by Douglas DeBono, 2006

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT StandingOrders.BlogSpot.Com, September 04, 2005

The weather guessers (WG) mentioned last night that they expect storms to continue until 4:00 AM (such a precise prediction--I should have known better).

The WGs said it was raining--a good call since it had been coming down in buckets since late afternoon.

They even had rain gauge readings from around the metro area. I noted with some concern that the suburb where my mother lives had already received 2.5 inches. There's been some question about the roof.

No doubt it there was a problem, I'd hear.

I did.

The Ripper and I arrived at my mother's house. The Ripper is my four footed office mate and part time Black Lab. There was 2 inches standing water in the basement. She's just finished cancer treatments and is still recovering from spinal fusion surgery. This was not a good situation.

And it was 8:30 and rain was still coming down in buckets. So much for the WG's predictions.

Three trips to Home Depot and Menards later, I had pumps sending water out windows and doors. The Ripper found this to be great fun, bounding through the soggy basement and checking on the pump output.

"Do you have any fans?" I asked my mother.

"Sand? Why do you need sand?" She's a tad hard of hearing. I've known posts with better hearing.

"Fans!" I shouted.

She stared at me, before answering, "No."

All in all, a terrible way to spend a Sunday morning. Unless you're the Ripper, who found it great fun.