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TS Andrea

This last week we had our first tropical storm of the year. I shrugged it off. After all, it was passing through Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina before it got to us, and it wasn't that strong to begin with. Prepare? For a tropical storm? Oh, please.

And so I got up on Friday morning and prepared for my busy day...a quilting class in North Raleigh, many errands, grocery shopping and cooking for a few extended family members. A good day!

The sky was dark, we had slight wind gusts and a steady, decent rain, which we needed. Yes, we had the same thing the day before (a whopping 2 inches of rain in the gauge), but seeing as how dry my garden has been and clearly remembering the drought a few years ago when wells ran dangerously low, I welcome rain.

I gladly donned my rainjacket to tend the chickens, run errands. I even wore flip-flops to my quilting class. Perhaps that was my downfall. I exited class to a torrential downpour. I needn't have worried about splashing my pants. The water gushing through the parking lot was up to my ankles, but by the time I got in my car, the rest of me was so soaked no one would have noticed my wet feet anyway. Thankfully I was dry by the time I got back to Garner and the grocery store, only to exit the store to the largest deluge of the day.  On the way home, I was shocked to see ditches overflowing and parts of New Bethel and Clifford flooding. Our poor dirt road was mixtures of puddles and rivers, and our yard...it looked like we had just weathered a hurricane instead of a mere tropical storm. I checked the rain gauge when I checked the mail...and was shocked. Four inches in one day. Six inches in two. And here's what that looks like:
 water to the base of the pier
 
 Water from the road merges with puddles and the pond, extending the pond to the low area of our property. Ever since DOT re-did the ditches on the road, this happens after any major rain. Bobby's chair will get stuck anywhere near the grapevines after a good rain. But this was a little more than a good rain.
 

And the goose house is flooded. The ramps to it, around it, and about 3" of the floor were covered.
 
 
When my brother-in-law came for supper, he rode the ranger (a cross between a 4wheeler and a jeep) through the field and over the dam to come. He said there was about a foot of water rushing over the spillway. Thankfully the sun came out and started drying up the rain...and then it started again yesterday. It didn't get as bad as last week's tropical storm, but the ground is already so soaked I've got to wait before I can cut grass.
 
So even though I'm not looking forward to a 90 temp today, I am looking forward to the sunshine that comes with it.


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