God, This Is Noah...You Got A Minute?
I'm telling you, in 58 years, I have never seen such a rainy time as this past month in Indiana.
Now, I know any Hoosier would tell you that:
"Well, Bob, this IS Indiana, and the weather changes by the minute most times."
Certainly didn't expect it to change along THESE lines.
Yesterday was one of those days that reminded me of the MONSOON SEASON in Southeast Asia.
My Dad often spoke about what a "wonderful time" that was when he was stationed in India during WW II.
It's when you become accustomed to NOT BEING DRY for a couple months (so get used to it).
This is the kind of weather that brought to mind that Ray Bradbury story from his book: The Illustrated Man", entitled THE LONG RAIN...
This story was later included in a reprint of the book "The Golden Apples of the Sun".
It's not a long story, but I highly suggest you give it a read.
It was included in both the movie The Illustrated Man (1969) and was an episode of Ray Bradbury Theater (starring Marc Singer & Michael Hurst).
Yeah, it seems like THAT kind of rain.
Don't dare look up...or you'll drown!
Aside from that, we also had our share of TORNADO WARNINGS, what with the way the wind was whipping about, I was busy with the radio on (hearing the warnings every 5 minutes) the TV on (watching the NOAA weather channel), and going from window to window, checking for funnel clouds to appear.
MY thought was how the hell am I going to convince the CATS to come down the basement with me?
(without being clawed, bitten, and shredded six ways from Sunday, that is)
Yeah, they get a might skittish whenever thunderstorms hit. They don't know where to go to get away from it.
(now they know how I feel about boomcars...lol)
While streets were flooded across Fort Wayne, and trees fell, taking down power lines and such, we came through it all relatively unscathed.
We STILL have that roof leak that has encroached into our one room downstairs.
Be nice to get that fixed up proper...but you DO need something called NICE WEATHER to make that happen, and I'm not seeing all that much of THAT coming around these days.
Then, there's the basement leak...only occurs when we get a TORRENTIAL downpour (like yesterday).



What happens is that the old flue line off the chimney tends to leech water from the ground outside and well, it's gotta go somewhere, so why not into OUR basement.
There is a "drain" of sorts below, but the way the water runs down the inside wall...let's say it kinda "misses the mark", hence the tube to help drainage...and the clothesline to permit "capillary action" and allow water to run DOWN the line and into the drain.
But even that gets overwhelmed, and well...the result become obvious.
Not anything a good mop and catch-bucket (and some elbow-grease) can't cure, however.
It's not as though we have an "indoor water-feature"...or an impromptu wading pool (yet).
But is IS a bit of an inconvenience when it rains THIS much and for THIS long.
You have to remember that this house IS a tad on the "senior side"( fits right in with ME then, doesn't it?), in that it was built near the end of WW II.
Maybe I'm not THAT old (yet), but I can relate to things that age all too well.
The rest of the ghettohood was pretty much quiet, except for some "hard-core" thumpers that just HAD to "share" their lack of melodic appreciation and acoustic disrespect for others. Hope the 100% humidity crapped out ALL their equipment...serves 'em all right (assholes).
Most times, Mother Nature's "thunderbowl" tends to trump the morons driving the ghettosleds, and that suits me just fine.
Nice to hear myself think once in a while, even if it IS regarding hiding in my basement or worrying if Wifey's gonna have a house to come home to.
Our trellis blew the hell over...pulled some foot-long stakes out of the ground. So, I had to go out IN THE RAIN, and hammer them back in and zip-tie them down. Seems to be working SO far (crosses fingers, toes AND eyes). We shall see.
I did buy a few lengths of COPPER tubing to use at the base of the trellis, as the steel tubing rusted away...BUT (again) I need some NICE WEATHER to get that done.
Can't win for losing sometimes, hmm?
(Yeah...that kinda rain)
Our backyard was nicely inundated too, and the first thought I had as I looked at the blades of grass above the waterline was....
"Maybe I could plant some RICE?"
Lord knows the CORN FARMERS are having a real bad go of planting this year...
Funny, because we "really" need that corn for....ETHANOL (not).
Seems a lot of folks in the government are setting about shooting themselves in a lot of feet over that one.
But, if we planned a lot better, we'd not be in such a state of affairs.
Wifey had some troubles getting home...most roads were flooded, and she called saying she didn't know WHEN she'd get back.
Now, I've ALWAYS been a strict proponent of the old (military) saying:
"For every ONE way IN...you'd better have at least THREE ways OUT."
And that always worked for me whenever I had to travel about in my line of work.
You never rely JUST on ONE way to either get somewhere or return FROM that somewhere.
I used to have the best collection of county road maps for the east coast you ever saw...LOL.
And whenever I do drive anywhere, it's still with that in mind.
Always have a way out...or around.
I reminded Wifey to plan more alternative routes in this city, especially since it's SO prone to easy flooding.
We have plenty of tech to assist...like those online maps (easier to fold back up than those OLD ones...LOL)
Today's forecast is simple...check every other day for the previous 3 weeks...
Gonna sound about the exact same...
The only thing that will differ will be the TIMES the rain gets here...that DOES change up.
Other than that...more of the "same old".
If you're wondering what you can do while all this is going on, how's about THESE?
--Become a rice farmer
--Open an UMBRELLA kiosk...anywhere.
--Go into the used pontoon boat rental business.
--Buy a KAYAK.
--Make mudpies.
--Stow a trashbag in the car as an emergency "poncho".
--Turn your backyard into a CRANBERRY BOG.
--Do some bellyflops in the driveway.
--Purchase a hand-crank radio.
--See if you DO have flood-damage insurance...just in case.
--Consider building an ARK.
--See how many "pairs" of animals YOU can round up.
--Think about using your trashbin as a lifeboat.
Yeah...plenty of things to do...but it could ALWAYS be a helluva lot WORSE.
And all we have to do to remind ourselves of how FORTUNATE we've been HERE, is to turn on the TV and see those from Texas up through Ohio (and all points along the Midwest)...they took the brunt of all this, and many have lost everything.
They have to start over...a new beginning for them.
We can also begin to realize that nothing lasts forever, and that we need to cherish that which we have been blessed with.
That's also part of what makes us all who we are.
Keep your powder dry, watch out for standing water in your travels and do drive safely.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.