Yeah, it was a long night here. We are rejoicing to be here and making Easter dinner. And rejoice is, predictably, the final UU Lent word.
It started around 9 pm, when Chris and Kathleen were sitting on the front porch with the dogs. Carlton and Penney suddenly took off. There were barks, then a yelp, and they came back. Penney was rolling around. She’d been skunked.

Then everyone ran around trying to keep her off the furniture. Kathleen bathed her in ketchup, which was really nice of her. Carlton only stank a little. He’s so fast he can avoid skunk spray.
Some of the dogs slept downstairs, which meant they all jumped in bed with Chris and Kathleen (even Alfred) when the hugest thunder clap boomed out. That bolt landed over by Mandi and also took out the power.

Our agency went into emergency mode because of tornado warnings and floods, which Kathleen and Meghan handled well. I fell back to sleep so I could have more nightmares about people getting too close to me and not knowing what my job is (there was a Happy Holiday Reorg at the Austin job).

Over two inches of rain fell in a very short time, so of course the first order of business was to scope out the damage (coffee couldn’t happen because the power was out). Nicole and I drove out to check the road. Water had obviously come across the road by our driveway and at the bridge, but it was already down.

We enjoyed looking at our temporary river and the beautiful skies. The glory of today is worth rejoicing!

The flowers recovered quickly and the day became perfect for lounging on the porch, with that coffee we’d been waiting for.

A Wet Easter Walk
After some cooking, Kathleen and I took the dogs out to see all the water. Penney had never seen a flood here, because there wasn’t one last year. She had a blast. So did Carlton.


We tromped to the creek for more fun. Even Harvey managed to cross a couple times.

Vlassic was careful not to go too deep, but he had lots of fun as well.

Then, who should appear but Alfred! He drank a lot of water and strongly considered crossing the creek, but didn’t.

We all loved tromping through the mud. Kathleen is very glad she now has her giant snake proof and waterproof boots.

It looks like the only casualties of the storm were the skunk and a swallow, who must have been blown up against the house. No phoebes were harmed, since they’ve been yelling all day.

One more casualty: our septic field got flooded. No more showers for a while. Carlton is glad, since he was next in line for a ketchup bath.

Hope your holiday weekend has been as good as possible. Lots of virtual seders and Easter dinners going on!
