I've got the bulk finished. When those guys get here tomorrow I'm going to have to tell them not to mess with my system if they want me to stay on the job painting for them!

I almost forgot to remind you:

Tickets for the Italian dinner Sat . July 24th  are $16, please Pam Hebert at 684-3655.  Menu is barbecued chicken, mostaccioli, salad, rolls and eclair.