Storm in the Tropics

September 21, 2013 - A fantastically strong storm burst upon us this Saturday afternoon.  The suddenness with which the winds and rain are very apparent when you’re right on the beach and can feel the full impact of the storm.

Guess who also got caught out in the storm (on their bikes)?

St. Louis Tornado

   When the last really bad storm came swept through St. Louis that damaged areas of St. Charles, we were eating dinner at a restaurant.  I took a few photos out of the window from the booth.

It became very dark

Then the heavy rain and strong winds came

The restaurant evacuated customers from their seats to the kitchen area as it was the safest part of the building

I thought it was very ironic that we were seated next to this film poster!

6/1/13

Water!

   While we were walking out of the door to go to church yesterday morning we found that water had come in downstairs and that saw that there was a puddle in the bathroom floor.   The problem had become worse when we got back home that afternoon and water had moved to a couple of other rooms.

  We didn’t know where the water was coming from.  At first we thought that there was a leak behind the shower..drywall is dry…maybe the drain overflowed….water originated from a different place in the basement..toilet leaking…toilet is completely dry.  It’s been raining at our house for a few days and the ground is completely saturated, so we figured that the rain had something to do with the problem.

  We almost never have a problem with water coming into our basement, but like 85% of other homeowners it does happen at some point.

  We hadn’t cleaned out the gutters yet this year, so Mom and I got on the roof and found that the guttering was very clogged up and probably played a role in the mischief.  Being up on the roof in work clothes in the rain wasn’t in our plans for Easter, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

   Benjamin worked for hours and hours yesterday and today running the Shop Vac to suck up the water.   He’s already emptied  100 gallons of water, but the water would just re-appear up to a certain level.  Mom did some research this morning and found that probably what we have going on is a water table below our foundation that has filled up and can’t be absorbed into the very over-saturated ground.  Benjamin found that the water was seeping up through a crack in the basement floor.

A sump pump should ensure that this never happens again, so in the near future we will be using a jackhammer to bust up the concrete to make way for the new pump.

Ice on the Trees

    The effects of the winter storm this morning don’t seem to be severe, but Kate’s still going to stay home since more of the storm is on its way.  Yesterday we did get some freezing rain on all of the branches (above) and when I took pictures last night there was a lot more ice on the trees. (below)

   This morning we got just enough snow to barely cover the ground and it looks like we’re getting some sleet right now.

   The real threat of this storm was that the ice would weigh too much for the power lines and we’d have a lot of power outages.  As of now, Ameren hasn’t reported any outages yet.

July 23, 2009

I began by cleaning off the roof with the leaf blower. Meanwhile Mom started painting the first gable.
We have a small pond with rock around it that we want to get rid of (I’ve wanted to get rid of it for years-so I’m really excited.) So my brother’s and I set up a little system to filter through all of the dirt and keep the landscaping rocks. It goes something like this:
I use the pick axe, shovel and rake to beat up the dirt and scoop it into a little bin. Next, Noah shakes the bin to get rid of all the loose dirt. The loose dirt lands in a box so we can use it to fill in the pond later. Noah hands the bin to Benjamin who dumps it into a big Rubbermaid box full of water. He shakes the bin around and skims off any leaves that come to the surface. Then he dumps the clean rocks into a box.
Anyway, we almost got the whole pond area done, but it’s pretty back-breaking work.
We had to cut this day a little short because Lydia had to go to the groomer and Mom and Kate went to go see a movie. So my brothers and I stayed at the house and tried to surviveJ. We played a good game of soccer that evening, but it had rained and we were constantly falling and tripping-a good game like I said.
Lydia also got groomed tonight. As you can see from the before/after pictures she almost looks like a new dog. The entire family would rather that she had long hair, but when her hair’s long it get knotted up.
Paint gables I of III
Rake out around pond
Blow off roof