Mama’s errand, lots of rain, late deliveries, late feeding, ongoing

Mama let me know early yesterday that she would be following Krystal and the kids to the place where their van was to be worked on. They are traveling to Florida next week and Trace wanted the transmission serviced and the brakes replaced. No problem. Right? Well, that simple errand turned into an all day wait. Krystal was told that the van would be ready right after lunch. That was about the time that very severe thunderstorms hit the Denton area where they were killing time while waiting on the van. The tornado sirens went off a couple times in the next several hours and everyone was warned to shelter in place. The staff at Joann’s Fabric was very gracious to Mama, Krystal and the kids. They spent several hours in the store as the worst of the storms worked their way through the area. Though there were several near misses, no to tornados touched down in the area. Eventually, Mama had to take Krystal and the kids home; storms and all. The van was not to be ready until after 4 PM.

It was still raining off and on when I headed home. Some of those rains were very hard rains. At one spot on the county road the water from a flooded creek was running over the road. When I recognized how much water was actually on the road, I braked hard in approaching the runoff. At the same instant, there was an eighteen-wheeler approaching the rivulet from the opposite direction. He did not even bother to try to brake; hitting the water at 65mph. My truck was swamped. I could not see anything for about three seconds, and I was not in a straight section of the road. Fortunately, I had slowed enough to keep myself on the road while I was literally under water. The first thing I saw as the water slung onto me by the gravel truck cleared were the lights of a police cruiser flashing. The officer stationed his vehicle on the side of the road to warn other drivers to approach cautiously. Water was draining out of the back of my truck for the next several miles.

Mama still had to take Trace – now home from work – back to Denton to retrieve their van. I could tell she really wanted me to make the drive with her, but it was church night. Since the roads were flooded and the rain was still falling, I elected to make the drive with her to take Trace to retrieve their only vehicle. We had to drive out to where Trace and Krystal are now living, pick him up and make the drive to the repair shop. There was no chance we would be back in time to get ready for church. We made those calls on the way to Denton alerting the Pastor and Bro. Zach about our absence. Much of the drive was made in the rain. Much of the drive from the highway to the shop was made on very flooded county roads. But we made it safely. We were back home a little after 7 PM.

Once I had changed, I went out to feed. Our animals were happy to finally get some food. I was only three hours late. Everywhere I stepped was either soft or soupy. The pigs were extremely happy to have their mud lakes refilled. The chickens do not mind the wet as long as their feathers stay relatively dry. The goats hate to have wet feet. The sheep, I am not sure about, but they did not seem thrilled about the soft, wet ground. Kobe will sit all day in the rain while she wades through deep puddles of water. Kira does not like to get her feet wet – at all! If the patio is wet, she will hold her bladder all day or until she can find a dry-ish spot to release the contents. Our plants are liking the abundance of rain. We still have a little water that gets into the house in a hard rain and I will eventually have to find the leak and correct it, but that is about the extent of the inconvenience for me and Mama. That, and it holds us up from mowing the pastures; which are looking pretty ragged right now. That really bothers Mama.

Mama will be out most of the day today also. She has been agonizing over things at home that have not been getting done because of all her time out of the house. But most of those errands are unavoidable. She is meeting Kimberlyn at church this morning so they can finish decorating Mama’s Sunday School class in preparation for Mama getting a new group of students Sunday morning. Tuesday, I had met Mama at church to hang a little picket fence as part of the decorating process. Aliza happened to be there to help. So, Mama and I were entertained through my lunch hour. Aliza will be one of Mama students starting this Sunday.

Tomorrow, Mama will be helping Grandma make Texas Sheet Cakes to take to the nursing home. Hopefully, that will still give her the afternoon at home.