rain

Because it’s Monsoon Season! Here it is Saturday, and it has been raining almost non-stop! Apparently, it rained most of the time I was gone, and the few partial days we didn’t have rain have been made up for. My friend Chas posted a lovely piece in his blog. rain-on-back-order.html

As for myself, I blame my parents. teeheehee. You see, Hell is attempting to freeze over and all this rain is the result. My Dad decided at long last to retire. He has been a park ranger at the Grand Canyon for over 25 years.

Dad did the whole Interpretive Park Ranger thing. Trail talks, Evening Programs, etc. He was very good at it. However, over the years the politics of it has worn him down. Plus, he will be 72 in just over a month. So, he retired.

My parents bought a house and have slowly been moving things in. They did the final packing and left the Canyon yesterday. They arrived today on this bitterly cold August day. 30 degrees below normal! I almost started a fire in the fireplace! I woke up to thunder and lightning at 5:15am. Could not believe the length of the thunder roll. Nearly a minute at one point. We’ve had a few breaks in the rain, but not many. Right now, the gutters are flowing so full that they are spreading out into the street.

As for the rest of this week… I spent most of Monday and Tuesday trying to catch up on sleep and house hold stuff. Lots of running around and trying to get stuff done while jobs kept piling up on top of everything else that needed done.

We wired Boutique Blvd. on Wednesday. Marianne Smithey is a sweet lady who was having telephone troubles. Dan re-did the wiring and fixed that issue. Thursday I went down and worked on her computer for 2 hours. Made $50, which was nice. However, that will get dumped into the bank on Monday for bills.

Friday, we went with Maryjane H. up to visit her husband who is finally up at the VA hospital in Denver. Friday was Carl’s 77th birthday. He was happy to see all of us. He also learned that he has cancer that can’t be operated on. They can treat him, but not cure him. Not a nice thing to learn on your birthday. We stayed as long as we could and then had to drive home. The trip up had been wet and rainy. The trip home was just as bad. I swear that parts of the highway were under 2-3 inches of water at times. Dan drove which was a good thing. Got home around 10pm and collapsed.

I planted a few Italian plum trees in the back yard. I hope they take well. The plums are wonderful for cooking as they are very meaty and tart. At least I don’t have to worry about watering them for a while!

Yesterday was busy. I started off with giving John a haircut. He’s worn it long for the last 15 years and decided that it was just too hot to do so any longer. So, I gave him a nearly military haircut. Never thought I’d do that again! Oh well. He’s cooler and happier. We’ll all get use to seeing him with shorter hair.

Then Daniel and I drove up to Pueblo in Blue, my ancient F150 pick-up. We were heading up to get building supplies. Yes, I did this a few days ago with Dan, but this time I had to get the drywall. I also needed to get a birthday present for John and Daniel wanted to find something for his girlfriend.

First stop was at Lowe’s for paint. A 5 gallon bucket of paint. Funny bit was Daniel drooling over kitchen cupboards and the cool washers and dryers. He was like a puppy running around the store. Finally got out of there and headed to the Pueblo Mall. Now, for some people that probably sounds like a really cool place. When it first went up, it probably was. However, in comparison to the malls in Denver or Colorado Springs, it is very small. Upside of this is that it is just about all the Mall I can stand.

We found the perfume Daniel wanted to get Breanna as well as some silly flip flops, lip gloss and a little bag to hold them. I got John a hat that said Authentic ’58 and a deck of trivia ’58 cards. He was 50 yesterday.

Then we hit Home Depot. $110 later, we walked out with hardware, 12 sheets of drywall, 1 sheet of OSB and loaded up the truck. We stopped for a couple of dollar hamburgers and then headed home. We aren’t on the highway ten minutes when I see this rain curtain heading our way. I think “shit!”, as there is nothing but the OSB over the drywall. I drove as fast as my poor old F150 could go in hopes of missing the storm. No such luck, silly me. We got within a mile of this one curve when the rain hit. Downpour! I go to turn on the windscreen wipers to find that they aren’t working. WHAT??? So, barely able to see, I pull off at the exit and while the rain is thundering down on us and lightning cracks every 2-3 seconds I’m crawling under the dash trying to figure out what is wrong. You see, the wipers work, but don’t always turn off. John had the truck the last time it rained, and he just unplugged them when he couldn’t turn them off! However, he didn’t tell anyone! ahem… First I tried to figure out where the plug was. Then Daniel. Fifteen sweaty minutes later, Daniel and I finally plug in the wipers. We change places yet again and I start off home. BTW, the roadbed that we’d parked in had been dry, and now had 4 inches of standing water! We drove through 10 more minutes of pounding rain before we got clear of it. Daniel figured the drywall was ruined. I wasn’t too sure. 25 more minutes of dry weather and we got home. Dan and Daniel unloaded the truck. The OSB was soaked. However, thank Goddess, the drywall only had some damp spots. We put it in the front office to dry until we need it on Sunday. We were all exhausted. Drywall is heavy!

Later for John’s birthday we had steak, veg and German Chocolate cake. My stomach was upset, so I only had water although it all smelled good. John loved his presents. I gave him the hat and cards as well as a lap quilt and pillowcase I had made him. I had this cool bear fabric that I used.

Between rainstorms and loads of laundry I did some more sewing. I’ve been trying to make time to actually reacquaint myself with my sewing room and machine. Wheeeee!

Today we are finishing up the framing on the closet at 520 and hope to be able to drywall and paint by Monday. Wheeeee!
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Build a boat, grab an oar!

Drywall, perfume and thunderstorms