Small update, big changes

The shelves are pretty much built now. All pieces are cut except for the six vertical frontpieces, which can't go in until the shelves are all installed.



I don't have a wide enough lens to get them all in, but you get the idea from the terrible photo.

Wet and too wild

We are well into the work on the library shelving. We started out here after the KC Deck Builder guys got the new window into the north wall.



This room's a lot more open and airy now. The whole thing will be lined with bookshelves when we're finished (which is soon). The ceiling's all de-popcorned and smoothed -- definitely our best job so far.

Unfortunately, we were sidetracked. By -- all together, now -- another flood. The worst one of the year so far, in fact. Which came along with a tornado watch that Jeff had to endure while I was in Lawrence doing a review for the paper. While he was herding the cats into the basement for cover, he was treated to the window well doing this. (Pringles help a lot in cat-herding. - Jeff)



Not as much water as we used to get. But DANG IT. We were sure we'd fixed it.

When I got home, I decided this had to end, so we got out in the unreal torrent. While Jeff held the flashlight (and got bitten no fewer than TWENTY times by mosquitoes -- no exaggeration at all - Jeff), I got a big piece of plastic sheeting and crawled under the deck. And there I finally discovered the problem. When we had the grading done on the outside of the foundation back in May, the landscapers put a big line of earth under the north edge of the deck. Seemed like it would keep water out, which it would -- if only the land were sloped so that water ran that way. None of us realized it was actually sloped the OPPOSITE direction. Meaning that all this time we've had the floods, it's been because water's been coming from the other side of the deck and getting trapped, creating a lake that eventually backed up into the window well.

Which explains why we never saw previous water damage. We created this problem in trying to ward off future problems.

Back to the rainstorm. With about nine inches of clearance, I dug out a trench through the dam. As soon as I hit the other side, the lake started clearing immediately.



By morning, there had been almost four more inches of rain -- well over six total in just one night. But the basement was DRY. Well, save for the new leak in the opposite corner, the result of not having put a downspout extension on after they finished the porch. Some dirt-moving and downspout work later, it's fixed there too. Not a huge deal, considering how much water we had.



The catch-basin low spot in our backyard, as I used the pump to clear it out. Note the dirt berm at the lower left, which Jeff made before the storm, buying us a lot of time under the deck.



A neighbor who's been at the lake for decades says this is the very worst flooding she's ever seen. The docks down at C-point are all unbelievable. The water was way, way up over the seawall. It's starting to recede now, but it has a long way to go.

The bathroom ceiling had also leaked again earlier in the week. This time we finally got a roofing repair guy over, who discovered the culprit: A 4-inch pipe flange on a 3-inch drain vent. Grrr. Fixed now. Tight as a drum for the latest storm.

And we're also having a pro dig a nice, deep French drain under the deck to funnel all this stuff out efficiently into the creek next to us.

Back to the shelves. They're almost done.



And Jeff did a nice cartoon where the last one will fit into place. Note Liz watching in approval while I toil away in my Gary Numan shirt.



We're close on this room, thank goodness.