Monday, June 09, 2008

Lara Almighty...

Yeah, I'm wondering if I should build the ark still...in case you wondered...

Saturday was a mess. Tornado warnings and hurricane-force winds and flash floods and craziness. We were all hunkered down in the basement, and it was kind of "fun" for a few hours, but scary mostly. The wind was INSANE. The rain was INSANE. Luckily, our hail only got gumball-sized, instead of the golf balls that were raining down on other parts of the state.

At one point, Hubby was looking out the windows, and he said to me "Lara, what's that?" I went to the window and saw that our normally flat grass in the sideyard suddenly had a big hill on it. Seriously. It looked like some huge thing was trying to force it's way out of the ground.

It honestly scared me. I had visions from the movie "Poltergeist" where the coffins of the graveyard they happened to unwittingly build their house over started coming to the surface during the rainstorm, shoving their way to the surface, and opening up, exposing what was inside...

Creepy.

So, I had to find out. I armed myself with an umbrella and crocs and went outside to see what was up with the "Instant Hill" in our yard. It was about two feet tall, and six feet long. *Shudder*

I poked it. And it quivered like a mountain of jello. It was filled with water!!!

I realized that when they buried the downspout, the exit hole in the grass had since grown together, so when the storm drains forced all the water into the ground at flash-flood speed, it got trapped under the sod and caused the huge "water bubble" under the sod. I got some garden shears and started poking the sides, to get all the water out. It was like popping a huge, green, hairy blister. FUN.

So, that was the most exciting part. The kids watched back-to-back Disney movies in the Theater (which is underground so we thought it the safest place) and Hubby was glued to the weather channel, while I Ebayed on the computer.

But now there are lakes where there shouldn't be lakes and all the flowers we spent hundreds of dollars on and potted are pretty much drowned (we had to run around gathering them under shelter but some of the pots were just too big) but we are lucky. Some people lost trees, power, homes, life, etc.

What a mess. And it's been raining since. Hasn't stopped. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny again. Guess who gets to mow the lawn!!!

That would be HUBBY.

6 comments:

Aimee said...

Glad to hear you're all okay. When we lived in Illinois, a big storm blew through. The power went out and the winds picked up. I was looking out the window in fascination when this HUGE tree branch flew horizontally past my window. Hmmmm...tree branches (big ones) don't move that way. I figured this must be when people head to their basements. Two hours later we came back up. We lost a tree that day, but it didn't land on the house. Oh yeah, and the basement flooded--at midnight, in the pitch dark house, with all the electrical cords floating in the water just waiting for the power to turn back on. I get the whole "scary" part of these events. Again, glad to hear you're all okay.

Anonymous said...

Gosh, I'm glad you're all okay. Sending you sunshine thoughts!

Anonymous said...

I know I gripe and groan about our weather, but we don't have the formation of water hills, so we're lucky. After reading your story a measly half-inch of rain today seems, well, tame.

I'm sooo glad you guys are okay.

wfbdoglover said...

HA HA - I had visions of the movie Tremors - staring Kevin Bacon. Link Here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100814/
Glad you are alright and I can't wait for a blog on hubby's grass cutting experience.

No rain here this a.m. The dog just asked to come in, so I am assuming something might be coming our way.

Michelle Miles said...

WOW! I had no idea it was so bad out that way. Glad you're all okay and all is well. I've heard of water under the sod before. What a mess. It's still hot and humid here. We NEED rain and we can't get a drop. I'll send you some sun if you'll send me some rain. ;) Stay dry!

Lowa said...

We have had ridiculous rain here as well, but nothing like what you are getting! It was SNOWING an hour Southeast of us a few days ago.

I KNEW when you were describing the hill in your yard that was what it was! LOL Weird, yet cool!

I guess you didn't see Kung Fu Panda yet?? Go as soon as you can. It was so cute and funny!