Floods, Family, and Flowers (of course!)

FIVE FEET HIGH AND RISING
"How high's the water, mama?  Five feet high and rising."  Those are some of the lyrics from an old Johnny Cash song I can remember hearing when I was a little girl, probably on the country music radio station my mom and grandma used to listen to back then.  Does anyone else remember that one?  This is the song if you'd like to hear it.

This song has been playing in my head this week because of the weather we've been having.  Although we finally had a dry day today, most of the rest of the week was filled with one torrential rainstorm after another.

Yesterday, it came down so hard and so fast that there was much flooding in our corner of the state. Many streets and basements were flooded here in town.  There was even some flooding in the library.  Luckily it was confined to non-public areas, but it was still significant.  

Work had to come to a standstill for some of the staff so that they could deal with the rising water.  The water came into our cargo room, which is the room where books and other items are shipped from our library to others for interlibrary loans and where items shipped to us are unwrapped, sorted, checked in, and distributed.  The rainwater also covered the floor in the janitor's room and in three large storage rooms.  Some of the staff kept busy with mops and a wet/dry shop vac while others were busy moving as much stuff as possible out of the way of the rising water.  I helped move some boxes of books, and then the director asked me to get the camera to take pictures in case there was enough water damage that insurance claims had to be filed.

Here are some pictures of the water coming in at the library.

Today things were looking much better there, but the director has determined that at least some, if not all, of the carpet that got wet is going to have to be removed and replaced.  We were all glad to have the sun return today even though the temperatures were quite cool most of the day.

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BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

With school coming to a close soon, my younger son has been busy with end-of-the-year activities.  In my last post, I blogged about him performing with the Toledo Youth Orchestra in their final concert of the year, which was also their pops concert.  This week he performed with his high school chamber group and with the full orchestra in their final concert of the year, which was also a pops concert.  I made some videos from this concert, but haven't had time to put them on Youtube yet. Perhaps I will share one or two of those with you at a future time. 

Here are some pictures of him on stage practicing with his friend and fellow bass player.  For the chamber part of the concert, my son played his electric bass.  With the full orchestra he played his double bass.  Here's one with a smile for Mom.

These next two pictures show the boys working together and discussing the chords for one of the songs they were going to play.

After the concert there was a reception with refreshments for the orchestra members and their families and friends.  This is a picture of my son with his girlfriend, who is also in the orchestra.  

Here they are with their orchestra director in between them.

Also this week, we celebrated my son's 17th birthday.  Here he is opening a gift from his girlfriend.  I love the expression on her face in this one.

Our dog Max was on standby ready to help with opening presents if need be.  He loves ripping the paper off of gifts with his teeth if we give him the chance.

The high school Academic Booster Club held their annual awards ceremony last night.  Both my son and his girlfriend were honored there.  My son received the Achievement Award in Mathematics, the Student of the Month Award, and and Academic All Star award.  His girlfriend received an award for Achievement in the Business Department in Accounting, the Academic All Star Award, the President's Award for Educational Excellence, and the Award of Merit.  I was very proud of both of them for all of their hard work.  Here are some photos from the awards ceremony.

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AND THE FLOWERS, OF COURSE!

Here are the latest flowers in bloom here.  I had to take these pictures in between the rains this week.  The buckeye trees are blooming.

Here are some close-up views of the buckeye blooms in the sunlight, and...

in the shade.

My daises have just begun to bloom too.  They have a lot of buds on them if I can just keep the bunnies from chewing them off.  I noticed two of them out in the daisy patch this morning making some breakfast out of my flowers.  Those little rascals!

I hope you all have a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend.  I am looking forward to having three days off in a row.