Between rains

[livingdeb]

R: Look, there's a river [beside the road].

me: I'd call that a creek. Creeks dry up between rains.

R: "Between rains"? What's that?

me: That's a thing we used to have in the olden days.

**

Actually, we have been getting respites between the rains. Our current respite feels like a steam bath. Only maybe not as hot, since it's still only May. (Hmm, let me check: Oh yeah, it's currently only 82 and one source tells me that steam rooms are generally set at 110 - 115 degrees.) Still, I can tell I'm trying to breathe water when I'm outside.

Flood News of the Day

"In 1980 Whole Foods Market made its mark, opening its first store on North Lamar Blvd. Just eight months later, they were flooded out, and had about $400,000 worth of damage." - Fox News "The store had no insurance, savings or warehoused inventory. Customers and neighbors joined staff members to clean up and repair the damage, and creditors, vendors and investors provided breathing room for Whole Foods Market to reopen 28 days later." - Whole Foods press release

Now "Whole Foods Market is offering zero-interest loans to neighboring businesses damaged in Austin’s Memorial Day 2015 flood. The company is allocating $1 million for loans, which will be available to businesses in the Shoal Creek flood zone." - Whole Foods

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

That's pretty darned cool about Whole Foods. I've been feeling sorry for myself about all the rain we've had in Denver, but when I turn on the news and look at Texas... well, that shuts me up pretty quick! We don't have the steam bath issue though since it's barely been out of the 50's all month! We have had a few days in the 70's though with minimal rainfall so hopefully we're turning a corner.

Hoping you and yours stay safe and dry!
:-)
Cat

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

The steam bath was temporary. And I would be sad to still be in the 50s by the end of May!

Thanks, so far as I know, me and mine are all fine (except for one Facebook friend whose apartment got flooded). In fact, my boyfriend got extra work because a tornado blew off a roof nearby and he got called in to get the computers dry and try to get them working. The storage place across the way from there was also hit by that tornado--yikes, you think your stuff is safe.

The drainage in my neighborhood cannot keep up with torrential rains, but can catch up fairly quickly during the lulls (except for a few low spots). The local creek has not flooded in any a 100-year-flood sort of way.

I've always felt that tornado alley ended about 50 miles north of here, but maybe not. Or maybe not anymore.

I basically never feel sorry for myself anymore. There is just too much bad news out there. It's become quite clear how lucky I am in basically infinite ways.

(Oh, wait, I lied--I do feel sorry for myself whenever I read about salaries - average salaries of all majors are higher than my highest salary ever. So are current first-year teacher salaries. And even the next person to get my last job will be making more than me because they're turning into a full-time position. I normally don't think I'm a doormat, but salary wise, I clearly was. Well, no one's ever going to pay me a crappy salary again. Mwahaha!) But yeah, I don't have to worry about driving while black, what will happen if I get pregnant with a dying fetus and want an abortion, or a million other things like that.

[(Anonymous)]

OMG, you totally crack me up! CatMan and I recently watched a movie called "El Norte" about some Guatemalan kids and their desperate move to the US as illegal immigrants. When it was over I was cleaning up, feeding the cats, and giving Princess her medication - it occurred to me that my cats lead better lives than a large chunk of the people on this planet. Seriously, they have nutritious food, medical care, clean water, a safe place to live. Sorta puts things in perspective...
:-)
Cat

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

So true!

[texpenguin.livejournal.com]

I think creeks only dry up between rains in droughts. Otherwise, I think creeks are just itty bitty rivers. Arroyos dry up between rains. Whole Foods just went way up on my scale of cool companies. They still don't carry much that I want to buy, but I love that they're paying that favor forward decades later.

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Huh, I always thought "arroyo" was Spanish for creek. (Because in my high school Spanish class, our high school, Clear Creek, was called "Claro Arroyo.") But it might also be English for creeks that dry up.

Okay, my favorite dictionary agrees with you and also says that arroyos are steep-sided. I guess one side of the roadside waterways is steep (the curb side).