We have had heavy rains and we are surrounded by a sea of water, the Jacinto River is up and there are flood signs everywhere. The river floods onto our road every year and it looks like this occurrence is imminent. In addition to all this, the truck is behaving dodgy (oh how technical of me!) and the two tonne front gate is still done broke. In other words we are on forced house arrest!
There was a downpour lastnight so we couldn’t even get anything done on the farm. I was so frustrated and said to Gnome today:
“Aaaaaargh…the weather refuses to cooperate! Everything is conspiring against us!”
Gnome replied with an enigmatic smile:
“My dear, we must sway like the bamboo…learn to bend like the limbs of the bamboo…be flexible!”
In response to this, I lifted my arms up in the air and flailed them from side to side. Testily I said,
“Is that it???!!! I don’t feel any better!!”
Gnome:
“No dear you are not doing it right…you need to smile while you are swaying.”
This the Gnome-Style Swaying Bamboo Technique.
The Flood Flies finally came last night and we were ready with Protocol Flood Flies still in place. Lock down started at 4pm and everyone (including the animals) were fed and watered by 5pm. Last minute shower and into the bedroom quick smart. Lights out! This morning, there was still some evidence of flood flies with their wings but not as much as previous years. Switching the lights off to reduce numbers really works and this year, I am actually not suffering from Post Traumatic Flood Flies Syndrome. Usually with the after-math of winged chaos, I am reduced to a depressed, quivering wreck armed with a vacuum cleaner in one hand and a snotty tissue in the other.
We have been hearing all sorts of weather predictions and looking at reports on the Internet with forecasts of hot, dry weather…forever (well, it feels like that anyway). This morning we were sitting down with our cups of tea (can’t take the Scottish out of either of us…still like a cup of tea to hit the spot) and lo and behold! Grey clouds gathered right over us and it started raining. What a relief! It wasn’t torrential but it was enough for the plants and trees to quench their thirst for a wee while. This is one of the longest dry seasons that we can remember. Every year, the season tends to end abruptly and we are usually left thinking,
The truth is that we are actually both very healthy and fit from this lifestyle…a lifestyle that we like to promote to all our patients…we reckon that the only way to give advise is to do it (not just talk).
We had our usual town day today and then stopped off at the hardware store to purchase one connector and a roll of teflon tape. These were two crucial pieces that were missing in the air-lift pump construction that stopped us from completing the full Gnome-Rig yesterday.
