Sunday, August 26, 2007

Weekend Woes


This weekend was our little hamlet’s big summer festival, which means that he community shuts down (or at least most of the streets are closed). There are two parades and every owner of a classic car (I think that means one 20 years old or older and still running) and every vendor within an 100 miles descends upon our town. In addition, every garage band in a fifty mile radius heads over to play at one of the three stages set up around town. It’s work, but it’s also fun. Lots of people who use to live here come back, the high school always has their reunions this weekend (but that doesn’t matter to me because I didn’t go to school here), and plenty of greasy foods are consumed.

The festival starts on Friday about noon. About 3 o’clock, as things were just getting going well, the storm hit. In a few minutes, the skies opened up in a manner not seen since Noah was christening his boat. The storm drains were overwhelmed and the streets flooded, sending vendor’s products floating down the street toward the river. Nobody wanted to be near the amps and stuff on the music stages, especially since they were all powered with a hodge-podge of extension cords that were lying in six inches of water. Music was cancelled for the evening. After the rain, I brought out my camera and got these shots (the water had already dropped a few inches by the time these photos were taken).

The Friday storm was just the latest in a series. On Thursday evening, storms that blew threw Chicago a few hours earlier hit. A cherry tree in the back yard had its top blown out. Several neighbors lost trees and some folks were without power for the rest of the weekend. The Friday storm also contained some nearby tornadoes. With all the rain we’ve received (after having one of the driest July’s on record), the ground is sloppy and on Saturday night in a rather stiff breeze, we lost another tree in the back yard, a box elder. This tree took out my daughter’s swing set and play tower. She was getting too big for it anyway, but the neighbor’s grandchildren enjoyed it when they visited. Another tree is leaning and will probably have to be removed as it is hanging over the power lines. If it isn’t removed soon, another storm will probably take it out and put several of us the neighborhood in the dark.



By Saturday noon, the rains had ceased and the skies cleared and the rest of the weekend was a blast. And it appears there’ll be more than enough firewood for the winter. Troubles in one area often lead to blessings in another…

14 comments:

  1. Your festival reminds me of the one we have every Spring. It's a three-day bash with old time rock 'n roll, corndogs and elephant ears, carnival rides and all kinds of booths. I'm glad the Friday storm passed and you were able to get two good days out of it. The pictures reminded me of the post hurricane ones I have in my album. My Hurrican Andrew pics are the worst. I'll have to dig them up.

    Hope you have a drier week. Be safe.

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  2. "Troubles in one area often lead to blessings in another…"

    A wonderful philosophy that I'm sure serves you well . . .

    p.s. we need some of that water out here in California

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  3. Gosh you guys almost had a major flood on your hands. I hope it didn't hurt the festival too badly. We are REALLY needing water here...but I guess you know that with family so close by. At least the heat is supposed to break this week and we have had a few thunder storms over the weekend. Not much accumulation but I suppose every little bit helps.

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  4. Scarlet, bringing up hurricane Andrew almost makes me want to apology for my complaining... that was terrible.

    Diane, I really should have credited that last line to the many similar lines said by Caroline Ingalls (Laura's mother). It's a paraphase from her. As for water out there, haven't you heard the song, "It never rains in California?"

    Deana, from what I hear it's been real dry, especially in the Piedmont. Hope your weather breaks soon.

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  5. There have been way too many weather woes this summer. Glad part of your weekend was good. :)

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  6. It seems as if we are getting it down here, you are getting it up there. I had planned to do some yard work this weekend to fix things after our storm but an impromptu Saturday road trip got in the way. I briefly thought about it on Sunday but since it was the day of rest, I rested.

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  7. I'll trade you two dries for one wet. We're probably having our driest August on record. Even the weeds are wilting. It seems we never want what we have...

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  8. I like the earth after the rains. It gives arise to such fertile imaginations not to forget a fertile soil.

    Nature has a way of making us feel like that.

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  9. Wow. It's just crazy. Floods in some places, heat waves in others. It's a crazy year.

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  10. Too bad about the rain and storms. I hope you have a chainsaw.

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  11. When life hands you downed trees, make firewood.

    That's quite a rain!

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  12. Sorry to hear about the storm during your town's festival. But you got some marvelous photos.

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