Uncle DT's Random Image Thread

[Blaze]

There's been a few times when I get on here and don't see a new post I get a little sad and then I'm like - well, now what am I gonna do with this extra time and then find a rabbit hole to wander into...

[Kruger]

Sorry, last week must have had you crying in your Cheerios.  It was crazy, my first trip since the pestilence took over the world and stopped all travel.  Meanwhile, I remembered why travel isn't all it's cracked up to be.  You end up spending all day on site and then everyone else that is your normal day-to-day routine is still expecting their stuff.  About the only rabbit holes that I fell down into were when I went out to dinner and there was no space at the bar.  So I'd end up at a table for two with no one to talk to other than the browser on my phone...

[Blaze]

I haven't been on a plane since around 2010. I have no real reason or desire to. My travels have been via car only and only up north - which was where I was at this week. And it was anything but a vacation. I was helping the in-laws that were affected by the floods. Holy hell there was a lot of damage. I think I would have been more content to be sitting a table for two by myself with a beer and my browser. But still, as I was dumping water filled drawers into a bucket I said to myself, "this is still better than a good day at work".

The only thing that should be gray is the driveway. Everything else should be green.

[Kruger]

Wow, I didn't know there was any flooding until you mentioned it; that news never made it down here.  Did it impact your property?  I know cleaning out a flooded home is no fun.  Mom and dad have to do that on the farm on occasion, and it sucks.

[Blaze]

When the flooding happened, it wiped out the road to get to it. Luckily it was opened before we went home so we were able to drive past it. Trees are still there. We're not near any major stream or brooks and at least 300' above the CT river. I had it once with my basement and after that I put in a french drain and sump pump. I'd like to put in a sump pit and pump for the in-laws, but they have radiant floor heating and I don't want to damage the tubing in there and other than one of those concrete x-ray machines, I'm not sure of a good way to find where the tubing is. I thought of picking up a FLIR camera for the phone, but on some plumbing sites they mention that they don't work as well as you'd think...

[Kruger]

It's not a 100% surefire solution, but you could put a french drain outside to direct water away form the house.  But in reality, is the house in a flood zone?  And how often does it flood to that extreme?  The flood that happened a few years ago in Cramerton that got up to the houses in my neighborhood was a 100 year flood.  It could happen again next year, but on average it'll never happen again in my lifetime...

[Blaze]

They're not in a flood plain and it flooded because the culverts at the road failed. It's the second time this has happened to them. Unfortunately, as one Vermonter put it, "I've experienced three 100-year floods in the last 10 years". Even the meteorologists are saying the same thing. The 100-year flood will start becoming a more common occurrence. I've also thought about doing the external perimeter drain, but having to tear down a front porch the full length of the house as well a back deck that's 7/8 the width and dig a 7' deep trench isn't in my list of things I want to do...

[Kruger]

Ouch, now that really sucks.  How much water do you have to get to cause your culverts to fail and overflow, flooding out your property.  That isn't in a flood plain.  At least the South Fork River had a reason to overflow the banks that time it flooded out the houses on Riverside...

[Blaze]

When you live on the side of a mountain and you get 8" of rain in an hour, I don't think the water cares if you're in a flood plain or not...

[Kruger]

Yeah, that's true.  It's amazing how hard water is when it wants to be.  Like when you're jumping off of a high cliff in a rock quarry.  Or when it decides it's time to bust out of its confinement...

[Blaze]

Too many people seriously underestimate the sheer power of water. Just 4 inch deep running water can knock you off your feet. Think of the grand canyon too...

[Kruger]

Oh yeah, water is definitely an underestimated danger.  Every time there are flash floods, there are always the announcements to not enter any standing water, even if you know the road is there.  Always announcements because you always hear of the Darwin award winner that decided to test that warning...

[Blaze]

The Darwin awards can certainly be amusing. But what gets me laughing the most is when one of those Dodge brodozers decides his big bad pickup truck can handle everything and ends up hydrolocking his engine...

[Kruger]

Your brodozer comment made me think of the killdozer incident...

[Blaze]

I never knew the reason why he went on that rampage and if the Wikipedia entry is accurate, that was one wild read. At first I felt for the guy, then I realized he was a bit of a dick...