Life of the Lintee Bean

Yes, it happened again. It’d been raining the entire week, off and on. Thursday morning, I noted the back yard was saturated and had misgivings, but went off to work anyway. It began storming heavily while I was at work.

I had to wade through some streets flooded up to my knees to get home. As I stood on one corner waiting for the light to change, lightening struck the stoplight pole and nearly scared me to death.

I was hopeful as I walked toward the house, and saw the street wasn’t as flooded as many had been. But, I opened the gate into standing water. My entire back yard was flooded, water about a foot deep on the patio… probably two feet of water in the basement. After calling 911, then 911 again, then the electric company and none able to help, nearing hysteria, I chanced electrocution and waded down there to get Kimmi (a friend’s cat staying with me) and Fleur (a foster cat).

Kimmi had climbed up in window ledge and (smart girl) quickly went into the carrier I offered her. I moved her to the guest bedroom. Poor Fleur had gone into her cage, and I hadn’t left the top (ceiling) door open, so only so high she could go… but thankfully she was a bit damp but unharmed. She quickly climbed out the top door when I opened it and was reluctant to get into the carrier, but I got her in and put her in the guest bathroom.

To top it off, Tigger (friend’s cat) was scheduled to come the next night. I had to evict my two princesses from the den and clear it out for him. (Tigger HATES me. There’s a post regarding his first stay here.)

I took the next day off work (another great vacation day) and built barricades of cat litter and styrofoam coolers in case it rained again. I don’t know that they’d do any good, as most likely water comes up through the drains, but I felt I needed to do something… of course the minute I finished my little project, the sun came out.

I wish I’d procrastinated a while more on replacing the furnace, having the washing machine repaired, etc. Now I have repairs to do again, some for a second time and some for a first time. One of the freezers isn’t working, and I’ve tried to salvage as much of the raw pet food as I could, but some was lost.

My friend Heather graciously gave up a Sunday to help me clean. It went better this time, as so much was lost and not replaced in the first flood, and we’ve got a better system. It’s still dirty, but it’s better. The rooms aren’t yet usable until I can get someone in to repair doors, etc.

My friend Barb put it well. I called her almost immediately to let her know Kimmi was okay. As she said, “The cats are okay, the rest is details.” She’s right.

Water was starting to recede when I took this picture:

Water had already receded when I took these:

My temporary barricade (you can kind of see the water line on the door, just under the doorknob):