it has been raining forever...well, almost. i just finished reading a trilogy about Noah's flood. we have a backyard flood because the builder didn't quite get the plan right. we are just at the edge of a flood plain, but the houses in the flood plane seem to be okay. the slope of the ground causes the water to puddle between four houses. the builder did put in a drain from the middle of the low ground ( it goes along the little cedar trees ) but the drain tube was obviously not big enough.the fire ring in our yard in now a pool inside a pool. the last picture shows the view outside our basement door with the water creeping up towards our basement. we went to the plumbing supply and bought the last sump pump and some caulking. we thought we could caulk the doors closed. by the time we got back it had gone down some as the water dug a trench between the two houses so it had someplace to go.
i had been up since around 3 in the morning trying to train sam not to meow to get out. it was a water method....squirting water at him whenever he meowed. while i was up a looked out and notice that there was a pond out back with little waves. but the water was not yet visible in our back yard. by the time sis was up it was starting to show through our tall grass that we haven't been able to mow because it is always wet. she was on the phone right away talking about lawyers etc., if something didn't happen.
someone who turned out to be the owner of the building company showed up shortly and ordered a trencher to come in and dig a trench from the puddle pond to the street to let the water out. he left and it hasn't shown up as yet but a second man has appeared and has at least shoveled a little trench to let some more water out. he is standing in the rain in his poncho talking on the phone. the rivers and streams are up to the top of the banks and in some places over the banks. i hope the trencher makes it because we are scheduled for four more days of rain. we will have to hire sheep to mow the lawn if it doesn't all wash away.
the threat of water in the basement reminds me of the time there was water in the basement of the house of at cheyenne court in boulder. our house was lower than the one next door and during a down pour the water was high enough on the patio to run over the rims of the guards around the basement windows. i was left to deal with the problem myself (and was pregnant at the time). there wasn't much i could do but pick up what i could off the floor. fortunately there was not too much down there and the floor was tile. we finally had to get a sump pump to clear the 2 to 3 inches of water on the floor.
ps. from somewhere the builder's man found some sandbags to put up against our basement door! :)
