Flood Update May 30, 2013

I think we had a good day today.  I am not sure why but this morning, I decided to go on line and do some research on dehumidifiers.  I found out that they are supposed to be very effecting in drawing moisture from a house.  Several people giving reviews even said they were good for flooding situations.  Jack and I went to check them out.  The manager at McCoys felt that they would work if you you had a good unit.  They don’t sell them at McCoys.  We went to Home Depot and they didn’t have any. We went to Lowes and they had several unit.  We picked up two that are supposed to remove 70 pints of moisture in 24 hours.  We got two units.

Jack put their unit in one of the back bedrooms and turned it on.  Several hours later, it had dropped the Relative Humidify in the room from 65 to 40.

I put my unit in my master bedroom and the relative humidify was 80 and after a few hours dropped to 55 and about a 1/2 gallon of water in the bucket.  I moved the unit to the living room and the relative humidify was 65 and I ran the unit there for a couple of hours and it dropped to 50 and another 1/2 gallon of water.

So far I am pleased with the results.  These units are designed to draw all moisture out of the house and should draw the moisture out of the sheet rock and insulation.  If this works, it will save us a ton of time and money.

Update from Margaret May 29, 2013

Still cleaning. Lots of dried mud on everything. They towed my car yesterday. Can't wait to hear the results of that. My new fridge isn't working. Just bought it in August but not covered because of flood. Coming today to check it out. The fridge in the garage quit working. All other appliances are working fine. Still don't know about the sheet rock and insulation. Jack went to get a moisture meter today so we can test the walls. We're keeping the house cold and all fans are going including 3 large commercial fans. Still not sure about our big screen TV. There is mud in the bottom of it. Hoping when it dries out it will work. We're just plugging along. Thanks to everyone for cards, help, prayers. So far it looks like our losses are my car, the carpet and the big screen TV. Not too bad when you remember Oklahoma and North Texas.

Below are some pictures of the mud that was in the house.  Most of the floors have been cleaned.  The last picture is my front yard and the court yard after the water had gone down some.

 

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Flood Update May 29,2013

I made some good progress yesterday.  I am not sure what all I got accomplished but it must have been something.  The place is starting to look a little (very little) bit better.  I got a big stack of old boxes and papers out of the garage and into a dumpster this morning.  I also opened the doors to my computer desk and of course found mud.  I also had the books for the reunion stuff in there and all of the bank statements, receipts, etc. for the reunion is pretty much ruined.  The good news is that the extra checks for my personal account and the reunion account are dry so we can still spend money.

The weathermen are predicting more heavy rains today but so fare we haven’t gotten any.  Hopefully it will all fall to the east and south of San Antonio and it won’t be too heavy.

Well, back to work.

Flood Update May 28, 2013

Just need to vent a little today.  Yesterday I got my dryer working again and now am able to wash clothes which is a good thing.  Of course I had to move the dryer out and there was a lot of mud behind the dryer so I had to take care of the mud before fixing the dryer.  That seems to be the way it is going to be around here for a while.  I will go to work on a project and find that there are 10 other things to do before I can get to the project I was going to work on.  For instance, I pulled out the stove and cleaned the floor and then was going to move the stove back when all this water came out of the bottom of the stove.  I had to stop and clean out the bottom of the stove along with all the pans and cookie sheets, etc that were stored there.  It just seems that you work your butt off and then you look around and don't see much progress but I know I am making progress because I am tired and my body aches.  That has got to mean something, right?

This morning, one of my projects was to move the TV and stereo stuff out of the cabinet so I could move the cabinet and get that wet stinking carpet out of there.  I disconnected everything and of course most of the wiring was muddy so you have to stop and clean the wires and then wash your hands before you can move the TV and stereo.  I finally got all of that done and the carpet out and the tack strips up and the baseboards cleaned and the walls cleans.  Oh well, you get the idea.  I got the TV back up and working and I am going to leave the rest alone for now.  I can do without surround sound for a while.

The big screen TV is the living room doesn't turn on.  I pulled the back off and the Mother board was covered with wet mud.  I am letting it dry up for a few days and then I will take another look at it and see if I can get the dried up mud off and hopefully it will start and be okay but it is not a big priority right now.  I don't have a lot of time for TV now anyhow and as long as I can watch the Spurs play, I am good but I do miss the news.

