Rain.

A few home truths:

Our basement isn't as rainproof as we thought. 15 inches of rain in less than ten days was more than a match for  gutters, downspouts, and french drains. So far we've lost carpet, an area rug, a small chest, and a box of keepsakes.

Our stream isn't the dry ditch some folks would like it to be. The quiet little stream between our neighborhood and the village roared to life. During the onslaught, the volume of the water was so high that we have new sandbars up and down the streambed and the spring head is blocked by silt and debris. By the time our neighbor took this photo, it was back to the trickles and swirls we had for years pre-drought. Now there's a lot of trash in the stream bed. And, since the stream eventually empties into Wildcat Creek, it's adding even more mess to Dunwoody Park. I think it's time to apply for a RiversAlive stream cleaning for our section of the waterway.

There's going to be a lot of new carpet sold in Dunwoody. Just as you can see what everyone got for Christmas by checking out the post-holiday trash pile, it was easy to see whose basements were flooded. Piles of carpet, sodden cardboard boxes, disheveled furniture, and other waterlogged possessions appeared curbside throughout every neighborhood. Blue tarps on roofs, wet vacs passed from neighbor to neighbor, a flood day from school . . . it's been quite a week.

Mildew stinks.  Today the sun is shining, the air is gently chilled with a hint of fall, and the acrid scent of mildew is wafting through our house. I've baked cookies, placed some odor thingies throughout the house, and still the smell is overwhelming.  Doubtless, we'll have to replace the carpet in the basement, but we have to go through the ritual of insurance coverage to figure out what they'll cover.

The garbage guys are awesome. In short order, they picked up all the stuff on the curb, then came back for their regular rounds.


If you order pizza during a storm or Chinese food for delivery to a school late at night, you'd darned well better tip well. Papa John's came through during the kids' Flood Day from school and Chopsticks II fed us well during an up-until-3:30 am work session at Peachtree Charter Middle School while we finalized some edits to our charter.

Everyone looks bad when they're wet. After awhile, you just stop caring what you're wearing because it's all going to get wet and dirty anyway. Dunwoody went from fashion-forward perfection to down-and-dirty in no time.

The sun really does come out after a storm.  Thank goodness.