More Flooding!

The creek below our house flooded our road again tonight.



These photos were taken in early August, just after the 2nd flood we had on Saturday, July 22nd. The first happened on June 28th. If you care to see those pictures you'll find them in the June archives.

Earlier in the evening we looked out into the dark night and saw flashing lights on the corner. There was a fire truck and several other vehicles, and men marking the road with flares. I felt sorry for these men having to be out in the pouring rain on this very black night. The deluge of rain lessoned for a while and after a couple of hours the waters receded,

allowing the men to go home to their warm houses.

We've had another downpour or two since then, but the rain seems to have tapered off now to a steady fall. Just at dusk we had some strong winds along with the heavy rain. Apparently there was damage in some areas. The daylight will show us whether we have any tree damage.

This creek is usually a peaceful stream meandering through the meadow

For a good part of this spring, summer and fall, it has run much faster and had far more water in it than usual.

This is where it comes out of the culvet on the other side of the road. Tomorrow I'll take my camera and go see what it looks like after this night's flood.

Sharing The Flowers!

This has been such a busy week! I've been thinking of you all, but I'm sorry to say I've hardly had time to visit anyone or answer any e-mails. I miss visiting your blogs and finding out what's new. After today though, things should get better! We're switching to DSL (high speed Internet). No more waiting for ages while pages load with dial up. I can't wait! I hope to be able to post more often and visit more often!

I've enjoyed the gardens so much more this summer, being able to share them with all my blog friends. It's so much fun seeing what others grow in their gardens all over the world. We learn a lot!

It's raining here again today. We had another big storm yesterday afternoon...the second one this week. Last Saturday our road flooded again and there was other flooding in the surrounding areas. The rain fell out of the sky so fast, it was amazing, and most of it on Saturday morning. The floods receded quickly this time and didn't do as much damage, thank heavens. The road crews had just fixed our culvert 2 days before! I feel sorry for them having to do it again...and so much more to fix!

I'm posting some of the dozens of photos I've taken over the past few weeks, mostly of the day lilies. The new ones are all planted and all but one have bloomed, so I'll be posting pictures of those too, later.

Believe it or not, I thinned out these shasta daisies last fall. I need to do it again! I give them away, right, left and center but there's always more!



Astilbe is such a pretty, feathery flower and wonderful for shady spots



This argyranthemum is new to the garden this summer. It reminds me of the Marguerite that my mum used to grow, so naturally I had to have it in my garden!



Malva is the tame version of the wild mallow that is looking just beautiful on the roadsides this summer, along with the tiger lilies and other wild flowers. Apparently they're loving all the rain we've had.



The gloriosas (Black-eyed Susans) are biennials which sow themselves liberally. Yes, Zoey, they are rudbeckia hirta. They put on such a wonderful show! They're funny...sometimes they come back in droves and sometimes there are not many, sometimes none at all, as you experienced. Keep trying! Maybe next time you'll have better luck.



The red monarda (bee balm) looks pretty with the shasta daisies. I have several shades of monarda, the others are mostly pastel pinks and purples. I love it, and as I mentioned before, so do the bumblebees and hummingbirds. I love the scent! It's part of the mint family.



This was an unnamed lily given to us free with our first purchases in 2004 at Hawthorn Hill Farm. I just found out during last Sunday's visit that it's probably Bali Hai.



By Myself. Another one bought in 2004 from HH Farm



Cleo, which I've showed you before, is yet another from HH. She's tall at 48"



An unnamed lily I planted over 15 years ago. Pretty, soft color.



Another unnamed lily planted at the same time as the previous one. This has been such a vigorous grower and bloomer. I love the color!



Chicago Star. The bloom is huge at 8". Another from HH. It's wonderful!



This lovely pink is one of my 3 originals planted with the other 2 all those years ago. It looks suspiciously like Catherine Woodberry, which we just bought. I didn't realize this until we brought CW home last Sunday! Maybe CC a little more lilac than this one, hmmm, don't know. Some of them are so close.



Ruffled Apricot - another beauty from HH



Janice Brown from HH. She was my first choice during our 2004 visit...it was love at first sight!



You can see the clematis on the other end of the enclosed side porch. It's beginning to wind down now, but has been blooming for more than a month.

That's Toby coming for a cuddle



And this is the top end of the side porch



After much chasing, this tiger swallowtail actually posed for quite a few seconds for me. A very cooperative butterfly indeed! Or maybe it just felt sorry for the idiot chasing it :)

Hope you all have a great day!

Build an Ark?

Our creek is usually a peaceful, meandering stream but it's not at the moment. The water was still pouring through the culvert yesterday.



On the lower side of the culvert the roadside is badly washed out. The county has lots of fixing to do all over the area.



I walked down to look at the flooded river and this is as far as I could go. I usually walk around the bend and follow the river bank.



From the hill above our farm you can see how high the river is.



I took this further along our valley yesterday as I drove back from a dentist appointment.



My husband's brother very graciously vulunteered to fix our driveway yesterday.



He did a great job!



Last night we had a thunder storm and more rain, but not so heavy this time.

Alice has inspired me to look up! I find myself looking at clouds a lot these days, and sunsets, but our sunsets are not as spectacular as hers in Canberra. Not yet, anyway. We'll get some beauties as the weather gets warmer.

I'm very happy to report sunshine this morning, but the forecast says there's a chance of showers. We had clouds and a few sprinkles early this morning.

My heart goes out to all those people who have been adversely affected by the extensive flooding in several northeastern states, and I pray for those families who have lost loved ones.



Kitten fix!

Flooding!

This is what I woke up to this morning.

There's extensive flooding in upstate NY due to very heavy rains which began on Sunday afternoon. We couldn't believe we could get even more rain than we've already had in the past several weeks, but rain, it did! The water just kept pouring out of the sky!



The road was blocked off by a fire truck.

The creek that runs through our meadow beside the house was flooding and pouring water over the road.

My husband leaves about 5:00AM for work. I thought about him driving through all that water and called to see if he'd made it OK. He said he had to drive through flooded spots in the road at least 4 times, but he got there eventually. All the county roads around Cooperstown, where he works, were now closed. He said he'd never seen rain come down as hard as it did during his drive.

The river below our farm is way up over its banks. We usually can't see the water from our yard.

By 9:30AM the waters had receded and the road was reopened.

The rain stopped falling here about 9:00AM and later the sun came out and shone brightly all day. We had high humidity, but oh, it was wonderful to see that sun again! I did some tidying up in the gardens late this afternoon. The weeds were very easy to pull...that's probably the only good thing I can think of to say about all this rain!

And guess what the weather is doing tonight? Yes, raining again! How can there be that much water up there?