Cop Car's Beat

Oh, what fun

Average annual precipitation for the Wichita area is 34.31", according to the National Weather Service.  We fell far below that average during the last several months of 2021 and the first few months of 2022. We are making up for it. So far, this month (May), we have received 7.6" of rain, according to our rain gage - although, one night the wind blew the gage over, so we may be missing a bit. Tonight (May 31), we've hit the jackpot. We have received two spates of heavy rain. I don't know how much rain has accumulated in our rain gage, but I do know that when I was preparing to retire for the night - just before toddling off to our bedroom - I realized that the sump pump had been activated for a long while, perhaps a minute or two. That is not good!

Anytime we receive more than 0.5" of rain, I expect our sump pump system (a main pump powered by house wiring and an auxiliary pump powered by a battery) to activate. Our sump hole, in our mechanical systems "room", has three 3- or 4-inch inlets from the tiling that is laid along our foundation (at the bottom?) It is always the same inlet that supplies the majority, if not all, of the water that is routed to the sump. From observation and experimentation, I know that that particular inlet services the foundation to one side of our front porch - a run of about 35'. Tonight, when I went downstairs to check out the sump pump, I found that one inlet to be releasing a torrent of water into the sump, much like a firehose. It was obvious that the input rate was higher than the output rate of the pump. The poor pump was losing ground. I gathered a couple of small saucepans from the kitchen and a couple of 3-gallon plastic buckets from the laundry room that is next door to the mechanical systems room and set to work baling. Almost immediately, the depth of water in the sump reached the level at which the auxiliary pump activated. Even with both pumps working, they would have lost ground without intervention.

Our Working Space at the Sump Pump Installation

Anyone familiar with sump pump systems knows that an alarm starts screeching when the auxiliary pump kicks in. It is shrill! Hunky Husband and I donned the earmuffs that we wear to protect our hearing when using noisy equipment in the yard (mowers/string trimmers/hedge trimmers/blowers) and set to work.

Sump Pump System Installation Layout

For the first 30 minutes, I baled (mostly with the 1-quart saucepan, its being difficult to dodge all of the inlet ducts, control lines, and such) while HH carried the filled buckets to the laundry sink for disposal of the water. I found it more convenient to catch the water as it spewed from the inlet duct than to try to dip water. At the 30-minute point, we traded off. Since HH found it best (for him) to kneel on his knees instead of doing as I had done (sit on my butt on a thick folding of drop cloth), that didn't last long - especially since most of his height is from his waist up. It was really hard on him. Worse, when he tried to stand, he had difficulty. He tried grabbing onto an exposed stud with one hand and onto the main vertical sewer line with his other - to no avail. I was able to get him to scoot over to the carpeted hallway outside the mechanical systems room which allowed us room for me to brace my feet and help pull him up to his feet - wobbly, but upright. We went back to his toting and my baling. Within another 15 or 20 minutes, the water inflow had slowed just enough to allow me and the auxiliary pump to turn the tide. Eventually, the main pump shut off. I was amazed that it hadn't overheated with its having been continuously activated for so long. Since then, the main pump has done its usual thing of activating for several seconds and shutting off for a minute or two, depending upon rain conditions. This experience makes me happy that we installed a new sump pump system in January 2020, as posted.

P.S. I just went out to check our rain gage: 3.92", for a total of 15.32" in May. While out, I could hear that the creek is out of its near bank, just downstream of us. I'm just wondering if this will be the rain that puts us to the point where water reaches our house. We are in uncharted territory.

100 Books Everyone Should Read 2022

It seems to me that I've picked up other bloggers' memes that demonstrated how many books on the 100 best books listing, before. What I can find in my postings is a meme having to do with science fiction books and one having to do with books that I recalled having read. The meme that follows is taken from The Misadventures of Widowhood, with the books that I recall having read highlighted in green. I must say that I do not consider some of the entries to be books, but I suppose I shouldn't quibble when the list is presented as 100 Books Everyone Should Read 2022. I hope that I have not confused having seen a video, movie, or live production for having read a book. I try hard not to confuse those actions.

