I know the exact moment the tree fell across our street, because it was the very moment the cable TV went out. It is no surprise that I was watching the Weather Channel, checking up on the severe thunderstorm warning that was ticking its way across the bottom of the screen.
"Who are they warning?" the PP asked, because at that moment there was more rain and wind than I had seen since Ivan blew through last summer. Just about the time they were telling us to look out for nickel-sized hail and reminding us that lightning is a killer and we should get inside NOW, all was static.
Here is why:
We spent most of the storm standing in the carport trying to keep our sad drainage system draining. The little grates tend to get blocked up with pine needles and leaves and twigs, and then the water pools up. But this time, even after the PP had pulled the grate off, the water could not drain because the pvc pipe that runs under our sidewalk and dumps the driveway water into the backyard was at capacity.
Between that drainage, and the less engineered drainage from our neighbors behind us, it was not long before our backyard was a stream bed. Luckily it flows around the compost pile, so all the rotting goodies stayed put.
There was enough wind that you could see the rain being driven over the hood of our parked car, and over the peak of our gardening shed.
The good thing is that it was only the cable TV that went out, because there was a cable drooping low across our driveway, and as we were walking back toward the house, the PP hit it with his head.
His head!
But no one will hit the cable with their head now!
Of course by that time the power was out, too, which turned the evening into a real neighborhood social event, with everyone in the streets and in their yards clearing branches, chainsaws a-revvin’.
But I don't think the cable is coming back soon. Maybe this will cure us of our recent Law & Order binge.
2 comments:
I'm sorry to hear that you were prevented from watching Law and Order.
I'll counter with a rain-related story of my own: Last week, we finally got the downpour the radio has been promising for months. I was the proud winner of pool-draining responsibility (so that our pool didn't flood into the entire yard). While I was out there, I saw Dante the cat under the overhang, meowing plaintively. I got Amitai to open the basement window, so Dante wouldn't have to run through the rain to the door. Dante jumped onto the window ledge and decided that would be a good place to sit and watch the rain. I had to push to actually get him to go inside.
I hope the cleanup is going well.
Ha! I can picture that, especially because our cats desperately wanted to go outside but were thwarted by the rain. So they were standing in the garage with us, trying to figure out if they could jump over the flooding in the driveway or whether they'd be sucked into the pvc pipe of doom.
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