Another day, another once-every-50-years flood.

It wasn’t bad for me this time. I expect it will be worse on the way home as the runoff into the rivers continues, but as for right now. Insert the sigh of relief here.

Jen’s office building management had recommended that their tenants voluntarily evacuate at around 3:30 yesterday. Her company decided to stick it out. She told me that the parking lot was underwater and that cars were getting stuck. When I got there at 6:20pm or so there was no sign of any flooding. The parking lot was wet and had many a puddle, but there was no flooding. Apparently it had drained out. There was evidence of other similar happenings on the way home too. We ended up on Tower Farm Road in Billerica at one point and there were barrels out with signs warning that the road was flooded. It wasn’t. It was actually in better shape than a lot of other roads we took. Again, it must have drained off somewhere.

Fortuitous indeed.

Speaking of good fortune, the basement is dry. When I got up yesterday morning I planned to go into the cellar and move all of the very expensive, electric musical instruments and related equipment off of the floor. We were running a little late though (my fault) and I forgot to do it. As the day wore on and I started hearing about more and more flooded basements I began to get paranoid (something I’m very good at). When we got home I went down stairs and fortunately everything was dry. Needless to say, the two Gibsons are off the floor now. I gave a check this morning too and we are still dry. I think our back yard slopes away from the house a little and that has to be helping things. Thank you, back yard. I’ve said this before, but when Thanksgiving comes around later this year could you please remind me to remember to say that I am thankful for a dry cellar?

How are the roads today you ask? Not bad for me. I avoided Shawsheen Street at route 38 in Tewksbury. Jen gave it a shot and it was open, but the water was so deep it was hitting the under carriage of most of the cars in front of her so she turned off at the last second. Concord Road in Bedford has a few spots to either side that look like they are ready to start spilling over on the pavement. In Concord, Cambridge Turnpike and Hawthorn Street were both closed again. That spilled some traffic onto my Walden Pond route, but not too much. I spent about 8 minutes at the light trying to cross route 2 onto route 126, but that happens occasionally in good weather too. Route 117 in Lincoln is still open this morning, but that road wasn’t closed until after the rain stopped last time so I don’t know if that means anything. Route 20 in Wayland is closed again where it crosses routes 27 and 126. That had already been blocked off last night.

So the situation on the roads in my limited view is not great but still pretty good. I know things are bad near my sister’s house as route 119 has been closed for a while due to a collapsed culvert. There is a pond that’s being pumped out before it floods… everything, I guess. There are some bad spots out there, I just don’t see them with my own eyes when I drive to work.

I know of a (current) total of four friends/family members/co-workers who have flooded basements right now. Pumps are keeping up in some cases but not really in others. There were a few places on the drive home last night where entire neighborhoods worth of houses had hoses running from their basements to the street and water was gushing out.

The good news here is that today is the last day of March, so this terribly rain soaked month is coming to an end. The bad news is that tomorrow is the first day of April. April showers bring May flowers and all of that. If that’s true, what do March floods bring?

Something to think about.

Stay dry people.

It’s 5:24pm. I am off the clock at 5:30. That’s when the adventure begins.

I have to drive from Framingham to Lexington to get Jen. We carpooled today for two reasons. First, if we drove together there would be one less car on the road getting stuck. That’s pessimism. Second, we figured the van is much higher up than the Saturn so it had a slightly better chance of not getting stuck. That’s optimism.

I’ve been checking the news occasionally today. By the sound of things the south coast of Massachusetts and big chunks of Rhode Island are getting hammered today. There are evacuations in Fall River and a section of route 24 (big highway, for those of you who aren’t aware) has been closed.

I only see one mention of a road I may have to drive on in the list of road closing on boston.com. During the last flood I was detouring around a few bad spots and I was driving past the spot where route 2 and 2A meet in Concord. I hear the road is closed there. Hopefully the route leading up to that will be all right and I won’t have to detour and make another illegal left turn.

Jen’s office parking lot is flooded so I might have to park on the street and wade through the lot/pond to get to her. I will do it happily, but hopefully there will be another way. I don’t want my wife’s feets to get wet.

Well, it’s just about time to go. Wish us luck!

Stay dry people, and be careful out there.

This is one of those things that is wrong on every imaginable level:

Hope you’re staying dry on this very insane rainy, flooding, Massachusetts day.

