" I Need a Bigger Sponge"

I can't believe it. Like I said in an earlier post, we've been getting rain every day but last night was a monsoon
   With all the rain we've been getting I've had a chance to see what I can do to keep some of the water away from the house. Nobody's lived here in a couple years so there were plenty of improvements to make when I moved in. Drainage ditches, run-off pipes, downspouts, rock against the house to build up the low spots, and as of yesterday, gutters on the front of the house. With all I'd done I was feeling pretty confident that I would stay dry inside barring a hurricane. Unfortunately I underestimated the power of mother nature!
     I woke up last night after the rain started. It was probably about 1:00a.m. and I sleep like a hibernating bear so it was coming down pretty hard. But I checked things out and everything seemed to be holding up pretty good. No water inside. Yay! So I went back to sleep feeling pretty proud of myself and had no worries. I slept great. Ha! I got up this morning to the crabs thinking they'd  found a new home and the frogs leaping merrily. My dog Woody should have had his life jacket on! ( Ray the puppy can swim pretty good).  And there's not a dry towel to be had. I'd used them all a couple days ago to clean up after another downpour and they were out on the line to dry. Not a real good place for 'em last night. And to add insult to injury there's a dark mass to the southwest thinking of coming our way. Damn. Now I know the true meaning of the rainy season down here. And to be honest, it sucks. Now, I'm not going to let a little (or a lot!) of water in the house run me out of here. It would take a bulldozer to do that. But I much prefer paradise when I wake up to sunshine, the calm waters in the bay, an egret strolling the canal,, and a dry floor! I've been talking with friends up in Kentucky and they'd love to have one of these showers. And they'd be welcome to it. They're dry as a bone. But that's mother nature for you  A warped sense of humor if you ask me. On the bright side, I've got power so my coffee was ready for me when I sloshed to the kitchen and I'm not having to seek higher ground. Just pick a few things up off the floor. Stereo speakers, electrical wires, and I'd say the rugs but I discovered rugs can be very absorbent. The water might have creeped a little further if I had picked them up before I went to bed. I knew I should have looked at that Doppler last night! I'm going to show you a couple pictures of my house when "Debbie" came through. Keep in mind the water had receded about 4 inches when I took these.. 

   You're probably asking yourself, "why don't you just move upstairs"? Good question. First off, I don't do steps very well since my horse accident. And my old dog Woody handles them worse than I do. And the belongings of my friend are still upstairs. Unfortunately she died of cancer a couple years ago and her son hasn't moved her things out yet. He lives right across the canal. When I decided not to go back to Kentucky  this year he suggested I live in his mom's house. Jeanie and I had been friends a long time and he knew I'd feel right at home living in her house. He was right.And when the foreclosure sale takes place I'll be in the front row. But I'll keep living downstairs as long as Woody's still with me (he's 14), and maybe longer. The downstairs is about the size of a houseboat but  it takes on more water!  And it doesn't float. But while I've been writing this, the sky has turned blue and the clouds have disappeared. What a beautiful sight! Paradise as it should be.