Debby Had Her Days

This past Thursday, the rains and winds of what was left of Hurricane Debby ambled across the Piedmont Triad in a lazy plodding fashion. Having recharged a bit over the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean, refueled for the massive moisture dump it took on us, it was a long ending to the week for this guy who struggles with the grey and drear.

Scarlett, however, just held forth in her much-loved spot at the big window in the pool table area, once day broke. On the other hand, the insomnia of an old man granted me the privilege of watching this massive rain event roll in around 3:30 am Thursday morning, while some guy in a rain slicker was harvesting scrap metal in the dark from the construction dumpster in the gravel lot next door.

Quite a lot of water dripped from the still-unsolved second-floor ceiling leaks (most likely culprits are the 3rd floor dormer window and the failing gutters along the roofline), and catch-tubs had to be emptied more than once.

Still, the lucky stars deserve their tally, since it was in fact only rain (by the buckets) and some wind (gusts up to 25-30 mph?). It wasn’t broadly destructive in the immediate vicinity. Although lots of dead limbs and branches littered the driveway and yard, the trees and shrubs here were still standing, and life inside the Roediger House proceeded with limited mild inconvenience. Our power went out at just before 10 am but was restored before 10:30 am; the internet was gone by first thing Thursday morning, but it too was up and available when the power came back on. It is fortunate that this is a household of readers.

It’s all relative, I know: worse here than farther west and not nearly what people on the coastline had to deal with.