Thursday, September 17, 2009

Rain

Rain's been falling for days in the Arkansas River Valley, yards are saturated, and ditches run with water the dirty red-brown of the native clay.

At work, our fields are so soggy that the building was crammed with football teams, parents, coaches, cheerleaders, all trying to find room for meetings, uniform suit-outs, even practices. Thank God, I have an office and can close the door against the mayhem; my expertise lies in the afterschool education and arts programs, so any sports scheduling questions directed at me would only have been referred to the athletic director, anyway.

Long before we opened for business in the afternoon, I went to Walmart and bought a few supplies. On my way through the double entry, my shoes -- the slick soles covered in a film of water -- departed the floor and deposited me upon it. That was one of the fastest falls I've ever taken. (When I fell out of the van back in December, at least I had a chance to somewhat mitigate the damage by falling smack into the side of my truck.)

After arriving home Wednesday night, I took some ibuprofen to fend off the pain from bruises and offended muscles. Hey, I ain't as young as I wish I were, and this body hitting that terazzo floor wasn't a pretty thing.

By Friday, the sun is supposed to return, the temperature will rise, and we'll "enjoy" the humidity as the already wet air gets steamed. Yippee.

3 comments:

Pappy said...

Ouch! Wet tile floors are the worst. I have tile on my patio just off the cool deck of the pool. I constantly warn guests to dry their feet before attempting to traverse the short distance to the door. My falls are legendary. I have yet to break any bones, but the bruises have been works of body art. Glad you survived with only bruising. We have been steaming down here for about a week. No one is complaining. We needed the rain. Now the mosquito hatch is in full bloom. I'm sure I'll violate some EPA standard in the next day or two when I fire up my propane fogger. Take care to dry your feet before stepping on tile. It is a hard surface to land on. Pappy

Unknown said...

Ditto here in the Diamond Lakes region. AR as a whole is over our yearly average for rainfall and it is only mid-September. Alas!

Keanan Brand said...

Tex - I didn't think about the shoes being too slick, and entered the Club with my usual stride, only to have it cut short by the aforementioned slickness. Now all the muscles violated in the vehicle accident back in 2002 are screaming again. But the doctor warned me they'd probably never be the same after that kind of trauma.

As for skeeters, I hate 'em. Send some of that fog my way!

Beth - Four or five years ago, we were being warned of drought, and now we have so much water that Club where I work (built on swampy land in the Arkansas River lowlands) is experiencing plumbing issues due to all the rain. Not a pretty sight -- or smell! -- and one that makes me wonder once more what the board was thinking when they purchased squishy land on which to build a heavy concrete-and-metal structure.