Tag Archives: floods

Setting the Mood

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What a morning.  Last night I had insomnia and was wide awake till 1 AM.  May not be impressive for many of you, but I had been very sleepy earlier and was thinking about going to bed at a normal hour and suddenly,  Boom!  I’m awake.  Really awake.  That kind of 5 shots of espresso in 20 minutes awake.  Why?  Beats me, unless it had something to do with the weather changing.

Oh, yes.  Rain again.  I was finally deep in dreamland when the weather alarm I have by my bed went off.  Very loud and piercing, being an alarm, you know.  Why keep it by my bed, if it’s so annoying?  Because if you live in Tornado Alley, you want to know if something is going on out there.  And it keeps going off if you don’t shut it off.  So I keep it by my bed so I can hit the little button that shuts off the godawful alarm and lets the information be heard.

Flood warning again.  When it started listing all the towns and counties, I just winced.  Two inches in nothing flat dumped on flood ravaged areas while they are still trying to clean up and repair.  Thunderstorms training through my area, dumping more and more and more rain.  Wondering what training is?  Picture being under a railroad, with a long train loaded with cars full of water passing overhead, each one dumping its load on top of you as it goes by.

I looked blearily at the clock and sighed.  Barely 5 AM.  Gah.  No going back to sleep, either.  Decades of waking up well before dawn to be at work on an early shift has left my body incapable of falling back asleep once I’m awake.  Groan and creak my way out of bed.  Stagger to the bathroom and after a quick glance in the mirror, avoid my reflection.  Eccchhh!  Mumble and stumble my way afterward to the kitchen and try to get the coffee water poured into the correct opening on the coffeemaker.  Listen to the rain.

At first, my brain was humming, “Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain…”, making me feel rather mellow, then for some reason, Johnny Cash’s “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down” began rolling through.  Probably lack of sleep and looking at the forecasts about a disturbance in the Gulf maybe about to dump yet more water on us next week.

Maybe I need more coffee.  Maybe I need some bacon and eggs.  Maybe I need to look at more cat and dog funny photos.  (I looked at my bank balance before coffee this morning, too.  Probably a big influence on my mood.)  I suppose I just need more sleep, but I won’t get that unless I can grab a nap this afternoon after church.  Won’t be so bad if it’s still raining then, which they say it might be.  Napping during a rain is terrific.

Until then, I’ll just try to ignore the mood setting sound effects coming from the roof.  I loathe feeling melancholy.  If we were still in drought status, it would probably be the happiest sound in the world.  But after a month or so of flooding, I just sigh and stare out the window, waiting for the sun to come out again.  Hope that coffee kicks in soon.

Excuses, Excuses

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Whoa!  I didn’t realize it had been so long since I blogged!  Talk about being too busy for words!  Hah!  I have three calendars I use to TRY to keep track of appointments and errands.  April and May are pretty much blacked out with all the places and times I’ve had to be somewhere besides my keyboard.  I don’t have a smartphone (yet) and only my desktop to do my writing on.  I’m also sure many of you busy parents out there understand when I say I couldn’t have thought of anything to say anyway.  The brain is often engaged in actions, not words, when you are busy traveling, transporting, and DEALING WITH WEATHER!

I live in South Central Texas. I capitalize because, hey, I’m a Texan.  Besides, the area is big enough to be its own state.  (There’s information available about how Texas was already arranged to be five different states if they wanted to be before it agreed to join the United States.) We’ve been dealing with lots and lots and lots and lots – well, let’s just say too much for all at once – of rain and high winds and tornadoes.  Luckily our house sits far away from any body of water big enough to be a threat when it floods, but many of our friends, neighbors, and family do not.  There are a lot of creeks, rivers, ponds, and lakes around here.

Counties have declared states of emergency and cities set up curfews to keep people off the streets after dark since the water doesn’t care about city limits.  Interstate highways have gone underwater.  Bridges are gone, roads are washed out (and due to the rural nature of most of the surrounding countryside, many are dirt and gravel, so it’s a real mess) and one small town that primarily exists on tourism has been pretty much washed away.  People have died, been injured, gone missing, and are burning up cell phones trying to find their friends and family. Many are homeless, or facing a filthy cleanup.

My area went through a 500 year flood twice already in the past 25 years.  That’s what it is called when flood levels reach the highest levels in the past 500 years.  In 1998, we got soaked.  Then in 2002 when we were just drying out, boom!  Here we go again.  Could be this will be the third and they’ll have to draw the floodplain maps again.  It was a surprise to many newer residents, who moved here while the area was in drought status.  Lakes that were nearly dry holes have bounced by 40 feet overnight.  Who needs hurricanes!

Of course, every population has its idiots.  Video was taken of some morons tubing in rushing waters uncaring of the debris in the water.  In a nearby town, some were even swimming!  Then they had the nerve to give first responders lip about being forced out of the water – until the cops showed up and made it clear nobody appreciated being forced to risk their lives to save those who were trying for a Darwin Award.  I’ve been caught in a flash flood twice and I don’t want to go anywhere near fast flowing or high water now.  These jerks don’t appear to know or care what is in the water besides debris.  The bacteria found in floodwater is extremely dangerous.

It’s not over yet.  More rain is coming, with lightning and wind, and people who have been able to get back to the homes they had to evacuate are huddled around their radios, televisions, smartphones, and emergency weather alert radios.  Many are trying to get what they can salvage out before they have to rush away again.  My sister is three hours from home after a holiday weekend with her grandchild and all the routes back to her home are either under water, damaged, or about to be as the storms move in again.

Life is strange.  Just when you think all you have to complain about is being too busy with errands, you wind up with something that teaches you how easy you have it.  I was thanking God I didn’t have to live in a land tortured by the wars of man, but there are other situations that leave you in battle status.

I am grateful I and my loved ones are safe, and I will do what I can to help those not so fortunate.  Hopefully we will gain some respite soon.  Hey, California could use some of this, couldn’t they?  Be safe, and grateful you can read this.  I’m certainly grateful I can write it.