Home Again

The kits and I returned home about 2 this afternoon; it's a little after 3 now, and it thundering and lightning outside.  We expect thunderstorms through the evening.  Lovey and Nedi have been playing in the back yard, but are now under my bed, as they really dislike thunder these days.  I am so very lucky - both my apartment and the Snow house did not have any flooding.  Monday evening, Mike and I looked in the crawlspace under the house, and saw about 5 inches of water pooled around the base of the furnace, but no other standing water.  Four Mile Creek, thanks to all the silt, sand, mud, and debris it was carrying, built up the east corner of the Snow yard by 3 1/2 to 4 feet.  The fence that kept the dogs in the back yard now protrudes only 3 inches above all the new sand and fill...  I told Jim I'd be happy to help put up new fence along that side of the yard, as Mona is due to start staying at the house tomorrow evening, when Mike and Erin leave for the belated honeymoon (to Ireland).  Boo started walking across the fence this morning, then Rosie did it.  It will not keep Mona, a Catahoula Leopard dog, inside it for the time it takes her to look at it...
   I am still feeling shaken by the shootings at the Washington Navy Yard ....
   And when I see the destruction caused by this flood, it takes my breath away.  At least I was able to help some people clean up, afterwards, as well as keeping the neighborhood apprised as to who needed help. The two Echols sisters, who live at the corner of 26th and Topaz, had four people helping them this morning, when a volunteer group of 40 individuals showed up, and helped them clean out their house in just a few hours.  It was a wonderful thing to witness.
  I will take photos of Topaz Drive tomorrow.  I walked from Kathy and Jim's house up to 26th for the first time today...  From 20 feet east of the Snow property line, all the way up to 26th Street (3 full blocks), there is a gash in the roadway; 6 inches to 15 feet wide, and 6 inches to 6 feet deep.  Gas pipe lines are exposed.
It's amazing to look at.