On the good side, we have been able to borrow a moisture meter from one of our classmates.  We will be able to put the probe inside the walls and determine the level of moisture.  Some people are saying that the water wasn't in the house long enough for it to get inside the walls and the insulation.  This meter will tell us how much.  If the water didn't get into the insulation, we won't have to tear out sheet rock and insulation.  We are hoping that is the case.

We also heard on the news this morning that the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) might be a little bit at fault for the flooding due to the so called improvements they have been making to the river.  People from SARA come out here all the time to study the river and there was supposed to be a team come out today with some students to look at the confluence of the San Antonio River and Salado Creek.  The man called Margaret this morning and told her that they were canceling the trip until it dried out.  Margaret told him about the houses getting water in them and he said that there were a lot of complains and told Margaret to file a complaint on their web site and we might get some compensation.  We will wait and see on that.

Well, enough of a break for now.  HO HO its off to work I go.  Bah Humbug

Flood Update May 27, 2013

Well, we had a good day yesterday.  My Nephew’s Jackie and Darren and two of Darren’s friends from Church came and worked on Margaret and Jack's house until about 2:00 pm and then they came down to my house and worked until they got all the wet carpet up and out and hauled off.  What an awesome act of Christianity.  Those men did in a few hours what it would have taken me several days to do by myself.

Margaret came down and worked at vacuuming the water off the flood and asked me to go down to her house to get her TV working.  I went down and after several hours was able to get one of the TV working and also got her computer hooked back up and it is running.

My Niece Kathy and Grandniece Shelby came down to the house and worked on getting the mud off the tile floors in the dining room and kitchen.  Darren came with them and cleaned out the garage and the porches.  The house is still a mess but there is progress.

The sad news is that due to my not thinking, there were a lot of boxes of old photographs and 8 mm film that was left on the floor and got wet.  The good news is that most of the photographs can be saved and I am not sure about the film.  The really good news is that I had already digitized the photos and the film so at least we have a record of them.

We talked with a friend of ours, Hector, who really had a day of it on Saturday.  His Mother, who is 79 and lives on a two story house on the banks of the San Antonio River south of us had to be rescued.  They called 911 but you can guess they were busy so Hector and his Son tried to get there by truck but soon realized that wasn't possible so they got their John boat with a trolling motor and set up down river.  They had a dangerous trek to reach the house and when they got there, the water was over the first floor.  His Mother and two Grandchildren were upstairs and at a window.  They got them in the boat and somehow made it to land.  The first Responders finally got there and helped them get out.  Just when you think you are having a bad day, you hear a story like that.  We also thought a lot about the poor folks in OK and we are thankful that at least we have a home to clean up.  Those poor people have nothing left.

I am not sure what today will bring.  It is not like there is nothing to do, all you have to do is look in any direction and there is something to do.  I do have to get my dryer fixed.  The vent hose has to be replaced and I do have some wet clothes that need to be washed and dried.  I also have a lot of mud left in the dining room, kitchen and washer room so that seems like a good place to start this morning.

Flood May 25, 2013

As most of you know, I have been trying to get on an exercise program and trying to lose some weight.  I tried walking and then the mosquitoes got so bad I had to stop that.  I wanted to let you know that God had solved my problem.  The last two days we have gotten some rain and this morning we got a lot of rain.  We got so much rain that I had about 10 inches of water in my house.

This will be a hard working exercise program involving cleaning floors, taking out rugs, replacing rugs with tile, cutting away sheetrock and insulation and replace them.  I think I will be staying busy for quite some time and I am betting I will get some exercise and lose some weight.

The good news is that everyone is safe around here and all the animals are safe as well.

Bird Nests

At the last High School reunion planning meeting, one of my classmates asked me if the birds were building a nest on my patio ceiling fans like they have done for the past few years.  The answer is no, they haven’t even tried to build a nest there this year and I don’t know why.  I have seen a few birds land on the blades of the fans but none have tried to build a nest.

 

They have decided to build a nest in my garage.  I keep my garage door closed most of the time so I am not sure how they found the time to get in there and build a nest except it doesn’t take them long to build one.

