Day 3194 - Autumnal Equinox

I woke up to an ominous dripping sound this morning. The roof was leaking. I guess if I had to have a leak, now would be the time. We've had a tremendous amount of rain during the past 24 hours. I think we set some kind of all time record. I'm glad we live on a hill, because there was lots of flooding in town. When the rain subsided and we were able to take Dash for a walk, it was amazing to see how high the lake was. Most of the boat docks and piers were completely under water. Not only was the lake over its banks, the water completely covered a road that circles the lake.

It's so discouraging to realize that all the work the roofers did toward the end of the Summer basically proved nothing. The roof still leaks. I went up on the roof and made an obligatory inspection, but couldn't find an area where the water might be getting in. The house needs a completely new engineered roof with a slight pitch so water will drain off quickly. Redesigning the house is not in the cards unfortunately. It would cost a fortune and wouldn't really add any value. People want larger homes now. If we ever moved, our house would probably be scraped and replaced by another McMansion. It just doesn't make sense to put a lot of money into a tear down.

Truthfully, nothing makes a lot of sense right now. Someday, historians will look back and realize that this was the time when the second civil war started. Nobody knew what was happening at first. It wasn't a conventional war. The North wasn't fighting the South. There were guns of course, but the really dangerous weapons were words. It was neighbor against neighbor. Parents against children. Brothers against sisters. Worst of all there were no winners. Everybody lost.

Have our divisions become this great? Is this how the world ends? I hope not. When I watch the news I'm not encouraged. Polarization prevails and it seems like the war has already started. Maybe that's why I prefer cooking shows these days. I watched a show about making fish tacos this afternoon. Very tasty.

The weather forecast says it's going to rain all next week. It's officially Fall now. It always seems to rain a lot in the Fall. Jeez. How am I going to stop this roof leak? How am I going to be able to even get the roofers to come back? I think they're done with me. The drip finally stopped right after lunch. I got some bleach and cleaned the stains off the living room ceiling. A few hours later another storm arrived and the roof started leaking all over again. It's hopeless. I'll leave a big bucket out tonight to catch the water. There isn't much else I can do at this point.

Tomorrow's another day. Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight. The water from the roof is still dripping into a bucket in the living room. I'm not hearing the drips as frequently though. That's good. Dash hasn't pooped since early this morning. That's not so good.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day

Day 2981

The rain is relentless. I woke up several time last night thinking that I heard dripping water. I never sleep well when I'm worried about roof leaks. As it turned out, the dripping noises were all outside. So far, the house is still dry. I was hoping that Dash would go do his business when I was checking on things, but he had other ideas. I knew he needed to pee because he refused to go outside at bedtime. Dash is a stubborn dog though. He was determined to wait until it quit raining. When he finally gave up and decided he needed to go, Janet and I didn't wake up and he pooped in the house.

Today was almost an exact replica of yesterday. There were thunderstorms throughout the night, followed by a brief dry period around sunrise that allowed me to walk Dash. The rain resumed while I was fixing breakfast and continued for the rest of the day. While we were walking this morning, I noticed that the water level in the lake was really high. Most of the piers and boat docks were under water. If this weather continues the way the forecasters predict, we are going to have some serious flooding.

On days like this, the mail always arrives soggy. I almost wish that our mail carrier would just save the mail and deliver it on a dry day. Most of the mail is political flyers these days. I'll be glad when the March primaries are over. We get so many of these flyers that our kitchen trash basket fills up too fast. The candidates must be convinced that negative advertising works. A few of the ads are positive, but most of them just say that their opponent is a lying crook. Nobody has won me over so far.

I've noticed a small leak under the back porch. Since the porch is covered by the same roof that covers the rest of the house, this makes me nervous. Hopefully, this leak is localized and won't spread. There is no way to remove the standing water at this point. The rain is coming down much faster than my pump can remove it. I had a pump running on the carport all day long and it didn't begin to remove all the water. Mother Nature can make you feel powerless and ineffectual pretty quickly.

All this water is going to make it even harder for me to get the roofers to come back. There are plenty of people in Dallas with far worse problems than mine. I see their demolished houses every time I turn on the TV. I have a feeling that my maintenance won't be scheduled until Summer. The roofers are probably already looking at two months of emergency roof repairs before they can get to jobs like mine.

I had a few errands to run today and tried to wait for a break in the rain. I shouldn't have bothered. It was dry when I started the car, but another downpour started before I was out of the driveway. One benefit of a heavy rain is that your car doesn't get muddy. When I returned home today, my car looked like it had just been through a car wash.

If you wonder why I take so many pictures of Cormorants, it's because there isn't much else. The park can be pretty bleak in the Winter. I can always count on the Cormorants. Rain or shine, they always sit on the same rotting log. I wonder if they get bored?

Lizzy is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day