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We got some rain…finally, in Austin, Texas, enough to really make a difference albeit a temporary one. I got 5 inches in my rain gauges and another inch the following day. Needless to say, I have turned off the soaker systems at least for a while. We are all through with the excessive heat (for this year) so things should take a while to dry out.

The ponds held up very well. They all have an overflow system that can handle most rain as long as it is not a real gully washer when it all falls out of the sky at the same time. As this was spread over several hours, we didn’t have any problems. One good thing, the ponds are definitely full.

As an added bonus if you like, the Koi in the top pond seem to have liked it so much as they have become energized again and are actually swimming around instead of huddling together under the vegetation cover around the pond. Don’t know whether it was the influx of new water or the rain beating on the surface but whatever it was, I am very grateful. Heck, they even rushed over to me for feed which they haven’t done in a month or more. Let’s hope it stays this way.

The rest of the garden is a bit of a mess with plants beaten down with the force of the rain. A few will not recover this year and will need cutting back for a fresh start next spring. Some of the gravel walkways have washed out and are going to require repair and some of the dead wood in the trees finally hit the ground. The rain has also piled up all of the debris and leaves  that had already fallen on the ground against the fence  and into nice little rows ready to be picked up.

I am also having to repair the top of the fireplace chimney to the house as when I got up the next morning, I had water all over the floor. I suspect that the cement cap is in need of repair. Not a big job but one more to add to the list.

I will wait for things to dry out before attempting any clean up or repair. There is also talk of more rain for the rest of this week, another good reason not to do anything yet.

Come on rain. We can use all you can throw at us…