They're Baaaackkkk!

...They're baaaaaccckkkkkk!  

The big mudpuddles and ponds

in our back yard, that is....

During the last 24 to 48 hours we have seen tons of rain here in Wisconsin. Compiled with high winds out of the Northeast there has been serious flooding along the Lakeshore in the bay waters of Green Bay.

We had made some plans about sneaking off to a little private campground that we had found about 30 miles away. The State and County and National Forest campgrounds are not open yet. But we were going to socially distance in a little small private campground. I had started loading up the motorhome with some of our items, while keeping an eye on the weather report.  We made reservations to go on Monday through Thursday, and then get home before the holiday weekend warriors descend on the campgrounds.

But with the onslaught of rain, we decided it was better to hunker down at home and not tempt fate. We are really glad we did because the winds were horrible as well as the vast amount of rain that fell.

While we were holed up for two days of rain, we kept ourselves busy playing games of Yahtzee and cribbage, watching HGTV, and doing some sewing.


Our area got anywhere from 4 to 6 inches, and some places got even more than that! The winds were 20-30 mph with gusts in the 40-50 mph range.

Fortunately we only lost a couple little branches. Even though our yard is backed up with more water than we have ever seen since we moved here, things are looking pretty good out there.

Steve's newly added dirt and grading has helped, even without any grass growing in it yet. You can see where none of the encroaching water is anywhere near the she shed or the garage like it was before.  Good job, Steveio!

I'm sure he will have to replace the grass seed that he just put down because I think most of that floated away.

As I write this, he's planning on going outside with his rubber boots and his little pump to go and divert some of the excess water down to the drainage pipe.

What a happy boy playing with his mud puddles!

Before the rain started Saturday, I was able to finish up my planting of my ivy vines. With Steve's help, we were able to weave the ivy back and forth in and out of the lattice on the back sides of the pergola.

On the front side of the pergola, where the white trellis grids are, I carefully tied up the clematis plants with little bits of white string. I can tie and retie the strings as the plants grow. Each side has two plants, one red one and one white one. I hope they intermingle to a beautiful cascade of blooms that we can enjoy all summer long as the plants get established.

Steve was working on the basement window sills prior to the rain storm. Instead of using wood, he decided to make nice long lasting window sills out of concrete on all of the basement windows.  He did a curb side pickup for some bags of concrete mix from the local hardware store.  Then he is able to mix up a small amount at a time to do each window sill.

He built little forms and mixed up the concrete to create the new basement window sills.

He carefully ladled in the concrete and smoothed it out to form the new sill.  What a nice precise job he is doing.  It is not only cheaper than treated wood sill planks, but it makes more sense when located this close to the ground.  They should have been concrete to begin with, he said.

He removed the forms today and I think he did a great job!  Next, he can place the newly rebuilt and repainted windows back into the surrounding frames.

Later today, as things dry up a little bit, I'm going to get my tomato plants in the ground. I have 20 of these things that are getting root bound in their little containers and need to stretch and grow and thrive in the spring sunshine. The weather report looks good for the next couple days so I think it will be an optimum time to get these planted.

For now, I am just getting the day going by writing this blog, and sipping from my new coffee mug that I got from the kids and the grandkids for Mother's Day.

That sounds like a good plan to me!