Bogieblog

Success With Water Drainage

Friday saw a lot of meltage with the top temp being 57* and receiving around 3" of rain.

This is the stream that developed in the back yard takin about 4:30 pm. The neighbors' lights help show that is all water.

Here you can see ponding that developed just off the corner of the path to the drainage area, both beside and behind the raised bed.

This was taken earlier in the day, about 12:30 pm and shows the stream that finally developed and broke thru the snow in the swamp. The running water is the dark part to the right. The slightly lighter portions are where the snow is still soaking in the water, but it too broke open later that afternoon

Oh, and pulling back some, you can see all the snow has melted off the landscape blocks (see previous post that showed the hump of snow  that it was before.

The garage stayed pretty dry and the front yard didn't flood to back up into the garage, so my mitigation efforts on Thursday were worth it.

And here is my lunch for Christmas day - nachos with chips, cheese, refried beans, salsa, black olives and sour cream. This is the "nice" picture, before I start eating, I smear the sour cream all over the top. I do have guacamole, but didn't feel like having any that time.

And, to end off the rain event, I woke up to snow on the railings and at the end of the ramp Saturday morning (about 3:30 am). Just a dusting, but considering it was still in the high 40's just 6-7 hours before, quite impressive that it was sticking.

Defense Against Mother Nature

Today the temps are in the 50's for today (even now, at 3:30 am, the current temp is 53* with the low at midnight at 48*). It has been raining since late night and we are destined to get 2-3" along with high winds. That combination will really do a number on the snow pack so the whole state is under a flood watch and it is expected to go to a flood warning for at least parts of the state.

Yesterday I set out to give the water places to go other than in my driveway into the garage, or anywhere that is too close to my foundation. I started out with a flat bottom shovel to break up the snow, but found for the most part, it just had a hard upper and lower crust with soft snow for the crystals in between.

I started at the gate near the bottom of the ramp - enlarging the area to the left and then continuing the path 25-30' down to the very back of the yard. For reference, each fence panel is 10' long, and all paths are twice the width of the snowblower.

Then the 35-40' down to the corner of the back yard into the drainage area that is behind the shrub garden. The corner of the 1st path is at the lower left corner.

Turn around and do along the 50' of fence line along the back (which means the total path is 55-60' long). The end of the 1st path is in the lower, right corner.

The intersections of the paths from the pen to the compost pile and the path along other side of the house. I enlarged that intersection quite a bit and rounded off any corners. This area is a low point of the yard. The end of the path form the long side of the fence is at the bottom of the picture.

So, this path had already been cleared after the big snow last week. BUT, the roof dumpage vaulted out and went straight into the path. This is where I really needed the shovel to break up the compacted snow. See the cleared section in the forground on the right, and the jog in the background? Those are parts of the original path. I elected to take the first pass along the outside edge of the snow dumpage. That large hump is the pallet of stones left from my garden project last summer.

Next I tackled beside the driveway, taking it back about 10 feet. This is a low area and if blocked, will back the water up into the driveway and down into the garage. Between the road plow berm and the snow that I had blown over there, that area is 30-33" high and fairly packed. Again the shovel was used to break off sections and then the snowblower threw it back into the the lilacs while part of it went into the area in front of the tent garage - it gets lots of sun and will melt and go toward the roadside garden area (behind the lilacs).

And lastly, I cleared back about 5'  from the edge of the road until I got to where the plow guy for the neighbor across the road pushes and packs snow - which he is not supposed to do. That irritates me because not only does it take away where I can blow snow to, last year he packed it so hard I had to repair part of the wall of the roadside garden area - even behind the telephone pole. Anyway that section is probably 15' long. Hey, you can see my Scarecrow gal next to the phone pole :)

The whole endeavor took 1 and 3/4 hours to complete. The garage will still flood from the snow comig off the higher yard, but that is what the sump pump is for. Oh yeah, I dug out the sump egress and atttached the long pipe to get the water out into the area I clear for the propane tanks, which aim it towards the path by that first gate (which would be at the lower left corner of the picture if I had backed up just a little)

One thing I forgot to do before the big snow hit was to take down the windmill (no pic - but I should take one). So far it has been fine, but we'll see if that lasts or if roof dumpage gets to it.

