Stormy Weather

It rained non-stop all night Wednesday and all day Thursday.

If I wanted Starbucks yesterday, and of course I did, I would have had to swim for it, so I passed and stayed indoors.

In one aspect, the rain was a good thing because, after removing the Christmas patio decorations, I was faced with a lot of leaves and areas of dirt on the concrete patio which, because of all the rain and items preventing it washing away, had pooled and turned to mud.

Removing the leaves wasn’t a problem but, inasmuch as I’ve got a neighbor underneath me, washing away the mud with soapy water was out of the question. I'd tried sweeping it up, mopping it up, and all that did was spread wet mess around even more. So, I’d had to sit and look at it, waiting for rain so I could use the patio broom to dislodge and the rain to wash it away.

Muddy water would, of course, have washed down onto my neighbor’s patio, but the causation being rain – an Act of God, I’d be off the hook as a bad neighbor.

So when I heard the rain start up Wednesday night, it was all “finally ... at last”. I just didn’t know it was going to be all day as well.

So there I was, 6:00 yesterday morning, rain drops falling on my head, hoping all the neighbors in the quad were still asleep, or at least way too occupied to see the crazy lady sprinkling washing soda and scrubbing her patio.

I was curious as all heck to see what the downstairs neighbor’s patio ended up looking like, but it never stopped raining long enough for me to check it out. Hopefully, her patio got enough rain to wash away whatever dribbled down from mine. If not, oh well, she has no one underneath her and can easily wash it away with a couple buckets of water. She can’t hose her patio down because that Nurse Ratched character who’d previously managed the complex had, in her insane wisdom of making sure the drought restrictions were complied with, had ordered maintenance to cut off all the water spigots.

The new complex manager found it strange there are no spigots and, fortunately, I just happened to be present when she questioned it. I informed her it was her predecessor’s bright idea, which predecessor I described to her as a terrible human, only I used the word “beoch”.

I asked if spigots could be reinstalled, have not yet heard back on that, but I’m sure Corporate isn’t going to want to go to the expense, as the owners appear to be entering 2017 very budget conscious, giving us low-end activities, and even economizing by putting an end to free cable beginning February 1.

That's sure to be a hot topic at the next Management/Residents meeting.

The goal today is to get off the computer, away from the television, and outside to take care of business just in case the rain starts up again. I'll get coffee, and pick up a pound so I won't get stuck without for when the next storm predicted by the weatherman comes. I also need PokéBalls because oddly enough, the rain didn’t stop my PokémonGo activities. A few Clefairy, Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charmander ran indoors to get away from the rain and I managed to catch them without getting off the couch.

I don't want to park off the University campus and have to walk on the sore foot for a distance, so I'll spring for 1 hour parking, gather as much as I can without too much walking, and head back.