It’s been a fun July, hasn't it, at
least for all of us on the east coast. From
a gardening standpoint, this weather is better than an automated irrigation
system. I imagine that my vegetables and
flowers are enjoying the constant precipitation, but can we say enough?
It is STILL raining here in the Smoky Mountains, and that is getting
quite old. Rivers and streams are over
their banks, the ground is so saturated that roadways are being undermined,
hillsides are subject to mud/rockslides, streets are flooded in all of the usual
locations and in many other places that have never had standing water
problems.
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| View to the south. |
The worst part is that it is not
over. We are still in for three more
days of rain, and the forecast shows a significant chance every day for the next week.
The humidity is through the roof (the local TV weatherman called it “juicy”) and nothing is exempt from the
effects of the moist atmosphere. “People
towels” have to be changed after each shower, and the “doggy towels,” well, let’s
not even go there. And yes, Sebastian is
still a “leash only” potential runaway, so with each soggy-dog potty trip,
there is an equally soggy daddy tagging along.
The rains earlier this week came in
straight-line downpours that were reminiscent of Southeast Asian monsoons, and providing
you could stay indoors, it was actually pleasantly relaxing, but the past few
days have been peppered with thunderstorms.
My Bubba, Sebastian, is one of
those dogs that is terrorized by the crack and rumble of thunder. I have spent numerous hours holding him while
he quakes uncontrollably, oh, and note the date, fireworks are in the same frightening
noise category. The Fourth was pretty
much a wash out, but Friday night cleared up around dusk so that every yahoo
who had enough gas to drive across the South Carolina border had the
opportunity to explode their contraband pyrotechnics. I sat for hours holding an inconsolable
doggy.
All of this during the time that my
wife, Shirle, is visiting her daughters down in Florida. I think she has this pretty well timed; she
is due to fly back on Thursday, which only has a 30% chance of rain and
hopefully starts a period of drier weather.
It is hard enough for me to take on the onus of solo household duties while
working full time, but the added issues with the weather and dogs has left me needing a vacation (ha, like that will ever happen). But she will be back soon and life will
resume its normality. I am looking
forward to getting in the truck and going to town without taking Betsy and
Sebastian with me. Bubba can’t stay home with the threat of a thunderstorm, and that
limits my in-store time to a quick dash leaving the dogs in the truck. If there has been anything good about all of
this rain is that the sun has been obscured, and the temperature has been cool
making my few shopping trips rather tolerable for my stowaways.
Meanwhile, work has been relatively
light which fortuitously gave me the time to rebuild the server on my
network. My four months of computer
issues seems like it has come to an
end. I am working from my desk on a full
size keyboard and 23” display; I am so weary of the laptop routine. It is not like the weather has been beautiful
and I've been working outside on the deck.
Instead I've been rotating on a carousel of a recliner in the loft, to
the living room sofa, to the kitchen table, to my desk already over-crowded
with the peripherals of the malfunctioning computer. Each stop has a somewhat limited duration of
comfort and tolerance.
Enough of these silly ramblings, I
should take the dogs out before those clouds decide to water my garden again.
