UhOh, Rain

So much for productive days.  UhOh Friday hit.  I ran to the town that has my paint place.  It's only 17 miles away and I was going to make a quick trip and be back by the time the Trim Out Crew got there.  (K, their early is not our early.)  I planned and God laughed again.  I stopped to get a few things at the Dollar General Market and came out to a flat tire.  Very flat.  I don't do tires.  I should, I know, but I don't.  What I do is pick up my phone and punch in the number that will bring M on the line.  This time he said "What am I supposed to do?  I'm 80 miles away from you and I don't have a car."  (it was at a Park'n'Ride)  So I called J, he was only about 40 miles away but I had to call him out of a meeting.  He came to my rescue and was there in about an hour.  To save his mom.  My Hero.  So I took him out for a late lunch to his favorite Chinese Restaurant.  Bought M dinner too.  I did buy my paint too!  (and some new clothes - I did have an hour to kill - and guess how many phone calls I got from M in that hour) 



More than six hours after I left for that quick trip, I made it home.  The Trim Out Crew had come and were packing up to go.  (K, their work hours are not like ours either)  They were still not through.  They did however, get the doorways/doors, ceilings, and one end of the house sided.  Said they be back Saturday to finish. Okay?



Saturday it rained.  All day.  It poured.  Tornado weather rain.  One touched down about 45 minutes north of us.  Thank goodness we just got the rain and lots of it.


All that rain and the water pouring down the Hill meant no work got done on the House on the Hill.  No Trim Out Crew.  Because it was raining.  Hard.


Because the road up the Hill was mud.  Red mud.  Lots of red mud with lots of red clay in it.  Not much goes up the Hill when it rains because as M says, "when that road is wet it's slicker than snot."  His graphic words not mine.



I can not even walk up it without sliding all over.  Eventually the road will have gravel and/or concrete on it but not until all the utility and construction vehicles are finished.  We are not putting in more road surface to be torn up, piled aside or partially buried.  Until then we will live with red mud or red dust.



M decided to work outside in spite of the rain.  Maybe because of it.  He and Big Orange had to go out and attempt to divert the water that was pouring down the Hill and through our front yard.  Because the ramp made to get the House on the Hill also made a perfect ramp for water to flow down taking a lot of our road with it


and making parts of the front and side yards of the Little Old House lakes.  Okay, maybe just ponds.




This is our very elegant bridge over the channel between our ponds.  This little girl thinks it was elaborately constructed just for her.




She is really starting to show her age too.  Her muzzle is turning white and another cataract has developed in her good eye.  She stays even closer to me and bumps into things a lot.  My heart tries not to weep.



To make the ramp they had to take out 4 trees and a berm that channeled the water into a ditch and then into a culvert and on to the creek.  These trees?  All gone.


My heart tries not to weep every time they cut down one of my big trees too.  This lodgepole pine was almost 18 inches across at the base, they cut down 3 of them and the pretty little oak that stood outside the Little Old House's kitchen window.  It was about the same size, almost a baby oak.


I gave in to the weather and stayed inside the Little Old House packing and then attempting to do some cleaning so I could pack easier.  It's very hard to pack when there is red dirt in the house everywhere.  It's very hard to clean anything when you live in a sea of red mud or a red dust bowl.  It's very hard to clean when your drains have been disconnected because an earthen ramp had to be built across them and the front yard that was the only place that had grass was torn up.  It's very hard to clean when half of your belongings are in boxes stacked in your living room.

Do you have any idea what red mud/dirt does to pretty wool rugs?



I had pulled out all my bags and shoes from there various hiding places and had them ready to move up the hill into a real closet.  It rained.



And laundry, did I mention how many times M had to change clothes?  I lost track.  And have I mentioned red mud?  Soggy jeans caked with red mud



and yes, she whines.  But it rained on a Saturday.  Hard.

One bright (I think) little note to my Disastrous Friday.  At Dollar General Market I bought myself this.



I can't explain why.  I have never bought myself an angel before, though I have bought many angels from the Dollar Store and anywhere and everywhere else.  Maybe I bought her so that I could move her around and take fun pictures with her



and to show you once again how much red mud/dirt I live with.



Maybe I bought her because that long swoop of brown hair reminds me of my hair in the 70's.



I really know why I bought her, but I can't explain it.  It's a feeling.  I think my family will understand, I know my sister will.  Don't worry K, I won't make a habit of it and this time my heart does weep.