VBS and Other Tales

It must be time for VBS (Vacation Bible School) in this neck of the woods.

Why you ask?

Well ... we have had severe thunderstorm warnings, a tornado warning, and even a brief flash flood warning in the last 4 days. All in the late afternoon or early evening. When did VBS begin at church and what time does it meet? I'll give you three guesses and won't even count the first two.

Tonight brought forth water and more water as it thundered and poured water in sheets. Of course the gutters on the house chose then to suffer downspoutnodrainus, a nearly always fatal disease caused by pine needles in the craw, i.e.

The water was cascading out of the gutter and everywhere except out of the downspout. Me being me, I decided then would be a good time to unplug the downspouts while I waited for my chicken to finish baking. No need to get a hose or turn on the water; mother nature is dumping enough you can't even see your hand in from of your face.

(No wonder - my arms have shrunk so I can't possibly see them!)

As I am standing there with my arm in the air and my hand in the overflowing gutter, pulling pine needles out of the downspout and enjoying the icy water running down the inside of the sleeve of my rain coat, across my chest, through my pants. down my leg, and into my shoe, the thought crosses my mind about possible obituary headlines for when I am struck by all the lightning flashing nearby. (And how is that for a run-on sentence?) Some of the better ones included phrases like "Dumbass Former Mayor Dies Holding Hand in Air During Lightning Storm", "Idiot Gets Grounded Just Before ...", or even "Franklin's Experiment Sans Kite Proves Fatal To ...', etc. The worst thing was that the ice water running through my pants was the most thrilling moment of my day. It's been all downhill after that.

I suppose my thoughts of electrocution came from replacing the heating element in the oven earlier this afternoon. Nothing like throwing both stove breakers (Ask me how I first learned that there were two double breakers for the stove.) and unplugging the (3) cords from the stove before disassembling the lower oven to pull out the old element and put in the new one. I have to hand it to GE. The stove was a high end model purchased by the people we bought the house from more than 20 years ago. In that time I have had to replace the broiler element and now the oven element. Never a problem with the burners or the built in microwave or the computer ... Had to replace a little plastic knob on the cleaning timer, but not much else. they just don't build 'em like that anymore.

Time to go put on dry pants. The thrill is gone. {*grin*}