TBT - Rain

Have I mentioned that it's been raining for 4,000 days straight?  Well, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it has rained every day for the last five or six days.  Maybe even seven.  I've lost count.  My brain is so moldy from all the rain I can't even remember when the rain started.  It feels like there was never a time when it wasn't raining.  Like there's no Before.

Anyway, it's been raining.  Of course it has.  The State Fair is in town.  It always rains during Fair Week.

But this rain has been a little different.  This has been a lot of rain, not just normal, Fair Week drizzle.  The local news has been full of reports of the flooding taking place at JMU and Va. Tech.  And this weekend, Hurricane Joaquin should make it's arrival along the Virginia Coast.  Joaquin could bring us up to ten more inches of rain.  Ten!

Ten inches of rain is what we had with Gaston.  Gaston had tractor-trailers floating down Richmond's Main Street.  Floating tractor-trailers!  Do you have any idea how much water it takes to float a tractor-trailer?  I don't, but I know it's a lot and that's what we had with Gasont.  A lot of freaking water.

And that brings me to today's TBT pictures.

Gaston flooding, Providence Forge, VA

We had a little flooding with Gaston.  That is not a photo of the river we lived beside.  Nope, it's our road.  And if you look closely, over there on the right by the No Outlet sign, you'll see some of our belongings floating away.

Canoeing in the yard

The one good thing about Gaston was that the kids learned how to paddle a canoe.  Again, that's our yard, not the river.  And if you look closer, just to the right of the canoe's bow, you'll see the high water mark on the telephone pole.  Yep!  The water in our yard was armpit deep on my 6'4 husband.

Ever since Gaston, I get a little skittish whenever we have a heavy rain storm.  Don't get me wrong - I love a good storm.  There's nothing much better than being safely tucked away in the warm, dry house, knitting and reading (hopefully not by candle light,) while wild weather rages outside.  I even like hurricanes.  All that wind and water and danger excites me just a bit.  Some people get their thrills from jumping from airplanes or climbing steep cliffs or even alligator wrestling.  I get my thrills watching the weather rage while knowing I'm safely tucked away inside with a nice sturdy roof over my head and soft yarn in my hands.

But this weekend has me a little more nervous than excited.  All that flood water that's up in the mountains near JMU & Va. Tech has to flow downwards.  Down toward us.  And that flood water will be arriving just about the same time Joaquin does.  And we sold the canoe a few years ago.

I can't decide which I should be more focused on as far as storm preparations go.  Should I go yarn & book shopping?  Should I go to the grocery store & stock up on water and toilet paper?  Or should I go buy another canoe?