There are three eggs in this one.  I have been leaving my garage door open all the time so the birds can get in and do whatever it is birds do.  Margaret was down last night for the Spurs games and I took her out to show her the nest.  She got up close to look inside and the bird flew out and almost hit her.  I will leave them alone.

The next place they decided to build a nest was on the patio but just not the ceiling fan.

This is the cup on one of my grills that catches the ashes from the charcoal.  It makes it easier to clean the grill but right now it is filled with a bird nest.

If you look close, you can see some pink in this photo.  There are three baby chicks in the nest.  I will leave them alone until they fly away and then I can use my grill once again.  It is a good thing that I have a gas grill and also a smoker if I want to use charcoal.  I am not going hungry.

The Turkey and the snake

I just looked out my kitchen window and I saw a wild Turkey in the back yard.  This Turkey was acting strange to me since she was pecking hard at the ground and she didn't seem to be paying attention to what was going on around her like they normally do.  Then I saw what she was pecking at was a snake.  It was a fairly small snake, only about one foot long and not very fat.  It was a smart snake since it managed to get into a pile of mesquite wood I have stacked up in the yard.  The Turkey pecked around the stack of wood for a bit and then walked off.  I went out through the garage and the bird flew off.

I didn't know that Turkey hunted snake and I guess they eat them.  I learned something new today so it was a great day.

Not one of my better days

I had one of those mornings that most would rather not have and are best forgotten.  I decided that today was a good day to do a tune up on my truck.  The truck was running good but I like to keep it that way so I tune it up at least once a year.  I don't do as much driving any more and I doubt that I put more than 12,000 miles a year on the truck.  I started out by taking the air cleaner off and the filter looked like it was brand new.  I used my air compressor and blew it out and there was very little dust or dirt that came out so I decided that it didn't need to be replaced.  Then my problems started.  I was going to replace the rotor and when I was taking the distributor cap off, I dropped my screwdriver and of course it didn't drop all the way down to the ground.  I could see it and I got out my magnet and tried to get it but all I did was make it drop further down and still not on the ground but the bad news was that I couldn't see it anymore.  I crawled under the truck and looked around but still could see it.  I decided to pull a Scarlett O'Hara and worry about it later.  I got another screwdriver and got the distributor cap off and then pulled the rotor off and it looked brand new too so I decided that I was probably wasting my time tuning this truck up.  I put the rotor back on and then the distributor cap and discovered that I had dropped one of the screws that hold the distributor cap on.  Now these are pretty special screws and very small so it was going to be hard to find.  I got out my magnet with a light on the end and the batteries were dead.  I replaced the batteries and still wasn't able to see the screw.  I got a better flashlight and the batteries were dead in it too.  I replaced those batteries and still couldn't find the screw.

Now most men have a box or jar or something out in the garage where they keep old screws and stuff that they determine might be needed someday.  I have been keeping my box for many years and it normally has just the thing I am looking for if I look long enough.  After trying several screws, I found one that worked and I put it all back together.  Just for luck, I bounced the truck up and down a little and the screwdriver fell out.  I moved the truck and looked for the screw but I am still looking for it.

All during this time, I am hearing this strange bird.  At least I think it is a bird until I remember that I have heard this before and it is not a bird.  It is the alarm going off on my gate closer.  The alarm is telling me that I have a low battery.  I just replaced the battery in February so I was doubtful of the battery being bad.  I went down and opened the box where I keep the battery and the electrical box where the charger was plugged in was completely corroded.  I pulled the battery and am charging it now but I will have to get a new electrical box and outlet and then clean it all up and put it back together but that will have to wait for another morning.  The mosquitoes were eating me up working on the gate.

The good news is that Jack caught another hog.  I called a man who I had met at a Fried Chicken place last week and he is coming out this afternoon to pick it up.

I am in for the day except to show the man where to get the hog.  I hope all of you are having a better day.

Bill

Daily Walks

I am afraid that my daily walks are gonna have to be put off for a while.  I went out this morning and before I had gone very far, two mosquitoes landed on me.  One on my right arm and the other on my left.  They were quite large for mosquitoes and I felt them when they landed on me.  What I didn't expect was when they started flying off and picked me up with them.  I swatted one and then the other and got back on the ground.  I ended up having to kill about a thousand of them before I was able to get back inside.

