Blown away

Ah dear, where do I start?

Saturday afternoon, after putting the paper to bed, the wife and I went to Texarkana to get some dinner. Mount Pleasant has many nice restaurants, but no Olive Garden. We wanted to try the restaurant's latest entree, Lasagna Rotellini. It was pretty good. I had the sausage version, while Patricia had the chicken variety.

While we were eating, it started to rain. It wasn't much, rather intermittent, and afterwards we went across the Mall to the Books a Million. After buying a few books and magazines, we were in the cafe when a really bad storm hit. I mean, it got very dark, the rain came down in buckets, and then the power failed.

When the front doors began to blow open, the employees herded us to the back of the store, fearful the windows were going to shatter. After maybe 45 minutes, things were calm enough that Patricia and I hit the road. We had planned to a few more stops while in the big city (Texarkana is about four times the size of Mount Pleasant), but I suggested we get back while the going was good.

We made it back fine. The girls had been outside when the same storm hit Mount Pleasant, so they were soaked, but I toweled them down and we all settled down for...

the second wave of storms. About 8 p.m. there was another torrential downpour. Our house is on a hill, but the water pooled up to the edge of the patio. Then the tornado sirens went off, and we huddled until the all clear in our "safe room", which happens to be my office. It has the least outside exposure, is relatively small, and also is lined with bookshelves.

Got through that fine, and then in a few hours went to bed until...

the worst of it all hit. about midnight. This time the storm was so bad the water finally went over and was flowing through the patio, taking leaves and twigs with it. We had never seen this before. Thankfully, the house's pad is slightly raised, so the water didn't make it into the house. But that isn't the case with the garage, and it became flooded. We got the girls from their kennels and they stayed with us in the bedroom until the storm passed and the water began to recede.

Strangest sight was a slug about six inches long - you would have thought it was a small snake - that came into the garage while the water was the highest. As soon as the water began to recede it went back to where it had come from. God knows where that is.

Went to the city park this morning and took photos of flood damage for the Monday paper, and then went to breakfast at I-Hop.

Sheesh, so much for Texas looking like a dessert!!!