I think winter is NOT here yet

That title is in contrast to the title of the last post. In September we were dumped on by the rains of autumn. A typhoon that hit Japan or China jumped into the polar jet stream and headed back to the northwest. It was loaded with rain!!! The weatherman told us it was coming and I had reason to expect a flooded patio. Here’s the long story.

A few weeks earlier we had a few minutes of hard rain and the downspout by the corner of the patio overflowed at the ground level where it goes into the pipe that carries the water to the street. That pipe is called a foundation drain. Water invaded the patio and we had to rescue rugs and other stuff we didn’t want to get wet. I thought this was just because of so much water all at once; an anomaly. It would drain normal rain but backed up in a downpour. But now we are supposed to get a monsoon. I heard they had sandbags available at Home Depot so I went down and filled a dozen. We built a dam and dug a trench and the rains came down. And the floods came up. The downspout spouted water like it did before but the sandbags helped – there was definitely a lot more water on the outside of the dike than on the inside. Well, something is wrong in the drain; it will have to be corrected.

Four or five days later we got a break in the weather so I took off the downspout. A hose down the pipe and into the foundation drain didn’t seem to indicate a blockage. The drain goes about two feet, turns a corner and picks up another downspout. There is a shrub at the corner and I thought maybe the roots had invaded the drain. So I dug up the corner. Nope. All was well.

I removed the downspout at that spot. All looked well. A hose pushed upstream seemed to indicate no problem. But pushed downstream, well… the water didn’t seem to flow as well as it should. The drain goes along the back of the house, turns another corner, picks up another downspout and heads to the street. I took that downspout off. Downstream, no problem. Upstream? The hose would only go a few inches.

Now I have to explain that there is a chain link fence going around the back yard. At this corner of the house there is a gate. Next to the house and very near the corner is a galvanized pipe going into the ground as a post for the latch side of the gate. In fact you can bring the latch down and put a padlock on it. The hose going up the drain seemed to end at about the place where the post went down. Now you’re thinking what I’m thinking, right? Surely no one would put a post into the drain. Would they?

Well, there was nothing left to do but dig up the post. It was encased in a big hunk of concrete and it left a large hole. Finally it came free and brought up a piece of pipe with it. And there it was – the post right through the elbow at the corner of the foundation drain. A little water could pass by but a huge torrent would back up. I could not believe anyone would do that.

My opinion of the workmanship? On the charitable side it was total ignorance. A couple guys said, “Sure we can put up a fence. It can’t be very hard, can it.” At the other extreme it was total malfeasance. A couple guys said, “Oops, there’s a pipe down there. Quick, cover it up before anyone sees it.”

A five dollar elbow from Home Depot, filling in my holes, replacing the downspouts and all is well again. But I saw it.

Then October came. Nice weather. Joyce and I took a vacation. Well, now really? Can a retired person go on vacation? Isn’t all of life a vacation? Uhhh, no comment. Anyway, we went to Belknap Hot Springs, up Highway 26 a little east of McKenzie Bridge. It is one of our favorite places and all we did was laze around, read, sleep, and soak in the hot pool. Like this…

Ahh, nice!

The Lodge. Some rooms upstairs, RV spaces to the right and more behind me up on a second level. The pool is on the other side of the Lodge. To right of the lodge is a bridge over the McKenzie River leading to the source of the hot water and on to a beautiful area for weddings, tent camping a cabin or two.

Our RV sitting on the bank of the river. We were there four days – it rained two and was beautiful for two. The rain didn’t bother us. We still hit the pool and otherwise read and slept. Oh yes, I did a little writing.

We’re on the other side of the river and that white spec way over there to the left is our RV.

Just a little stroll in the woods. The leaves were changing color and it was beautiful. We don’t have the massive forests of changing color like some parts of the US but what we have is sure nice.

After the September rains we have had almost two weeks of sunshine. And the newspaper says there is at least 10 days more. We have been using this time to get things done around the farm in preparation for when winter comes – and it will come. Joyce and I spent parts of several days getting the RV ready for a long winter’s nap. It is now washed, waxed, and it’s water pipes have been blown out. This week we will cover it and look forward to next spring!

Speaking of changing colors. Our neighborhood has a few small trees that change color but around the corner there are lots of huge trees with lots of leaves.

The red tree to the right is in front of our house. It is the odd ball of the neighborhood. It doesn’t loose it’s leaves until next spring. They are usually green, turn red in the autumn, then die but hang on until the new leaves force them off in the spring.

Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? It appears to be some kind of oak but I don’t know what kind.

Blessings.