Gulchmageddon

You know what’s worse than huddling in your chair waiting for the afternoon storm to stomp you flat and burn the roadkill to ashes?

Trying to pretend to sleep through it.

I had to get up early to go do the Ghost thing. When I turned off the light there was this light show in the east – continuous lightning far enough away there was no thunder. I hoped it would continue to leave me alone, though I worried about its location. The east is higher country, and that’s where the flash floods come from. As I said, I had to be up and out early.

No sooner had I laid down than the storm announced not only would it not leave me alone, but tonight I was its special guest in a game of “Dodge the Lightning Bolts.” I hate that game, but whatever; it comes when it comes and rarely lasts long.

Uh huh. Last night all the different storm cells came to the Gulch to play, one after another, each trying to top the other. I think I finally got to sleep sometime around midnight; the damned thing went on for nearly three hours.

I was actually surprised this morning to find no smell of smoldering insulation, and that I apparently escaped all damage. I wasn’t surprised to find that the trip to S&L’s was best made in 4-wheel-drive, or that the wash was still trickling after running all frickin’ night. It also ran at about half capacity yesterday afternoon. Is this gonna be one of those Monsoons? Because I don’t like those Monsoons.

Yeah, the gullies ran. The wash ran. That ash deposit behind the cabin had a lovely mudslide and filled up that gully’s drainage ditch. I’ve got lots to do, and now I can add mud-digging to the list.

And I’ve got to be at S&L’s every frickin’ 3 hours or suffer the wrath of Ghost’s bladder and intestinal tract.

Monsoon sucks.

Just in case this does turn out to be one of those rainy seasons I’m planning a small revision in the addition project.