Okay, maybe I stretched this story a little but they were a lot of them and they were big.  I guess I need to go to the store and stock up on Off.  I sure wish some bats would find their way to my Bat House.

Does anyone know of a good reason for mosquitoes to exist?

Does anyone know how I can get some bats?

Please excuse any mistakes in this post, it is hard to type and scratch mosquitoes bites at the same time.

Fredricksberg Trip 5/7/2013

Part of the tour of the National Museum of the Pacific War is what they call the Pacific Combat Zone.  They have several large exhibits there.

They give guided tours here and since I was the only person on the tour, he allowed me to walk behind the chain and get a close up view of the exhibits.  An Avenger Bomber or some called them Torpedo Bombers.  I didn’t know they carried a crew of three, Pilot. Read Gunner and a Bombardier.

 

They has a full size PT Boat that served during WWII in the Mediterranean.

They had a beach front that showed the Japanese weapons and entrenchments that would have been found on beach fronts such as Tarawa.  Several times during the year they have what they call the living history program where they have a program showing the Marines landing on the beach at Tarawa.

After finishing the tour of the Museum, I drove south on some of the back roads to Vanderpool and then on to Hondo and then home.  It was a nice drive and a good day.

Morning Drive 5/7/2013

This morning I went for a drive instead of a walk.  I started out this morning about 7:30 am and made the 1 1/2 hour drive to Fredricksberg, TX.  Of course, leaving my house at 7:30 and driving from the southeast side to the northwest side of San Antonio in rush hour traffic might not seem to be the best time to be starting out but I continue to be amazed at traffic in San Antonio.  There were a couple of places where the traffic slowed down to about 30 MPH but for the most part, it flowed right along and I didn’t have any problems making it across town.

My main purpose of going to Fredricksberg was to tour the National Museum of the Pacific War.  If you have not been there, you ought to plan a trip and see it.  There are a lot of exhibits there and all of them are displayed where there is a lot of interaction while still protecting the artifacts.

They allow photos but not flash due to the many documents they are trying to protect.  They also keep it dark in most places for the same reason.  I will include a few of the photos I took but not all due to my limitation of being able to transfer data.

This is one of the Japanese two man submarines used in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A B-25 like the ones that made the Doolittle Raid on Japan shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

There is an area outside dedicated to the men and women who served.

The walkway and wall is covered with names of individuals, units and ships that served during WWll.

5/6/2013

It was  a nice day today.  I walked down to Pebble Beach and looked for rocks but I didn’t see anything interesting.  Right now Pebble Beach is more dirt and sand than it is pebbles.  There is also a lot of weeds growing tall making it hard to walk all over the area.  I am sure all will change the next time we have some good rain and the river comes up.

After the walk I went down and mowed Margaret and Jack’s yard.  Jack is doing good but still not in good enough shape to bounce around on a lawn mower.  He has baited the hog trap and he is able to drive down there and check on it but he didn’t get anything last night.  I will walk down there in the morning and maybe he will have one or two or three.

Margaret is coming down in a few minutes to watch the Spurs with me.  I don’t like it when they start playing so late at night.  I prefer them to start no later than 7:30 but I guess that is the price we pay for them being in the West conference.  Oh well, as long as they win.  Go Spurs Go

I just looked out my kitchen window and saw this raccoon in my back yard.  It is fairly rare to see one this close to the house.  It is just starting to get dark so you have to excuse the poor quality of the picture.

 

5/5/2013 Morning walk

I haven’t written anything for a few days since there hasn’t really been anything interesting to write about.  Jack has caught a few more hogs and given them away to friends.  I walked down to the trap this morning but he didn’t have anything in it yet.  He normally catching one after the trap has been vacant for a day or two.  He has caught a Momma and a baby the other day and some friends just picked them up yesterday so I think it will be tomorrow before he gets another one.

After checking the trap, I walked on down to the picnic area and then down to Paradise Cove.  I was wanting to pick up some more flat river rocks for my flower bed and look for Indian artifacts and fossils on the gravel bar.  When I got to where the steps going down to the gravel bar were supposed to be, they weren’t there.  I am sure the last little rain we had washed them away.  Jackie and Logan will have to either build another set or find the old one and put it back up.