How’s your summer going?

It has been raining for days.  And days.  And days.   Seriously I have lost track of how many days and how much rain.   We had 3 inches last night!  Trust me when I tell you that as the manager of a watershed district,  a place that is supposed to control, redirect, slow and contain flood waters, it has been a nightmare of a couple weeks.  

Usually, when things are rough at work, I take solace in being home.  I feel very blessed to live where I do, and I love having a list of projects to do.  In the spring, I like to put in a garden, and have my yard looking freshly mowed.  I like taking walks and doing outdoor projects that I put off in the winter.  I bought plants and seeds.  I had envisioned the things I was going to grow this spring.  Preston volunteered to help me by tilling a garden spot.   The tiller had a ruined tire.  We had to order a new one.  It took 24 hours to come in at the local Napa store, and it has rained every stinking day since.  Plants are sitting on the front porch looking a little sad to not be in the ground.  Seeds are sitting in the kitchen, unopened.  Lawn is about a foot tall because it is just too wet out there to mow and not get stuck.  So I turned my attention to something that is supposed to be wet!   I thought to myself, if it is going to rain every day, at least I won’t have to pay the water bill to fill the pool!   So, with Preston’s help, we put the plugs back in the filtration system.   We started the vacuuming and chemicals.  We utilized our new leaf vac (that thing works amazing!). And then, we decided it was time to go ahead and fill it the rest of the way up.   

Then the real drama started.  When the water level rose, we found a leak. It was a small tear just above the winter water level  line.  I had a repair kit, so Preston and I got the patch successfully in place and it stopped leaking.  I thought the liner was under warranty, so I made that phone call.  It is under warranty, but they said this was due to winter weather and ice, (remember that polar vortex that froze over Clinton Lake?....well it was stupid then, and it is stupid now!). Ice damage is not a warranty issue.   Of course.  They told me that vinyl patches really are a great solution and it would be fine for years.  Disappointment that our 1 season pool had a tear was felt by all of us.  But hey, at least we found the leak and it was fixed.  Jim came home from working and we went out to show him our progress.  That is when we found a second leak.  Preston and I went back to work and patched the second leak.  I went to bed happy that we were going to get a lot of rain overnight and the pool would be filled and ready for me to get the filter running!   We got 3 inches of rain overnight, but this morning, the level of the water wasn’t any different.   That is when I discovered all of the PVC pipes coming out of the skimmer were cracked.   Now is when I tell you that Preston has been working for the vineyard people for a number of years, and in that time has picked up an amazing collection of knowledge.  He has helped with irrigation systems up there, and said this isn’t anything he hadn’t done before.  I threw him my keys, debit card and a warning to abandon the project if it exceeded the budget I set for him.  A couple hours later, he had all the bad pipes replaced, new shut off valves in place, and was adding a little extra glue around the joints.  To say I was impressed is an understatement!   Tomorrow, we  will do more vacuuming and then get the filter going.  I hope by the weekend we are able to swim, although I saw the high for tomorrow was 61, so maybe we will sit out on the pool deck and  watch the water sparkle.   It is bluer than it was, but we are a little ways off from clean!  

Right as we were finishing up the pipe repairs, yet another torrential downfall happened.  Saige then asked if she could go take pictures of the waterfalls.  We do not have any place on our property that should be a waterfall,  but she was right, there were some!  After about 20 minutes of being out there taking pictures, I heard her blood curdling screaming.  She was running full speed toward the house  I met her at the door and she about knocked me down to get inside.  She says she saw “an unnaturally large cat” out there in the trees.  I’m not clear on what she saw, and she was very unamused with my asking if she got a picture or not. She thinks it was a mountain lion.  It could have been, we know there are some out here.  I think it is more likely a bobcat. We see a lot of them out here!   Either way, with that screaming, I’m sure they aren’t out there anymore!