The rain, rain, rain

Came down, down, down

And then our basement flooded.  So there go the games!  Our whole part of Ohio has flooded.  A 40 mile long red blotch on the weather radar snaked its way around from the southeast to make sure, no matter how the system twisted or turned, it stayed over us the whole time.

Now, we live in a Maronda house, and that means crappy.  One of those corporations that has gone long toward making the phrase 'Good old American craftsmanship' one of sarcasm and irony rather than fact.  Nonetheless, we were built on some strange motte-like knoll, on high ground.  Despite being the smallest house in the neighborhood - and the only ranch style - our back deck is actually higher than that of our neighbors' decks.  So even though our basement was put together worse than first graders could have done, we almost never have water problems.  At least we don't unless a certain combination of events occurs.

Well, yesterday, for the second time in five years, those events occurred.  Within a half hour, the basement went from dry to six inches of water.  The problem is, our basement is where all the fun happens.  As a friend and former colleague once said, the room of interesting things.  That's our gaming tables.  That's our music area.  That's our boys' 'man-cave'.  That's our library.  It's not finished, but semi-finished.  The influx of water in near flash-flood levels overwhelmed our sump-pump and there was no help there.

So all through the night we formed a chain gang, getting games, movies, books and anything else up on tables (sorry Struggle of Nations, which had to be taken down and bagged pronto), or upstairs.  The bad thing is, we are in the first of what promises to be a week of rains and showers. 

Sadly, whole areas here in central Ohio are flooded, and several towns in the area are under water.  As good fortune would have it, I had spent some of our quarantine in our basement, reorganizing and putting some things in areas with an eye toward just such an eventuality.  Even though massively inconvenienced, and a few boxes getting waterlogged, and still having some major clean up, it could have been worse a month ago.

So that's us for the next few.  Gaming is done.  Most things are done right now.  We'll get ourselves up and running and if we can soon enough, see how we can help others.