Truck is Free

Yesterday morning Kevin showed up ready to work to get my truck free.

After he had worked almost 2 hours, he used a couple of PT 2x4's that I had in there to prop up the frame enough to allow me to remove the truck. He also helped me relocate the summer tires and the soil/rocks into the metal shed. So the only thing holding it up is the two pieces of lumber and the ton of pellets in the back left corner (Kevin said he would help move that too, but I got no place to put it, and it's no big deal as they will be fine). The snow piled at the outside may be keeping the tarp taught enough to help "stabilize" the structure too.  Eventually this thing will come down on its own.

Besides the windshield, there are several dents in the roof - this is the best picture I got. Blancing on the door frame edbe with snow covered boots was not conducive of getting great pictures LOL

The hole in the windshield is directly in front of the driver's seat so I will probably need to get this towed - just have to wait for my insurance to okay that.

After Kevin left, I got the truck turned around for easier towing, stuffed a wad of plastic grocery bags into the hole, taped them down with packaging tape, then covered with the old Ice Screen that I used for the red truck before I got the tent garage. I thought I had thrown it away, but turns out is was in the milk crate of stuff I keep in the back of the truck - YAY me for being a hoarder :D

Blue Birds and Things That Could Have Gone Better

Wednesday, before the upcoming Nor'Easter, the birdfeeders were the site of a feeding frenzy. Just before 3pm, I looked and was excited to see I had bluebirds on the suet feeder. I don't remember ever having bluebirds at either house in NH, so of course I grabbed my phone and snapped some pictures.

Wednesday night thru Thursday afternoon my area got hit by 20-22" of snow. It was a light, fluffy snow which was much better than the sloppy and heavy stuff we got two weekends ago. BTW, as late as Wednesday evening, they were calling for my area to get 6-12+" (after starting the day before at 2-4" - if the storm didn't stay south of us). By 3AM Thursday they upped it to 10-18"

At 4 AM Thursday, the road plow went by after the first 8" of snow had fallen so at 5AM I went to clean up the driveway for the first time. The berm was over the top of the snowblower intake, which means it was over 2' high.

The plow went by a second time about 11, so I took an hour lunch to do another cleanup of the driveway. After I logged off from work, I went out and started clearing paths around the house, to the compost barrel and started on the "driveway" to the tent garage, but didn't get the whole thing done. Neither did I clear off the front porch steps. I figured I would do them Friday morning since I was taking a PTO day anyway and the temp would stay low. Snow totals a bit to the NW of me had some areas getting over 40" of snow within the 15 hours that the storm lasted

And then there was the record set in Concord for total over a 12 hour period

Friday morning I went out o clean up what the roof had dumped on the driveway and the path to the fron door, as well as shovel the front porch/steps. Then I finished up the second "driveway" and brushed the snow off the back window of the truck. Everything seemed to be fine at that time.

I took a break and went to go rake the snow off the shed and tent garage about 9:15 am, when I saw this

At the bottom of that last picture you can see little glass shards on the dash. Well, nothing to do but call both insurance companies. Of course I don't know the full extent of damage to the truck since the structure will have to be removed first. As you can see, the roof of the structure had already dumped part of the snow load (the snow along the side of the structure is all from the roof), so I'm unsure why it didn't hold up, but apparently it got tired of standing upright.

The house insurance adjuster called me back later that day and had me send pictures. He also provided a couple of names of companies that might be able to help with the clean up. Since they were 20-30 miles away, and he used them for water/fire/smoke damage clean up, he wasn't sure if they could help or would be willing to come out to my area. I got ahold of the first name on the list and he will be out this morning to take a look.

