Tag: Sloggers

Finally Drying Out

I know everything is relative, but boy have we had a lot of precipitation this past week. It started with a snowy April weekend, which I thankfully missed by being up north in Door County. Came home to spring plants that were no worse for the wear.

Then it kept raining, bringing the weeks total to 6.1 inches. My Stratus rain gauge isn’t usually this full from an overnight rain

Streams are full, retention ponds are full, and apparently according to the news the storm sewers are full too. So is the swale that runs between our yards.

This swale, or “moon scape” as my husband calls it, obviously needs some explaining, since it looks nothing like it did a couple of years ago (It’s Been a Rainy Month). Watch for what happened in an upcoming post and how we’re fixing it.

In general, the drainage of the whole yard needs some work. Over the years, enough has been altered or settled so that the water just doesn’t run off like it should and I get puddles like this. Luckily for the raised beds, they drain like they should even when sitting in a puddle.

In the meantime, it’s a good day for my slogger rain boots to muck around the yard in.

It’s been a bit cold, so the seeds we planted a couple of weeks ago are just now coming up. At least they weren’t washed away. The cool weather is definitely helping the radishes, which I never have much luck with. I know these radishes don’t look like much compared to the gardens from my southern friends, but up north this is pretty exciting.  I’m going to plant a second row of the cold and cool weather veggies this week.

What have I planted outdoors already?

Looking forward to getting some garden fresh veggies on my table!

Ominous Weather

This is one of those days that you know the National Weather Service is all hands on deck.  We were supposed to drive from Chicago to Terre Haute, IN today to watch my son and his teammates run in the Nike Cross National Midwest Regional Race.  But, instead, I spent hours pouring over the all the NWS reports from Chicago, Central Illinois and Indianapolis last night and this morning, trying to make heads or tails out of what was headed our way. We decided it didn’t look like a good day make that long of a drive, so we stayed home and watched the race on-line.  Turns out that was a great idea and seems like most people took the warnings seriously as well.

weather map

When I went out to “batten down the hatches” this morning, it was weirdly warm, humid and quiet.  The birds, however, were going crazy.  It’s like they knew something bad was coming.  Not only was there a lot of activity, but birds were here I don’t normally see often.  And all at the same time!  In about 10 minutes among the starlings and house finches, there were robins, a pair of cardinals, chickadees, goldfinches, juncoes, and even a cedar waxwing.

cedar waxwing

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a cedar waxwing, and certainly never in my yard.  Maybe it’s all the yummy berries!

As the day progressed, we had over an inch of rain, (which means the rain boots had to come out again) as well as lightning and hours of winds of 25-30 mph with gusts up to 55 mph.

slogger rain boots

We thankfully didn’t have any tornadoes nearby, although many, as predicted, were scattered around central Illinois and Indiana.  Prayers go out to those people who have been affected, it looks like a mess.  I’ll be glad when the howling outside ends.

Here’s some of my favorite places to get good weather info at home and away:

You can also sign up for alerts from the NWS, TWC and Accuweather , or get a noaa weather radio app for you device.  Do you have a favorite weather source?

My New Rain Boots

Ugh, water! Ever since NJ, where we moved into our first house in a new development and had an entire block’s worth of water come rushing across our backyard and down the side to the street, we seem to have been plagued by water running across the yard where it’s not supposed to be. Countless times there, and then here in this house, I have had to put on some ridiculous pair of the most waterproof boots I can find, usually the wrong size and maybe even designed for snow, grab a shovel and started redirecting water back to the swale to flow where it belongs. So last week, I finally bought myself a cute pair of Slogger rain boots. This way, at least if I am out there “slogging” around in the water, I can look good and be more comfortable.

Slogger rain boots Slogger rain boots

Well, it happened again yesterday, so I’m glad I got the taller boots, instead of the equally cute garden shoes (which I might still order anyway because they are so cute and comfortable) .

This is what I woke up to after a night of rain…

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Now, the water is supposed to flow to this corner, but it is supposed to then flow out and down the block between the properties to the storm sewer. But of course, something has gone wrong again.

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You’ll have to excuse the mess behind the shed. This area is really part no man’s land, part utility easement. But, that’s where the flow was clogged and the water, instead of heading down the fence line and out, was coming back into the yard, trying to turn our shed into an ark. So, out come my new cute Slogger rain boots, my raincoat and the shovel, and off to work I go. There was all kinds of debris (leaves, sticks, mulch, and even those annoying plastic bags) clogging the flow, and once I got that cleared and redirected some of the water using those giant flagstones tossed back there for storage, we were good to go.

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In this photo, I look like I am wading in a pretty river somewhere. But, instead, it means the water in my backyard is moving once again and I have solved the problem for now!