The sun is back again.

Yes, finally a cool front has moved through and pushed the rain further east. I am so happy about that.

You know, not having a dryer would be ok if:
1. I had a clothesline.
2. It stops raining long enough to actually use it.

I think what I'm going to do is watch a bunch of necessities here at home, then take all the wet clothes to the laundromat to dry. Hubby did find the problem with the dryer, but we have to determine if he can just splice some wiring, or do we need to buy a new part. One of the connections had corroded, and it probably would have started burning even without the flooding. The corroded area is actually above the high water mark, so it's probably just a coincidence. He hasn't had a chance to look at the fridge yet. One good thing about having it emptied out is that I can give it a thorough cleaning. I just hate to waste time cleaning it if it's beyond repair.

Last night was the first night in about 10 days that I picked up my knitting. I finished the third sample sock for Gale. Ok, it's not totally finished as I have to kitchener the toe and sew in the 2 ends, but I'll be finished with it sometime today.

I finally had my bout of melancholy/pity party yesterday as I took clothing to the drycleaners. Yesterday was just so dim and gray, and I felt tired. I'd just had enough. I decided to do what depressed people do - curl up in bed under a cat or two and see if I could sleep through the melancholy. That was when it started to rain again. Deluge. Monsoon. I checked the water coming back into the basement, and it was just a little more that it took to make the floor damp. Anyway, I got into bed with Chubby and Grey, and as I was dozing off, I heard a loud thump. My first thought was that it had rained so much that the trashcan had started to float and turned onto its side. I thought I'd better look outside and check. Whoa! A dead tree had fallen from the neighbor's yard and into the street near my van.

I nearly panicked. And herein lies an odd tale for your consideration. Imagine, if you will, a woman who has had every brand new car she's ever owned or leased squished by trees. The first, back in 1984, the new Toyota Corolla SR5, trunk, roof and back window smashed by a fallen oak while parked in front of the dorm at Agnes Scott College.

The second, the hubby's 1989 Mitsubishi Galant, hit by a large branch from a pine tree at the house we were renting in Decatur.

The third, my beloved 1999 Dodge Dakota, smashed lengthways from end to end by a tree while I was at work in Alpharetta, just 7 weeks short of the lease expiration and turn in time in 2003.

The fourth, the Galant gets finished off by a tree that fell in our yard in Stone Mountain. I don't remember the year.

The odd thing about it is that the trees have fallen on the new cars, not the ones we've purchased used. However, I know better than to tempt the fates, and so when I saw that tree in the road near my van, my heart leapt into my throat. Damn the rain! I grabbed an umbrella and went to check.

Amazingly, the tree fell in such a way that the only damage was pulling the cable wires down. It missed mailboxes, cars and people. No one was hurt. No property damage. No squished vehicles. I was and am amazed and grateful.

Happily the sun is shining today. The air feels drier. It's about darn time fall got here and moved some of summer's heat and humidity out to sea where it belongs.

Still cleaning

But now things are getting interesting. Not in the good way.

I washed a small load of linens that had been swamped in their storage container, then popped them into the dryer. I was starting the washer for the next load when I smelled burning. I turned off the dryer and unplugged it, making sure there were no flames or smoldering areas before I left.

We also have a second fridge in our basement. I love having the second fridge. It gives us space for storing all those odds and ends that you don't use every day (quart of capers), and we need the extra freezer space since our main fridge has the tiniest freezer. I wonder if our cooler has more space than our freezer.

Anyway, we unplugged it during the deluge, gave it time to dry out, and turned it back on. Apparently something is wrong with it, and this has become clear after I'd gone and done grocery shopping. I have to decide what goes into the cooler and what I can squeeze into the main fridge.

I had really planned to be on my 4th or 5th load of laundry as Fridays have turned into my regular laundry day, but it's not working out.

Thanks for letting me whine a little. I know many other people have been impacted by flooding much worse that we have, and I keep that in mind to maintain my perspective. However worse other have had it doesn't negate the fact that having a foot of water in your basement is a major pain in the butt, and cleaning it all up really sucks. And no matter the circumstances, having to replace appliances is also a pain, and facing having to do two at the same time - ugh. Luckily, hubby may be able to fix the dryer, and we may also be able to get the fridge repaired too.

On the good side of things, I went outside last night, and both of the feral kitties were waiting to be fed. That was great since I hadn't seen Hopalong in several days, and I'd been worried he may be met an untimely end. He's gained a little weight since he got snipped, so he probably climbed a tree and waited out the mess. I just know that the first night he came back he got a little closer to me than he normally does while waiting for his kibble.

Sun!

Yes, Apollo made an appearance today. We discovered that even after being submerged, our a/c still works. Thank goodness for that as we had turned if off about 4 a.m. Monday morning, and we really needed it today.

One of the ferals, Mamacat, showed up to beg for kitty crunchy last night, so she's one less worry.

