But Why the Boot?

Have you ever seen the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie?  The original movie, before Disney went crazy with sequels?  There is a scene where  Miss Elizabeth has left on an island and she burns the rum in order to be saved and Jack Sparrow keeps muttering about why the rum. That has been my line for the last three days.

WHY THE BOOT! Why!

After weeks and weeks, no maybe even months and months of rain, the last three days have been dry and I decided to air my boots out overnight as I frequently do during the summer.  I believe it helps warrant against foot funk.  No research to back that data up, but as I had foot funk only once, I will continue to do so until proven otherwise.  Besides, leaving a shoe outside doesn't hurt the shoe.  That is unless a near do well runs off with it.

Wednesday morning, thinking the Planner or the Kid came up with some agenda to drive me crazy I let it slide.  Thursday morning I was really wanting my shoe but was willing to hold out and win this crazy game they concocted.  Friday morning I was done.  I wanted to wear my shoes.  When asked about my missing shoe, they acted all innocent and charming.  "What, where is your shoe"  Yadda Yadda Yadda as so forth.  By Friday afternoon, I was beside myself with the missing shoe.

Well as it turns out, the near do well was not the Planner nor the Kid.  It was an honest to goodness true shoe theif.  Plan473 searched high and low, through thick and thin grasses, over and under all bushes and the shoe has yet to return.  Dammit!  What the heck am I supposed to do for a boot?  Can't be expected to wear mud boots until it is found.  Can't be expected to wear thin sided Chucks with standing water everywhere.  Can't be expected to wear flip-flops as its COLD outside.  Argh!

WHY THE BOOT?  Because it is easier to run off with a leather steel toe boot than it is with a rubber flip-flop?  Why the boot?  And I only wanted to air out the boots, jesh.  Now I am bootless.  It would have been better to steal both.  Just saying.

Like I said, the rain had finally stopped. By Friday, the sun was actually showing through the clouds.  Saturday morning dawned clear and cool.  What better way to spend the day than a bike ride! The Planner had bought a bike in the last month and had not been able to test it on long trips yet.  Well, yesterday was the day.  We rode and rode and rode.  The boys jumped curbs and raced and did boy stunts.  It was great!

Sunday, the air was a little chilly but the sun was out and the breeze was gentle. What better way to spend the day as with some competitive boat races.  The Planner and the Kid in one boat, a couple of other kid sailors in another boat, the coach and a new sailor in  another boat, and a couple of other boats with college sailors.  Having never been on this boat before, the Planner relied on the Kid for complete instructions and directions.  After a few moments of bickering, the two were off.

Sitting on the dock watching the races, my mind was reeling with all the things needing to be done at Plan473.  Work that can only be done with full sun and dry weather.  Grass needs cutting, trees need trimming, and chicken coop needs cleaning.  Shop box needs repainting and Kid Box needs to placed on framework.  However, I hear the squeals and giggles of boat races I try to tell myself sometimes a break is needed to spend time as a family. Yes, both the Planner and I work from home and the Kid schools from home.  But this structured time is not the same as spending free time together.  Time with no agenda, no time constraints, no requirements to fulfill.  The Kid turns 11 next month meaning is only a matter of moments until he will not want to spend time with us.  So yes, we took the whole weekend off and spent it doing nothing.  It was great!

A Great Shower

Holy moly batman.  Plan473 has gone from cooler fall days to full on winter! Last week the Kid and I worked up a sweat on our 5mile bike ride.  The weather was cool enough to warrant a long sleeve shirt in the AM but nothing more.

This week, it is dark and gloomy, cold and windy, and wet.  Temperatures never reached above 60's and the sun was missing in action.  Cold winter days are nice in winter.  Hello, it is not even Halloween.  South Texas children do not have the luxury of participating in warm Halloween activities such as spiced drinks and stewed apples.  South Texas trick or treaters want cold punch and air conditioner.  However with Halloween just a few days away and winter seeming to already be upon us, the Halloween may be a true fall event this year.  