 

1. 1984 (George Orwell) - B, S	51. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
2. The Alchemist	52. Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) - S
3. American Gods (Neil Gaiman) - S	53. Lord of the Flies (William Golding) - B, S
4. And Then There Were None and Selected Plays (Agatha Christie)	54. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
5. Animal Farm - B, S	55. Madame Bovary
6. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)	56. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
7. Arabian Nights (One Thousand and One Nights) (Anonymous)	57. Metamorphosis
8. The Art of War - S	58. Middlesex
9. As I Lay Dying (William Faulkner)	59. Murder on the Orient Express (Agatha Christie) - S
10. Atlas Shrugged	60. No Country for Old Men
11. Atonement (Ian McEwan) - S	61. The Odyssey - B(?), S
12. Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)	62. Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck) - S
13. Beloved (Toni Morrison)	63. Old Man and the Sea
14. A Bend in the River (V.S. Naipaul)	64. On the Road (Jack Kerouac) - S
15. The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)	65. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - S
16. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) - S	66. One Hundred Years of Solitude
17. The Canterbury Tales - S	67. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde) - S
18. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) - B, S	68. The Postman Always Rings Twice (James M. Cain)
19. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)	69. Pride and Prejudice
20. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess) - S	70. The Raven - B, S
21. Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell) - S	71. The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
22. Crime and Punishment	72. The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
23. Divine Comedy - S	73. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe) - S
24. Don Quixote	74. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie - S
25. Dracula (Bram Stoker) - S	75. Schindlers List (Thomas Keneally) - S
26. Dune - S	76. Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen)
27. Emma	77. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
28. Ender's Game - B, S	78. Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut) - S
29. Fahrenheit 451, S	79. Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison)
30. Fairy Tales (Hans Christian Anderson) - S	80. The Stranger (Albert Camus)
31. Fanny Hill (John Cleland) - S	81. Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert a Heinlein) - B, S
32. The Fault in Our Stars	82. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens) - B, S
33. Faust - S	83. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), S
34. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Nevada)	84. To the Lighthouse
35. The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom	85. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
36. The Godfather (Mario Puzo)	86. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne) - S
37. Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) - B(?), S	87. Ulysses - S
38. Gravity's Rainbow	88. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera) - S
39. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)	89. Vanity Fair
40. The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)	90. War and Peace
41. Hamlet (William Shakespeare) - S	91. Wasp Factory
42. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)	92. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Raymond Carver)
43. Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)	93. Where the Wild Things Are - S
44. House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski)	94. White Teeth (Zadie Smith)
45. The Illiad - B, S	95. The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame) - S
46. Interview with the Vampire (Louisiana)	96. Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne) - S
47. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)	97. The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins)
48. King Solomon's Mines	98. Women in Love
49. Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) - S	99. A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'engle)
50. Les Miserables – Victor Hugo - S	100. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

                                    B = Bogie, S = Stu

Having to do with Irises

In It's Iris time! I posted a few photos of irises in their early stages of bloom, including the first photo of that series which shows the flower bed to be addressed, below. In order to more clearly show the "before" condition I include a "before" photo from May of 2020, the first photo below. Please note the iris blossom stalks that are prostrate across the grass. This is a particular problem when Hunky Husband does the mowing because he is not comfortable mowing over the flowers, but goes around them. Because this is an annual happening and because the irises have been multiplying over the several years since I transplanted starts from the planting bed next to the driveway, I decided to take out at least the majority of the plants. This presented a problem because all sorts of utility wires/cables/lines run through that area. I cannot dig there.

Since Bogie and Elder Brother left town the other day, we have received over three inches of rain. Yay! I did nothing while it was rainy, cold, and windy but got out in the yard to work this morning - in the 50s, sunny, with a light breeze. I pulled up all of the subject iris plants (see photo, below), which was easy work due to the soggy condition of the soil. In the photo, the pulled plants are stacked at the far end of the basement escape window, awaiting my deciding what to do with them. The irises that are left standing at the near end are the short, root beer-colored, early bloomers which I plan to leave. They, BTW, are marginally outside the area through which the wires/cables/lines run.

Please note the tidy placement of mulch in the area from the near end of the basement escape window to the camera. That is some of the work that Bogie did for me while she was here. She prepared the bed and spread at least six 3-cubic-foot bags of mulch. I loved it! Thank you, Bogie. (Now I know how my own mother felt when I visited her and volunteered labor!)

The only flowers that were in full bloom while family were gathered were the roses that I planted for Hunky Husband. They were beautiful and, as Bogie can attest, odiferous. Did I think to take a photo? Of course not! While photographing the iris bed, this morning, I took a photo of the rose bed. The poor things had been whipped by the wind and rain, but most of the colors are showing. Only the beautiful red Mr Lincoln is not showing color. It had produced but one blossom and it was torn to pieces by the elements.

