Rain rain go away

I think we don’t have to be worried about wildfires. But we had a worry about the front patio flooding. There is a strip with holes along the wall covering a drain and a pipe going through the wall into the drain from the gutters. Well, something was happening and the water didn’t seem to drain. At one point we decided we had to do something about it.

We put our raincoats on and I had some rubber boots. It was a trial and error project. We found the pipe on the outside and decided to cut it ... and deal with the cut-pipe problem later when it is not coming down in buckets. We poked and prodded in the pipe underneath the wall but there didn’t seem any obstruction inside. We just kept hitting the concrete patio on the other side.

The drainage strip could not be lifted so we decided to cut that too. Long story short ... we got it going. And then we had to get out of the clothes which had got totally drenched. Later when we could get the opening dry we put some duct tape over it so no debris could get into the pipe. We also duct taped the pipe on the outside of the wall together again so James could close the ditch he had shoveled to the neighbors driveway.

A few days later when James power washed the patio it drained fine first but then the problem again. We had to do some more “operating”. Oh well.

We had a very busy time.
- the royal wedding (after all Windsor is James’ hometown). The alarm rang at 5:15 am.
- same day I had to leave at 8 am to drive to a vestry retreat (church council)
- Sunday was Pentecost. We told Caleb we would pick him up for church if he would wear a red shirt (like we did). He loves going to church and St Martin’s had a potluck. It was fun.

- in the afternoon we took him to Meadow Farm to see the sheep again. They were coming through the fences and run around loose. He had fun.

- Wednesday our community also had the free shredding event and we tried hard not to forget it. And free ice cream (all sponsored kindly by an investment guy)

- AND, of course, we had to get ready for our next trip (stay tuned for details to come) but since I would not be home at the end of the month the church newsletter for June had to be published. That takes lots of hours/days, seriously.
- it also dawned on me that we would come back with guests (Kate and David) and the loft and guest room were a disaster area.

- when everything was done (only the packing left) we walked to dinner just outside our community. 

Everything turned out satisfactorily and I am writing this in Montreal. That is the problem though. I did not want to bring my computer and writing a blog on iPhone or iPad has challenges which sometimes takes the fun out. I can’t scroll which means I couldn't write the appropriate text between the photos. So, here now are the photos: