Texas Fall/Winter thread!

Western · Dec 1, 2011

Don, you should have bought a lotto ticket today:thumbsup:

Bird, hate to hear that about your neighbor. If I was closer I'd throw in to help dig. About 6 years ago we got a quote on a sewer line replacement for my moms house. Main line to city tie in, (deep) 130' long run was almost 3k

jinman · Dec 2, 2011

Bird, it seems that water leak would have shown up in the dry weather when the ground was shrinking, rather than now when we have had some rain. You just never know what shallow pipes and our clay soils will do.

It's also hard to tell where a leak is by where it pops out of the ground. A leak can follow a pipe for a long way before it finds a crack and comes to the surface. Maybe the plumber will have a listening device to locate the leak by sound. I located one by sound one time under the foundation of my house just by listening. When I jackhammered through the foundation, I found a huge void where the water had washed out the pad sand below the foundation. I hope all goes well for your neighbor. Nobody likes to pay the "piper."

Dennis: I'm gonna make sure I have all my outside spigots insulated and wrapped well before the weather turns cold. I don't want a repeat of last years frozen pipe and basement flooding I had to endure.

Western · Dec 2, 2011

Oh yeah! I remember that thread Jim! Your right, not a good way to start the day. I have already drained the outside water since it is exposed for watering the yard. I see starting Monday we may have Ice/Sleet or snow by Tuesday.

Yesterday after I woke up, I actually got a couple FEL 's full of wood split and put up on the deck, sure wasn't in the mood to do it, but glad it's done now.

Bird · Dec 2, 2011

Jim, I've got a mechanic's stethoscope that hasn't been used in awhile that could probably pinpoint the neighbor's leak, but I didn't try since he's going to have to hire a plumber anyway. And yes, water can certainly follow a pipe a long ways, and gas can do so at least as much and probably more. I found dangerous levels of gas under a house (slab foundation) once where the leak was in the middle of street at the gas main.

Bird · Dec 2, 2011

We've had a wintery day; cool (temperature in the 40s all day), damp, overcast, misty (even had to turn the windshield wipers on for a single swipe twice). The NWS shows Denton has gotten 0.09" of rain since midnight, while I thought my gauge was closer to 0.08".

two_bit_score · Dec 2, 2011

I left San Antonio about noon in a nice slow steady rain. By the time I got to Bastrop it was over and by Caldwell it was totally fair.

jinman · Dec 3, 2011

We've had a few light showers overnight so my gage says about 1/4". It looks like the main front may be just reaching Wichita Falls this morning and heading our way. I was shocked to see that the southerly winds have raised my temperature to 55 F this morning. I got as much digging done in my pond excavation as I could earlier in the week to be ready for a downpour. I still can't catch any of it, but erosion will be minimum. I suspect this will be an indoor weekend and we'll be putting up our Christmas tree and indoor decorations.

bigbull338 · Dec 3, 2011

well its nice an warm 59 with a chance of rain over the weekend.

Western · Dec 3, 2011

We drove to town yesterday to find a Tree:thumbsup: Was like everyone else said, misty, rainy and cool. By the time we had started back home from Lake Worth, (around 3pm) the fog set in ,like real good, visibility was less than 100 yards average and less in the low areas.

I also have about 1/4" so far, a nice soaking.

Bird you may have to put out Two of those "custom" rain gauges you have for this round:laughing:

Bird · Dec 3, 2011

Bird you may have to put out Two of those "custom" rain gauges you have for this round:laughing:

I wish you were right, but that .08" or .09" yesterday was all; none last night. And today I think I've already gotten another .02" or .03" since 7 a.m.

I've been watching a squirrel in my front yard. It runs up the live oak tree, comes down with an acorn, buries it, and runs back up the tree for another one. I don't know why it goes up the tree to pick one at a time, when there's literally hundreds of those acorns on the ground.

Western · Dec 3, 2011

Bird said:
I wish you were right, but that .08" or .09" yesterday was all; none last night. And today I think I've already gotten another .02" or .03" since 7 a.m.

I've been watching a squirrel in my front yard. It runs up the live oak tree, comes down with an acorn, buries it, and runs back up the tree for another one. I don't know why it goes up the tree to pick one at a time, when there's literally hundreds of those acorns on the ground.

Shoot Bird!! everybody knows the "cream is at the top"!! Guess my squirrels are "educated" they will grab a couple, and a few times I had one on the ground gathering the acorns falling from the squirrel above.

I have had a steady rain for around an hour, 7/10ths so far:thumbsup:

jinman · Dec 4, 2011

My total rainfall for this weekend is now up to 1-1/4".

It rained slowly and steadily all night and was an excellent soaker. Now, if only I had my ponds finished. . . sigh!

I noticed this morning that all the oak tree sap has washed off our cars, so that's another benefit.:thumbsup:

Bird · Dec 4, 2011

Yep, Jim, it finally started here and I'm now up to about 1.80" and it's still sprinkling. There's some runoff so I hope the lakes benefit from it because I know Lake Lewisville is down quite a bit.

Western · Dec 4, 2011

Bird, wow!! that's allot of bottle caps you had to put out to get 1.8":laughing: Same here too, 1.8 and still raining. I checked out little creek yesterday and it was running with around 2' of water, so at least here, there is a good run off. I didn't make it to the pond, but it almost surely has came up.

txdon · Dec 4, 2011

Glad you northerners didn't squeeze all the moister out this time. 1" and still raining lightly.

EddieWalker · Dec 4, 2011

Inch and a half so far, and it's supposed to be heavy tonight and tomorrow. My ponds are rising, so that's exciting.

I took a few pics along the creek today. I've never seen the creek water any other color then brown until today. I'm real curious why it's green all of a sudden. Whatever the reason, it's beautiful.

Eddie

yellowdogsvc · Dec 4, 2011

Hi, just wanted to introduce myself. I'm from Bandera County in the hill country northwest of San Antonio.

We finally started to put a small dent in our drought with this weekend's rain and the little tanks, arroyos, and watering holes have a a few inches of water in them.

Glad to see some of you other guys are getting the wet stuff. Couldn't have been a nicer thing to wake up to...

Yellow Dog

Bird · Dec 4, 2011

Yep, Yellow Dog, I think all us Texans are glad to see a little relief from the drought. I've gotten 2" now this weekend and may get a little more.

Western · Dec 4, 2011

Almost 2 -1/4" here so far, I can actually sink in the dirt now!

Eddie , looks like your hitting the lotto, finally... Nice pics too. BTW did you **** that up or is it those furry little river rats?

YD, good to hear S TX getting it too, I have heard it has been crappy for deer hunting and rain was very much needed.

EddieWalker · Dec 4, 2011

Dennis,

I'm not sure what you mean by river rats?

The pic is of the creek. It has water in it, which is something new, but it's not flowing all that strong. My ponds are getting water, but nothing to get excited about just yet. I've been putting sticks at the edge and I'm trying to figure out how much I'm getting. Seems like the lake raises 2:1 for what comes down. The small pond is closer to 6:1 and is filling up nicely.

Eddie