At the right edge of the photo can be seen one of the two bags of mulch that we stowed there. It should be just enough to cover the area from which the irises have been removed - once I rake the tree and iris leaves from the area. I'm hoping that our landscape friends have been able to replenish their supply of mulch. Lowe's hasn't had the right kind of mulch, at all, this spring and TenderCare has had a hard time getting their supplies delivered. Cross your fingers for me, Bogie.

A wonderful few days!

Pizza John's:

Our whole family was able to get together for a few days, last week. As we had done in 2019, we gathered at John's Pizza, our favorite local casual eating place. The only downside was that it had been but a couple of weeks since the female half of the founding couple had died. Our server was one of her granddaughters. We had a wonderful time there, then adjourned to our home - at which venue no one thought to take photos. 

From one end of the table, the first two photos feature Bogie (light grey tee) and clockwise around the table, Elder Brother (EB), WichiDude, Rachie, Dudette, Wonderful Granddaughter (WGD), Next Generation 1 (NG1), my empty chair, and Hunky Husband (HH).

The next photo, from the other end of the table, features Dudette (grey sweater), WGD, NG1, HH, Bogie, EB, WichiDude, and Rachie.

The third photo features WGD, NG1's empty chair, my empty chair, HH, Bogie, Next Generation 2 (NG2), EB, WichiDude, Rachie, and Dudette.

The next photo features NG1 (white tee), my empty chair, HH, Bogie, NG2, EB, & the shoulder of WGD.

P.S. While she was here, Bogie bought a couple of patchouli plants, asking that I mail them to her. The day after she left Kansas, I mailed the plants. The plants took less time to reach her home than it took Bogie - 26 hours vs 30 hours. The plants "looked pretty good" upon arrival.

P.P.S. Thank you, Liz, for giving me perspective. Had it not been for your posting of prices to send boxes to your family in Italy, I might have balked at spending 70 USD to send Bogie her patchouli plants that, as I recall, cost her less than 8 USD. (I'm taking it out of her inheritance. *laughing*)

Addition of 5/28/2022: More family photos supplied by Bogie (captioning by CC)

At home:

The next evening, after HH went to bed, Elder Brother (EB) and I sat up talking in my den. I took the opportunity to snap a few candid photos of him. Those are EB's favorite birding binoculars in his hands. From here, he drove to a couple of favorite birding places in Kansas from whence he proceeded to a couple more favorite birding places in Texas before heading home to Colorado. For a guy who suffered cardiac arrest in 2015 (he had a defibrillator implanted) and who is age 86 he tolerates long drives exceedingly well.

The three younger generations went out of their way to assure that EB, HH, and I did not over-extend ourselves. Bogie went so far as to pick up eight bags of mulch for me and prepare the area (pull weeds and fluff old mulch) before doing the mulch spreading.

Mystery visitor - pretty

This little moth caught my attention as I was putting my tools away following my nearly-two-hour session at weeding, this morning. The moth is resting on sedum plants. I note that I didn't bother placing the measuring stick right-side-up, but trust one may read the numbers enough to deduce that the moth is, indeed, small.

The moth reminds me of a Mother's Day card from Bogie that is a bouquet of butterflies. The card involved a lot of intricate cutting and planning ahead (something I frequently fail to do!) since it folds flat for shipment through the mailes. 

In addition, we were honored with a visit from Dudette and WichiDude, yesterday, who hand-delivered a couple of sweet Mother's Day cards (one from daughter, the other from granddaughter). They brought barbeque beef brisket for our dining pleasure and took away a small (but heavy) box of books that I had culled from our collection. All-in-all, a great day for Hunky Husband and me!

It's Iris time!

The root beer-colored iris in the back, left, of the first photo is usually the first iris to bloom each spring. I wasn't watching closely enough to know if that held true this year, but if not, it was neck-and-neck with the ruffled irises that are champagne- or orchid- (at the right of the photo) colored.

The second photo shows the patch in which I originally planted the ruffled champagne- and orchid-colored irises - purchased from WalMart, no less, perhaps 15 years ago, 

I still have a few descendants from my mother's irises - such as the yellow irises (and purple buds) shown in the next photo.

The hostas are doing well, too...

...as are the mystery bushes/plants that Bogie and I have been trying to identify for several years. I first, mistakenly, thought the original bush was from the basil that I had planted one year. Since then, I/we have gone through sage and a couple of other titles. Perhaps, one of these years, Bogie will get to see them during warm weather when they have blossoms to help us. The bush in the photo is from a start from the original bush - along with another start that is near the ruffled champagne- and orchid-colored irises.