Sunday, July 14, 2013

Stormy Weather...

Photo from ctvnews.ca
Last weeks post never got written... this past week my life has been in chaos. Last Sunday I had planned to go downtown to see the Toronto Outdoor Art Show, like I do every year. Only I woke up with the migraine from hell... I'm prone to get headaches from air pressure changes, so even though things looked fine outside my window, I figured we were in for a bit of rain at some point. No big deal.

Holy understatement. The rain Sunday was intense but quickly over. Monday, however, was a different story. Did we ever get rain... an entire month's worth in the span of about 3 hours. The streets of my neighbourhood resembled Venice. The water had nowhere to go.... storm drains were like little fountains in the streets. I made it home, with a few detours to avoid driving through what looked like lakes, calmed down my dogs (who are terrified by thunder), found my candles (since we had no power), and settled in to wait it out.

My husband and son had gone out to Newfoundland last week to visit with family. My dogs are old... they are pushing 12, so leaving them in a kennel so I could join the boys wasn't really an option. I don't mind... usually the week they are gone is incredibly productive. Without having to cook or run the usual errands I can spend my time painting. Didn't quite work out that way this year. When I ventured down to my basement late Monday night (after the rain stopped) I saw exactly how I was going to be spending my week... cleaning up a big, soggy mess. The water level went down fairly quickly, and the actual damage was minimal, but there was mud (or... whatever...) everywhere. As we have only lived here about a month some of our stuff was still in boxes down there, but nothing really that could be damaged by water. Most of what could be damaged was either on another floor or on top of something else. So I was lucky. To say the least.

The cleanup is done now, and when I talk to my neighbors I realize exactly how lucky we were. Garbage day produced a street lined with soggy carpet and ruined furniture, and contractor trucks seem to be parked outside houses next to the dumpsters. I think maybe I should go buy myself a couple lottery tickets...

1 comment:

  1. Yes, you should. You are very lucky if your neighbours have the kind of damage that leads to dumpsters and contractors. Sorry that your week of painting didn't work out that way though. I know how much you've been looking forward to it.

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