Tropical Storm Lee

[Riverrose28]

I know I can't be the only one that has suffered through this rain storm! It has been raining for four days, it has finaly stopped but thunderstorms forcast for tonight. Yesterday the barns were flooded, I spent all day stripping stalls, muck buckets were so heavy I couldn't even dump into the ranger had to tip them over on the ground, something else to clean up. Back hurt so bad last night I had to take a muscle relaxer and pain pill. Only to have the stalls flood again. Befor Hurricane Irene hubby fixed all the barn gutters and put sand bags on the outside of the stall that usually floods, but nothing prepared us for all this water. Bags of bedding are not cheap! I've gone through all I had and stalls are still a mess. Had to move some horses to the indoor were it is dryer. Then this morning I go into my den to feed my birds and the ceiling has collapsed, it is a drop ceiling and has a flat roof. Water all over everything. I had to throw out some of my Christmas decorations and all of my books and magizines stored in there. I spent all morning soping up water and the smell was so bad I had to put vicks under my nose to clean it up. Ground has so much water it won't soak in, paddocks are a mess, can't clean up manure, garden, forget it, I sank up to my ankles. Well I guess tomorrow I'll go back to the store and buy more bedding. I only hope my back holds up, it is killing me. Hubby had surgery on July 31, and can't do anything, and wouldn't you know my help has hurt his back too. I'm so sorry to burden you guys, but I'm sure you all have stories of your own to share. Please share them, so I don't feel so alone.

 

[Riverrose28]

I can't believe I'm the only one, but in my neck of the woods, roads are closed, bridges have been washed away, schools are closed, they just cancelled the 4-h horse show that was to be held on Sunday. People have had their basments flooded, the river has over flown its banks and distroyed homes, events are cancelled. Although the rain has stopped for the moment more flooding is expected. Hope everyone else is OK!

 

[shorthorsemom]

I hear ya Riverrose. I am in SE PA. and we have gotten more rain from Lee than from Irene. I just mucked the 6th giant load of wet bedding out of my run in shed and every night I go down to the dairy barn and shovel water for a few hours. Flooded cow mangers and flooded feed, shovel shovel shovel. The gutters behind the cows are full of water and they love to lay there and slap their tails in the muck and fling it on me as I walk by. Not enough straw to soak up that much water.... I am so tired of rain. I did luck out on my horse paddock. I had a huge load of pea gravel dumped in a few weeks ago and have about 5 inches of gravel keeping the mud at bay there. Thank goodness I have one place they can stand in my paddock on decent footing,but they hide in the run in shed and poo in there all day long. Slugs everywhere people, so watch out for those suckers. Yuck, I think I read that the slugs can make your horse sick.

More rain predicted tomorrow so I was conservative at bedding up my stables tonight hoping that the rain tomorrow night doesn't soak up another load of pine chips, I figure when the rain stops I will bed up as deep as I usually do. The pine pellets (guardian brand I use).. are great at putting down on the rain soaked floor, they will absorb and dry up your stable. I put the shavings on top of the pellets and the stable dries out ok, but only after all the rain stops. I left my fence hanging feed buckets on the fence and they were over flowing with water and it was all I could do to unhook them to dump the water out.

Luckily (knock on wood) our corn is still standing. About a few miles down the road fields look like they were steam rolled. Very hard year for farming and feed prices are through the roof. I just ordered 84 bales of hay to get me through winter. I am picky and only feed fine grass hay and I think it is going to be hard to find by winter. Most guys around here can't get the hay made, too darn wet. Our supplier has a hay drier so he will have hay, but it is in such high demand due to the poor conditions.

Riverrose, you take care of that back... Sears sells a little cart thingy that folds up and is great for hauling heavy stuff around, saves your back!. You can put it right in your car and use it for anything heavy to haul.. It has an extendable handle and the wheels pop out and it is great for handling all that heavy stuff. Rolls great. It sort of looks like a miniature version of the thing that people use to haul appliances with. I pop mine up and use it to drag those bedding bags right to the stable from the car. I use it for dog food and horse feed and everything heavy, I never carry bags anymore. If you want more info on the cart, I can send you if you PM me.

Best wishes... soaking wet here in Pa too, record breaking rain. The laurels of landhope CDE is this weekend. usually costs $10 to get in, they are sending emails out with free passes... I am sure they are really lacking for spectators this year.

 

[weebiscuit]

It breaks my heart reading what you both are going through. We see the devastation on the TV, but when you actually come into the Backporch and put a name to the suffering, it's very different.

I know it's got to be absolutely heartbreaking (and back breaking) to constantly have to slog through it all and then start the same thing all over again. And with the ground so saturated, if it rains any more I just can't imagine what you'll have to go through!

We had terrible flooding in my town last year and the year before, and we rarely have flooding. Our house is about 150' higher than the creek, so we would never be in danger of flooding, and our barn, while way below our house, is still a good enough distance and height from the creek that it would have to be an cataclysmic end-of-the-world catastrophe that would cause it to flood, but we lost our cattle crossing over the creek, the culvert got washed away, our crops (not hay, thankfully), simply all drowned, and it was generally a terrible mess.

But as much as I was appalled at the time, I now realize how lucky we were because we didn't have to deal with it in the barn or homes like you are having to do. I hope you find the weather turns kinder and very soon!

