A Visit from Ike

July and August were extremely dry around our house. It seldom rained, and I neglected my outdoor plants terribly. My flowers would wither and shrivel until I was ambitious enough to lug out a watering can, after which they would perk back up for a day or two. Our lawn became a dismal shade of brown, due partly to the fact that our underground sprinkler system was out of order for the entire summer and we never took the time to repair it. Our township imposed voluntary odd-even watering restrictions, and we had no problem obeying those rules since the sprinklers were sitting idle anyway. There have been benefits to this drought of 2008, too. Most importantly, there have been very few mosquitoes this year. I never even brought out the bug spray during our camping trip last month, or at any other time for that matter.

It was with great confidence, therefore, that we planned numerous outdoor activities for last weekend. First, Jacob and I looked forward to meeting a group of friends at a park late Friday afternoon. Well, guess what? It started to rain. Hard enough to call off our get-together. Then, Jim’s company had its annual golf outing scheduled for Saturday morning. Employees came not only from his office, but from out of town as well. The torrential downpour continued and the company shindig was cancelled. Pattye organized a housewarming party for Janet on Saturday afternoon, and the rain persisted. When all was said and done on Sunday night, we had received almost 4 inches. Many areas were flooded, some folks lost electricity, and a tornado even touched down about 5 miles north of our house. And, during the height of this three-day monsoon, our sump pump conked out, resulting in an overflow of ground water into our basement. Talk about crappy timing! (At least it was not crappy water!)

Well, the weekend is over, the sun has returned, and, of course, we do not have anything planned outside for the next few days. We did not have to endure the full wrath of Hurricane Ike, though, just the measly remnants of the storm. So I guess I will quit griping about our bad luck and appreciate the fact that we have water, power, and a roof still over our heads. Which is more than some of Jim’s colleagues in Houston currently have. On a positive note, our grass has turned green and my flowers have started to bloom again. I just hope we don’t get an early frost now, so I can enjoy the impatiens for a few weeks.