Bloggin' by battery backup

Today has been a long day, and its not even 2:00 yet!

The rain woke me up around 4 AM today slamming into my southern facing window. The steady and somewhat rhythmic sound of raindrops changed into a crescendo of noise as the gusts picked up, driving the rain sideways until it became similar to the sound of a clothes dryer filled with BBs and marbles. I looked out from my window to survey the scene. My front yard drain had become clogged with leaves, turning my lawn into a fine place to throw a duck family reunion.

When the front yard goes under, that is bad news indeed. It is home to my septic system. I was now faced with a decision. Get dressed in the damp clothes from last night and hope that I am able to clear the yard, thus enabling the septic system to function and allowing me the chance to shower when I was done. The other option, take a shower now, hoping the drain did not back up into my bathroom. Being an optimist, I dressed in my damp clothes and faced the stinging rain.

Success, the front yard drained into the back yard, and all is well. Then I came up with the bright idea to return the cattle trailer I had borrowed to haul some cattle to the sale. My friend lives 10 mile up the interstate, so I figured I would drop off the trailer, get back home and take a much needed shower.

'Localized street flooding' is a term that is far too vague and up to interpretation. I discovered that the County road department, Cal Trans and the locals sheriff do not tell you where to go, they only post "road closed' signs and let the chips fall where they may. Being on a main road to the local Indian casino, the hordes of would-be casino patrons trying to find an alternate route to the casino is at best a small scale disaster.

Needless to say, I was able to find a few alternate routes around the road closures and drove through a few feet of water when necessary to return the trailer and make my way home. The 20 mile trip took an estimated 2 and a half hours to complete. But now I am home, do I take a shower now or get everything I need to do outside done first? I chose the latter and got out the ATV to survey the slough at the end of my fields and make sure the drains are open. After an hour of shoveling out and clearing the culverts, I finally get back inside. Whew! Done, now I can kick back and watch the news coverage of the flooding and relax.

Wrong. The power is out. No water, no shower and one hour of battery left on my laptop. What's a guy to do?

Blog about it I guess. So here is to all of you, who are having a much worse day than I am. If your house has been flooded, I feel for you.

From a somewhat wet and kinda stinky cowboy.

( Update, 4:02 the power has come back on. When the power went off I took the pot roast out of the crock pot and put it in my 12" dutch oven and threw some coals from the fireplace on the top to finish cooking. Oh well, I like cooking in the dutch anyway.)