Good news. The pond/lake (when do you call it a lake, not a pond??) water level is still high. It got a bit scary at Christmas time. The weather was really strange in Texas in December 2015. There were tornadoes in North Texas, floods, massive amounts of rain. We got 7 inches of rain in ONE day.
The Aussie persuaded me to go with him to check the berm. The lake was the highest it's ever been, and the overflow pipe was overwhelmed. The berm road was designed with a lower section where the water could flow over and act as a pressure release valve for the lake. The berm is huge to withstand the pressure from the water, but we're worriers. And with that much rain, we were doing a lot of worrying.
We actually had to extend our stay after Christmas because the roads were flooded. The Aussie could have gotten out because his Jeep is lifted and has a snorkel. My dog mom SUV wouldn't have made it. As it is, I took her through a foot of water when we finally were able to get out.
Yes, that's a road underneath all of that water. The creek was up several feet and overflowed.
Risking myself is one thing. Risking the dogs and featherbutt, unacceptable.
So what else have we been up to?
Santa brought me a late Christmas present. A propane cook top. I'm still puzzled why the only thing in the house, a house that is SURROUNDED by fallen trees and trees that need to come down mind you, is the fireplace. It isn't even a dual fuel fireplace. It's a propane only, with a shallow firebox and NO CHIMNEY. So, we got a plumber in and they hooked up our propane tank to the kitchen, then we got the cook top installed. To say it's efficient is an understatement. At some point I'm sure we're going to have to replace the water heaters. I'd like to get them converted to propane as well.
The rain also proved to be a problem with the bedroom. Sparkles was erroneously blamed for wet carpet. She does pee inside upon occasion, but she's more partial to bathmats. It turns out that rain was coming in through the door in the bedroom that leads outside. We've never used it because it doesn't have a good seal. We have it taped from the inside to keep bugs out. Didn't have it taped from the outside. Yeah. Bad seal equals water coming in from the bottom. The carpet and padding was soaked and getting stinky. This is bad for humans, but really bad for birds. We ripped out a lot of carpet. Sigh. It's not quite a money pit, but when houses get to a certain age, things need to get replaced.
Oh well. Carry On And Mow The Lawn should be our new family motto.
