The Rains Cometh

Happy 25th daughter Courtney
& Happy 20th nephew Joe

I slept well ‘til about 5:50am. I woke with my mouth and throat feeling incredibly dry & scratchy. I quietly worked my way down the stairs where I took my vitamin and got busy with my morning exercises. The prior night's weather forecast called for a strong chance of rain and the radar before going to be looked quite daunting. But best I could tell, we didn’t get a drop. Damn! What’s more, the sky was clear and giving way to more sunshine. In a rare move, I tuned in to the Weather Channel while I exercised hoping to get an updated forecast. Despite the clear morning, the day's forecast still called for strong storms pretty much all day. But if we don’t get the rain today, we most likely won’t get any for another week or so. The forecast looks spectacular through the Fourth.

Today was trash day. They picked up just after 6am. As is often the case, our bin was over flowing. Ykraps and I carried on with our walk. Back at home, I sipped coffee while reading the Daily OM and proofing a couple blog entries. I do that only sometimes. By 6:40am I figured I better get crackin’ on packing my lunch and making my breakfast. I ate my breakfast inside but headed out the door immediately after I finishing to begin watering. Once again, I watered front and back not willing to risk being disappointed by the rain man. I finished up with my watering chores by 7:40am and then headed in for a shower.

I left for work by 8:05am. Work was busy. The sky, as I observed, began clouding up slowly but surely. Still, by the time I left for my run it hadn’t rained a drop and didn’t look all that threatening either. I worked up quite a lather running. It wasn’t so much the heat, but instead the humidity. I was drenched! My after run shower felt incredibly good. I left the office to get an estimate on the hail dmamged Trooper. I went to Dent Magic on Sawmill Rd. They got me in immediately but took a while to draft the formal document. I was shocked at the amount - $4500. Holy Smoke!

I hurried back to work. It was 2:25pm. While finishing out my day I made a couple calls to my insurance company to let them know I had my own estimate. They asked me to fax it in. I did. Sometime between then and when I finally left for home the rains started. Mindy reported it raining rather heavily at home. For that I was pleased. I left work for home shortly after 5:15pm. I stopped at the Tuttle Parkway Wal-Mart to get a new fishing pole for me and some additional tackle for Jacob. The kids were already at Bible school by the time I arrived home. Jimaken took them tonight. Mindy and I skipped a formal dinner and instead simply snacked. I wasn’t all that hungry. I spent some time on the PC before sitting with Mindy to review the hundred or so paint chips she brought home from Sherwin Williams. She’s hell bent on redoing the kitchen/family room, and possibly even the guest bath. We found a couple color combos that we both liked.

We left to pick the kids up from Bible School at 7:15pm. The skies looked as if a big storm was brewing. The radar, just before we left home, looked scary, too. This time it looked like a sure thing. The rains held out until we got to church. We went inside for the last night’s festivities, awards, and popcorn. I enjoyed the movie-style popcorn. It was salty and very buttery. The rains began while we watched the kids get their certificates. We weren’t there but about thirty minutes maximum. I took pictures of the dark clouds hanging over the Westside as we were leaving. I hadn’t seen clouds like that in along while - probably since the hail storm in October. It continued raining as we drove home but still not very heavy. It looked like the strong stuff would go just south of us. But my only concern was that we got our share of the rain, and we did.
It continued raining after we arrived home for another hour or so. Mindy got the kids in bed and tucked in by 9:15pm. I spent a little time reviewing some photos and updating my blog. Mindy insisted on reading it before going to bed. Once again, I was feeling tired and slightly ill. We went to bed before 10pm.