The problem is not that winter seems to have come early with more cold weather on the way.  The problem is that winter has come early and the outside shower was not ready for winter temperatures. Cold showers when the temperatures are a thousand degrees outside is fabulous.  Cold showers when the temperatures are in the upper 70's is manageable. Cold showers when the weather is cold and wet is not fun.

To shower in this condition once or twice is not fun but can be done.  We've all done it.  Gone camping for a week with the only shower is in a cold creek.  Rented a room in a seedy hotel with no hot water.  Hot water heater dies on a Wednesday at 8pm.  It has been done, at least once.  Plan473 did it just last year on our road trip to see the Solar Eclipse.  Bathing in a Colorado mountain feed spring is cold, cold, cold.  Cold, even in August.  But we cheated.  After a quick rinse off, one pot of warm water was splashed over the body.  Kinda of like a jump start in reverse.  Have to say after a cold shower, the outside air temperature in CO did not seem so bad.  As they say, cold is relevant.

To shower when the wind chill is in the 30's and is raining on your head with only cold water is NOT happening.  There is no amount of jumping up and down that will help.  Having a hot water heater outside has always been in the plan for the shower.  For some reason, it was not done last year. Winter showers were crouched low and managed in the Rainstream shower.  After great research, the propane on demand hot water heater was installed.  Two valves to control the water regulation of hot and cold water and a ball valve for easy off and on and the shower was complete.

Unlike all these other pins, feeds, posts, and images seen, this is a true working industrial creation. All galvanized to help against the ever-present salt air.  All easily modified if need be for future alterations.  All Planner created and designed.  All working and fantastically HOT.  Having a hot water heater will lead to an issue if not careful.  Standing in hot water feel fabulous and refreshing. Nice.  Standing in hot water for no other reason than because it is hot depletes the water source. Not so nice.  Plan473 will have to make a conscious effort to not waste water.  Maybe once the rain water collection system is up and fully working, then maybe a few minutes can be spared. Until then, it is still and in and out shower.  A nice hot in and out shower.

And let me say it was installed in the nick of time.  Feels like 46, hah.  Let those weather forecasters come stand outside in the shower and tell me it only feels like 46.  I think not.  I think it was more like 36.  And do you see it, more rain?  Rain rain go away....

The second or third day after the water heater was installed it was commandeered by green tree frogs. Six of them in all colors and sizes.  Some inside where the wiring was exposed, some on top directly next to the propane outlet, and some just hanging on the outside under the tin cover so they were out of the wind.  Not that frogs in the shower are new, just having so many at one time is a little unnerving.  Taking a shower with little green tree frogs watching from between the slats is a new (not likable) experience.  The Kid felt as if they were waiting for the perfect moment to jump into the water stream and land on him.  As this happens occasionally with tree frogs on the top of the shower head, it is not an unfound concern. One every now and again is one thing.  Six at one time, not so much.  Time to relocate tree frogs.

But because it was already cold with this second or third sudden winter snap, the tree frogs were docile.  In attempts to relocate so they were not burned (frog legs anyone?), the green tree frogs did not resist collection.  They just squatted as ready for flight but stayed poised. How many times have you got to hold a green tree frog without being peed on and for longer than 2.3 seconds?  Not often, right.  This the smallest of all removed was the most curious.  He/She watched with cold sticky feet to the Planners finger as if this mode of transportation was the best thing ever.  Or maybe he was mourning the loss of the great shower location.  Understandably, it is a great shower.

Never Again

Somethings in life fall into the never again category.  When summer is beating down, the mosquitos are ramping up, and the relentless winds are blowing away your resiliency, one being to ponder if fall is never again going to come.  This pondering always leads to the whys.  Why does anyone voluntarily live here?  Why did I move back again?  Why do I live here now?  Why, why, why? But just as you are debating the ramifications of moving away to never again return to the dreaded existence of summer coastal life, fall arrives.  Texas Fall is the best.  The weather cools off just enough a jacket or long sleeve shirt is not needed. It is cool in the am and evening and still warm all day long.

