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w_r_ranch

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Bottled up 3 pint jars of the dehydrated diced jalapenos.

Cleaned/refilled the 2 hummingbird feeders.
 
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Mr_Yan

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3.5 inches or so of rain over night. To major lines of stormes passed. We're saturated. We had 70 mph straight line winds near here.

Woke up to standing water in the backyard. I've never had standing water in the backyard. Water starting to seep into the basement. We've had water down there before but it never gets more than a surface that flows to the drain.

More rain predicted.

Did not have time to stop by my garden at church to see if there was damage.
 

w_r_ranch

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Did the weekly shopping.

Washed Mrs. Ranch's Jeep in preparation of clay-barring.

Dieter will be 7 months old this weekend... hard to believe how the time has flown!!! He's gotten to the point that I can no longer pick him up to weigh him, so we need to go to the vet's office once a month for weigh-ins. Earlier this week, we gave him a duck decoy & he liked it so much that he destroyed the head on it in 15 minutes so I had to cut it off. Then we gave him a frisbee, which lasted less than 5 minutes. This afternoon I gave him a 12" tire just to see what kind of damage he could inflict on it. He likes 'big boy' toys (the bigger & heavier, the better it seems). I swear he could carry an adult deer around in his mouth, LOL!!! Lil' Dieter's not so little anymore...
 
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Mr_Yan

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More rain. 1.5" between 2 and 3:30 this afternoon. Raining again now. The ground is saturated.

Spent the last 90 minutes picking up stuff in the basement, pushing water toward the drain with a squeegee, running the shopvac to vac up dirty water. Right now the basement floor is flowing. Nothing I can do about it. Just get things out of the way and let it flow.

Tomorrow's forecast 50% chance of afternoon T-storms. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday only have a 10% chance of precip on the 5 day forecast.

We're sending this stuff south via the Mississippi but that won't help you guys in the Texas desert.

-----
Weather radio just cut in with a flash flood warning. No one pays attention to those things around here.
 
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Mr_Yan

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We got another 1.5 inches of rain on top of the 1.5 we already had. 24 hour total of 3. So that puts us around 7 inches of rain since Sunday afternoon.

Basement river is flowing. I emptied 8 to 12 5-gallon buckets from the pit where our water meter is. I lost track of how many buckets it was. We don't have a sump and sump pump here.

About to go to homedepot and get 100 feet of the black corrugated drain hose and re-route the gutter down spouts a LONG way from the house.
 

w_r_ranch

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Sounds like you have broken or clogged drain tiles around your basements footers... very expensive repair as they have to excavate around the entire house. Ask me how I know.



I'm glad we don't have basements here...


 

w_r_ranch

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Clay-barred Mrs. Ranch's Jeep. I got about 60% of it done, then applied the Rejex Polymer Coating... The heat/humidity in the garage is staggering today.

Made pizza dough for tonight's supper.
 
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Mr_Yan

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Sounds like you have broken or clogged drain tiles around your basements footers... very expensive repair as they have to excavate around the entire house. Ask me how I know.
@w_r_ranch I think this one is a little beyond broken / clogged drain tile. I suspect this house never had drain tile placed in when built. This is an inexpensive bungalow built in the mid 1920's. I also have a strong suspicion that this was a kit house possibly from one of the local furniture or hardware companies. We don't have a sump or other drainage location as is the case with about half the houses in this neighborhood.

About half the houses around here do have sumps and all of them were retrofits. The current thought is the trenching and tile installation is done internally and not excavate to the footing. They cut through the basement floor a foot wide and a foot or so from the foundation wall then dig out the trench. Drain tile is then laid and crushed gravel placed over it. The trench is then covered with concrete and they move onto the next house. From what I have been told a skilled team can do a house in two or so days.

Trenching in in the basement cost my neighbors about $5000 twenty years ago. This job is all labor and all hand work. The materials to do this house can be bought at a big box for less than $200.
 

w_r_ranch

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Watered all the trees, hanging baskets, pots, asparagus & flowerbeds early this morning for 1 1/2 hrs. The temperature, of course, is heading upwards everyday as we approach hotter'n hell week here in Texas.
 
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Mr_Yan

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Yesterday I bought 100 feet of 4" corrugated black tubing and two snap fitting Ts. This will allow me to collect the run off from the gutter down spouts on more than half the house and run it 20 feet away from the house and a few feet down hill. Today I get to dig and trench that in. I'm not looking forward to it.
 
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Mr_Yan

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About 25% of the way through the trenching. Just started raining. This was not in the forecast. Now the trench is mud.
 

w_r_ranch

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Almost finished with Mrs. Ranch's Jeep... On both hers & mine, I still have to pull off the front license plates so I can use the buffer on the front ends (love bug guts are embedded in the paint).

