The Great Flood of 2012

So the weekend before last (May 26th) Portland got an epic amount of rain in just a few minutes. I think it was record-breaking (ever) rain amounts for May and we got to experience it first-hand. Thunder, lightning, and seriously the most rain I've seen since our summers in DC. We watched it fall with bated breath, as our gutters shot out water like a fire hose and the street flooded with water. I'm not exaggerating when I say flood. 

The water quickly rose up over our bumper and stood still in the street long after the rain clouds passed. Emergency crews came out to assess the situation (thinking that they'd just unclog the storm drains) and scratched their heads when it wasn't debris causing the massive water build up. It receded by the morning, but our car had already been flooded. It was shocking, really. 

We moved the car into the driveway after the rain stopped, but it was too late. We had about 3 inches of water in our passenger side that wouldn't drain. J and I baled out as much water as we could, but given it was a Saturday night on a holiday weekend, all we could do was pull it in the garage, open the windows, and hope that the insurance claims adjuster was working on Monday. As we were soaking up the flood water our neighbor, Jim, pulled out his kayak to assess the damage. Beech was flooded for a couple of blocks, due to the deluge and the cistern's inability to drain with any speed. Welcome to the neighborhood!

On Tuesday, things with the insurance company were settled and we had our car towed to the body shop, since we drove it in bumper-deep water and were uncertain if water had gotten in places where it shouldn't be. Little was intrigued with the tow truck at first, but then it made our car go "upside down," which was quite distressing. He talked about it all day -- amazing how kids this young retain so much. 


We got the car back yesterday. Not only is it dried out, but its cleaner than it's ever been (since we've owned it). They detailed the thing inside and out. I commented to J after I pulled up in front that he left finger prints on the exterior trim. Seriously. It's that clean. The guy at the detail shop joked with me that the car might have a funny smell for a day or two, but assured me that it was just "the absence of smell". I assured him that I have no idea what that could even mean, given that I live with an almost two-year-old boy.

Super de-ionizers sucked out all of the funk we left (even before the flood) and magic elves picked out the Lara bar from the rear seats and the crumbs from the sick shift. It was like Christmas. I felt like if I were a hipper lady, I would have driven around with our windows down, blasting out the latest tunes that the young and beautiful listen to these days. 

Instead, I still rolled down the windows (on my way from Fred Meyer) while listening to political commentary on the Wisconsin recall elections while grasping a mini Snickers bar in my hand. As I pulled into the driveway, I could feel Robert Siegel giving me a tender nod as I tucked that Snickers mini bar wrapper in my purse instead of the map holder on the driver side door. 


Welcome back Mazda Protege 5. We promise to have your alignment checked and that ganky fog light changed out very soon.
 

Front Yard Progress

Today we spent all of our time in the front yard digging, turning beds, moving rocks and dirt, and planting all of the 20+ perennials that we purchased to fill in the pretty blank canvass that was our yard. I'm sad that I wasn't better about taking "before" photos of our pruning and progress from when we first moved in, but I've tried to do a better job of documenting our progress. So here goes, just over one month of progress on the front yard:

March 14th, 2012, taken after our home inspection

June 3, 2012, taken before massive planting today

June 3, 2012, after planting a massive amount of perennials