With the return of fall, comes the return of happy humans.  This fall with all the added rain, wildlife has made a giant return.  Every time the front window is opened on the Rainstream there is a green tree frog.  Every time a mud boot is pulled from it resting post there is a pill bug or other creepy legged insect. The bullfrogs croak in every standing puddle of water. The unseen crickets sing morning, noon, and night.  The last of the hummingbirds buzz by.  So yes, it seems even the wildlife are happy at the return of fall.

With the rain still holding out for over a week now, the Kid and I take every opportunity to take evening bike rides.  All summer long you look longingly at your bike and think the time will never again come where you can ride your bike longer than ten minutes without dying of dehydration and heat exhaustion.  Oh, lovely bike will I never again be able to ride with you?  But then fall arrives.  As you can see, with a Texas Fall it is still warm enough to work up a sweat.  This kid who drinks as much water as it takes to subsidize a small succulent drained this 20oz bottle of cold water.  I offered to drop him in the bay for a quick cool down but he didn't want soggy bottoms for his 4mile trip home.  Good thinking that kid.

As you sit in the evenings pondering the cooler weather and planning all the warm dinner meals that you thought you could never again eat, it happens, a blue northern.  Bamm! Out of the north without any warning the wind howls, the trees protest, and temps drop fifteen - twenty degrees in a few short hours.  Hot dog! More tasty, heartwarming, soul-filling, winter meals ahead this week.

Or not. NEVER AGAIN will this dish be made in my pressence.  It all started so innocently.  The Planner wanted a tried true (and reviewed) tasty New Orleans dish of Dirty Rice made simply with the holy trinity (onions, peppers, celery) with ground pork and chicken livers.  I make a poor mans version of Dirty Rice all the time with just ground pork, rice, and Canjun seasoning.  It must be good as there are never left overs.  The real deal he said.

Chicken livers are not for human consumption! I repeat, NOT for consumption.  At least not when I make them, anyways.  Chicken livers did not smell gamey as I was expecting them too. But they did feel gamey.  What does gamey feel like you ask?  Oh, let me describe it to you.  Dog grass yak.  Cat horkedup full balls.  Cold sticky speghetti with chuncky sauce. Grainy not fully scrambled scrambled eggs. No wait, that is what it feels like after it has been cut up into strips.  When the liver is first pulled out of the container it feels like a soggy chicken fried steak drenched in curdled milk slime.  Yeah, chicken liver feels gamey.

Not wanting to judge a dinner by its looks, I pressed on with the instructions.  Cooked chicken liver is dog food.  Still not gamey in smell but most definitely gamey in texture and apperance.  The whole process up to this point was repulisive which I found to be odd since I was raised on game meat.  If you shoot it, it must be ate in its intiriety.  My dad was not of the belief that a deer was only for the back straps and rump roasts.  My dad was the true epitome of waste not want not.  He was the only person in the world that I knew who actually took the time to painstakingly remove meat from a Hill County white tail deer.  These are not trophy deer.  These are deer who in their prime weigh less than the avaerge male in high school.  We ate the heart, the gizzrds, the feet, the brains, the tounge, the things most people don't consume unless it was a speciality fancy $300 plate.  We ate these things willingly.  Liver however some how never crossed my plate as a child.  Now I know why.  Becuase it is dog food.

After suffering through dinner and feeding the left overs to the chickens, the remaining chicken liver was cooked for the dog.  As I said, I was raised not to waste food.  Never said it didn't feed the dogs.  In case you are wondering those green things are not bell peppers added to flavor the dog's dinner.  Those green things came in the bucket of chicken liver.  Dont't know, don't care to know.

I'm telling you chicken liver is dog food.  There are numerous dishes that have chicken liver in them.  I have had some very yummy boudin and they are always made with chicken liver.  Cooking chicken liver is just not for me.

Chicken liver for dinner.  Never again. Unless I want to treat the dog to a special dinner, maybe for her next birthday or something.