Made our version of Spanish rice to go along with our supper.
 
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Mr_Yan

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Finished the digging part of the drain tube trench in the backyard. Most of it is back filled now. I also spread mulch over the top of that to reduce the mud in the play area.

Broke the handle off my 4-tine cultivator rake. It just slid out so I pinned it to get by for the rest of the night. Either I buy crap tools (not entirely the case), abuse them (not used too much out side of designed purpose), or I expect too much out of them. 4 of the 6 tools I am using on this project have been re-handled.

Now to dig the 15 feet worth of the trench that will be the hardest. This section runs parallel and about 3 feet off of a privet hedge. I expect it to be filled with roots. To add insult to this the previous owner "mulched" this with stones.
 

w_r_ranch

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Cut the grass.

Start prepping the front ends of both Jeeps by removing the license plates & bug shields. I replaced the Lexon license plate covers & also installed polyurethane 'bumpers' on the back of the bug shields (the original rubber ones were badly deteriorated). Tomorrow I will use my orbital buffer to clean the front ends & apply the first of 2 coats of the polymer.
 
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Mr_Yan

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Bought a trench shovel, pick ax handle, 60" rake / hoe handle, and a tiny kid size D-handle digging spade.

I dug about 25 feet of finished depth trench and another 15 feet of partial depth trench. All down spouts are connected to the tube. I should be in OK shape for the storm(s) forecast for tomorrow. I want to get the last 20 feet buried more but I ran out of light today.

Who would have thought but a tool named "trench shovel" is really good a digging 4 inch wide trenches in loam and clay. A week ago I didn't even know this tool existed. Naturally when I bought it it was painted and dull. It's still dull but much of the paint has worn off.
 

w_r_ranch

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Made a pot of pinto beans.

Finished the front ends of both Jeeps... just in time, as it hit 103 here.

Harvested 24 more big jalapenos. Some for my pot of pinto beans & the rest for stuffed japs (used lil' smokies this time).
 
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ksk

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Pulled the last of squash plants.Heat is just too much.Thined out tomatoes also.Refilled deer feeders.
 

w_r_ranch

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Cleaned & refilled the wasp traps.

Yesterday afternoon we noticed that we now have 6 hummingbirds so the bird lady asked me to put up 2 more. It's a couple of weeks early for the fall migration to start (normally August 15th here), but it quite possible if the north is going to have an early winter...
Harvested more butternut, acorn & spaghetti squash & prepped them for storage.

 
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w_r_ranch

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Made Italian bread & 2 small 'stromboli' (with pepperoni, ham & provolone) for snacking on tomorrow.


Did the weekly shopping & a few other chores in town.

Watered the hanging baskets & pots on the porches... it's a warm 105 degrees this afternoon.
 
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ksk

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Watered garden.Making okra/sausage gumbo for supper.I had a load of small rock delivered and will start putting it around the house replacing what was put in 15 years ago.
 

w_r_ranch

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^^^ Wait till later today, forecast is saying 105 in the shade... ^^^

Early this morning, I watered all the trees, asparagus & flowerbeds for 1 1/2 hrs.

I harvested our first watermelon of the season & it was well worth the wait... Dieter taste-tested it & gave it a 2 paws up rating (he's actually begging for more), LOL!!! I have to agree, there's nothing like an ice cold watermelon on a hot summer day!!!


 
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w_r_ranch

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We now have 14 hummingbirds, so the bird lady asked me to put up 3 more feeders. With this increase in birds, I am now pretty certain that there is going to be an early winter.

Refilled the regular bird feeders as well... the red birds & woodpeckers are hitting the sunflower seeds pretty heavy.

Jeeze it's hot today, even Dieter doesn't want to go outside... it's 106 right now. We miss being in Panama at this time of year, sitting around the pool & sucking down beers...
 
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ksk

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Ranch I'm not that far from you and I have 2 hummers, a few woodpeckers and more red birds.Turkeys eat what is under the feeders that the squirrels knock out.The garden is on the down side other than okra.I did can 10 half pints of jalapenos and 3 of banana peppers today.It did hit 103 here earlier.
 

w_r_ranch

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Harvested all the remaining butternut, acorn & spaghetti squash & prepped them for storage. Also harvested more jalapenos that will be stuffed to go along with tonight's supper.

Our mail lady stopped by so I harvested a couple of watermelons for her family.

Put some of our ranch rub on chicken drumsticks & breasts for smoking this afternoon. I'll do them over post oak & hickory coals at 220 for about 3 hrs. They'll be served with stuffed japs & one other side (probably corn/soybean succotash)...
 
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