I spent the day getting groceries, took a rug in for cleaning, catching up on dishes and doing some laundry. We're still waiting for the basement to dry out, but the sump pump is still running, and we can see water running down the street. Bein' down in the holler does have some disadvantages.

Hmm, this seems a little disjointed, but I find I'm tired still from being up most of the night on Sunday, and I thought you might like to know that things are returning to normal for us.

For a lot of people in the region, normal won't return for a long time. If you want to help, you can make a donation at the Atlanta Red Cross. I'm sure you've seen some of the photos of the metro area that are showing up online now.

I think I'll quit now and be back tomorrow with a better post.

Gratitude

Oh, it's raining like mad again, and the water's rising.

However, we did go through and toss some stuff that should have been tossed some time ago. Regretfully, we also had to toss some stuff (books) that we would have kept if they weren't horribly waterlogged.

I've been watching the weather, and it's almost like a horror story. People here in Georgia have been swept away by flood waters. There are some giant sinkholes swallowing up parking lots. I'm not thrilled with what's going on here at our house and on our street, but we are actually very fortunate.

I'm really not being a Pollyanna about it. Even if we end up throwing out everything in our basement, which I hope we won't have to do, material goods can be replaced. Nothing will be able to replace the missing child who was probably swept away by the storm.

Next, almost all of my fabric and all of my yarn is upstairs, above the flood. That makes me very happy.

And finally, sometimes procrastination is a good thing. Keith had thought we'd have our basement framed in and sheetrocked by now. It didn't happen, and now we know that we have other things to tackle (bricking in the garage door) before framing in the basement. My beloved has thought all along that he and I would do the framework (ha!), so it's been put off and put off. Just a little while ago he said he was so happy that he didn't have his den put together yet.

Please do keep some good thoughts for my two feral kitties, Mamacat and Hopalong. I haven't seen either one of them all day, not even when the rain stopped for a few hours, and I'm worried about them both. I have a very good idea of where Mamacat lives, and for the most part it's a great place as she always looks dry and fluffy. I think Hopalong hangs out with her sometimes too. My fear is that she got trapped by the rapidly rising waters, and well, you can deduce the rest.

As for my very spoiled varmints, they are quite irate that I'm not letting them outside to go potty in the mulch or down into the basement for some lurking. I know I will have to pay for my human insolence in the very near future.

Ugh! Flooding

Last night between 1 a.m. to maybe 4:30 a.m. we got an additional 2" of rain. This is on top of all the other rain we've gotten since Wednesday. We're near the bottom of a hill, "down in the holler" is what I usually say, and this time that was a very bad thing. We're very near a creek, which overflowed. The volume of rain overflowed our sump system. We had to unplug everything in the basement, turn of the a/c and pile things up where we thought they would be safe.

Didn't work. The massive volume of water buckled our garage door. Our back door is raised, and the water got too high and just flowed in from that side too.

I didn't get much sleep at all last night. Today we'll be donning heavy shoes and gloves to haul things up to the trash. Things like books that were stored in the basement where we thought they would be safe as we've never had a flooding incident like this. I'm buying several jugs of bleach as we'll have to scrub every surface. I'm wondering if our dehumidifier will work again once it has dried out, or will we have to go buy a new one?

Have I mentioned this sucks? And it's still raining. One really great thing is that the basement is cement block with a slab floor, so at least it will be easy-ish to clean. That is one thing to be grateful for.

Those crazy critters

Lily's found a new place to sleep. Yes, that is the headlight of a 1984 Datsun 300 ZX. That's the last year they were Datsun.

This car has a long history with my family. My Mom and stepdad L originally bought it.

Then it went off to college with my cousin. She later gave it to my

uncle. A few years ago it went back to my Mom and stepdad D. Now we have it.

It does need some work. Mom and D put work into it, but Keith has always wanted a car to restore, and this one still has plenty of things he can do. In the meantime, I need to order a repair manual for him, and I get to start looking for things like a heat shield (which always makes me think of Star Trek).

I know, it's always cats on my blog. Can't help it. I know my place in the universe, and it is to serve catkind.

However, you've been more than patient, so here are more sheep pictures from Wisconsin Sheep and Wool. Enjoy.

Ahhh! Mom's back home. Do you think she'll stay put if I sleep in her suitcase and knead her things?

More about monsoons

Thank goodness last night we didn't have a repeat of the 3" of rain in just a couple of hours. The basement is attempting to dry out. I'm afraid we'll burn out the motor on our dehumidifier.

