Out Like A Lion? More Like a SeaLion.

I demand a recount of days. Surely, this madness should count for March coming in like a Lion.

We have lived in this house for 9 and a half years now, and in that time I have never seen anything like last night. Yesterday, we got oddly warm for Ohio. Great, right? Well, maybe not so much. At first, I thought it was great. It was 59 degrees...that's balmy here, so I opened the kitchen window and turned off the heat. The sun was out here and there, and the snow was melting. Wretched stuff...begone.

Then it got dark. And it stayed warm. And it started raining. And it started lightening. And my kids begged to sleep on the couch. And the weather service issued tornade warnings. And flood warnings. And flash flood warnings. And it would NOT STOP RAINING. And, and, and...

You get the picture.

With Jon in NY, I get paranoid about things I would normally never give a second thought to. Things like the sump pump. When I have my big, strong man here, I don't think about the sump pump. I think about planting flowers and making cupcakes. When my big, strong man is here my most unpleasant thought is about scrubbing the toilet...I simply don't worry my pretty little head about things like basements flooding. Thats what big, strong men are for, right?

Well, currently my big, strong man is in NY working so we can pay for that basement...SO, guess who was worried about the sump pump last night. And thank God I did...

...BECAUSE I was worried about it, I didn't sleep much, but I DID check on the sump pump at least once an hour. So when the basement started flooding I caught it really early. Immediately even. It wasn't the sump pump we had a problem with though, ironically. The storm drain at the bottom of our outside stairwell clogged up...so water was coming in under the basement door. I tried messing around with it...I even plunged the damn thing...like I said, toilets are more my speed. To no avail. The water was pounding out of the sky, no relief in sight and some of it was in my basement. 

My kids reacted admirably. Sam leapt to action using towels to sop up the water and ringing it out outside, then putting them in the dryer. Over, and over, and over again. He tried using towels and boards to stop the water from coming in. Maggie sat on the couch and wrote a letter to Jesus, asking him to please make the rain stop. Liam slept through part of the madness, but quickly joined Sam in his damming efforts when he woke up.

While I, like the pathetically helpless female I apparently am, called my brother Bobby crying. Well, I wasn't that bad, I mean I tried plunging the darn thing...I was trying but nothing I did was helping, so I did, really, call Bobby crying.

Within the hour, Bobby was here, snaking the drain pipe. He got it mostly cleared...it still needs cleaned out some, which my big, strong man will take care of for me this weekend. But, it's fixed enough that I don't have water coming in anymore. Fixed enough that when it gets down to 20 degrees tonight that pipe won't freeze and burst. Yea, 20 degrees, only in Ohio, people.

In hindsight, I would like to thank the academy...

not really, but I would like to thank:

My kids, they handled themselves beautifully and were really helpful, when I really needed them to be.

My big, strong man, for talking me through the panic and calming me down. And telling me to call Bobby. That was good thinkin' when I was completely incapable of any good thinkin' that didn't consist of blubbering gibberish.

Bobby, for the obvious. LOL ~ Thank you for fielding the hysterical sister call, then charging to the rescue. And while I did attempt to feed you, out of thankfulness, I realized in hindsight that I never offered you a cup of coffee. Dadgum, I'm sorry about that. What a shitty sister.  

Krisi, thanks for lending me YOUR big, strong man.

Steve, thanks for nuttin'...sorry, Bobbys my favorite brother now. Not sure how you will ever redeem yourself after this one. Ha ha ha.

I love you all.