Non Stop Rain

We set a record for rain in April with over 5". So far in 7 days of May we have close to 2" of rain. Yesterday I took these photos early in the morning and I can't remember seeing it rain so hard that caused these areas to flood like this. Luckily the water drained quickly, just in time for more storms last night. It is sunny now but the grass will not be dry enough to mow the backyard today ... more storms and a tornado watch at 2pm today.

My next lawn project is to drag my ladder out so I can take off that gutter guard I installed three years ago, in this whole U-shaped area. Those little tree butterflies, and small leaves evidently have plugged the downspout areas of my gutter for the rain to come over the sides ... or, it is just raining that hard.

The annual weeding will take place soon, maybe after the rains today. The interesting thing is, under that stone is a very heavy and solid weed barrier ... how do the weeds keep coming back?

After some "YouTube" studying about the Johne Deere mower I have, I decided I wanted to mulch my grass like I did with the push mower. I got the last one on the shelf at Lowes last Saturday and tested it a few hours later. It had a minor leak but it didn't make that much difference in grass left behind. It did its job as designed. So far after mowing with the new to me mower twice, it has proven to be a great idea to spend the money on a riding mower.

This shows you just how much Ava wears out the older hounds. She has them playing soon after their morning nap, which they take after they eat breakfast ... and once they start they play non stop. Running, and chasing each other in the backyard, sometimes through the house. She is getting taller. She also met a another neighbor the other afternoon and did great.

Our escape from the other hounds was through the garage and out the side door. She followed me without a leash, walking next door to see Jeff. He had tried to see her at the fence but Watson always bays at him and jumps up and down at the fence. Ava walked to the other side of their house with me to their driveway without any urge to run off or take off after something she had seen. Henry would have been off without a leash, so would have Watson ... their true hounds.

Watson heads to the vet June 3rd for his annual checkup and shots. I will be interested to see how much he weights this time. He has really grown this past year. He was three years old April 26th.

Ava was a little cautious meeting someone new, like she always is. Eventually she slowly walked toward him with her nose making sure everything was okay. By the time we left she was practically sitting on Jeff's lap. When leaving I walked out to the front yard towards home and turned back to call her, just to see what she would do.

She trotted around the corner of the flowerbed and toward me in the yard. When I asked her "you wanna go home", she sprinted for the open side door and into the garage. She was waiting at the door to go into the house by the time I caught up with her. Smart dog for a few days shy of 4 months old.

Those chewed corners on the coffee table are from Walter three years ago. So far Ava has shown no signs of chewing on furniture, or anything else that is mine. She only chews on all the rope bones, rubber bones and the kong ball. 

Some of you might remember a year or two ago I wanted to buy this place out in Dos Cabezas AZ. It was a small gift shop at the time. The well did not work, it looked in much better shape than this and was just over the mounting from Out West Bassets, where I bought Henry. Wilcox would have been the nearest town for gas, groceries and dog food. I did a screen shot today on Google Maps and this is what it looks like as of January 2024.

The new owner had those two large water tanks moved in. Behind the house is a covered RV. I remember backing out on the deal when I found out the depth  the new wells were having to go to get water. 1400' seemed to be the common depth, talking to real estate agents for that area. I can see why they decided to pay to have water delivered.

Blogger is acting up again where I cannot upload photos through their system. Even after I sort the photos in order and drag them to this blog post template, they upload but in reverse order. I am tired of screwing with it today so from this photo on, taken late Wednesday morning, they are not in my order.

Walter has been pretty non-social sense Ava arrived, now over a month ago. Yet there have been a few major breakthroughs in recent days. They sleep on the same pad/blankets at night, next to each other. He also likes to clean the inside of her ears every morning. He will go outside just long enough to do what he needs to do ... explores a little and heads back inside.

Hard to believe in that nice sunshine and 75° that in less than 4 hours from now the winds will be howling and rain so hard you cannot see. As I walked around my yard "cleaning it" this morning in my bare feet ... yes the yard is very wet and saturated but unlike past years there are not large areas of standing water. So what I have done the past three summers of more topsoil and grass seed has worked.

She is very aware of things and sounds going on around her. I can already see watch dog tendencies.

She and Henry like to do this a lot indoors as well as outside. I am happy that all of them get along so well.

I think you can tell how tall my grass is today with all the rain. I just mowed this on Saturday. Luckily the new riding mower I have will cut though tall grass much easier than my self propelled Toro. Same engine, different horsepower.

Two years ago the electric company hired contractors to trim all those trees away from their two thin utility lines, high above the AT&T cables. Maybe today's wind will blow this off their line. (doubt it) ... most likely it will have to spend some time drying out and rotting to fall off the line. I am not sure if I need to call them or not.

They seem to be ready for the upcoming storms. They didn't wake up last night though when the lightning was bright and the claps of thunder were loud, sounding as if they were right on top of the house. The fact is, houses in this neighborhood have been through tornado watches, high winds and thunderstorms since 1956 and my long time neighbors have told me there has been no major damage here at anytime. Storms always seem to move south of me and follow the Ohio River and/or north of me and follow I-64. A nice location to be in. The high winds will be coming from that direction.

I am posting this early today from "the tropics" of Southern Indiana ... I need a quick trip to the store.