Hurricane Harvey: Day 1 - Day 3

So far Hurricane Harvey has dumped A LOT of rain on us. And I do mean A LOT, and it's only Saturday. It's only Saturday, and they say the rain will not stop until sometime on Wednesday.

Luckily - knock on wood - since we're farther north the winds haven't been a big deal and we have had a few lulls in the rain. That does help, not only with the creeks around here but with taking our furbabies outside.

They still say we're supposed to get up to 30 inches of rain. I'm hoping it'll be a lot less.

The neighbor's cattle don't seem to mind the rain so much yet, although some of them are a little vocal. The donkeys however are NOT happy campers. They never did like the rain, so you can only imagine how they feel over all this. The poor things don't even have a barn to go to.

That has always bothered me. Our neighbor takes really good care of his cattle, so it's beyond me why they don't at least have a shed to stand under. I guess he figures all those trees on his property serve as enough to protect them.

I'm pretty sure the other neighbor's donkeys are standing inside their barn. They always hang out in there when it rains.



Isn't that picture cute?

I just learned that this is my cousin's dog, Ben. Since my cousin lives in a trailer right now, and since he and his brother will end up being so busy restoring power to people after this storm passes, my aunt is taking care of Ben.

Ben is a hunting dog, so he isn't house trained or coddled. He's basically just a hunter. Since he couldn't stay in the house, my aunt made him a cozy bed beneath her large car port. He's been really content - and dry - in there.

Posted below are the pics and video I've managed to snap so far. They are really poor quality. I had to edit the heck out of them because the camera was so fogged up from the humidity.

I think it's so funny that even the squirrel and little hummingbirds are still out in this weather. A lot of the birds are still eating seed at the feeder, but there are a few that are trying - unsuccessfully - to stay dry beneath the roof of our craft building. I don't know why they don't just go into the barn.

As for myself, I just want to remain in the 21st century by way of keeping the power and plumbing working. A camping type of gal I am NOT!































I think it is so hilarious that all the adult cows, including the bull, are following THE BABIES. So cute!















Well, it's now 4:30 pm and the wind is picking up.



And now it's 9pm and we just got an alert on our phone. It said our street is flooded.

Our guess is that it's further down the road, where it always floods when it rains. There’s a little bridge over a creek there. Months ago they had to rebuild the bridge, but of course... they were dumb by not making it a higher bridge. It’s a really small area, so it’s ridiculous that they did it the way they did.

I’m really hoping the flooding won’t come this far. I gotta say, it is pretty windy out there now and it’s been pouring nonstop. This is supposed to last through to Wednesday, so I am a little worried. God! We had better keep our electricity and plumbing!!! But still, my fingers are crossed that we’ll be fine.

I can’t wait for this damned bloke named Harvey to scoot along.






It's 7:30 am now and whoa.... did it ever POUR last night. It was windy, too. They say we've received 18 inches of rain in total so far and can expect 20 inches more.

I'm a little shocked we haven't flooded at all yet. I think our house is pretty high up. I knew we were oh a hill, but with all the woods surrounding us I just can't see it for myself.





The owner of the house next door called, asking about our street and her two donkeys. We told her the house is fine, and the girls - which we named "Anna" and "Elsa" - are fine as well. They've pretty much just been keeping dry in their barn.



When the rain slowed down some Mom went next door to feed the girls some carrots. They were HUNGRY! "Elsa" put the entire carrot in her mouth. The poor things weren't left any hay or anything like that in their little shed, and they hate walking around and grazing in all this rain, so of course they haven't been eating much.

When this weather turns nice again we're going to get some treats for both sets of donkeys. All four of them never have liked the rain and they've been real troopers during all this.

I just saw that our area has received 22.4 inches of rain so far. About 20 inches more are on the way. Luckily, we've had a nice lull in that rain this afternoon. Last night it was very windy and the rain was like a nonstop gushing waterfall. I mean it never once abated. It was insane.

We discovered that the areas we used to live in are really trapped by flooding. I wouldn't be at all surprised if two of our old houses - in Pearland and then Houston - were flooded.





