When it rains, it POURS!

Today we experienced a deluge! No, seriously, a flat out deluge! It happened over the noon hour. Kids were heading here and there to eat their lunches. Some of our junior and senior students get to go to the neighboring rec center for a sort of "off campus" lunch hour.  In the span of 20 minutes it became so dark that some of the street lights came on. Then the biggest downpour I have seen in many years came pouring out of the sky. Sheets of rain were blowing in every direction. The rainwater was actually flowing UPHILL out of our parking lot as it was being pushed by the winds at the surface. It was awesome, and scary!

In the middle of this, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch; and like lemmings marching to the sea, our kids began crossing the 200 yards between buildings to return to class. All as this enormous storm was dumping water on them. They looked like they had taken a shower as they entered the school!

And here is my point. What are we teaching kids when they fear getting a tardy more than they fear being struck by lightning or doused by incredible amounts of rain? I could scarcely believe my eyes as each kid obediently crossed the lot and returned to school, while utterly failing to consider just sitting tight, safe and warm in the building, until the rain eased up. Nope! Onward they came and soaked to the bone they became!

Guess some folks are not wise enough to stay out of the rain in the first place -  much less to come in out of it! Time for some lessons in plain ol' common sense.

It's Rumbley Outside AGAIN!

We have been enduring several days of unsettled stormy weather. It's been particularly bad at night. We go to sleep with one eye on the weather and severe storm warnings and tornado watches scrolling across the screen. Saturday night was horrible! The rain came down in deluges and we ended up scrambling into the basement at one in the morning to deal with a waterfall coming into our cellar from an overflowing window well. What a mess! We worked until 3 and then slept til 7. Then we spent all Sunday cleaning up and reorganizing the basement to be able to cope if it happened again. On the up side, it caused us to finally replace our long gone dehumidifier which should make for a drier basement longterm. On the downside- our pool has taken on so much rainwater that I don't know when we'll have it clear again!! I am grateful that we were spared some of the more severe results of this weather. There are folks in town who lost trees and have FULLY flooded basements. A little rainwater seems insignificant compared to that.

The Time of Greyness Begins

My husband and I are not great fans of the return to "non-daylight savings" time. It seems that we get up in darkness and return home in darkness at a time of year that one can barely tolerate being in darkness... the weeks just preceding the Winter Solstice. Then you add rain and cold damp weather....

What you see here is the view outside my classroom window. Wet, grey, chilly... miserable. I am not excited for the arrival of the wet times.
On the other hand, I love winter. Pure, crisp, cold winter. It seems like it's the genuine article. No fooling-around-flat-out cold! I say let's skip the grey, wet, murky days of late fall and jump right into winter. Oh wait! I live in Missouri! There's SNOW in the forecast for tomorrow! Huzzah!

Too Much of a Good Thing... or "Get Me an Ark!"

It's raining again.... second day.... puddles everywhere. And it's going to rain tomorrow too. Makes all talk of drought vanish... but automatically causes worry throughout our beloved state of Missouri!
So how much is too much?
Well, the folks in Piedmont, MO had to leave town today... that's too much. And my co-worker had to stay home today to keep his basement drained... that's too much as well! We are tired of that pitter-pattering on the roof.... and wondering when the sun will shine again.
However, my flower beds are starting to burst into life.... daffodils, tulips and all the irises are poking their green fingers of spring up through the dirt... just checking to see if it's okay to show up.
And I am wearing a rain coat instead of a snow parka.... and getting to use my flowered umbrella. So there are trade-offs! Spring will arrive in two days!

Meanwhile... drip, .... drip, ..... drip, ......drip.......