Sunday September 18, 2022 Guerneville CA.
Rainy day
We got our first seasonal rain, maybe a little early but that’s ok.
It let up a little bit so I was able to get out to feed the chickens.
Going for a ride in the rain
It continued to rain until about 3:30 when it let up and stopped for a bit. I checked the satellite view of the weather and it looked like there was a small break in the clouds so I decided to go for a dirt bike ride. I found my rain jacket but not my rain pants, but what the heck, jeans worked ok when I was a kid. Just get a bit wet but a warm house was near if I did.
I used to go out for hikes all day during the rains when I was a bit younger and I didn’t have any good rain gear then.
Took what I got
I took a chance knowing it would start to rain again and I’d get a bit wet. I was hopping for at least about a half hour of no rain, but I’d take what I got and I did.
Downed trees on the trail
I was riding up this trail when I ran into these downed trees. It wasn’t raining, except under the trees as the rain water hadn’t settled out of them yet, but it wasn’t too hard, yet.
I needed some exercise so I decided to at least clear a way through the downed trees so I could pass on by. That wasn’t too hard to do.
I rode on up to this turn around spot and headed for the trail area for short walk.
Walked out this trail
While I was walking out this trail a bit the rain started to pick back up so I headed back to the dirt bike to continue my ride around the hills.
I stopped here for a bit when the rain slowed again for a look see.
That’s fog coming out of the wet forest.
Rains picking up
And then the rain picked back up again coming down a bit harder so I headed for home going the long way. I was almost at the end of this road when I had to stop for this downed log. Too much for me to deal with so I turned around and went back and took another road and ran into another downed tree, so turned round again and tried another road.
Wet but home
It was raining pretty good when I got home and yes, my pants were real wet so I changed them into dry ones.
Raining good now, but more was to come shortly.
It’s really pouring now
It started to pour big time. Too bad I got home just a bit too soon as this would have been good to experience up in the hills.
See, lots of water coming off the house roof. It did this for about ten minutes before it let up and eventually mostly stopped for the day.
Rain gauge
I checked the bucket I use for a rain gauge and it had about three inches of rain in it, not bad for a first rain and there’s more to come in the next couple of days or so.
The poor chickens have been in the pen mostly all day keeping dry so I let them out to graze.
Rat Control report
Not much good to report, except the rats are doing well eating the plaster of Paris spiked bait. They don’t seem to detect there’s something bad in it and are coming in to eat it even more and even more tonight with all the rain.
Here’s a bunch of them. All young ones, I think
There’s these three that are living in my attic, I think, and have been eating the bait since I started and got through the baking soda with no real problems.
And these other two young ones that have also been here all along doing just fine so far.
They are really pigging out tonight so maybe something will work. We’ll see.
Nice day.
Ah. Such a nice rain. (Writing from TX where it’s been um, “well below average.”)
That rat business doesn’t seem to be progressing much. How long is it supposed to take?? You may have said, but I have forgotten. When I moved into a an old neighborhood in town, I was horrified to find a dead rat in the outside storeroom. (I’d lived in the country for 30+ years, and never ever had a rat problem.) Pest control put out a bait box with something horrid in in . I pay, and they check it monthly, and occasionally replace the bait. It’s in a little house thing. All of it is not a happy topic, but rats are not either. And I haven’t seen one either. Pest company has a birdnest on the ground, I keep paying them every month, but its not much. I know this is out of the question for you, living where you do.