Seriously, what was I thinking????

Not Again

It was such a beautiful week.  Monday started clear and remained clear as the off the shelf windows were installed.  Tuesday was equally as fantastic.  Wednesday was Simpsons blue sky and white puffy clouds.  Add the with little wind and less than hot temperatures and it was weather worth dreaming about.  Writing about.  Living about.

Then the rains came as predicted on Thursday.  More than predicted actually.  When you look outside to this, all you can think is not again with the nasty mud boots.  A year after Hurricane Harvey and every time it rains you are reminded of the long-lasting damages it caused.  Not that filling the water table is a bad thing, it just causes such a mess.  A filled water table is more of a nuisance.  A messy nuisance.

The following Monday the water had still not receded.  There were thunderstorms off and on the whole week. The poor Kid with nothing but flip-flops was growing webbed feet.  In order to ensure non-muddy feet in the new car (still unnamed at this time), the Planner ferried him across the vast, soggy marshland. With low winds and the cooler temperatures, it is taking forever for the water to leave.  Add the weather to normal high tides, there is just no place for the water to run off too.

Finally by Thursday after a drenching rain shower in the early afternoon, the clouds cleared out and the blue sky appeared.  Sunsets after a rain shower are always a dramatic event.  Pictures never do the image justice.  Such an award for handling a soggy week.  As a reminder Plan473 really needs to finish the rain water collection system off the Work Box.

The Better to See With

You can't even tell last Monday there was standing water after Plan473 attempted to be washed off the face of the map.  Hurricane Harvey was wind last year. Flooding was the 17+ inches of rain in two days last week.  Can't even tell.  Look how dry the sand is.  Good 'ol Texas heat.

With things drying out the Work Box had windows installed. Unlike the windows in the Kid's Box, these are new construction windows.  The local hardware box store did not have replacement windows in this size or design.  Trying to keep to the off the shelf construction to make repairs easier, new construction windows were used.

Modified.  But used all the same.  In new construction windows, there is a plastic flange used to attach the window the wooden frame.

With a simple removal process provided by a jigsaw, all four sides were removed then sanded down for smoothness.  Did not want to repeat the door issue again.  Having extra room between the window and the metal window frame was key.

Views out of the windowless windows are bright and clear.  It is also wet and dark.  Can't leave the hatch propped open when there is even just the slightest bit of dew or mist or fog as it all settles inside the box.  Not good.  Water on Work Box materials leads to rust.  Can't sell rusty parts. So any day that has moisture caused the hatches to be closed, resulting in dark working conditions.

With the corners trimmed and sanded the window slid in easy peasy.  It even had to be held in place with a spacer.  Wind might be altered by only having half the window, but not the light.  Light is important as there is no artificial lighting installed as of yet.

The view from the outside is just as good as the view from the inside.  The premade windows make the metal box look more habitable.  Homey.

To seal the windows into place, caulk was decided against as it takes time to dry and rain was in the forecast again at the end of the week.  Today may only be Monday but it would be nice if the windows had a good two or three days to remain closed to allow for the great stuff filling to set in place.  Great stuff is great stuff.  This blob next to the dime was the size of a marble when tested for expansion capacity.  A couple of hours later, wham, three times the size at the size of a golf ball.  If great stuff works, this will be considered for the house windows whenever we get to those.  After installing the Kid's windows and now these windows, prefab windows are definitely the choice. Deciding on how to seal is still up for debate.  These windows are much, much larger than those in the Kid's box and they open left to right instead of up and down but they are only available in new construction.  If great stuff does not work, we may be forced to buy the smaller windows.  Boo.  I really like the full top to bottom screen.    Here's hoping to the great stuff really being great stuff.

Life is Fun

By Monday afternoon after the weekend's rain, water was receding.  Again.  This time in its wake, it left a mess.  Sticky mud.  Water rushing across the flat and peoples yards washed mud into the roadways and low spots.  Mud here is not mud of most places.  It more sand and clay with salt and marine debris mixed together.  But for some reason, it is super sticky.  Sticky like bog mud.  It is fun.  It sticks to shoes and dries like concrete.  It sticks between toes and takes many swims to come out from under toenails.  It sticks to the underside of your car and breaks windows when it falls off on the highways.  Fun.