With every house we've lived in we ALWAYS make sure it isn't in a flood plain, but with the rain this storm has brought... it's pretty unpredictable.

I don't see us flooding at all here. I just hope we get to keep our electricity and plumbing!!!! I'm also worried about the few trees that we do have.
They say after this storm returns to the Gulf, it's going to CIRCLE BACK!!!!





So now it's 4 pm. I'm stuck indoors so here's more rambling.

This is the view in our front yard.



And here's the view of around our gazebo.



As you can see, we're still fortunate in regard to flooding. It's a muddy BOG out there, and I'm 1,000% positive that the snakes will be coming around, but at least we won't be under water.

The ditch in front of our house was starting to flood, but we think that was happening because one of the neighbors wasn't clearing the debris in front of his house. To remedy the situation, Dad went out there to clear it himself.

I just watched a short video from Junk Gypsies. The video is on their Facebook Page HERE. It's the one titled "Texas Fire Ants..."

Here's a screen cap from the video, of their back pasture and the fire ants.



Isn't that wild?! I hope their farm animals will be okay. I figured they would have some flooding there in Round Top. (Round Top is about 20 minutes away, and Warrenton is even closer).

Parts of our area, around La Grange, are under mandatory evacuation today but that's to be expected because those areas are around the Colorado River.

Unfortunately, they now say this rain is supposed to last through THURSDAY instead of Wednesday. And of course they also say it's likely to circle back around after it returns to the Gulf.

I feel so bad for all the animals out there without shelter. I know they're miserable.



More pics, at 5 pm, because quite frankly I'm a tad bored and can't upload more videos until next week:







You can barely make out one of the donkeys huddled in the right hand corner of the shed.



I think little Abigail is getting annoyed with me.

She wants to play fetch outside with her favorite pet rock. She just can't figure out why we haven't played her favorite game for days now.







Rain, Rain, Go Away!

I know I’ve wanted rain for months now, but this is nutty. Thank God we’re all fine. We still have electricity and plumbing – knock on wood – and only our ditch has started filling up since yesterday. It’s slow-moving, but I’m not worried.

We have been so incredibly fortunate. There are people out there that have lived in the same house for 30 years, surviving their fair share of hurricanes and storms, and not once have they flooded.... until now.

Seeing the devastation all around, it makes me wish we had a boat so that we could help in rescuing people and animals.

We would like to go to the store, for a few supplies, but we’re not chancing it. The Colorado river is over there, and more rain is expected and we’ve seen bad flooding there before. Parts of those areas were under mandatory evacuation yesterday anyway.

I’m pretty sure we can live without milk for a few days, and thank goodness we found some more doggy diapers for Maddie should she run out of hers.

This morning, a little bit before 6:30 am, Abby wanted out. So I took her outside, and instead of following her usual routine of going in her favorite spot, she decides to go to the other side of the yard. (Looking for a dry spot I suppose).



So it’s pitch black outside, it’s raining, and I now have to get the flashlight and follow her while I look out for snakes.

When we finally got inside, the poor dog was shivering and wet. (Although I’ve been using her winter coat as her raincoat, so that did help). To warm her up I put a towel in the dryer for a bit. I ended up wrapping her in that warm towel, just as we do after she gets a bath, and all was well.

We snuggled for about 20 minutes, and once she was warm she asked to go back under the bed to go back to sleep.

Around 8:30 or 9 am I fed the birds and took these photos. As you can see, we’re still A-okay. At least we now know what our area can handle in terms of rainfall.

I would love to see an aerial drone video of our area though. I’m really curious to see how it is around the creeks. One section of our road is closed, due to a creek, but on our end we’re fine.

Also, people are still using HWY 77 next to our house. People have been using it since the day before Harvey made landfall.



















