Today was supposed to be parade/chicken dinner day at mom’s. Unfortunately, we had a huge amount of rain that caused ditches and creeks to overflow their banks. The parade was canceled because of flooding but the chicken bbq was still on so my siblings and I gathered at mom’s for chicken dinners. My brother came, when he doesn’t normally come for the parade and other festivities, because he wanted to see my mom before her surgery. We sat on the screened-in porch and listened to it rain outside, which was surprisingly nice when we weren’t getting wet.

I managed to do three loads of laundry, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and scooped kitty litter. I also watched the current ep of Resident Alien and an HGTV program, read some more Amelia Peabody, and still talked to mom on the phone. I also got extra sleep because I slept in until 8am for the first time in ages! (Going back to bed after getting the dogs back inside, of course.)

In bad personal news, we even had flooding at our home, which is unheard of because we’re not near any creeks. What happened, in two instances, was a matter of blocked drainage. The drain outside the basement got plugged, so our basement flooded for the first time ever. (Back when Hurricane Irene gave us about 13" of rain, a tiny bit of water entered the basement through a crack in the floor, but nothing before or since, until now.)

The other was the pond. Pip puts a mesh wire over the spill pipe in the spring so the baby geese don’t get sucked down it, and that mesh got blocked, so the pond built up until it spilled over the banks. A lot of fish were caught in the spill, unfortunately. And that’s in addition to the normal build-up of water we get in a line across the property (where the slight down hill from the house meets the down hill from the hill where the pine trees are). There was so much water.

Pip has been squeegeeing the basement, but a squeegee can only do so much. He’s going to have to jack hammer an actual hole into the basement floor for a sub pump and squeegee the water into it. What a pain in the ass. (Thankfully Pip had a change of plans! He’s going to try to vacuum the water out with a shop vac ~before he goes to the effort of jack hammering a hole in the floor!) He also had to go in the pond several times to unclog the mesh so the water could flow out the way it was supposed to. (In addition to the rain, the pond fills with run-off from the hill above it, and there was a LOT of run-off.)

Temps started out at 63.0(F) and reached 76.4. Thankfully the rain ended mid-afternoon and the sun came out.

I hit Walmart, Price Chopper and the Bakery while I was downtown and got in a short walk around the park. I hit Stewart’s (for gas and milk) on the way to pick up the dogs, and hit the bank drive-thru on the way back home (because the dogs get treats). Most of my shopping was to stock up on some items in case I couldn’t go shopping next week. It was a small step in reducing my stress.

I did two loads of laundry, the usual amount of hand-washing dishes, and changed kitty litter.

I added ~1,400 words to my smallfandomfest fic!! It’s a comfortable place to end it, I think, so just need to give it a re-read/edit. I started the next Amelia Peabody book, watched the current ep of Murderbot, and attended Baby A’s dance recital.

(Their 'number' was adorable! It was basically their teacher helping them form a bridge with their body, then laying down and rolling along the mats, then helping them 'stand' on their hands before lying them down to do somersaults to the end of the mat. They performed to Circle of Life from Lion King. (The theme was broadway.)

Mom and I left during intermission (we'd seen about a dozen performances and there were about that many left), but my niece Ireland remembered me mentioning that I'd have to miss them do 'Dancing Queen' so she recorded it and sent it to me, which I thought was nice.)

I browned ground beef and boiled pasta to make ziti for tonight’s supper.

Temps started out at 65.1(F) and reached 73.4. We were supposed to have patches of rain and thunderstorms all day, but we only got some rain in the afternoon (no thunder or lightning, thankfully, because the dogs hate it).