Flood producing rain storm #3 for this month is well under way. I drove Jen to work this morning and we had a good time looking at all the rivers and ponds and lakes and puddles-that-are-big-enough-to-qualify-for-lake-status and tried to guess which of them were going to be over flowing their banks and flooding out the surrounding streets.

I only saw one closed road, Hawthorne Street in Concord, MA, but I am sure by the time I leave work tonight there will be more. Probably many more. The forecast calls for rain all day and night, then tapering off to showers tomorrow.

There is a flood warning for the County, a flood warning for the Merrimack River, a flood warning for the Spicket River, and a flood warning for the Shawsheen River.

Most of the larger rivers were still nice and high from the last two storms and it shouldn’t take very much to put them over the top with this new storm. Last night I checked our cellar and we were still dry. We didn’t take any water from either of the last two storms so I am optimistic that we’ll stay dry. Still, it’s a little unnerving. I know a lot of people whose homes have been very wet this month. I am hoping for a lot of luck to go around.

The weekends seem to be going by faster than ever.

We went to see How to Train Your Dragon, which I keep calling how to tame your dragon for some reason, and helped make it the #1 flick this weekend. You’re welcome.

We had a great day visiting my siblings and their spouses and their kids. Both toddlers said my name. I got hugs from both of them. They both sat and played with me. Call me the happiest uncle ever. We also had a good time playing in the yard despite the frosty cold. Everyone had fun. I just hope we don’t have to wait so long to do it again.

I also did some standing around in the cold while my step daughter did some fund raising for her softball league. At first she was waiting for people to come to her, but after a while she started engaging people and being very polite. She said good morning and asked how they were doing and then wished them a good day, whether they were dropping money into her can or not. For the most part, the more polite she was the more willing they were to donate. Something to think about, isn’t it.

Next week is Easter and we are having my parents and my in-laws over for dinner. We have some major cleaning to do between now and then so Saturday might be a hectic day. That’s all right. The kids are going to be there for the holiday. It’s Dad’s weekend, but he said they’d do Easter baskets at his house and then they could come to our house for dinner. That’s very thoughtful of him. Thanks.

Now I just have to make it from Monday to next weekend. Another crazy week is in store. Wish me luck.

We are tagging for girls softball. A guy just drove up in a Hummer H2 with a liscence plate that translated to “never enough”. Did he drop any dough in the can for the kids? Nope.

(we were at the entrence and he might have given at the exit, but still.)

For a brief period of time during her kindergarten years my wife lived in Canada. Looking at Google Maps tonight we found the town. Grand Falls, New Brunswick.

I want to see the water fall, and I want to go to the Potato Festival.

Tonight we went to see How to Train Your Dragon at the Jordan’s IMAX in Reading, MA. We all enjoyed the movie. It was a fun flick for the kids. The killer though was the 3D. Damn! I know it was a cartoon and all, but it was fantastic. There were 234856235 instances where you really wanted to duck because something on the screen was about to tear your head off. It was great.

I haven’t seen Avatar so I don’t know how the 3D compares, and I understand that Avatar is the gold standard… but this movie looked fantastic. If you get a chance to check it out in IMAX 3D you should.

It was fun.

Finally… Saturday.

We are going to see How to Tame a Dragon in 3D tonight. Cool.

Tomorrow we are seeing the babies-who-are-probably-too-big-to-still-be-refered-to-as-babies at my sister’s. Cool

Next weekend is Easter. As of about 25 minutes ago we are hosting dinner for us, the kids, and four of the grand parents. Cool.

Cool.

Less than six hours to go until the weekend. It can’t get here fast enough.

We have the kids this weekend and that is good. There is speculation of a 3D movie on Saturday. On Sunday morning there is the thrill a minute ride of begging for money for my step daughter’s softball league. We did it last year and brought in a nice haul of dough. The other day she asked me if it was because she was cute. Absolutely!

Sunday afternoon there is a much needed cousins get together. Jen’s two kids, my sister’s son and my brother’s daughter. We’re getting together for a cook out. I miss my niece and nephew a lot right now and I am seriously looking forward to seeing all the kids together again. For some reason I just need that now.

Last night was my step daughter’s on stage debut as a pianist. She played The Star Spangled Banner at her school’s talent show. She was the first act to go on (obviously) and she was fantastic! A flawless performance! She told me she was nervous and a little embarrassed to be in front of the whole crowd, but she enjoyed it and wants to do it again. I am so proud I might spontaneously catch fire.

And now for a completely random, pointless picture from the honeymoon!