Build an ark

So much rain. So much, much rain. Last Wednesday, we had 2.3”. Saturday had passing showers with occasional sun. We sorted through the grapes in the garage to stay dry. The total didn’t amount to much, just 0.4”. All of Saturday night it stormed. I couldn’t sleep because of the thunder and lightning. And the worry about the garden flooding. Sunday wasn’t too bad during the day. I got to the garden to pick cantaloupe and zucchini. The south end had standing water, not surprising for 2.6” of rain. I took the row cover off the beets, thinking that they would dry out faster. If the deer come back to eat the tops off, so be it.

A flock of geese flew in, apparently attracted by standing water in the field that was not deep enough to see from the house. 

Geese invasion

I counted 21 in the group. I don't see them all in this picture

They alternated between that location and the shade of the fifth oak. Can’t say I blame them—the day was hot and miserably humid. The turkeys were none too pleased at having their territory invaded. They kept their distance, being seriously outnumbered.

Lounging in the shade

More storms Sunday night. More worry, but nothing else to do about it. We didn’t need more rain, but it isn’t financial assistance. Not awarded according to need. The rain continued off and on Monday. I walked out before lunch to take some pictures. The garden was even more flooded.

Standing water in the south garden. We did not need this.

I walked to my restoration area where the flower that I have never been able to identify was blooming all over. It’s an impressive plant, growing to a height well over my head.

A tall, mysterious composite flower

I went back to the creek. It was right up to the top of its banks. Two more drops of rain, and we’d have a flood. Again.

The creek right up to its banks at 11:45 a.m.

I checked on the woodland garden that I planted back in the spring, so hopeful and optimistic that I would get back to check on it and keep the weeds at bay. The last time was after the first floods in June, where I saw with despair that the straw had all piled up in one corner. I pulled some of the weeds off the fence and made a mental note to get back and rearrange the straw. Never made it. Too hot, too buggy, too much work to do in the south garden, too, too, too. Still, the Joe Pye weed was blooming, and there were wild strawberries all over.

Joe Pye weed blooming in my alleged woodland garden. Weeds have completely taken over the fence.

I was headed to the house as the next wave of rain was rolling up. I walked as quickly as possible in 4’ to 8” of water so as to not be struck by lightning. I just got back as the first drops fell. No more! Please no more! But there was more. Soon the air was white with falling water. Before it was all over, it was 3.1” more. The creek was going to flood. I checked the radar, and worse storms were north of us, pouring even more rain into the Piscasaw watershed.

The turkeys seemed trapped by the standing water. I knew that their feet were wet since I’d just been through that area, but they seemed hesitant to walk through the deeper water to get to high ground. I mentioned this to Terry, who quickly pointed out that turkeys can, in fact, fly. But they wouldn’t. They just stood in the rain with wet feet looking grumpy. If I were a turkey, I would have found a perch in a tree and hunkered down.

Turkeys (upper right) looking glum surrounded by water

The water rose and rose. It wasn’t as bad as in June. It didn’t get to the orchard or the garden shed. I saw what looked like apples floating south. I asked Terry if he had apples in his “bone yard” (which could easily be mistake for a “junk yard” behind the willows. He took the binoculars, confirmed that the objects were apples and said that he didn’t have them in the bone yard. After a bit of thought, he concluded that they were the fallen apples that he’d been dumping back by the creek so the deer would eat them. It is a bad idea to leave them in the orchard because the pests build up and attack the apples on the trees. The bald-faced hornets like the fallen apples too.

Mistaking our field for a wetland, a great blue heron flew in looking for a snack. This is about as high as the water got.

A great blue heron at the height of the flood

It finally stopped raining in the afternoon. By this morning, standing water was not visible from the house. The day was again very hot, replicating the one-two punch that killed the cabbage in June. First the roots are damaged by the standing water, then the cabbage wilt in the heat because the roots can’t replace the water fast enough. The cabbage are bigger now and the flood not so extreme. We’ll know in a few days.

Six inches of rain in three days with the ground already saturated. So much water.