I got a haircut, we did our weekly grocery shopping, Paul did some volunteering, we watched a very important soccer game, we volunteered/attended an after party at the art museum, met my parents to check out their fancy new wheels, went to church and even caught a mini Flaming Lips concert.
We did not however build a moat or an ark.
Both would have been quite helpful yesterday.
Oklahoma City received a tumultuous down pour that woke us up early yesterday morning and didn’t stop until the late morning. Paul was up having his morning coffee when he noticed one of our cats staring at the floor vent. She was intent. Paul got a little closer and noticed he could hear something that sounded like water so he popped his head down into the basement to have a look see and boy oh boy was there water.
He came upstairs, put on some socks and boots and got my butt out of the bed to help him. I figured an inch or two of water in the “unfinished” basement couldn’t be that bad but I’d oblige and help him move some things around. I took one step down the stairs and saw Paul, mid-shin deep in water. There might have been an expletive escaping my mouth on those stairs.
He started hoisting boxes and tubs of things up to me which I stacked in nice neat piles on the back porch. I couldn’t get over how much water was literally pouring into the space. He grabbed the laundry that was in the dryer (already getting wet) and we headed back upstairs to watch the disaster happen. Or I did. Paul grabbed on his rain jacket and went outside (still POURING mind you) and spent the next two hours directing the gathering water away from our house with brick and sand dams he built, a trench between our house and the neighbor (whose basement was already waist deep in water) and he cleared out the tiny amount of gutters on the side of our house. The water stopped pouring in through the walls. What a rockstar. We were at that point, two feet underwater downstairs, but it wasn’t coming in anymore and we had to be positive and thankful about something.
We decided to brave the rain and the flooding (stupid idea) and get out in order to get a new hose for our pump at Home Depot. It was amazing how many roads had already been closed and how many cars were just stranded in the middle of roads. We made it to Home Depot and back (with a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit in hand) and after one more trip by Paul, got all the water pumped out of the basement and out into the street. I could see the pavement! Never mind the fact that it is filthy muddy and there is something wrong with our A/C, cable and our washer and dryer were half under water for awhile.
I spent the afternoon at home monitoring the water level and giving Paul updates every half hour or so while baking some fresh bread and marinating dinner. I’d love to only work four days a week and bake bread and cook on the other days. That is, as long as there aren’t any more natural disasters happening!
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