Thursday, September 30, 2010

be careful what you wish for...

So, as of last Sunday, we here in the southeastern coastal area of North Carolina were 16 inches behind in our rainfall for the year.  That's roughly 25% of our usual 60 inches per year.  Water is expensive around here, so I was trying not to do too much watering, other than the potted plants, and I was lamenting the fact that my garden was really starting to show the effects of 90 degree temps and no rain.  Not bitching or complaining, mind you, just sort of lamenting.  Anywayyyyy...

Early Sunday evening it started to rain.  A little.  Then a lot.  Now it's Thursday, and it hasn't stopped yet.  We've received 20 (yes, that says TWENTY) inches of rain in just over three days.  And now, to add to that, today is windy as well.  Know what happens when there is a little bit of wind after 20 inches of rain?  Trees blow over easily, for one thing.  I have three ginormus 80 year old oaks and a handful of other big trees in my yard.  So I've been awake since 4am - watching.  So far so good, I'm happy to say.  But when I went outside this morning to look at things, I noticed something weird in the pond - several big, huge "bubbles" under the pond liner!  After the bf got into the pond, we figured out it is...water.  Under the pond.  The water table is so close to ground level around here that water is now seeping UP out of the ground! Yikes!  The wonders of Mother Nature!

This is a little league ballpark, not too far from my house.

One of the main highways going in and out of town. 


You might call this taking life's lemons and making lemonade.  This street was closed to traffic, so hopefully these kids were safe.

All of the above photos are from the local TV station (WECT).  I haven't been out taking any pictures!  So... the good news is - NO MORE DROUGHT!

8 comments:

  1. Reading 20" and seeing 20" are two different things. WOW. We've got rain ( thank the Goddess)but nothing like yours.

    Betcha everything is all dried out again by next week.

    Until that enjoy staying dry and do try the ginger friend rice,it's delish.

    xo Jane

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  2. boy do we need rain. not 20 inches but anything would be appreciated. stay dry.

    ~janet

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  3. Scary!

    My mom lives in Raleigh...I'm thinking after seeing those pictures that I had better give her a call.
    I hope your old oaks survive the storms and that you and the bf stay cozy and dry.

    Adrienne

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  4. holy cow that's a lot of rain!

    we have a very high water table here on Moss Hill, too - in the spring we have the occasional crayfish chimney, which seems odd to me, since we're at the top of a hill!

    http://www.americaswetlandresources.com/wildlife_ecology/plants_animals_ecology/animals/invertebrates/crawfish.html

    xox,
    susan

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  5. Thanks for the good wishes everybody! Adrienne - my daughter lives in Raleigh, too, and she came into Wilmington last night to house/dog sit for me over the weekend. She said they got a lot of rain up there, but nothing like what we got. I'm sure your mom is fine, but you know, never hurts to call her :)! As an update to the earlier post - came home from work yesterday to 3 feet of water in the basement - no wonder the house was starting to smell funny.

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  6. holy balls!!!!!! that is a lot of rain!!

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  7. Oh...I wish some of that could have been shipped to us poor, dry, hot Southern California gardeners.(-: I hate to tell you what my water bill was for the past two months...I think I could have bought a small car! My emphasis in my garden now is to redesign to cut down on water usage and lower maintanance. Namestae

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