Relaxing and Raingutter Regatta

Some relaxing by reading books with Stormy and participating in the Raingutter Regatta during the week of the flood.  Landon was finally better for the regatta by Thursday.  We had to have it outside on the playground at school as the school was closed all week.

500 Year Flood

Cypress has finally recovered from the crazy 500 year flood.  We were dry and our streets drained quickly but the areas around us were in bad shape for most of the week.  Our lakes got really high but were still a good distance away from the houses.  On Sunday night right before the rain started Landon and I were at the urgent care clinic as he had a fever, was breathing weird and hard, and was complaining of bad side pain after church for a few hours.  It was scary and odd.  They did an x-ray, urine test, flu test, and strep test.  All were negative and the x-ray showed a lot of air in his chest and side but no explanation as to why.  The doctor felt like it was the flu that we caught too early or a virus and we were to follow up with our doctor for another flu test on Monday or Tuesday.  We went home and Landon settled in on the couch knowing that he was not going to school or me to work in the morning.  The rain started around 10pm and it was brutal.  The power flickered several times and I have never heard that much thunder and that loud.  By midnight as the rain was endless I told Landon school would probably be canceled because it was so much rain.  He slept on the couch and finally fell asleep around 1:30am and I never fell asleep as I kept checking our area Facebook pages, the radar, and looking out the windows at the crazy weather.  By 4am we got the no school call and Jason didn't attempt to go to work either since he has a long commute.  We spent the day on the couch watching the news and our Facebook pages while Landon still had a fever.  His doctor office was closed too so no visit.  Our horse barn had to evacuate all 30 horses in chest deep water with help from some good Samaritans from our neighborhood that went to help in their huge lifted trucks.  Once 5pm rolled around we went the back way to the barn where we knew the water had drained and saw them loading up the horses in an area by the gas station almost 1 mile from the barn as the street was all flooded that way.  Emerson got to see her BFF Lily, wave hi to her, and know that she was safe.  We got the message for no school on Tuesday around that time.  Tuesday was another couch day with a sick kid, closed doctor's office still as that road was now impassable, and after 1 1/2 hours of Jason trying to get to work he turned around to come back home.  The freeway was shut down to one lane as a portion of it under construction collapsed so traffic was a nightmare.  The flooding was worse on Tuesday as the water in the creeks crested and overflowed everywhere.  It was absolutely unbelievable!  Wednesday we didn't have school and by Wednesday afternoon they called school for Thursday and Friday as a lot of our schools had extensive damage ($20 million!) and major roads were still impassable.  Jason made it to work on Wednesday and Thursday with traffic with the major roads still flooded and lots of our feeder roads under water too.  By Wednesday Landon still had a fever on and off so I took him to a new Memorial Hermann clinic in our neighborhood but they wouldn't do a flu test and strep was negative again so it was a wait and see game.  He was finally better by Thursday.  The kids enjoyed lounging around the house, eating out a few times, and getting ice cream.

On Friday the kids went to my parents house while Jason and I worked our tails off from 9-4:30 cleaning up the damage from the storm at the barn.  It was in bad shape and the pictures don't really show how bad it really was.  The water was waist deep in the whole barn, pastures, etc.  Jason spent most of the day repairing acres and acres of fences and doing heavy guy stuff and lifting while I cleaned out the tack room, the disgusting full refrigerator, and went from pen to pen picking up every single thing you can imagine.  Boards, equipment, bedding, barrels, full trash cans, etc.  All in water still too.  Then that night we went to Pat Green at the RCC as we purchased tickets months ago.  We were exhausted!  Then, we were back at the barn on Saturday at 9am but Emerson went with us as Julie asked her to come.  Landon stayed back.  She helped clean and wax all the tack and helped clean up hay and dirt while Jason worked for hours trying to repair their brand new riding lawn mower that was submerged.  They got it fixed!!!  Julie was in tears and thrilled as it was just about a week old.  We also repaired more fence, cleaned up more debris, put stuff back, and cleaned out the area that was full of boards (and later a snake came from there and almost bit somebody as it climbed on the roof of the tack room).  Emerson then got to take some trips with Julie to pick up horses and then put them back in the pasture.  She was thrilled!  It was another exhausting but rewarding day as most of the horses were able to come back.  They were a little freaked out.

This is Cypress Rosehill headed to the barn.....