 

[Riverrose28]

Thanks guys, Hurricane Irene did flaten our corn, but it has since stood back up, I can't get in the garden though to check my peppers, it's too muddy, I sank up to the top of my boots. My paddocks/dry lots are soaked and I can't clean out the manure, but I did get out to dump the ranger today when it stopped raining, and stripped stalls again and used a broom to get the standing water out of the stalls. I'll have to go to TSC tomorrow and buy more bedding as I've used it all up. WE haven't been able to cut hay and it is ready, hopfully next week. Still cleaning up brush from the hurricane and my tractor is still in the North field, all horses are still inside and only going out into the round pen for an hour each, as everything is flooded. I'm watching for thrush from all the mud. My house is not much better, I had to spend all of this morning mopping up water from my den, it has a flat roof and it leaked. I had to throw out some of my Christmas decorations and some books that were on the shelves. They were covered in brown water and the smell was so bad I had to put vicks under my nose just to clean it up. I've never seen weather this bad in all my years, I'm in my 60's and the last two years have been unbearable, maybe it is just my age, but I'm about to pack it in. Mother Nature has the upper hand, and I'm losing the battle.

 

[Marty]

I feel so badly for you guys. This happened to us in Florida a few times until we finally said no more. Our barn however only went under once because after that first time, we built it up super high, but our house got wet and that was terrible. I understand so much of all what you are going through and it dredges up some pretty bad memories of how much we lost.

We got 4 days of constant rain from Hurricane Lee here and no water standing anywhere although they kept warnings out for flash flooding the whole time. Please take care of yourselves.

I wish I lived near you so I could go over and help you all out.

 

[eagles ring farm]

I am so sorry you are still suffering the effects of the storms

I see pictures on TV and it hard to believe. We made it through everything fine

and we never have a water problem of any kind but we are up on a hill and with NJ sandy soil everything dries so quick.

We know how lucky we are to have gotten through this without no more than some boring days not being able to go outside and double lucky to never even have lost our power.

(((Hugs to all still going through the after effects of these terrible storms)))

 

[Bess Kelly]

Been wondering how many of the forum members were "under water"......so very sad that no one can stop these situations. PLUS the heat and lack of rain in TX, with the wildfires going on now. Our Nation is having so many extremes right now!

No doubt there are more who are suffering but have no power, net service, to talk with us. My prayers are bing offered up for all even though many can not know this. I'm also certain that many others are in the prayer circle.

Saw a clip on TV where they were covering Lee last week and it showed the extensive flooding, mostly in areas of homes but, one little clip showe a herd of about 30 cows all trying to stand on the highest place they could find, still knee deep in water, clearly a small knoll as they were butt to shoulder touching one another.

I had extensive rain -- 12" from Irene, then Lee shared 1-3" a day for another 5-8 days -- but I am fortunate to be high and only some surface mud toward end of the fiasco. Couple run-ins muddy but, we are talking shallow mud at entrance.

Hay, feed and human groceries are going to see even greater price hikes and strained availability with the many, many crisis situations going on right now!! I can see a future of more animal rescue issues with these expenses and the obvious damages that have occurred. Then we have WINTER coming

 

[Melinda Dean]

I am so sorry for all of you who are getting flooded!

Irene made direct first land fall at our place and left lots of damage in her path. But for my little mini place that has sandy soil, the water went right down into the sand. We had been in draught conditions most of the summer, so now every thing is turning green. Mostly from mold and mildew. But we are dry.

Please be very careful during your clean up. I almost picked up a live snake today while cleaning out my barn junk room. Turned out to be a rat snake, but still gave my heart a jolt. We have had a lot of spider and fire ant bites reported here. My husband just had to start treatment because of a tick bite that lead to fever and achy joints. Critters are all over the place. The mosquitoes are meanest I have every encountered. County trucks are spraying some areas every day instead of every 2 weeks. You can actually breath them up your nose if not careful.

But at least I have a roof over my head (did leak but so what), power and air conditioning again, And the tide "ain't" rising today. Our repairs will get done some time,

I have never been in the type of flooding you have all been describing. Your spirits must be really tired out. But you do sound strong willed, and will get through this. I will be saying prayers for you.

 

[Riverrose28]

Just an update, my youngest daughter came yesterday and helped me strip stalls again and I left them bare to dry out, turned on the fans during the daytime to help. I do have one stall left that is still a mess, has about 6"s of bedding and water to get stripped out, I'll do it tomorrow and hopefully all the wet gunk I dumped out will dry enough that I can get it up and out to the manure pile. My ceiling is no longer dripping, and my den is cleaned up, don't know when we can fix the leaking roof, as hubby is still recovering, I'm not worried about replacing the ceiling tiles, that can wait till winter. Paddocks are finally getting some dry spots, so if the weather holds out I should be able to get in there to clean up manure and drag out. Pastures are starting to dry out, I'm hoping to bush hog tomorrow after going to the feed store. Hay is ready to cut, but rain is forcast so it will have to wait, oh well, over ripe is better then none. I'm trying to look on the bright side. Hopfully winter won't be as bad as last year. I have to admit Mother Nature is trying to kill this old lady. Seems no rest for the weary.

 

[shorthorsemom]

UGH, it is pouring again tonight!!!

enough already... Riverrose, hope you aren't getting this storm, you got hit harder than we did, best wishes.. Everything was finally drying up and I drove my boy today, got the lawn mowed yesterday, too good to be true. Now it is raining buckets, hope it passes quickly before it floods again.