Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Okay, it's not the deluge that we experienced a couple of weekends ago, but it's still making me a bit nervous. There are puddles forming around the house and just the slightest bit of water finding it's way into my basement library.  My books are getting all wrinkly from the moisture and tiny bits of mold and mildew are starting to form.  Not to mention the damage to the new paint job and carpeting that my husband put in after my oldest daughter abandoned this room for the warmer, dryer second floor.  I grabbed some towels and began placing strategically at the base of the offending wall, hoping that they will absorb any and all creeping rivulets of water.

While our house is over 140 years old, we haven't had many serious episodes of flooding.  The foundation is about 2 feet thick so it helps, I believe, to keep the water at bay.  We still need to replace the gutters, though, that we took down when we re-sided the house.  The run-off from the roof is the real problem; it pools around the foundation and when the ground is saturated it sneaks in to the house somehow.  During our latest flood, water even started seeping up through a couple of small cracks in our laundry room floor.  Eek!  We bailed like mad that day!

It's true. Once I've had a bad experience with weather I become traumatized by the hint of a repeat performance. While post traumatic stress disorder technically refers to battle-related stressors, I reserve the right to broaden that term to include anything that raises either goose bumps or blood pressure of the victim who can't help but relive the past trauma even while in the present.

I glance nervously out the window yet again.  Is it my imagination or is it getting brighter?  I don't know, there are still plenty of grey clouds in the sky.  Well, if I keep myself busy enough I can just forget about it for now.  Out of sight and out of mind until I return home this afternoon.  Then I will muster up the courage to take a look at the situation first-hand. Maybe I will need to replace the towels and get out the shop vac--sucking up the water and then spraying with mold retardant.  For now it's a problem that I keep bandaging up over and over again.  Eventually I will have to treat the real cause instead of just the symptom.