Wednesday, June 28, 2006

 

All things considered...

A week and a half ago, we had the sixth driest June on record. Yesterday we officially broke the record and now are in the wettest June on record. The D.C. area typically gets 39 inches of rain in one year. In the last four days, we've gotten 13.5 inches, or 1/3 the total of the entire year.


Yesterday after work I rushed home, determined to get two jobs completed before the promised thunderstorms came:

I mixed the cement and did the patchwork first, since I wanted to get it up and give it a chance to set before water began flowing again.

I then grabbed the ladder from the garage. By this time, the rain had begun, but it was just a steady shower, with no thunder. I felt safe enough to climb an aluminum ladder and start tossing handfuls of gunk to the ground. I guess it has been a while since I did this, since one gutter was so full of accumulated gunk when I pulled out a large wad of it out, the water instantly rushed to the downspout. The gutter on the opposite side of the house was even worse: It had an old bird nest lodged in it! Again, removing that crap made the water rush to the downspout. So, two jobs completed, and I was now dirty and soaked by the steady rain, but the thunder didn't start until I was putting the ladder away. The space between the end of the shingles and the inside of the gutter wasn't quite big enough for me to get my hands into, and I now have dozens of minute cuts and scrapes on the top of my hands from catching them on the edge of the shingles.

I had some free time now, so I went three doors down to a little old lady's house. She had posted a note on the neighborhood message board that her finished basement had been flooded, and she could use some help. Two of us showed up to help her (me and another guy from a block over). Between the two of us, we cut and removed all of the carpet and padding, hauling it upstairs and outside. The padding was like a full sponge, with water pouring out of it with each step. To get all of the carpet out, we had to move the following items: piano, sofabed, plasma TV, two bookcases, computer table and computer, stereo, two chairs, and assorted end tables. We finished at 6 p.m. and I walked home in the rain, with my clothes dyed a splotchy dark pink from the padding.

I got cleaned up, checked the status of our basement, and made two Nathan's hotdogs for dinner, with chili, mustard, and onions. They were the definite prescription for a tired, waterlogged body.

All things considered (thus the title of today's entry!), we got through this with a minimum of fuss. A few more days without rain and we should be dry again.

Today they are finally predicting a bit of sunshine. HOOOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAY!

==============

Since I feel like it, here's the top 25 most played songs on my iPod (in no particular order; they're not ranked beyond being part of the top 25 most played since I got the thing for Christmas last year). I haven't omitted anything, so even the embarrassing songs are listed:


# posted by smacky @ 7:35 AM
Comments:
Send your rain to Colorado! I'll trade you for this constant sunshine (it's rained for two days in the past three weeks). No matter how liberally I apply the sunscreen, I'm still tanning. Damn it.
# posted by Blogger angrygrrface : 12:53 AM
 
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