I sat inside this morning looking outside as if it were some sort of abomination.  Buckets, truckloads, and two Olympic size swimming pools full, fell upon my small piece of the Smokies today, and there was nothing to do but watch in disbelief mixed with sorrow.

I knew that the tarp roof over the chain link dog run wouldn’t hold in a big storm, but I always think that I’ll get around to making it storm worthy before it needs to be.  But storms, unpredicatable as they can be, always seem to miss us and so I don’t take it as seriously as I should.  Today, an exception was made, and it appears we are the ONLY ones to get dumped on in the immediate area.

I planned to run out in between downpours and get them some assistance, drain the tarp which was already heavy with rain when I went out to fill feeders.  Unfortunately, before I could drop off my feedbucket & get some supplies it started again.  I could only stand there and wait for it to drop off some, there was no way I could go out in that!  The lightning was frightening, the rain so dense I couldn’t see the Hen House from the front porch!  Half an hour…  Fourty five minutes…. time passed so slowly, the water pooling everywhere.  Before I could get back the tarp pulled free of it’s anchors and flooded them with what must have been 20 gallons of water plus the ensuing downpour.

The rain let up enough that I could see, so I grabbed some zip ties, a pvc pipe w/cap & a bucket and made a dash for the back part of the yard.  Halfway there I could hear this chick just CRYING outloud… I stopped to glance at Lexi’s bantams, two of whom are in dog crates right now (boys will be boys) to see that one was SOAKED and crying frantically out of the side of the crate.  I ran over to see that she forgot to put any rain protection on him and he was swimming around like a duck in a few inches of water.  I opened the crate with my free hand, grabbed him and continued onto the dog run.  When I did make it to their coop, they were safely on the perch under their only solid roof waiting for rescue.  I’m afraid I didn’t offer a lot of relief, what with a strange set of tools and one bantam cochin under one arm.  I did the best I could to hold the roof into place as another cell burst over head, manually draining the puddles with one arm, calming a frantically soaked cochin in the other.   After another 10-15 minutes of holding the tarp my fingers were starting to cramp up so I had to abandon my efforst and find a safe place for the little guy I was holding.  I apologies to the Wyandottes and told them I would be back with a solution!

I dashed off back to the house, found a tub with some straw in it, popped the little guy in, and put a baby gate over the top to keep him in.  I ran back to the dog run, warmed my fingers and began the process of zip tying their tarp back on and figuring out a way to prop it up in the center to prevent any further puddling.  It wasn’t easy, but it is done for now.  The sun is out for the moment, but the radar still threatens more downpours.  I don’t look forward to being soaked to the bone again in this cold rain, so hopefully I can get things reinforced before the next one hits.

I’ve had enough time to dry off and get some coffee, and out I must go again to try & dry or drain out what water is left everywhere.

Sorry for the ramble, it’s been quite a day!  Until next time….