We're back!

Well, not just the power was out here, but the cable as well -- which is how our computers get online.  So we've been "disconnected" for a couple days.  But both the power and the cable came back on at noon today.  Hooray!!

It turned out not to be as bad as we thought it might be.  At one point, the drainage canal down the side of our property had filled up completely, and the water had come up "almost" to the garage doors.

 The stream in back had spread out and begun to cover the entire back pasture. 

But at that point, the worst of the storm passed and it began to just rain regular rain - no deluge.  And by this morning the water had receded to "normal" once again.

And as for us, we were perfectly comfy through the whole thing, thanks to that wonderful automatic generator.  All the TV's, appliances, lights, and even the central air downstairs and the electric in the barn remained on!  We LOVE that thing!  It's connected to the underground gas line, so in the 7 years or so that we've had it, it has always worked fine no matter what's going on above ground.  A FINE investment, believe me!

 

When we went out to feed the horses yesterday morning just before the storm, those sliding doors Mark had put up on two of the stall doors were already pounding against the barn, even in 20-30 mph winds, so he took long screws and screwed the doors into the door frames. 

Arthur is small enough that he had PLENTY of room in his stall.

Moved Duke's giant hay container into his stall from just
OUTSIDE his stall on his "porch" where it usually sits.

So the horses stayed perfectly safe through the whole storm -- despite that additional fallen tree right outside their paddocks. 

 

 

That "dead" tree is the one we had cut down just before the storm.  The even LARGER one behind it fell during the storm.  The one we cut down was on our property, but that other one was on the property next to us, so it fell across the fence.  Fortunately, it fell on fencing on the side of the gate that is NOT electrified so the electric fence around the rest of the back pasture is still "on."  UNfortunately, it fell so close to the gate out the side of the pasture where we usually dump the horse poo that it's impossible to open the thing now!

 

 

I think if anyone tried to cut that chain now - before the tree gets removed from the fence - the thing is so tight that it will fly out and might hurt someone.  So we'll leave it alone for now.

 

We're going to have to get the Semper Fi folks back to cut that tree off the fence eventually because there is no way we can saw it off with a regular chainsaw.  It's just way too thick.

It's probably almost 4 feet in diameter at the point where it's resting on the fence.
(The top strand of that fence is 5 feet high, so . . .  more or less.)

But I imagine Semper Fi will be busy for a while now helping people who have a worse problem than we do, so it will probably just stay there for a while. 

 

Folks near the coast as well as those NORTH of us are still having major rain and sometimes wind, but we are perfectly fine here. The water levels are dropping quickly and the sun is shining. We have turned the horses back out and I spent three hours first thing this morning cleaning out their stalls -- a mess, obviously, since they had been locked in there for about 36 hours.

But as I said, we can't get to the place where we usually dump the horse poo because of that tree that fell onto the fence next to that gate. So I was forced to dump the shavings I cleaned out of the stalls just outside their stalls for now.  Yuk. 

 

Still, life is back to "normal" at this point.  In fact, Mark will be going back to work in the morning, and so will I for that matter.  But I only have to work Friday, then we have a 3-day weekend.  Excellent.  I'll have several days for putting the things we hauled into the house back outside.  Good to have some extra time.  I'll need to work for a couple hours - then rest, then work some more - then rest.  SURE wish we were still in our 40's!