Thank heavens it's wet enough for sumping

Our sump pump kicked on late last night, and twice today so far... YAY!!!!!!!!

It ran pretty regularly, ranging from a few times a week to a few times a day for the first year and a half since we moved in. Then by the end of May last year no pumping. We hit into the drought and since June on it's been too dry for the sump pump to run.

But now with some recent heavy snow and a bit of rain the water has been seeping in fast and deep to the ground. So much so that the pump is running again.

I'm keeping my eye on the drought monitor of course. Farmers Almanac is promising some more precipitation into the next couple months too.

We live in an extremely water rich area. We live on the edge of a football field size pond big enough to show up on google maps among a large cluster of ponds and lakes only a mile away from Lake Michigan.

But last year we fell into the moderate drought range. The pond we lived on dropped by at least 10-12 inches. Our neighbor has a springboard on the pond, and it used to touch or just hover the water... Now the gap is huge. The pond down by the corner that was full of lillies in 2011 was a green scum dressed mud pit in 2012.

By the time July hit, I was sending my love to Aarron for his fire safety speeches, and my sister for coming out for a weekend of major yard cleanup in the spring that made our home a much more zone clear place. I couldn't keep my plants wet enough to grow, let alone produce in the flat soil.

I've watched our back neighbors cart in rolls of feed hay since late spring instead of seeing the horses graze the pasture till fall with some square bales being carted in now and again.

But the pond at the end of the road was seeing standing water since a bit before Thanksgiving.. A good sign. And now the sump pump kicked in. An excellent sign.

It's almost enough to bestir myself out of my gloom and once again look forward to something this year. I've been awfully depressed lately about a lot of things. But the promise of possibly having enough wet again to make some plans worthwhile is hopeful.

And lol. Now that I have watched the exit pipe a couple times... I totally buried the crap out of the drainage area with leaves. On the bright side, a couple of the sages should get some excellent watering if the flow happens regularly again.
And I'm thinking I might still do a bit of deck over in the area.. and maybe plant in the rest of the tiny field with bread poppies.

House history.. We found out recently that our little cellar was once a walk out basement. Apparently is was built in that way and at one point Dave walled up the area and filled in the hill to what it is today. That explains the weird patch hole- I thought it had been a window, but it seems that it had been a door. I didn't ask about the rest of the basement fill in.
I also found out that the hill we are built on was not made from the leftovers of the pond digging. This hill was here naturally, and the extent of the pond dug was how much peat could be cut out.


We are taking in Nova tomorrow for his neutering preop. They need to establish his record before we can schedule the surgery. It's overripe time for it. It will be interesting to know just how much fuckerhead weighs now- when we got him in Oct he was just a hair smaller than Ocelot- now he is bigger than Marbles by a noticeable bit, and gaining on Pooks.
I know he won't like the travel for preop, but I think he can deal. I'm a bit more worried about the surgery. We will be dropping on a Mon, surgery Tues, Pickup Wed. He is such a mama's boy, and a hater of confinement, and extremely vocal. I should probably warn the vets about his cuddly lover action.

We got in some seeds yesterday.. Pink Banana and White Cushaw squashes. From a friend, and I was well pleased to see them.

But the weather is kicking up again, and it's time to make some dinner... Homemade mac and cheese with ham...

MMM, good cold and blustery weather food. Boiling up the noodles and such heats up the kitchen with some nice moist heat, and the dinner is warm clinging goodness to your ribs.
 I do it up kind of different every time depending on whats in the house.. This time?

 1 1/2 c dry medium shells, cooked up in salted water
can of small peas
cup of ham from the roast the other night
can mushroom soup
half cup or so velveeta
palmful parsley
T dill
t magic dust
t pepper
splashes milk

boil pasta, set to drain
in same pan heat mushroom soup, start dumping in cheese bits at time. Use a couple splashes milk to make it more of a sauce and less a cheese concrete. Add in ham, stir. Add in pasta, stir. Add in seasonings, stir, and adjust if necessary. Add in peas, stir. Serve up.

Yum....