When I got home yesterday, (I'd gone to work to fill in for a sick coworker), I did my usual stuff - let Sassy out to potty. As she was sniffing around looking for that perfect spot as dogs do, I heard a siren slowing down nearby. I looked up to see a fire engine coming around the bend of the street. They stopped, I put Sassy back into the house, and then I heard my next door neighbor let out a piercing whistle. She did it again. It turns out she had called 911 for a downed wire in her yard. While she stood there, (and she is able bodied), I decided to walk down to the engine and tell the guys what's going on. Apparently they had stopped because of another downed wire. And this is the best part. I had no idea we had such good looking firefighters. For about a split second I wished I was 20 years younger and single. Luckily for me, some good sense came with age, so I set the admiration aside, and explained about my neighbor. Then I went into the house as it was still sprinkling.

Thankfully we don't need an ark yet, but a decent break in the rain will be nice. It seems over the past few years we don't get rain and sun in good measure, but an overabundance of one or the other. Drought or deluge.

I'll do more pictures of sheep later, along with another restaurant to try if you're up that way. As for now, I need a bit of coffee.

How about some pea soup?

Actually, this fog is from day 2 of the trip. The fog this morning wasn't as bad as the fog when we woke before the dawn in Normal, Illinois, but I didn't get a picture of it.

I must mention a really yummy restaurant in Normal. We ate there twice while travelling. If you're ever in Normal (I just love that name!), go eat at Destihl. They brew their own beers on the premises, and they have something called a "Nut Sack" on the menu! (Of course, you know me, it makes me think of the episode of the Simpsons where the kids get snowed in at the school, and Seymour gets tied up in the bag that holds dodgeballs. He asks the hamster to chew through his ball sack.)

Bad jokes aside, I thought the food was quite good. I had the Tomato Soup and the Chicken & Bleu Cheddar Salad the first time. They do serve iced tea, but it's flavored. I'll admit it's good, but not exactly what I wanted. I should know better than to expect real iced tea above the Mason Dixon line. The second meal we had there I had a glass of Cline Zinfandel and the Mediterranean Pizza. Yum! I'm wishing I had a glass of that zin right now. I see a search at the store for it.

I'll get some more sheep pictures posted tomorrow, probably. We've been having torrential rains the past few days. I saw on the news there had been 3" - 6" in the past 36 hours. Our basement has been flooding like it did about 15 years ago when Hurricane Opal came ashore. I may be short on time if I'm bailing out the basement tomorrow.

Sheep teaser

I'll admit to being pretty useless yesterday, and this morning I just don't have enough time to post much. I did want to show you this picture since I didn't notice the grin until I uploaded it from my camera.
Stoner sheep or what? I just love that grin!

Back from Wisconsin

I'm bone tired from the long drive, but I'm back from the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool where I helped Gale with her booth. Hubby had just told me to sign off and go get some sleep. Sheep pictures will be posted in the near future.

Pea soup!

I have never seen fog like I've seen these past two days! I heard about fog being so thick there could be 40 car pileups, but this Southern gal really didn't believe it. I believe it now. The fog we drove through leaving Bloomington, IL yesterday was so thick that we missed an exit since we couldn't read the signs until we were literally on top of it. I just looked out the window here in Wisconsin and saw the same thing. I'll see if I can take a picture of it. I won't be able to post pictures until I'm back home and have all my proper camera cords and software.

Yes, I'm in Wisconsin, home of the Green Bay Packers, cheeseheads and miles of genetically modified corn. (Just you wait, Monsanto, until the Vegetable Liberation Front, composed of all those mutant veggies, rises up!) As for me, I'll avoid anything with corn in it and just enjoy all the wooly goodness I can stand at the fiber fair this weekend. Thank goodness I have such a wonderful hubby who lets me run off to snorgle yarn while he stays home and works! He's the best!

Dropping by

I know, I know. I promise, I haven't done anything blogworthy lately.

I did finish the present I was knitting, and I forgot to take a picture of it! It was a shawl, knit lenghtwise, using James C. Brett Marble Chunky. I used nearly 3 whole balls of it, for a total of approximately 1000 yards. It is a scrumptiously soft yarn, and Princess Plumy thought I had to be knitting it just for her.

Now that it's finished, I'm back to working on the Jaywalker sample for Gale. I'm ready to do the heel, which I may get done tonight.

I won't be blogging much this next week either. I've gotten out of shape for working retail, and I find myself feeling pretty beat when I get home. The days I'm not working there, I've been working around the house or running those errands that always need to be run - groceries, petfood, repeat. I may have written about Keith decreeing that we would start getting to bed earlier since we wake up early anyway. Well, the days are getting shorter. We've had a lot of dim, grey weather lately, and I feel pretty sleepy most of the time. I felt more normal after hearing the other women in the Artist's Way group saying they've felt really tired lately. I'm just waiting for some cooler weather to energize me. To get back on subject, we've been going to bed earlier, which actually cuts into my computer time - a lot.

So, don't look for me to be here much until maybe next week. I'll see if I can get a picture of the finished shawl since Daphne only lives a few minutes down the road. I'll work on getting the Jaywalker finished so that there's more than one picture next time.