Can we talk?

Rough week

  Just before Christmas, we had a dumping of snow that only comes to this area once or twice a decade. We never got to put out the luminaries that our neighborhood does every Christmas Eve, with a rain date of New Year's Eve. We had them ready in advance and they're still in the garage. 200 candles in white bags weighted with sand. So we need to muster up the willpower to undo them, and salvage the bags if possible for next year.

    The snow is finally gone after several good rains. The last one lasted 24 hours, but started with such a deluge that the area was devastated for several days. I had been up late downstairs in the family room, watching Space Cowboys for about the third time. When it was over, I put my feet down on the floor and stood. My foot felt wet through my shoe. I cringed at the thought and looked down. I had left foot prints in the imitation Persian rug. Water was coming from under the sofa. I ran around picking up baskets and checking for other items that would soak up water. The entire front half of the house was flooding quickly.I grabbed the smaller rugs and threw them in the bath tub. There was no water in the back half, but I picked up laundry baskets and got up rugs in the laundry room any way.

    I ran upstairs to ask my father what he wanted me to do. I felt guilty waking up an old man, but I couldn't handle this by myself. He didn't answer the door or my yelling. I could hear snoring through the door. I ran back downstairs and the the front half was completely under water, and it was still rising. I grabbed cleaning towels/rags and a bucket. I started mopping up water and squeezing. I knew there were outdoor pumps, but knew nothing about them. I called my brother across town and asked for help. I tried again to get Dad, this time going into his room and turning on the light and yelling. I didn't realize he had taken pain pills for arthritis and was knocked out. I gave up and went back down to mop.

    About 4 in the morning, my brother arrived. The roads were blocked with stumps that had washed up in the  flooding. He turned around and went back out by a roundabout route, which still had flooding, but he managed to get through without stalling and made it  through the back way. By the time he came in and surveyed, there was no dry floor downstairs at all. I had been using my cell phone to call my own house, because Dad always gets up for the phone. He finally heard it about the 10th time, but couldn't get to it before the answering machine kicked in. So the three of us used two shop vacuums, brooms, and mops, I carried buckets outside into the steady rain to dump. The men got the pumps working, and we developed a relay team on the vacuuming. At about 7 am, the water was out, two big room rugs were out in the garage dripping, and we were cold and tired. I hadn't had any sleep all night.We made coffee, and the men ate cereal. We sat in the living room and all 3 of us fell asleep sitting up.

    The next door neighbor's house also flooded, which they didn't discover until morning, and they spent the day getting water out. The road below us couldn't be crossed at all by normal vehicles. Schools were closed both Mon and Tues. Businesses opened late. By Tues. morning, the road at the bottom of our hill was pictured on the front page of the newspaper. When the deep, rushing water flow slowed down, the road froze, so cars started stalling and slipping on the ice, including us and everyone coming to see us. After that the state D.O.T. put up warning signs, and by Wednesday afternoon cleared out the drainage pipes.

    Our house still looks bad, even if dry. The rugs need shampooing. We've had a night at the funeral home on Tues., and a funeral on Wed. Then the furnace quit Monday night, but not because of the rainwater. So the repair guy was out Tuesday. We're expecting more snow on Friday and Saturday, but not as bad as last time. Temps at night and morning will be in the teens.

    Weather, appliances, health, family, debt, and death baffle us and try us. But hope is always with us, and spring is not far away.