Jul
01
No really. I found this precipitation overlay on the National Weather Service web site this morning. This is the June 2009 rainfall amounts:
June 2009 rainfall, National Weather Service
We quite near those pink zones in the middle of the graphic, which is 10+ inches of rain. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it were more than that. I know there has been some local flooding and a few roads washed out around here.
That puts quite a damper on the outside work, as one might imagine. Last spring I tried to dig the footings for the solar photovoltaic system out by the garden. I went down about 2 1/2 feet and hit water. And that was after a dry spring. I can’t imagine what it would be like now.
I can say that the raised beds in the vegetable garden are really proving their worth now.
Update: Local newspaper reports June rainfall totals breaks 140 year record.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Jun
19
It is hard to take a picture of what is not there.
Since June 10th, we have received 5.38 inches of rain. That is quite a bit for a 9 day period. Our old basement would have looked like this:
flooded basement floor
That is a picture from two years ago before we had the basement french drains installed.
Today the basement looks like this:
basement after installation of interior french drain system
Which is to say, much better indeed. I also noticed that there are no wet spots on the walls, no active mold colonies, or any other features of wet basements.
I have also noted that the dehumidifier is used a lot less than it used to be. Last year, I only used it during July and August to keep the cold water pipes from sweating. This is saving use some significant money (my estimate is $580.00 per year, based on the Kill A Watt meter results) on our electric bill. That is all good.
In all fairness to American Dry Basement Systems (ADBS), the system that they installed works as advertised and it was worth the expense.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Feb
04
Every winter seems bad, last year seemed terrible right through April. The mid point of this winter has just arrived and it honestly feeling like it was never ever warm here again. I was speaking to my lovely wife, and she agreed; this winter seems colder than the other winters we have spent here.
Ice on trees
So, I looked up the statistical weather data from the National Weather Service in Albany. Sure enough, so far this is the coldest winter we have had since 1996, well below the 30 year averages for this area. We are about 300 Heating Degree Days (HDD) above normal, and 400 above last year. It will be interesting to see what that does to our heating oil use.
On Sunday it went above freezing for the first time in nearly a month and I was shoveling out the clumps of ice in my t-shirt. It felt downright tropical, if for only a brief moment. Today, we are back into the deep freeze with temperatures near zero again. So, we mark time until home improvement season rolls around again.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Jan
16
It was cold last night, so cold I could hear the boards on the deck cracking as they froze. With the snow squeaking underfoot, I checked the thermometer on my way out the door for an early morning emergency call, -11° (F) it read. It may have been colder.
I was laying awake last night worrying about the pipes. We had a pipe on our heating system freeze a few years ago. It had a very cold draft blowing on it all night and I woke up to discover our bedroom was about 35°. I was able to heat up the frozen section and get the water moving before it burst, but I must admit, I was a bit lucky in finding the frozen spot and applying the right amount of heat to it without burning down the house. The drafty spot has been fixed. Now I am more concerned about the well water supply pipe.
I buried it 48 inches deep (or deeper) except where it gets close to the house. There it is about 36-40 inches deep. That is because it comes into the crawl space, which is only 48 inches deep itself. I had to come up a few inches to get away from the footing. I worry that with this really cold weather, the frost level may get down to that depth, in which case, we are screwed.
Therein is the problem with do it yourself. If something goes wrong, there is nobody to call, no insurance claim, only that sinking feeling that something will have to be done over, yet again.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Jan
11
We are receiving more snow today, I have a feeling it is going to be a bad winter. I walked up to get the mail around 3pm yesterday and took a few pictures:
snow falling on white pine tree
All is calm as light snow falls on the White Pine tree.
The stream, known as the Salmus Kill, at the end of our road:
Salmas Kill in January
The back yard with the clothes line, unused since last September:
snow in the back yard
The field across the street. Normally, this field is cut in the fall, but this year it has been let go. The dried high grassy looking plants are reeds, they grow in wet lands and are a wet land marker.
snow falling on reeds
The street looking down the hill.
looking down our street
With the exception of the occasional snow plow, everything is very, very quiet.
Popularity: 2% [?]
subscribe
