SANTA TRAIN - 2014

Sorry it took me so long to get the Santa Train on the Blog… but I am using my broken foot as an excuse. OK, it might not be a good excuse, but it is a fact. It will also explain why there are not very many pictures of the kids with  Santa… Well, my inability to stand where I could get a decent shot and the crowd in the building, because we had trains running and because it was raining outside. The parking lot was filled with cars but no crowds of people like in the past. Just too wet! So, in they came, and stayed!

   

So, everyone crowded inside, some enjoyed watching the trains, some enjoyed the popcorn, hot chocolate, and cookies, but everyone enjoyed being inside a building where it was not raining and was warmer than outside.

Niall was wonderful with the little ones, as usual.

  

Santa had a comfortable spot to sit this year. He did not have to be under a tent – he had a brand new room to sit in.

 

it was almost dark when they left.

NINE INCHES OF RAIN!

YEP, you read that right... 9.03 inches of rain in less than 24 hours! This is my back yard- the water was up over the bottom step of one of the barns, the water was half way up the tires on this little trailer. The rest of the yard was just a pretty little lake! I had planned on cutting the grass yesterday, LOL! Guess that didn't happen! The road out front was flooded - remember this is a turtle-back road, so it takes a lot of rain to cover the center of the road! My driveway goes up a slight incline from the road, so it is also amazing to have several inches of water in the driveway. Here you can see the "wake" from the passing car! Waves in the driveway going up from the road! It was afternoon, but the sky was so dark, the street lights came on. The camera used flash automatically. The carport went under water, as did the back yard. The wind blew a few things around, cat's dishes and water bottles for watering the hanging plants floated in the water.
So what happened? It was not in the forecast... We went from 30% chance of rain to 60%, to this! Durn, several frogs drowned in this stuff!
Did you ever wonder what happens when a Tropical Cyclone is trying to form? It is not a tropical storm yet, not a depression, but it is one in the making. As something like that tries to get organized, this is what often happens. Usually, however, it happens out over open water and we just see the results when it travels inland. Well, this one formed right off shore here and is still, as I type this, dumping rain in northern Maryland and Delaware, southeastern PA and NJ. Here, the sun is out and the world is turning into a sauna. It is not that hot - if you look at the thermometer - but it is steamy.
We had a small tornado a few miles south of here... totaled someone's old trailer, pulled it off the foundation, ripped the roof off. Made a serious mess for the person living in it. Numerous vehicles, most of them 4 wheel drive with owners who think that means they can go thru anything, ended up in ditches. We have deep drainage ditches here, some deeper than 6 feet, and with the ditches filled with water (in part thanks to those who dump litter on the roads) and the road under several inches of water as the rain is coming down several inches per hour, it was impossible to see where the edge of the road was and where the ditches start. We don't have guard rails here. I guess they assumed people would use their brains, but, well, you and I know better, right? So, there were too many vehicles to count nose down in the ditches. Duh.
I hope you did not have a problem in the storm.

SPRING, FINALLY, and LUNATIC SQUIRRELS

I THINK SPRING has finally arrived - no, not just on the calendar, but out in the yard where it counts! The rains took a vacation this week and the yard is trying to dry out... but more rain is POSSIBLE... SIGH. It has been wonderful to hang the laundry back out on the line. Yes, I am an old fashion woman - I like to hang clothes outside. Dryers are OK for when it rains or is below freezing, but give me a clothes line any day. My lakes, which used to be grass to mow, are now moss beds when not under water... I wonder when the grass will come back? Or will it this year????? The ditches still have water in them as do many of the farmer's fields. They have been liming the fields that they can get into, but ya can't take your tractor into a lake, even if the water is only 4 or 5 inches deep. I feel for the farmers... it has been a rough year. Even Buddha is sitting by a lake. As the water has receeded, the deer have been eating the buds off the young trees and along the mossy patches of ground. I scare them at night when I take stuff out to the compost pile. It is hard to see... but see those 2 bright dots? Sometimes I am not sure who scares whom the most. When the wind is blowing we can almost bump into each other out there! Spook and Punkin like to sneak up on them in the dark. Such funny boys! Sometimes Spook pretends he is a garden figurine. Saint Spook here.... The birds are making their spring noises staking out their territories and fighting each other at the bird feeders. This guy is saying, "I dare you to come near this feeder!" It certainly sounds like spring. The squirrels seem to have gotten a little nutty. Sorry. One in particular... he is chewing on everything... he seems determined to destroy anything in his path. I had to take down the squirrel feeder because the fool was eating the plastic, not the food - even when he was inside the feeder where the food was, he sat and chewed on the plastic like he could not figure how to get out. He has also chewed the bottom of the big bird feeder. I had to put a pie tin in the bottom. The good part is, the daffodils have finally started to bloom. Not sure what happened to the crocus - just one or 2 little clumps this year, and a month late! Guess they gave up. Another sure sign of spring is the wheelbarrow out for its maiden voyage of the year, carting old left over wet leaves to the compost pile and toting fresh mulch in to a few low areas. The best part of the day, however, was the uncovering of the adirondack I never got in out of the yard last year... Oh it felt good to sit in the sun in this chair.

MORE WATER!

MORE WATER! My friend Dorothy Perrucci took these shots while on her morning walk. These are near her house, about a half a mile from me. This is a yard, really... not a lake! Anther yard...
Then they had some shopping to do - or maybe it was just an excuse to drive around and see how deep the water was in other places - this is our local Family Dollar ... the moral to this story is NEVER BUILD DURING A DROUGHT. See where the road is supposed to be?
This is the former Meat Barn. One of my girls worked there years ago when we had a cloud burst and her car had water all the way up to the seats! This place got a bit wet! See? The water is all the way across the south bound lane of 13.
And I love this one - this is a reflection turned upside down. Is that a cool shot or what? Thanks for sharing, Dorothy!

SPLISH, SPLASH and QUACK!

WELL, ONCE AGAIN, it has rained - and it was enough rain to close the schools. We have had another 2.74 inches of rain in the last 12 hours. Now as an isolated event, that would not be a problem, but it seems to be a weekly occurance lately. We just had a mini Nor'easter over the week-end (see the Santa Train) and have not dried out from that or the couple of nor'easters before that one, starting with the one that lasted 4 days a few weeks ago. AND... they say the one we are supposed to get THIS week-end will bring SNOW with it. Snow before Christmas is a rare event here and usually is an omen for a very cold winter. At this moment, it is 62 degrees, but it hit freezing 2 mornings ago - there was a fine film of ice on the birdbath.

Anyway, as a record of this last 12 hours - here is my "waterfront" and back property - or at least as much of it as I could get to. It was over my boots in places, over a foot deep in a few spots that I could get to - but with the ground so soft, I did not see any point in wading thru the mud and water to see how bad it was. I just stuck to the acre closest to the house. All the barns were surrounded by water. There are little islands where the mulch around plants has built up the land a bit. The blueberry "cage" is an island. The pathways back in the woods look like little streams. Buddha appreas to be sitting lakeside. Again, many of the leaves and sticks are floating on top of the water so it LOOKS like you might be able to walk thru it, but in reality, the water will go over your feet to your ankles. Surprise! I was not out there alone... the geese were flying over, thousands of Snows, heading south. It is always a treat to see and hear the Snow geese.