Water lilies.  Drainage ditches are infiltrated with the ever invasive water lilies.  Beautiful plants they are.  Beautiful, movable plants.  Water lilies grow in the water needing no soil to take root.  Life if fun for a water lily as they just sit atop the water moving with the water and it goes up and down.  Drainage ditches flood all the time.  They are designed to do so.  However, 17 inches of water resulted in a river in the ditches pushing the lilies out of the ditches and into our driveways.  Too heavy to place in the trash, to big to run over with the standard mower.  People across the county will push lilies to the county grassland and wait for the large shredders to come and mow them down.  It will take several passes but eventually, they will shred apart.  Today, in their bright green foliage and purple flowers they are pretty.  Weeks from now when they are yellow and crunchy, they will just be a reminder of the rain and its damage.

Pinfish are fun to catch be it with a toddler pole or a cane pole.  They always bite, are easy to catch, and hard to kill.  Unless it is by something other than humans.  Pinfish are a tasty treat for other fish, birds, and apparently land animals such as raccoons, cats, and opossums too.  Being at the bottom of the food chain kinda sucks. Now he is fish fertilizer.  Placed him in the compost bin otherwise, the gross dog-o will roll in him when he becomes good and stinky in just a few days.  Few things she loves more than rolling in dead stuff on her neck and chest area.  She has come back green, yellow, brown, and of course red.  She has come back smelling of poo both human and animals, of rot both food and animals, and once of slight skunk.  Rolling in rotting fish would be a dream come true for the dog-o.  Fun.

Now that the 17inches of rain have started to recede, this old dog can once again walk through the water instead of swim.  Walking means running.  Oh, how she loves to run through standing water. Reminds her of younger days when she was lots faster at this game.

Running through water is something she has done in years since old age has snuck up on her.  Guess today she figured, what the heck.   You only live once.  Fun, fun.

Rain always brings out the bugs.  By the end of the week there were lots of bugs.  Mosquitos.  Flies.  Dragonflies.  Mosquitos are annoying at most.  Since they are always present, you kinda learn to ignore them.  Swat. Swat.  Flies drive you mad.  Not a fly to be seen until food is popped out.  Loud, in your face, and too quick to swat.  Maddening.  Dragonflies are beaturiful unless they are swooping and swooning to mate with the fan. From as little as one (manageable) to as many as ten (argh) fighting for the love of their fan.  Bickering dragonflies will drive you crazy.  So intense on bickering they land on your head, shoulder, and back waiting for the perfect place to attack intruders.  Once they accomplish this and can mate with the fan, if they are too small their heads get stuck and you have to remove them so they don't die.  Dragonfly-ectomy.  Fun.

He may not be a bug per se, but he was fun. Having to park at the neighbor's house for the past few days while the ground dries out is nice.  There is no mud to slosh through and it is fully shaded. One day I opened the hatch and a green tree frog jumped out at me.  Today while driving, this friendly little green lizard. Don't lecture, the video is a single push on the phone and this is the only 15 seconds of footage I got while driving.  95% of the footage was of space and the dashboard.  The road was more important but it didn't hurt to try.  He would pop up and then jump down under the hood.  He did this forever on the road that was only 20mph.  He popped up once on the highway and that was the end of my little friend.  He went back under the hood and never came out.  Hope he made it safely to his destination.  Guess this lizard decided the highway life was not fun after all.  Watching was fun for me.  Fun. 

Water Water Everywhere

If you follow this blog, then you know there is already a post with this title. Water, Water Everywhere the first time (almost two years to the date of this post) dealt with our lack of drinkable water.  This post will deal with our lack of catchable water.

Wednesday morning dawned yet and sticky.  After a night of thunderstorms, the day cleared out to a fantastic blue sky clear of haze and summer dust.

