Stormy weather

Our storm? is over. And we added almost 4" to the season rain total. That means that we are only 20" behind where we should be.

A personal storm story; we had gone to bed about 10 after listening to the thunder and watching the heavy rainfall. With my head on the pillow I was all set for sleep...but what was that noise? Was it the dishwasher? My CPAP machine? The freezer? I listened for close to half an hour before I got up to investigate. I looked out the living room window and saw that the back patio was covered in water and it was getting dangerously close to the door. Where was my flashlight? After locating the flashlight, I rolled up the cuffs of my pajamas and stepped out onto the patio; I was looking to see if the drain had become plugged. I shuffled along, trying to stay on the unseen stepping stones. The drain was fine but right next to it was a river of water coming from the land behind us. The river had created a small waterfall and that was the noise I had heard. Well, nothing to be done about it so I went back in and just kept a watch on the water level. About 15 minutes later the water began to creep away from our door. Back to bed.

Okay, I know it's not much of a story. People east of the Rockies have far more dangerous stories to tell. I know, I've been there. Went through a hurricane in 1961. That was in North Carolina and I remember it as being very impressive; watching small trees being uprooted and flying off vertically. Then there was Nor'easter in Connecticut in 1965. Loads of snow! We couldn't get out of our rooms for 3 days. (we were staying in a small inn at Bantam Lake while I worked a construction job in Waterbury) From 1977 to 1987 we lived in Janesville, CA at an altitude of 4,500'. I worked in Reno and drove there every day; 75 miles each way. And I did that summer and winter. I learned to tuck my truck in close behind the 18 wheelers so that they could create a path through the snow. I would use my CB and let them know where I was and I would keep an eye on their rear tires for them...if they weren't spraying water, we were both driving on ice.

Being 73 years old, I could keep telling winter weather stories forever, but I won't. I'm quite content to have a heavy rainfall as my 'big story'.

Now, have you heard about the earthquakes?