4.5 inches of Rain Overnight

The rain started about 10 pm last night. At about 8:30 am this morning, I took the photo of the rain gauge - 4.5 inches! It is supposed to rain all day and into the evening. Will try to post more when the rain stops tonight. Good thing I live on a small hill! Flooding in low areas throught the much of Louisiana. Good thing I live in the hill country of Louisiana!

Newest Addition to the House

On Saturday, I picked up a new toaster oven. I had checked reviews online, and the General Electric Convection Toaster Oven with Rotisserie was highly rated. Sunday evening I did a 3.5 pound pork tenderloin on the rotisserie and it came out great! Pork sandwiches all week!

More Rain, More to Come

Thursday night (Oct 8th) we had a short, but very strong storm come through town, and it was followed by light rain the rest of the night. By Friday morning we had 3/4 of an inch of rain.

Starting Saturday evening and all day Sunday, it rained, sometimes coming down in a soft mist, and sometimes as light showers. It let up Sunday, but started raining very late Sunday night or early Monday morning, often coming down quite hard. All of this added up to 2 3/4 inches of rain.

More rain predicted all week!

Rainfall, Monday night

Measured 1.25 inches of rainfall on Monday night as a storm passed through. Quite a lot of wind and some huge downpours over a very short period of time.

More Rain - Love That Rain Gauge!

More rain Saturday night and most of Sunday - almost 2.75 inches! I like knowing how much rain we received. I don't know why I do, but I like it!

More rain predicted for Tuesday and later in the week. We need a break from the rain! (with apologies to Patty in Pasadena, California, who needs rain. You can have some of ours!)

Raining in Ruston

Thursday night (Oct 1st), was a night of some very strong thunderstorms that passed through the Ruston area from a cold front that came through. Here is a closeup of the radar as the storm approached Ruston. I added in Ruston, blue and green are light rain, yellow is heavier rain, and the red is very heavy rain.

Just before the storm hit, I remembered that the day earlier the UPS delivery guy came just after I had returned to the house. The package contained a rain gauge from Patty Montbriand, a friend from high school in Waukesha, Wisconsin, who now lives in Pasadena, California. (Some of us fled the Frozen North for more moderate climates!)

I got the rain gauge out in the yard, and the rain hit around 11:15 pm, and really came down for quite a while. But now, thanks to Patty, I know exactly how much rain I got - 1.25 inches over night! The photo below was taken the next morning before I went to work.

Thank you, Patty, for the rain gauge! It's raining all this week, so I will be able to keep track of how much rain we get.

Closing Day - I Now Own a House!

Today was closing day on the house. Good news all the way around - the closing costs were much lower than the estimate, and my monthly payment is lower than the estimate. My monthly payment, including insurance and taxes, is only $120 more than I am paying for rent.

The house is not large 1130 sq ft - but plenty big enough for me and any visitors. Less square feet to air-condition in the summer! It has 3 bedrooms, and the small one will be used as my office. The bathrooms are what the loan officer at the bank said is called a "Hollywood Bath," although I'm pretty sure this isn't how movie starts live! It is basically 2 half-baths that have doors leading to a shared bathtub/shower. Works for me, and will work when people visit.

It has a nice carport that I will love - no more parking under the big tree that drops sap and goo on the truck. The backyard also has a concrete pad patio with a very nice pergola. This will be a great place to relax in the evenings. There is a workshop/storage shed in the far back corner, and on the other side of the backyard is a concrete pad with a chain-link dog kennel that has not been used in years. I think an easy way to get rid of it is to put an add in the paper for a free chain-link dog kennel for whoever wants to remove it.

I won't be moving in right away. I had to pay rent for all of September, so tomorrow I will do some cleaning at the new place, move a few things in the truck Saturday and Sunday, and a few nights next week. Then I will arrange for the cable TV and internet to get turned on somewhere around 24th or so, and rent a truck and move everything else on Saturday the 26th.

I will send everybody the new address, phone number, etc, etc.

I have too many photos to try to put up here on the blog, but there are bunch on my photo albums on Facebook. If you don't have Facebook, you can view the photos at this website:

http://picasaweb.google.com/taylormack/MyOwnHouse