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02 September, 2013

Well, It Is the Rainy Season...

Yeah, that may be, but we're still sick of it. Bring us some sunshine and dry weather and a dry road too, while you're at it.

Ok, pardon me while I dip into the records department of my weather station. Here's the rainfall accumulation for August. What was that? You notice an upward trend? Eyah, me too.
August Rainfall Chart
Ok, and here's what's going on outside our window right now. What was that about an upward trend?
Today's Rainfall Accumulation
Mr. Kelly, a neighbor of ours, can talk about accumulated rainfall. His car is sitting right outside, deader than a doornail. He tried to go through one of our puddles just a tad too fast. Papi came by with his car and tried to help. I'm not sure if any of them realized you need to dry out the electrical system before trying to jump start Mr. Kelly's car. It was an unsuccessful effort.
Mr. Kelly's Car - Dead in the Water
Just a couple of minutes ago, someone took his car under tow - backwards, back to Mr. Kelly's place to dry out. Maybe it'll run again.

Here's the rainfall rate from the weather station. Not insignificant.
Today's Rainfall Rate
A bit later on, one of the supervisors from Fuita Bomba, the papaya growing multinational conglomerate, came by on his quad. I shot the photo through the window screen with the flash on unfortunately. But after some cropping and other manipulation, you get a fair idea of what's happening out on our road.
Fruita Bomba Quad Fording the Road
Here's another pickup coming through. This time, quite a bit more restrained and successful at navigating the water hazard.
Navigating Safely Through
And finally, here's today's glimpse of the humidity. Not surprising since it's raining right now. Even without the rain, it's generally up around 80 to 90 percent or so. Just thought you'd like to know.

Humidity Today
If the rain stops, it'll take three to four days for this stretch of road to dry out enough for the doggies and me to go for walkies. So far, we've been losing on that score. Just about the time the road firms up enough, then we get another dousing and it turns back into a lake.

Sooner or later, one can only hope, things will change. But, for that to happen, there has to be some reading between the lines, you might say, since we didn't used to have this much of a problem.

10 comments:

JRinSC said...

Y'all are having way too much fun down there! Just to make you feel a little better the trivia question in our paper last week had the question of what was the most rain ever recorded at one spot on earth in a 24 hour period. The answer was 72 inches -- in one day!! So I hope that dries you out a little.

Do you run your computer with it in a plastic bag to keep the moisture out? (just kidding).

We have experienced the wettest summer on record here, with 9.xx in in June, 14.xx in in July and 6.xx in in August. Our average annual rainfall is 41 inches and we are over 53 so far -- so we understand a little bit.

I will say our roads drain a good sight better than yours. Being at 800 ft in altitude helps I imagine.

Have fun!

Julian

Dave Rider said...

Hi Julian,

I know it sounds like I'm doing a lot of whiney-bagging over the rain and I probably am. It's not the rain so much, per se, it's the effects that're just getting to us.

Our road used to drain better. Not much better. It still got muddy, just not so deep.

I've also heard the mosquitoes have started offering a service - they'll carry us over the deepest parts... All they want is a 'lee bit' of blood.

The thing that bothers me the most is the wait for the road to dry out enough to walk the doggies - that's what bothers me the most. Our exercise program has gone down the storm drain, so to speak.

Cheers,
Dave

Unknown said...

Well at least something is going down the storm drain. Love reading your blog, Dave. the wifey and I are coming down for a visit in November. Is that the NON rainy season?

Dave Rider said...

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the comment, it is appreciated.

Well, anymore, what with global warming, it's hard to tell. Officially, November is the last month of hurricane season, with September and October traditionally being our worst months.

It should be less rainy, let's put it that way.

Come on down, you should have a good time anyway.

Cheers,
Dave

Dave Rider said...

For Mike again,

I forgot - the storm drains I put in on our property work great. It's a 3" pipe running roughly 240' from the street-side of our property, emptying into the canal. There's three or four catch basins that dump into that line and our gutters for the Mennonite house.

There's a French drain running all under the pool deck, again into another 3" pipe, also emptying into the canal with two catch drains from the patio that go into that as well, along with the overflow from the pool and the backwash drain from the filter.

Just in case you were curious.

Cheers,
Dave

Mr. Pancho said...

Dave,
I take complete ownership in all the rain. When Amy and I were there in May we planted 18 trees / shrubs.
You'd think with all of the traffic going down ferry road they would drop some marl or something to level out the road. Maybe someone should invite a Belizian official to visit the Papaya fields outside Progresso and 'enjoy the ride' getting to the ferry!
I look at your weather update on your blog more often now than a I do weather.com, yours looks a bunch more accurate.

Thanks Dave!

Rodney

Dave Rider said...

Hi Rodney,
I used to think that way about the roads as well. I still do to a certain extent. When our Area Representative lived over in Progresso, the road out here was smooooth. But, in reality, all it does mean is that something, somewhere else, isn't going to get done. Unless proper road work is paid for, say by the EU, Taiwan, or some other deep pocket, it's simply not going to get done. But then the necessary on-going maintenance probably isn't going to get done for the same reasons. Same goes for a whole range of topics, not just roads.

So, although we might bitch about it, it's more just casual conversation and entertainment than active complaining.

Of course, there might sometimes also be some skimming of public funds for other things, who knows?

It's more accurate until it predicts 80 degrees and a slight chance of snow. Always room for a screw-up.

Cheers,
Dave

Dave Rider said...

Hi Rodney,

Right after I finished my last comment, I opened an email from Lincoln Eiley, Editor of Corozal Daily (…Sometimes) email rag. Today's focus was on this very topic.

He said, Corozal residents cry out loud on deplorable condition of streets and roads; and that the Corozal Town Council says it is owed over One and a half million dollars (BZD) in property tax and trade licence fee arrears.

Kind of goes along with what I was saying.

Cheers,
Dave

Mr. Pancho said...

Dave,
The one thing I do like about the bad roads is that it forces you to slow down...We could use a little bit of that in the states. It's not a bad thing to slow down and enjoy the beauty all around us.
I had been hearing mission trip reports from Belize for years before going there myself. All in all I don't think they are so bad. I love being a passenger with Belizian nationals are behind the wheel, some drive like grandma, some drive like 16 year olds on the highway both seem to be able to avoid every pothole I can't seem to miss. I assume that with your residency card you had to give up your 'new guy' card and drive like the nationals do...question is Dave... are you the grandma or the 16 year old behind the wheel?

Rodney
Rodney

Dave Rider said...

Hi Rodney,

You're right. There are two schools of thought on driving on marl roads - fast to float over the potholes, or slow, to sedately weave amongst them, if possible.

A few years ago, I was driving a lot on I-5 to and from work. i had a VW Westphalia camper. My personalized plate read: 'Bedbug.'

With it, I learned the joys of driving in the right-hand lane. My rear license plate holder read: 'Zero to Sixty in the Same Day.'

It was and still is a good philosophy for me. I rarely get over 50 on the highways here and rarely get up to 25 in town or on backroads.

Why hurry? We already live in paradise.

Cheers,
Dave