More chores than hours in the day...

A very pleasant beginning this morning, cool temperatures...about74 degrees, promise of sunshine as the sun peeks around the clouds. The standing water from Fay is beginning to recede in our yard and around the state from what I'm reading. In our front yard, the grass is beginning to show on the 'east pond area'. Just so much water to deal with that I'm sure it will be a bit before it all disappears. Adding insult to injury is the weather forecast of two more Tropical storm systems heading our way...the closest isn't far from Jamaica and is said to be following a similar track to Fay....who in the meantime has been downgraded to a Tropical Depression and is moving north around the Alabama/Georgia line. The area there needs the rain as they have been in a pretty severe drought...just hope the flooding stays down for them.

Bluebirds are hanging in the front yard again, looking for a handout I'm sure as the feeders are all empty at the moment. Perhaps I'll get them refilled a bit later today. Hearing the huge Pileated woodpeckers call makes me feel like I'm in a tropical jungle...hearing them 'hammer' a tree makes me think of a roofer banging nails. The Cardinals have been very busy and are constantly bringing their young to the feeders...so cute to see the mottled colors of the young males and the way they all sit, waiting for dad to feed them. They were out and about around the feeders even during some of the heavy rains.

The chickens enjoyed their freedom yesterday, although I must say I can't believe how silly these birds are. All of them looked pretty drowned as they stood on the patch of ground in front of the gate during one of the showers yesterday. One of the main reasons I left them penned in the coop...they don't have sense to come in from the rain. This morning they are still penned for the moment...will wait for a bit to see if we are going to be receiving more rain. Silly birds...

An assessment of the yard, from the house...the Four o'clocks at the split rail fence sure look like they took a beating. They were all sprawled up to the top rail and looking like they were taking over the spot...now, they have been beaten by the rain and appear quite bedraggled, kind of like Barney, the rooster, after the rain yesterday. I need to cut them back a bit anyway...will be rooting the cuttings and moving a few to other areas along the fence. I'll be overrun with them if I'm not watching carefully....eh, who cares? Love their pretty perfume.

The Cannas have been blooming fitfully, one here, one there...the leaf rollers have them looking terrible. Another group needing attention. I'm ready to begin cutting some of them back as well. They really did a nice job filling in the area.

The Rubber tree plant looks extremely happy...it has really made a comeback after looking like something 'sat in the middle' after our wind and rain of last month. It is looking good once more.

Poor Hibiscus is showing signs of going from not enough water to too much water...she's showing a good many yellow leaves at the moment. Still throwing out a great number of blooms and is also beginning to show new leaves where they were all chewed back...sigh...won't be long til the 'muncher' returns to strip her foliage once again. Seems every time she starts looking like her old self, the muncher begins gnawing.

I'm wondering if all the rainfall this year has something to do with the way the Crape Myrtles are not blooming? It isn't just the ones in my yard, but those that are planted around town don't seem to be giving the show they normally do. At first I thought it was just ours, maybe because I don't cut ours back like they do the ones planted around town. But then as I drive through different areas, I've noticed that none of the Crapes seem to be blooming much this year. Just seems odd...

We have several Plantain banana trees at the east end of the trailer...unlike our little sweet bananas we had at the other house, these are the type that must be cooked. Looks like the storm brought a couple of these down as well. Sometimes they do bloom and we've had several bloom stalks that were producing fruit. Unfortunately, the last three that have produced fell out before the fruit was ready. By 'fell out' I mean the entire plant has bent in half and literally fell. Ants are a big problem with these plants...they destroy the blooms and the fruits.

As the water recedes, there will be plenty of work to keep us busy. The weeds and grass of course, adore all of this extra liquid. Already the path behind the chicken coop is beginning to get pretty high with grass and weeds. The weedeater will sure have a workout as soon as things dry out a bit more. The garden area is really full of weeds now that the chickens have returned to their yard. I need to pull the netting from over the area so I can get in there and get busy...more chores than hours in a day.

Once the weather changes and the chance for rain lessens, we really need to address the roof on the trailer. This storm has shown us that there is a 'weak' area in the roof and I have a water spot that shows on the living room ceiling. We have the sealer for the roof, its been sitting in my van now for over a year. I'm sure at this point though, we probably have a ton of pinestraw sitting on the roof once more. Hubby pressure washed the trailer and roof early last summer. Loads of pinestraw came down as he washed the roof. Again, more chores than hours. The worst thing about the sealer for the roof is that it has to be applied when there is warm weather, and little chance of rain. Good luck with that in Florida!! Warm weather here equals rain...

Among the other maintenance things around here, the flooring in the kitchen and back half of the trailer are going to have to be re-done. Currently, there is ceramic tile laid, but whoever did this floor to begin with, sure did a sorry job. When I first came out here the landlord was blaming the cracked tiles on 'the kids' who lived here. Having set tile myself, I informed him the broken tiles were not from something being dropped, but from a flooring issue. You can feel the floor 'give' in the areas where the tiles are cracked. Hubby has investigated this from under the trailer and says its because they never pulled the old flooring out, they just laid boards, a layer of foam and more boards, then the tile. Major headache here trying to rework this nightmare!! One of the reasons it has yet to be started.