My subscription to Life expired, but I still have a subscription to Mad.

Monday, July 6, 2009

where's the rain?


We had a lot of rain here recently. There were claims that three to four inches fell last Thursday alone. But for a week or so, my rain gauge indicated no new precipitation.

Saturday, I checked it out to see what was the matter. I guessed that something was gumming up the works like dirt or leaves stuck in the bowl of the gauge. To my surprise, I discovered that the cable between the rain gauge and my weather station was cut about two feet below the rain gauge.

The cable is inaccessible to humans, so I assume an animal was the culprit: maybe a bird (perhaps a woodpecker) or maybe one of the squirrels that loves to sample my bird feeder.

But why would an animal cut the cable? The rain gauge, cable, birds, and squirrels have cohabited for over seven years and the cable remained intact all that time. Did the cable suddenly become tasty? It is just another mystery I will never solve.

I patched the cable yesterday and will monitor the gauge closely next time it rains hoping that there was no electronic damage caused by the cut.

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