No, the above two pictures are not the same.  The first one was to emphasize on the sunset.  Love sunsets after a storm.  The second one was for reference for the remaining pictures in this post.  Note the placement of the broken sailboat on the ground in the above picture to the placement of the broken sailboat in the bottom picture.

Saturday morning dawned late and wet. WET.  As in the gauge stopped recording water as it only holds 6".  This was more standing water than ever before.  Even after Harvey. Of course with Harvey, there were no accurate rain readings because all the creditable gauges were blown off the map.  during Harvey, some reports stated 14" of rain. Some reports stated 34" inches of rain.  What we did not get was the 50+ inches of rain that East Texas got when Harvey came.

Once the rain let up, water damage was surveyed.  No water in the Kid's box.  Close, but not in it.  This was a stress point all night as the box only sits about 6 inches off the ground.  One broken sailboat collected...

Two pot plants upended and waterlogged....

Water already receding and it is still just early morning hours...  Hopefully, with any luck, the winds will continue to blow the water out to the ditches and into the bays.  Anywhere but in my yard.  The chicken coop was a drenched soggy mess as the roof leaked.  Water was running out from the coop floor.  Yuk.  Chickens were standing ankle deep in water inside their run.  They were released to find dry land.  Haha.

If the rain collection system had been installed on just four forty-foot conex boxes, the Planner guesses over 4800 gallons of water would have been collected on Friday's night rain fest.  Assuming only six inches of rain fell.  This was more than six inches.  This was biblical.  To figure the amount collected, the rule states for every one inch of rain on a square foot of space, 6/10 of a gallon of water will be collected.  Therefore each box collects about 200 gallons for every one inch of rain.

4800 gallons of drinkable water.  That is over two-thirds of the amount water the storage tanks can hold.  Ugh. Since Harvey blew away our water source, Plan473 has been on a serious water restriction plan. Such as less than 30 gallons a day restriction. 30 gallons to wash dishes, bath, and water chickens. Water is collected when washing morning faces to water the plants.  Plants do not care about moring eye funk. Shower water is collected to water plants.  Plants do not care about body funk.  Straddling a 5gallon bucket took some adjustment but water is water.  Ice melted in ice chest, cold water goes into the chicken water chest.  Water is precious. Friday's rainstorm has lit a new fire.  Installing the water collecting system has just become top priority.

Sunday morning dawned late and wet.  Again.  Rain so hard we could not hear each other over the beating of the aluminum skin trailer.  The Kid in the non-insulated conex box said it was deafening loud.  It rained and it rained and it rained.

With every minute of rain, the stress level rose as we were certain the water would for sure rise into the Kid's box and into the storage boxes on the ground.  There was nothing to do except wait.  And it rained and it rained and it rained.

Then bam, it stopped.  Just like that.  Like the flip of a switch.  The skies cleared out.  The wind laid down.  People emerged to once again assess the damage.

Oh, how lucky we were.  As it turned out, we have built at the point where the water does not get any higher than the top of the footings to the boxes. With this additional 6+ inches the water never once got higher.  It just spread out across the field, into the roads, into the drainage ditches, and across the tidal flat.

With water coming and going into and across the tidal flats, in came the tidal flat residents. See all the bumps above the water line in the picture above? Frogs/toads.  Can't really tell as it was twenty feet away.  All that was seen were their heads.  Other marine life were blue crabs the size of a half dollar, shells with and without residences, and loads of various fish.

How much rain is yet another topic for debate.  The range is a vast as Harvey was.  Some people modestly report 12 inches of rain.  Others report close to 30 inches.  I say it closer to 15-17 inches judging on how many times water was drained from the rain gauge.  Two mornings with full rain gauges is already 12 inches of rain.  17 inches is probably not far from the truth. With water standing everywhere, roads flooding, and cars stuck in ditches up and down our street, we decided just to hang out at home.  What else was there do?  Go boating?

 Just love this kid.  He totally reined in on his inner Huck Finn.