The Smelker Seven

My Backyard this Morning

The kids wanted to know if they could use their tubes and go swimming!

Labels: flooding, Rain

posted by The Smelker Seven @ 9:26 PM 0 Comments

Can't It Head West?

Can't the rain head out to the west? California is experiencing drought or so I hear, meanwhile we have gone barely a day without precipitation. This has become my new wardrobe staple.




And this is what the sky looks like most of the time!






I know I should not complain seeing that last year we had all sorts of water restrictions and the Edwards Aquifer (where San Antonio pulls its water) was running very low. (This photo is of the San Antonio River downtown, part of the water system.)


I can't even cut my grass at the moment! Well, that is not strictly true - I cut my front lawn and side lawn on Monday, just a scant five days since the last time. But my back yard is flooded. There has been so much rain my grass is waterlogged and there are pools of water everywhere. Of course the grass hasn't stopped growing, and it's amazing that in one week it could grow so fast! I just need two or three days without rain so the yard can dry a bit. Yesterday I hoped against hope that we would not have rain - no luck; and today although the morning was sunny the afternoon brought with it a rip snorter of a thnderstorm that lasted a good two to three hours. Flash flood warnings are now almost commonplace because we hear them pretty much every other day.

My kids are even getting sick of it - mostly because I have told them they can't play in the back right now, so Hayley asked me check the forecast. Doesn't look promising: for the next 10 days there is a 60% chance of rain every day, and the temperatures are low for San Antonio at this time of year. We will not get above 87 for the foreseeable future.

Anyone in California want to come and bottle up some of this rain and take it back with them?

Labels: flooding, Rain

posted by The Smelker Seven @ 10:08 PM 0 Comments

Floods in San Antonio

Yesterday was a wet and soggy day - very wet and soggy! Today Fox News posted a couple of photos taken in San Antonio. The one posted here is of 281 which is the main north-south freeway that runs through the city. We are located about 10 minutes east of the intersection.



Our sub was relatively unscathed (we live on high ground) but there were plenty of roads around us that were closed yesterday and part of today.

Sun greeted us this morrning, and although there has been more rain forecast for our region, I think it is slightly less than what we had in the last 24 hours.

Labels: flooding, Rain

posted by The Smelker Seven @ 7:18 PM 0 Comments

Possibly the Wettest Summer?

I suppose I shouldn't be complaining about all the rain we've received so far this summer since last year the summer was so dry we had watering bans - but I have to cut my grass once a week at the moment! Last year if we mowed three times the entire summer that was a lot, this summer already I have mowed more times than I can count. And it takes me 90 minutes just to mow, and I haven't even started edging yet!

The rain has sometimes put a crimp in the family activities - there have been a couple of times I've loaded the kids up for the pool and then the deluge starts. And here in San Antonio that's what we get, a deluge. The Weather Channel has issued several flash flood warnings for San Antonio. We have learnt to take those seriously. Every year the news reports of some unfortunate soul who disregarded the warnings, attempts to ford a road (either on foot or in their car) and they get whisked away by the water. Invariably the story does not have a happy ending.

On a happier note though, the girls are almost done with the summer league swim team. This weekend marks the final meet. If either girl places in the top 5 of their division then they go onto a regional event, but frankly at this point I am not sure either one will place in the top 5. Competition has been stiff this year and with Hayley not competing for one school year she lost some ground. Next year I think she will fare better.

And just because I didn't want a text-only blog, here is a photo of the two newest members of the feline family - Drake and Puma relaxing together.

Labels: Drake, Hayley, Puma, Rain, Teagan

posted by The Smelker Seven @ 8:41 AM 1 Comments