I gotta say something. I just logged on to a local tv station on Facebook and I saw this post:

"But according to trump supporters they should help themselves and they shouldn't have to give their money to people who need it. #Trumpsupporterlogic"



TICKED ME OFF!!!! Do they not give a damn about what those people are going through? I finally replied with this:

I am not about to argue with a person as ignorant as this individual, but I think it's important to mention that Trump Supporters/Texans/Decent Human Beings (no matter their political affiliation) have no objections to helping people in desperate times. What they object to is paying for people’s livelihoods when they are perfectly capable of doing it themselves, or of paying for their countless abortions because they refuse to accept personal responsibility for their own actions, etc.

Texans like to take care of themselves, and help one other. We’re not like California, spouting one minute that we want to secede and be self-governing, but the moment a dam breaks they’re screaming for assistance from Vile America.

This is basically a once in 1,000 year event. One year's worth of rain in under a week. Let’s leave blatantly incorrect assumptions and politics out of this, and instead focus on the most immediate, pressing needs of these poor people (and animals). We are the UNITED States after all.

As for donations, I would personally use The Salvation army. My brother does advertising work for charities, and I know you can find the legitimate charities listed on the charity navigator website.



God, how I hate people sometimes! Usually I ignore them, but not this time. I probably shouldn't have even brought up California or abortion, but I wanted to give an example. I've already received some hate, but I really don't care. I honestly don't value their opinion. I wasn't the one to bring up politics. I was the one RESPONDING to someone that brought up politics - which I am seeing a lot of on the news anyway - and defending the truth. This just isn't the time for that crap. I am so tired of constantly hearing this trash talk and not responding.

Anyway....

I doubt I'll be posting anymore pics here, etc. It's always the same. I'm just glad all the family and friends are safe. (In Austin, College Station, Spring/Woodlands, and Pearland). Our phone service is spotty today, but hopefully we won't lose it altogether.

Wow. I just read that the Colorado River in La Grange is at its highest point since 1913.

I also just saw another video JUNK GYPSY posted of Round Top; the land near their store. Man, they are flooded! All that farmland looks like a big lake.

Thankfully, it's a teensy-tiny town. More cattle than humans. The population is something like 90, and they can still get out if they need to.





- It's 3 pm now and it hasn't rained for 2 hours. Hooray!

A few of the neighbor’s cattle have been taking a rest, enjoying a break from the rain. The cattle behind us really have seemed unaffected by all this. The donkeys hate it, but the cattle seem oblivious.

Although the cattle across the street from us aren’t too happy. They’ve been pretty vocal, but that’s pretty normal for them.

- Found this video of La Grange.



The bridge you see at the 30 second mark is the bridge we take to go grocery shopping. They predict that the Colorado River in La Grange will reach 51 or 53 feet today, and the flood level was 28 feet.

I've seen a couple of videos of downtown La Grange. It's definitely flooded, but I think they'll be okay.

- Rachel Ashwell also posted a video on her FACEBOOK page yesterday.

- I just discovered that our old neighbor’s stepson was supposed to start school on Monday. (He’s 5 or 6 years old). The poor little guy is sick. All during this storm he’s had a fever of 101 and has been throwing up. Thank goodness they’ve kept their electricity so far! (Which is shocking. During Hurricane Ike we all lost electricity for 15 days).

We asked if they could get him to a doctor, but the phones aren’t working well. We never heard back from them. (I do know that the doctor’s office one of our old neighbor's works at is flooded, but I don't think that’s the pediatrician’s office anyway).

- I just heard that the bridge we take into town, to go to the store, was flooded and closed down last night. I doubt it’ll be closed for too long. (Fingers crossed).

I am just flabbergasted over how lucky we were with this thing. I’m grateful.



It's 5:30 pm and it still hasn't rained again! Double Hooray!

It's cloudy on one side.



And very sunny with blue sky on the other.





They say more rain is expected over the next few days, but it's not going to be anything like what we've been seeing. To be honest, I doubt it will even rain tonight.



6:30 pm. I was scrounging in the fridge for a coke, for my headache, when I found an unopened sack of carrots for the neighbor's donkeys! I don't know how we missed them earlier.

The boys were too far away to notice me, but I gave the girls two carrots each. They were so happy!