Here Comes the Rain Again

Falling on my head like a memory… 

Maybe it was because I said we really needed rain. Maybe it was because my blog friend Sinéad sent it over from Ireland. Or maybe it was because I got my car washed. Whatever, it worked! The rain came.

The pond is full and so is everything else!

Of course, when it rains, it pours and that’s exactly what it did. The thunder started in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday. By the time I was supposed to leave for work there were reports of flooded streets. According to the radio, all three routes I needed to access in order to get to the office were to be avoided. What to do? Well, on an ordinary day I’d have said, “Darn,” and climbed back in bed! But this wasn’t an ordinary day. I had delivered some equipment to some of my schools the day before (just a short 350+ mile round trip), and I still had the company truck. I had to get it back.

Everything is miles away out here!

When you live 45 miles away you can’t always count on the news drama to be accurate. I thought maybe some firsthand information might be useful. I fired off an email to the employee list at work. The route I was advised to take was the longest, but reasonably clear and I arrived safely. I waited until I felt comfortable driving in the pouring rain. Of course some of my lovely co-workers had comments on how it probably wasn’t even flooded by the time I got there, convenient to only work half a day, have you gone part time, etc. Don’t you love those ‘nice’ women who can look at you, smile pleasantly, and spout off the snarkiest remark ever? GCBs is what they are called on television. I know an abundance of them if anyone needs one.

Picture from CBS7 News Odessa, TX

The storms continued through the day and even though there were some problems, everyone was thankful for the rain. Going home in the afternoon wasn’t nearly as painful as getting there. The roads were clear and it wasn’t raining. But isn’t there always supposed to be a calm before a storm? After I arrived home, I followed my usual routine of changing into something more comfortable; gray t-shirt sweats and an orange t-shirt. (I was thankful later I had chosen to leave my upper undergarments on! Ladies…you know how it is!) I was deciding on something for supper when Alan came home and we chatted until he decided to go outside for a bit, to work on something.

Clouds in the front of the house.

I was at the kitchen sink when I thought I heard raindrops again. The sky had darkened and the clouds were looking ominous. We have tornadoes out here and this is the time of year they can happen. (Actually, anymore, they happen all year, but I digress.) I was having some not so nice thoughts like doesn’t he know enough to come in out of the rain when he rushed in the house followed by both dogs. He was yelling my name as he came up the stairs. He said come here now, quick, look at this.

That's his truck parked outside. Close enough to worry!

He was so excited I immediately went to look at what he was pointing to out the window. Mind you this is the same window the kitchen sink faces, but I had been looking out…not up. I looked up and saw a cloud with a long tail. He said that’s a tornado and it’s coming here. Get downstairs now. I did what I was told (for once) and went down to the little bathroom.

The major part of our house is upstairs. There are some rooms downstairs as well, but the kitchen, bedrooms and main living quarters are all on the second floor. I always wondered where to go if there was the threat of a tornado. Now I know! And yuck! Anyway, after we were down there I said do I need my purse? NO he screamed. Do I need a phone? NO. Yes, I do. I’m going up to get it. HURRY.

While I went up he went outside to check progress. He came back in and said we are leaving. WHAT? WHERE? He said we’re going next door. We live outside of town and the neighbors have a storm cellar. He called them and alerted them to the situation. He told them to get down there and we’d be over too. They complied.

Here it is again, as we were running across the pasture!

I had on flip flops, as well as my comfy clothes. So, with my bag and phone and only a mostly finished crocheted potholder that happened to be in my purse, we took off. We were running across the pasture, in the rain and hail, next door. People that know me would realize that I, with the “I don’t like to get dirt on my feet or hands syndrome”, was running through a muddy field in flip flops. That shows the urgency of the situation!

It was cozy in their little underground room, which, by the way, wasn’t a lot better than our yucky little bathroom. I was wondering if I was going to have to wear the comfy clothes and muddy shoes for a few days when the guys went back up to check things. They came back to report the cloud had rescinded and the rain had even stopped. Whew!

Stormy through the rest of the night. But no more funnel clouds!

After a bit we headed home and took up things we were doing before all the commotion started. My heart rate had been increased for the day and I guess trotting across the field could count as aerobics! I thought about some things we might need to do in case this happened again. We weren’t prepared at all. A tornado is no joking matter. I am going to pack an emergency bag, some water, food and maybe a change of clothes, to put in the little bathroom. Just in case. Oh yeah, and some yarn.

Raining in my head like a tragedy 

Speaking of yarn, I haven’t been ‘yarning’ a lot lately. I did pick up some half finished simple ‘magic potholders’ to work on. There’s a shortage of potholders both here and at my daughter’s house. This was my grandmother’s (and a lot of grandmother’s) favorite (easy) pattern because it makes a nice double thick potholder and you can use any scraps. It's old as forever and I doubt they really know who made it up. We always made them out of acrylic because that’s what we had on hand but I read somewhere they catch on fire and to only use cotton.

Old, well used, well loved, (dirty) acrylic potholders.

Well, I did, but I was thinking of all them that were made in acrylic, and how not one caught fire from being used correctly so I’ll just use what I want from now on. Think of all the church kitchens with drawers full of these gems. They aren’t all made of cotton and they are still in service!

Replacements in cotton!

I’ve committed to a Clapotis knitalong. I’ve made four of them but I love the pattern, it's free and it’s fun, and I happen to have yarn! I haven’t started but soon as I do I’ll post progress pictures.

I'm going to make a Clapotis out of this yarn.

I still want to crochet something with the multi colored yarn I picked last week. I haven’t started that either. So many things I want to do! Time to get busy! It’s cloudy and dreary outside. Perfect knitting day!

I'm ready to start!

Falling on my head like a new emotion.

Here comes the rain again...