I’ve changed my daily mantra from “I wonder if it will rain.” to “I wonder how much damage today’s rainfall will do”. No one can remember a summer like this one! Each day a new storm comes and with it a new reminder of the power of water. A couple of days ago the roof of the Ben Siegel building, one of Caddo’s historic landmarks, collapsed. Now it is feared that the front will topple as well. Many buildings in Caddo have sustained at least minor damage. Many of the downtown buildings have flat roofs, so more damage may occur in the days to come. It has been raining all day today.
Our own house now has seven leaks. I came home this morning and heard a drip in the office closet. Thanks goodness I heard it!! I was able to move some papers and boxes before they were damaged, but apparently a drip from the ceiling has been leaking for a long time without our knowledge. It finally worked it’s way through the bottom of the overhead cabinet. Thank goodness everything I had in the upper shelf, including my wedding mementos, was in plastic bins and wasn’t harmed. Now the leak will be added to the list for the repairman (who is vacationing in Florida) and a new upper shelf will have to be built.
Our landlord was able to repair part of the road on Saturday. It is so soft and wet that equipment and gravel can’t be brought in until it dries out a little. And the rain keeps coming and washing out portions of our road. Vicious circle!
The lawn will be up to my knees before I get it mowed again. Standing water every day. I managed to mow a little on the sloped side of the lawn Friday, and now I can barely tell the difference between it and the rest of the lawn. My tomatoes have died. Too much rain for them to tolerate.
I did manage to do a couple of errands early this morning. I went to the bank, mailed some bills, and went out to the cemetery to photograph some headstones. One of my projects for the summer is to add some photos to Find A Grave because I found some information about my own family on their site. I thought as long as I live so close to a cemetery the least I can do is take some photos for other researchers. Anyway, I was at the cemetery when the storm hit. I was taking a picture, saw a few drops on the stone, and then “pow”- thunder and a mad dash to my car before the camera, stuffed under my shirt, got wet. I was soaked by the time I made it to the door! Couldn’t see the road by the time I made it to our drive! When I say storm, I mean STORM. That’s what is so strange about all of this. We aren’t getting a few showers each day. We are getting heavy winds and rain. The grill blew over one day! Tree limbs are dropping.
Of course I have to keep our minor worries in perspective. Each day we get news reports from North Texas where families are losing everything. You can be entertained by my silly whining, but pray for them.
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