Once again it is a good thing I have a second vehicle for going to the dump and getting groceries since the truck will be out of commission for goodness knows how long. And I am fortunate to be working from home, so I don't have to worry about commuting in slick conditions. So far the ton of pellets in there are untouched and hopefully the structure can be removed without damaging them (they are covered in plastic, so I'm not worried about snow getting on them).

The worst part will be that thru the rest of the winter, I'll have to scrape and remove frost/ice/snow from the truck, which I have really enjoyed not having to do. But, in the scheme of things, this is a minor blip.

 

Tense Situation

Yesterday, about noon, I was out in the back trying to beat the ice off the ramp (we have had no sun since last weekend, so the ramp hasn't warmed up - heck, the roof didn't dump its 2.5-3" of snow/ice until Wednesday).

I heard what I thought was a squirrel climbing a tree, instead there was the neighbor's cat climbing down a tree. It climbed down about 10 feet until it found a burl to sit on.

That cat lives at a house across the road behind my house and makes regular forays into my yard. I figured it had been chasing a squirrel, but soon realized what the real situation was.

Not sure where the orange cat lives, but it appears from time to time. I believe it is the same cat that I caught laying on top of the old beheamoth of a propane tank that used to be in the yard. Picture from Aug 2015

I gave up trying to beat up on the ice, and left the face off looking like this.

I don't know how it actually resolved, but when I looked later both cats were gone and I didn't see any fur or blood.

Good Deed

Did my good deed for the day on my off- Friday morning. Went into the local O'Reilly's/VIP to drop off the snowblower tire for fixing (I thought it was off the bead since it was flat and I couldn't get it to pump up). While waiting on the tire, a lady probably a couple years older than me got the bad news that they didn't have the tires for replacing one that blew on her truck. They would get it in from another store in a couple of hours. The counter guy asked her if they could get her somewhere, and she said she needed to get to work in Hooksette (about 35 miles away). Well, that was too far for them (understandable) so she said she would try to call her daughter.

She went outside and I waited a couple more minutes before they brought my tire out - freebie since they just needed to pump it up. They even did a water test to make sure the rim seal wasn't broken and there were no holes. Apparently I either didn't wait long enough for my tire pump to make traction on the 3 pounds of pressure that was in the tire, or just not strong enough. Anyhoo, I was happy.

As I was leaving, I saw the lady out in the parking lot looking at her phone. I asked her if she was all set and she said that she couldn't get ahold of her daughter but had left her a message so she should hear back at some point. Well, I was planning to go to Concord soon anyway (about 30 miles), so I told her I could take her to work as long as she could get a ride back. She agreed, got her uniform out of her truck and we headed off. She was gushing about how that is why she like small town life - everyone is so friendly and helpful. She said if she was living in the city (where she used to be), everyone would just ignore someone with a problem.

Yes, we both wore masks during the trip. About half way to Hooksette her daughter returned the call and gave her mother the 3rd degree about if she had a mask, if she was wearing it, if I was wearing a mask etc.). I piped up in the background that we were being safe. It was actually a fun trip getting her to work, she liked to talk, which is the type of person that I need around when I don't know them. I can never think of anything to talk about and I was happy we didn't have a 40 minute ride in uncomfortable silence.

Early Christmas Present

In December 2013, my Christmas present to myself was a Koldfront countertop Dishwasher. It has served me well, but in the last couple of years the on/off button has given me fits. I could eventually get it to work after lots of banging the door closed and pushing the button at various angles. A couple of days before Thanksgiving, I spent 10 minutes fiddling with it, but I couldn't find the sweet spot (or maybe it couldn't sense the door closed so it wouldn't work). So, I unloaded the dishwasher and just did them by hand - and continued hand washing until I could get a replacement. Dishpan hands, oh the horrors :)

I started researching and found a Farberware Dishwasher that had really good reviews, so I ordered it and last Tuesday UPS dropped it off - 2 days early!

The first immediate issue was that the cord was shorter. I plugged in the old dishwasher to a socket on the left, next to the door to the office. The new one I had to plug in on the right (near the back entry door), where my phone chargers are.

