Literally.
We have had so much rain here the past couple weeks. And it's not just normal rain. It's loud thunder crashes and bright lightening, keeping all the kids and animals up all night long rain. That, in turn, keeps all the mommies up all night. Then all the mommies get tired and cranky, and it continues to rain.
I think it might be done for a couple days. I really hope so anyway.
Tuesday night (all night) and into Wednesday morning we had some very heavy rain. I think I read we had 8 inches that night, after about a week of steady water coming from the sky. There was some very interesting fallout from this rain.
Let me start by saying I live in a neighborhood with one road leading in and out of it. You read that right - one road. One way in. One way out.
My older daughter and I were on our own that day and we had some relaxing but fun things planned. Step one - go to the library for her prize for the summer reading program. As we were leaving our neighborhood I saw something that I had never seen before. The one road leading in and out was flooded. I should mention that the road crosses a small stream that cuts through the golf course and past the country club and leads to a river. That small stream and the decorative water fall that the country club made by the road looked like rapids. The flood wasn't too bad though, and cars were taking turns driving through the lake that covered the road.
We got out of the neighborhood just to see that one of the major highways through our town was also flooded. Hmmm, never seen that before either! Not only was the street flooded where I wanted to go, but because of that flood the library was closed too! So, no prize for A that day. No big deal. We went to Walmart for some things and then went home to watch a movie and relax.
About 30 minutes after we got home, the power shut off. Huh, interesting, I think. It's not storming now, I wonder what's going on. After a few minutes of wandering around the house and doing some random chores that I could do without electricity, I suggest we go for a walk. We meet up with some neighbors who had the same idea. As we walk towards the front of the neighborhood, we see lots of neighbors outside and start hearing some details. It's not good.
The pole holding the main transformer for the neighborhood has fallen into the creek. That same creek that looked like rapids earlier in the day. Wires carrying lots of electricity are torn down, some in the water, some lying on the road. You know - the one road in and out of the neighborhood. We hear from the police man keeping all curious onlookers at bay... there is no way in or out and they have no idea how long we'll be stuck that way. In the neighborhood with no power. Hmm, sounds like a great adventure, right? Half of my family is stuck at home, and the other half is stuck on the other side of that creek. No, not fun. Especially when the officer mentions that we might not get power back until next week!
After about 2 hours, they were finally able to open up one lane of traffic. Things settled down a bit since we were no longer trapped, but we still had no idea when power would come back. You don't realize how plugged in we really are until it's gone. We couldn't even use our toilets, and our food was slowly getting warmer. Cell phones and tablets needed to charge, so there goes the entertainment.
All in all, we were without power for about 25 hours. It makes you appreciate what we take for granted. However, it also makes you appreciate good friends, who pick you up when you're stranded at home without a car in a house without electricity, and let you store food in their freezer and take showers and enjoy air conditioning when it's 90 degrees and humid.
So I now have a deeper appreciation for the luxuries that we have - running water, electricity, and air conditioning! Boy are we spoiled!
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