Storm Prep

  Fortunately, it looks like Hurricane Irene will not affect our area that much.  Still, we should be getting some heavy rains today and high winds.  Our trees have been stressed so much this summer with several severe storms that it doesn't take much now to lose limbs plus we've had some problems with water running through the kennel after a hard rain since we had trees taken down last fall.  I decided to try to correct the water problems before the week-ends rains and see if I could find a temporary fix.  I think ultimately we will need to take down the fencing, grade the property and replace the runs.  In anticipation of this costly endeavor, I'm scrimping and saving!
  In the meantime, I spent a morning this past week moving gravel, not a favorite activity, but a good workout!  The dogs have run off the grass in the play yard across from the west side of the kennel so I started to spread the gravel there.  I put more gravel in Jackson's kennel and attempted to pack it down.  The ground is hard as rock, so that wasn't very successful.
  My one theory as to why we've had so much water in the kennel since last fall is that the trees, though mainly dead, had had enough leaves that with the limbs provided enough diffusion of the falling rain during heavy storms.  I remembered yesterday that we had a kennel sun shade in the shed.  I spread that across the tops of two of the runs that had the biggest trees.  I'm hoping it will provide some of the diffusion that the trees did.
  What a difficult task to do alone!  Jackson was rather scared of the cover so he stayed inside, making his run almost easy to manage.  Phoebe, Claire and Lauren were so happy that I was inside their run that they were underfoot, trying to get my attention, knocking into me as they pushed against each other to get to me.  Ref and Treasure thought they were getting a great, new toy!  As I was trying to tie the cover onto their kennel fence, they were trying to pull the end down into their yard and nipping my fingers as they tried to catch the string I was using.  I had my doubts my work would last long, but the cover is still there today!  The dogs ignore it and the girls seem to like the extra shade.
  Now we just wait to see what the weather will do.   So, pass on through, Irene!