A Little Rain

Austin and the surrounding areas received quite a bit of a storm last night. Of course, we got very little of it. North Travis County and Williamson County got the worst of it. Three tornadoes were spotted up there. We were at Butler Park, a cool new park near Auditorium Shores and the Long Center, with a group of neighbors when the storm rolled in. We had just enough time to run through the drive through at Sandy's for dipped cones before the drops began. It started to come down pretty hard as we approached Mopac (Loop 1), but of course, as we drove south, closer to our homes, the rain began to let up. South Austin always misses out on all the good storms and rain. We were all hoping it would be coming down at our homes, but no, it was not. So we went inside as the lightning and thunder rolled around us. We finally heard rain drops, but knew it wasn't going to be a lot. But I'm not complaining. We'll take any rain we can get. I checked the rain gauge this morning when I was mowing the back yard. It said we got 3/4 of an inch of rain. I was kind of disappointed but glad we got something. That meant one or two days I wouldn't have to water the lawn. Then I walked over to see how much water was in the rain barrel. I figured it might be half full from only 3/4 of an inch of rain. I couldn't believe my eyes as I approached the rain barrel and saw water around the top edge. It was over flowing with rain water! Whew-hoo! I had used almost all of the water from the last rain and now it was completely full again. I am so glad we finally got the gutter downspout redirected to the rain barrel. Roger had mentioned when we finished that he wondered how he could connect two barrels up so one would over flow to the other. I pretty much laughed at that because I was like, "Yeah right. Like we'd ever get enough rain to have overflow much less fill up two barrels." Now I wonder...

Rain, Rain Go Away

I had huge plans for today but the rain that started last night has messed up my whole day and there's a chance for rain until Friday so it might mess up my whole week. I had plans to prime and paint 1" x 4" trim for the exterior of our house today so it would be ready to put up this weekend. It's the last item we have left to get our house ready to put on the market. I was hoping to be done with everything by next week. Looks like that will be pushed back by a week. I wasn't even able to swim this morning. Every time I think it's cleared up and the sun has been out a while so I can try to do something outside, it comes pouring down again. I did everything I could inside early this week so I would have time to be outside the rest of the week to paint the trim. So I'm spending today finishing my niece's Halloween costume so I can get up there to have her try it on so I can hem the sleeves and bottom before putting on all the trim. She's going to be an angel. I don't know what Roger and I will be for Halloween yet. Our community group is having a neighborhood cul-de-sac party so it's outdoors and if it's still warm here, which it most likely will be, I'd prefer a costume that's cooler. We are meeting tonight to go over the details of the Halloween party so we'll have to go check out costumes very soon. Although the rain has altered my plans for today, I am glad we are getting some good rain. We really need it.

Well Hello Dolly

Dolly gave us a little rainfall after all yesterday afternoon. Not as much as we'd like since the chance of rain for today has all but disappeared. With our highs in the 95-100 degree range, that little rain we got yesterday will be evaporated by tonight. The rain gauge in our back yard only shows a quarter of an inch of rain. But at least I don't have to water my yard one day this week. We have been in water restrictions all summer and can only water our yards two days a week on designated days only during designated times. Our days are Sunday and Thursday after 7:oo p.m. And it rained on our day which makes it even better.

I had a great swim this morning. I have been thinking about doing a full sprint triathlon at the end of September. Full sprint triathlons are 750m swim, 16.9K bike and 5K run. Just the swim alone scared me. 750 meters is .47 of a mile. Almost half a mile in open water with no lane ropes, no visibility, no transitions, no push-offs, no water breaks and no resting. Straight swimming for half a mile. That's 820 yards which means 32.8 links or 16.4 laps in the 25 yard pool in which I swim. Yikes! Then you get to ride 10.5 miles on a bike and run 3.1 miles.

But this morning, after doing my usual warm-up and drill set and the first 8 minutes of my main set, I decided I would see how long I could swim without stopping. And I was amazed at how long I swam, unfortunately I lost count of my laps. I seriously need an abacus. I got into a sweet pace that I think would be great for a race. Not too fast, but not too slow. I wasn't even exhausted when I stopped. I only stopped because I wondered how long I had been swimming since I lost count of the laps. So I decided to try it again and I did. I really felt like I could keep swimming at that pace forever. Now I think I could do a full sprint triathlon if I keep this training up. Just swim until I can't swim anymore.

I need to add cycling to my regular exercise and I'm hoping Roger will join me for that. I also need to start drinking more sport drinks to replace the electrolytes I am losing if I increase to this much exercise. I drink a lot of water because I need it but with that much exercise I will just flush out more sodium I'm already losing during exercise which isn't a good thing. You need a good balance of water and electrolytes in your blood, especially with lots of activity. Going to go add that to my grocery list now.

Waiting on Dolly

Well, Tropical Storm Dolly hit land yesterday afternoon on the coast of Texas around South Padre Island and is working it's way up the Rio Grande. It has made it to Laredo according to the news. I read it was a category 2 when it hit land and is the worst storm to hit that part of the Texas coast since the 1950s. They have been evacuating the coastal areas for a couple days. One report said an area north of Brownsville got 10 inches of rain. We, on the other hand, have received no rain so far. And when I say we, I mean our area of South Austin, our neighborhood, our street, our house. Other areas around us have received rain, but not us. Even Roger's work got a downpour yesterday afternoon and he assumed we also did here at home, but no. The chances of rain are higher today although the day is almost half way over and we haven't had any rain yet. The skies have been gray since yesterday afternoon. We are really hoping to get some rain from this tropical storm. For the rest of us in Central Texas, tropical storms and hurricanes are the only way we get any precipitation during the summer. And we need it bad.

Rain!

We have received a good down pour in the middle of the afternoon the last three days in a row. I hope it keeps up, but I'm sure it's done. It's bringing out all kinds of critters but I guess it's better than the critters that start coming out during drought conditions looking for water everywhere, even in your house. It's funny, Murphy's Law I guess, but doesn't it always seem like when you have people over, the "exciting" things happen? We had our friend Tina from DC over for dinner Monday night since she was in Texas for a wedding and visiting family and made a stop in Austin. After we hung out on the back patio grilling salmon fillets and squash, we finished dinner and then grilled a dessert pizza with nutella and sliced strawberries and bananas. It was delicious. Roger went back out to turn off the gas after letting the grill burn everything off the grates and as soon as he got to the back door, he saw a snake across the step. I of course was intrigued and had to go see it. Tina ran to the sofa and got on top of it. I made it outside in time to try to grab his tail as he slithered in between the house foundation and the patio concrete. I wanted to see more of it so I could figure out what kind of snake it was. I'm sure it wasn't venomous, but I still wanted to know. I don't have a problem with snakes. I'd prefer them to rats and roaches. But I started to think about this snake eating up all the hundreds of geckos that are always around our house, getting fatter and fatter out on our patio and one day after we put our house on the market, buyers walk out there and see a big snake on the patio. That won't help us sell our house. Not that we're putting our house on the market any time soon, but it will happen eventually. So I'm going to wait to see how many more times we see the snake before I do something about it. I don't think it's just the rain that's bringing out all the critters I've been seeing in the yard and flower beds lately. The newest neighbors in the lot behind us don't mow their acreage like the previous owner so the grass is very tall and a breeding ground for critters. I've seen more snakes and fat, fat, lizards this summer than since we originally bought the house. And I think I saw a mouse, but I'm not positive. You gotta love irresponsible neighbors.