Our Life When it Rains Too Much

Well all the rain last weekend has been seeping into our basement...again.
This is not a new experience for us, so we at least know what needs to be done and I think we surprise people by our calm attitude.  I never know how to quickly explain the situation so they understand without boring them with all the details.  I'll try to tell it here instead.

For starters our basement was reduced down to the bare bones of cement after our 3rd flood, so we don't have the stress of trying to save the drywall that once was a family room & bathroom.
And after that,  my brother, who is an electrician nicely came and moved all the electrical outlets 4 feet up so we can still go down if it gets really bad.
So now the only things we need to worry about are our washer, dryer, hot water heater, freezer & furnace.   We have acquired the equipment we need along the way too- a generator in case the electricity goes out, floor pumps with long hoses, a squeegee on a broom handle, long extension cords and a back up sump pump.

If we think that we may be in for the next episode we start getting ready early.
First, is to get all my laundry caught up since we will need to limit our water use and not have to pay to use the laundromat.
Second thing, that I have learned from experience, is to thoroughly sweep the floors.  That way there isn't any debris floating around that could clog the floor pump.
My husband makes sure that we have a full gas can & everything is ready to go.

We make sure there isn't anything on the floor that can't get wet.
  All of our shelves purposely, have a bottom shelf that is up at least a foot from the ground.
All our eBay inventory that is waiting to be photographed are in plastic bins with lids are down there.
This is a part of our livelihood so we protect it as best we can.
 
 We carry up all our hanging clothes because even though they are not touching the water the moist air will make them damp.  We unplug lamps and heaters and put them up high.  The boys carry up the wooden ironing board,my art easel.  And the big bin of blankets, all food from the back up cupboard and anything else that we want to rescue.

All this does help but when we are all set then our living room looks like we are hoarders!
Boxes, Bins and baskets are everywhere!  You never realize how much you have until you have to try to squeeze it into one average sized room.  So while it really is very nice for friends to offer to help we are not sure we want them to see our home like this   Then we also have to explain that we are not hoarders but resellers, really!  Please believe us.

.It requires having some one being up at all times of the day and night and this needs to be explained too.   The floor pump works great but it can't just be left running or the motor will burn out.  I have been doing the graveyard shift, as my husband works during the day.  Being somewhat of a night owl anyway this works fine and explains why I look so tired at church and am up at 3 in the morning writing this blog post.     We use the timer on the stove to keep up with when the pump needs to be turned on and off.  At the beginning when it was at it's worst with the rain coming in fast it had to be turned on every 15 minutes, let it run for 10 and repeat.   Now a week later we are up to every 45 minutes off and 5 minutes on.  And so it goes.

I'm sure it gets to sound like a broken record after awhile as it's one of those problems that doesn't clear up quickly and I understand that it gets to be old so I try not to talk about it too much.
It's just rainy days routine for us.   We honestly do appreciate the concern and I've realized after typing all of this up that maybe there isn't a short explanation.