Deth

The first time I noticed it was during some snow melt last winter, when my weather station seemed to be delaying the rain accumulation. I didn’t think much of it at that time. I thought it could possibly be ice. There wasn’t a chance in hell that I was going up on a ladder in those conditions.

I have felt a strong discomfort going up ladders ever since a rotted rung on a wooden ladder snapped when I was taking tar up on the trailer roof for my Pop pop. Thank goodness it was me who fell, not him. He may not have recovered if he injured himself and went on to live twenty years after that. I was fine. I landed flat on my back with the tar next to me. When he asked if I was okay and said he forgot to tell me not to step on the rung, I strongly suggested he walk away. I cut up and burnt that ladder in the campfire that night, so he didn’t hurt himself with it.

I’ll get back on track now, though. We had a thunderstorm this afternoon with very heavy rain, like they usually feature. My ambient weather station was only measuring 0.06 inches of rain per hour. That was obviously not correct. It was also well short of the rain totals at other local stations, both today and yesterday. I noticed that the funnel was full of water from the bathroom window, so I decided to go out and see if I could take it down easily to see if I could get it unclogged.

Luckily, I came up with the idea of just taking the funnel off, since I could reach it from a few steps up the ladder. The poles didn’t seem to want to come apart, and I would rather not fight with them here alone. The ground back there by the shed where it’s attached is so uneven from the old tree roots, which seem to be in the process of rotting.

I managed not to dump the rainwater onto my face when I unscrewed and lifted the funnel off. Sure enough, there were a couple of seeds or buds entwined in the metal coil, right at the drain hole. I guess that was just enough to slow the water down. I couldn’t really reach to dump some water in it to test it out. It was hard enough just to put the funnel back on! No worries, though. The radar shows another batch of storms that should move through here late this evening or tonight, and the forecast calls for more of the same tomorrow.

When the weather is better for it, I plan on taking it down, cleaning it up, and changing the batteries in the sensors. The console says they’re okay, but they’ve been in there since we installed it late in 2021. First, I will search on the internet to get an idea of how long the batteries typically last. If people get five or more years, I will wait.