Note the difference in controls - old dishwasher had contact "button" for turning the dishwasher on/off. And a dial to select the type of wash (although it was very difficult telling the difference between the washes except the bottom one was basically a rinse cycle). Actually being able to tell where that slot is on the dial was difficult - I had to go by feel.

The new dishwasher has actual push button for on/off (white button below right corner of black section). It features a countdown timer, which is cool. Also, the cycle type picker is that black "P" button to the left of the timer and it is an actual push button. I've run 3 different cycle types and there are definite differences in the times and types of cycles it goes thru. The red light is telling me the rinse aid is low/empty. I don't use rinse aid as we have naturally soft water so it is not needed.

The new dishwasher is much quieter than the old one. However, I have to get used to the differences in the rack. This is the new rack that has 4 bird water dishes in it. The only place the water dishes sit flat is where th 3 are lined up. The one to the side is balanced on extra rack seperators that are a PITA.

The old dishwasher rack had a nice flat section without seperators on the left side that could fit 4 water dishes nicely.Although difficult to see, note the top rack on the left.

Below is a side by side comparison of racks - new on the left and old on the right. Note the top rack for the new one has a large gap between the two sections, which does not work well for lining up smaller items (bird feed dishes). The old one also has two sections, but very little gap. Another thing about the top racks are that the new one is at an extreme angle so I can't fit  things on there that I could on the old one (which is at a slight angle). Note in the front, left section, the separators are further apart on the old rack, allowing for non-traditional dishes to sit in them . The old rack is also somewhat taller.

Unfortunately the old rack does not fit in the new dishwasher properly, so I can't swap them. However, most of my complaints will probably eventually disappear as I adjust my loading style thru trial and error. It does a really good job getting dishes clean, along with being pretty dang quiet, so I am just complaining about 1st world problems.

Warm Temps and First Snow

December 1, 2020 was odd in that it was 60* at 3:30 in the morning. Although it did not get warmer thru the day, the temp stayed in the high 50's.

Later that morning, the news said we were the warmest place - I know it was snowing in NC and TN during that time.

However, by the next day, we were back in the 30's and 40's. Yesterday (12/5/20), we got our first measurable snow. It was a very wet, heavy snow. My place got about 4" before it started to rain (fun fact, it was snowing whilte the temps were 34-36*, then started raining when the temp lowered). The road plow went by right around when it changed to rain, so I went out to snow blow. The stuff was so heavy that I ended up dong most of the driveway berm and at the mailbox with a shovel.

Pic taken after it had been raining for an hour so a lot of the snow had dropped off and the stuff on the ground had compacted

It is amazing the amount of traffic my driveway gets that is not mine. For some reason it is a great place to turn around if you find yourself going down the wrong road after turning off 149. One would think they could take that cross road that is RIGHT FREAKING THERE not 10-15' further, and then take that next street to end up back at 149. But, no, that would be too easy for, in this case, a huge flatbed truck hauling a full size truck frame and cab (no bed) that had to do a 5 point turn.

Note that part of that turn went off the driveway. Although the driveway looks large in this picture, I assure you the paved part is just wide enough for the Explorer - so the two lane roads are more than twice as wide as my driveway.

After snapping that 1st picture - the truck drove by again, with the truck still on the bed. Then he sat at the stop sign and offloaded the truck frame (I watched it drive off). And I don't know how the driver got all confused, but he turned onto 149, then somehow came back down my street AGAIN! This time he did take that road and turned right at the next block down.

Oh, and earlier that morning, before it even started with any sort of precipitation, I noticed red flashing lights when I went into the living room from my office.

The vehicle closest to the house is a Heavy Rescue squad, and the one head-on, at the side road is a smaller rescue vehicle. I don't know what towns, but if I had to guess the smaller vehicle was from Deering and they were handing off to the Hillsborough Rescue.

There were two vehicles parked behind the Rescue Squad (no, there wasn't a wreck there). I could hear the people talking to the rescue/ambulance so I think they were giving background. The smaller vehicle left first, then the larger, then the two cars.