Rainy Monday

Wow...we got some rain today here in Houston.

It even made the national news.

We needed it but not as much as we got.

I had too much to do today for it to rain but God wasn't listening when I requested good weather. Someone with better connections must have asked for "rain".

Every time it rains here I get nervous. Well, not every time, but when it rains hard and fast I start to worry...

Because my house has flooded...

5 times

Only twice was it the whole house. Once after Hurricane Ike when the feeder band of rain hit the next day. The other was a bad storm. The other 3 were bad storms but that water only reached the living room and dining room.

The Ike time was God's little joke on us. While the entire city was out of power...some homes as long as 4 weeks...we got power less than 12 hours after Ike hit. It seems that some former CEO of Reliant Energy lives in our grid so basically we get taken care of because he gets taken care of. So the afternoon after the hurricane I had air conditioning, lights, and the ability to cook dinner and keep the food in my fridge.

But 36 hours later God said "Ha!" and the feeder bands of rain poured 10 inches down in our area in a very short period of time. That much rain combined with all the debris in the storm drains meant that my house became a little lake.

Ankle deep water

Distressed the hell out of my cats

Oh, and I was a little distressed too...

A few days later the wood floor in the den buckled and we discovered we had about 100 gallons of water under the den floor.

Guess that explains why it was so humid in the house.

We put down stone tile floors after that. No more wood.

So when the next flood happened I just squeegeed it out.

Of course that didn't work very well on the carpet.

Oh, and did I mention we were remodeling the house at the time? Yeah, that made it all the more interesting.

Houston floods a lot. Years ago, when we lived in a different house, we had so much water you almost couldn't tell where the concrete ended and the pool began. My friend was visiting and her dog went outside after the rain stopped and the poor thing kept falling into the pool because the entire back yard was just one big lake.

At that same "flood time" my mother was traveling with her friend Adriana and they got stuck in some high water. My mom had an Explorer at that time. They were driving down the road and came across some high water and got stuck. The water continued to rise and they couldn't move the car.

Now when Adriana gets stressed she slips back into "Espanol" mode...meaning...she forgets to speak English.

Her usual language was Spanglish anyway, but when she was excited or stressed it was full-on Spanish.

So the water is rising and Adriana is babbling in Spanish and my mom realizes that they are gonna have to escape.

But the water is rising quickly and it is up almost to the door handles.

And Adriana is still babbling in Spanish.

My mom unrolled her window and decided to just crawl out and make a swim for it. Not wise but what could she do.

Just before exiting her window she told Adriana:
"I"m going out the window. I suggest you follow me and hold my hand. But if you speak one more word of Spanish I'm going to let go of you!!!!"

Adriana got it together and returned to Spanglish.

My mom didn't let go.

They were best of friends until my mom passed away about 10 years later.

When my mom died Adriana lapsed back into Spanish with me. I let her. I couldn't understand a word of it but I knew the drill.

Sadly I will now admit to you my father spoke perfect Spanish...and almost perfect English.

I know...poquito

which is not much

translate that to: "Anice can't speak it to save her life and if she did she would probably say something like "I need to pass gas" when she is trying to say "Which way is Cabo San Lucas?""

I have many tales of my father's Spanish speaking abilities coming in handy but that is for another blog...this one is about "Rain Rain Go Away".

Just as an aside...I almost named this blog "Sunshine Day" after the Brady Bunch kids song...but it is not on my iPod...and why the hell would it be. Not sure you can even get it on iTunes but then who the hell would want to.

So the rain got in my way today but I still managed to give myself some cardio by jumping on a bike and spinning (giving myself my own class...I am a certified instructor you know...I just don't teach)...then working out, or rather getting punished by Dimples (uh yeah...had to do the 135 pound squats again today)...and I got to Body Pump with J'taime Jamie tonight so 3 workouts in one day despite the rain.

And a run to the airport to pick up a girlfriend...she was grateful...happy to do it...

But I"m happy to say the rain appears to be leaving us and now we will all have greener yards...and I don't have to squeegee my living room...

Although that could have been workout #4...

Inspiration Song: "Rainy Monday" by Shiny Toy Guns. I love that song. I really like the remix version...fun little song...fun little band...good for spinning or running...

Bye Darlings...don't let the rain get in your way...but please do stop and not let yourself get stuck in a flood...