Wuthering Hyders

...It Pours.

If I'm to be honest, I must admit I'm a little freaked out at the moment. I've been standing at the window nervously dancing on my toes. A bit like Abby when she has to go to the bathroom, actually. Except, I DON'T have to go to the bathroom. I'm watching the rain and watching the flood rise in our backyard. Each flash of lightning reveals a slightly higher water level and I start to get slightly more agitated. Bodies of water upset me. Especially when they're ones that aren't supposed to be there and it's dark AND they're in my backyard. I don't like it. I try to distract myself by grabbing my camera and trying to take pictures of it so I stop bouncing around.

Now, I know this picture is next to worthless, but when you take into account that is was nearly eleven o'clock at night, taken through a screened window, and was attempting to be taken timing with the lightning, it's not bad. This was from my bedroom window toward the east. You can see our neighbor's house across the way and in the foreground, to the left, is the kids' wading pool. That pond reflecting the lightning is supposed to be our (and the neighbor's) backyard. Evil, evil water. Our poor little Elmo sprinkler might have been washed away were it not for the fact that he was still attached to the hose. I'm certainly not about to go out and rescue him.

This picture is slightly improved. It actually rained during the day for once. This was after it had stopped raining and the water had gone down a bit. It's nasty water, too. It brings all manner of garbage down into the reeds behind the house. Once the lightning stopped that day, I actually went out (barefoot, naturally) and took a walk into the water in a few places just to see how deep it was. I didn't go in past my knees, but I could have. There was more than enough water there, but I have no desire to be sucked into the murky depths by some bizarre water snake or alligator. People will tell you those kinds of creatures don't live around here, but I have my doubts. Speaking of snakes, where do they go when it rains like this? Can they all swim or only certain kinds? Maybe they put on little snake snorkels and masks and slither along the bottom of the water.

Outside of being freaked out about the water, I talked to my mother-in-law for awhile tonight. She asked about our new carpet and I told her we were going with tan for the basement and a very light, almost white, for our bedroom. I told her the carpet for our bedroom felt so soft it was like walking on kittens. At the moment, it was the softest thing I could think of, okay? Thank goodness she has a warped sense of humor, too, sometimes. She laughed instead of making me feel weird and twisty. I'll have to remember not to use that phrase when we go to order the carpet, though. "Yes. I'd like to order that carpet that feels like you're walking on kittens." On the other hand, it might be kind of funny to see their reaction. If only I could keep a straight face. And speaking of kittens...

How can something so small smell so HORRIBLE? I mean, I've changed some ripe nappies in my day, but nothing NEAR what that smells like! Couldn't they put something in cat food to make their crap smell a TAD less offensive? And they always, always have to "christen" the litter box after I've tidied it. Honestly. I swear they do it just to prove something. Their day is coming, though. They will no longer have front claws or reproductive abilities. I'm still the Queen of this house.