Bring on the Wind and Rain

A couple days ago I posted how we were hoping to finish laying down the water barrier on our roof on Sunday afternoon.  Well, the roof dried nicely and we started working on the last half of the roof a little after lunch.  My dad came over too, and with his help we were making really good time.  We were watching the clouds and the radar and knew that we were in for some rain, so although it was a bit hot we tried pushing through to get done before the rain came. 

As we were unrolling the second to last row to get it placed to stick down and nail, I heard a strange noise coming from the same side of our house as our A/C.  I went to check to make sure the A/C didn't have something land on it while we were working and discovered it was off.  So where was the noise coming from?  The road about 50 yds from the edge of our house.  It was pouring down rain on the road!  Ahhh!!

We tarped the portions of the roof that weren't done, as quickly as we could.  We stayed up there for a couple minutes to make sure that the tarps wouldn't get blown off (it was pretty windy).  Needless to say, when we got down from the roof we were soaked!  So what did we do?  Took off shoes and socks and hopped into the pool of course.

We were not able to finish the roof on Sunday as we'd hoped because we had so much rain we knew it wouldn't dry fast enough to get done before it got dark.  See why in the video.

Can you say toad-choker?

So I got up early Monday morning and untarped the roof so it could dry (again). 

Sunrise from the roof of our house.

We were SO close to being done before the rain came.

A couple hours later we were up on the roof finishing the last two rows. 

So nice having it D.O.N.E.

In celebration, we went out for dinner last night.  As a band of strong wind and heavy rain came through, we just sat there and took our time, because we didn't have to worry about tarps flying off our roof.  So nice.

View we saw in parking lot looking in direction of our house after dinner.

The Clock is Ticking

A little over a month ago we were told by our homeowners insurance company that we needed to replace our roof or they were going to drop our insurance.  Finding insurance in Florida is hard enough as it is.  Add to that that our house was built in 1970 and it's even harder.

A week ago, we received the money from the home equity line we applied for.  We also got the permit to do the roof work ourself.  With the help of some wonderful friends and family we were able to get the old shingles and tar paper off in 2 days.  It was tough work, but from what I've been told it'll be the hardest part of the process.

Unfortunately, since then it's been raining every day so we haven't even been able to get our first inspection completed (there are 3 different inspections we need to pass).  Not only am I watching our deadline quickly approach, but we are constantly checking and adjusting the tarps to make sure they are covering the roof so we don't get any leaks.

With just over 3 weeks left till our deadline, I pray the rain stops long enough for us to get the roof done soon.

Runnin' in the Rain

Well, I am happy to report that I finished the 5K today.  Being that there was thunder and lightening as the race started, I had some doubts about whether they would cancel it.  Because of all the rain we got yesterday and again this morning they also had to change the course a bit.  I got to dodge tree roots and a fair number of mud puddles and water puddles still.  I don't know exactly how I finished compared to the other racers in my age group, but I finished with my fastest time yet and with a hard push at the end so I'm happy.  Especially since it's my first 5K in 7 years and I really only trained for 2 weeks prior.

I think it's safe to say, I want to try this again.  A 5K is definitely something I can see myself doing on a somewhat regular basis.  And I can see myself getting faster if I train consistently.  In fact, I'm thinking of doing a night race in July.  My goal for that one will be to cut 4 minutes off my time from today.

Good news... tomorrow's training day is a 2 mile walk so I can do that in my old tennis shoes.  That's important since it will probably take a couple days for my shoes to dry out from today's run... that ankle deep puddle really got my feet wet.

Update: I was able to figure out how I placed.  11th for my age group and 135th out of 171 overall.  And one more thing... when the race started I was about 200 feet from the start line talking to a friend who wasn't running, so I could have done better just by starting with everyone else.  With the rain I wasn't thinking I'd do that well.  If I'd have known I'd do as well as I did, I think I would have tried a bit harder... next time.

Here Comes the Rain

Apparently, Florida has been experiencing a very bad drought.  You see, 4 days before we got to our current campground, the county put a ban on all outdoor fires (except in grills).  The disappointment over not being able to roast marshmallows was almost palpable with the kids.

I remember visiting my grandparents in Tampa and seeing a thunderstorm just about every afternoon, so all of the dry weather we've experienced over the last 2 months has been a bit surprising.  I just figured it was the time of year or where in the state we were.  I guess not.  We even saw some fires along 95 on our way from Fort Lauderdale.  I thought they were controlled burns.  Apparently not.

All of that said, I think we have seen more rain in the last 3 days than all the other days combined.  Technically I think any one of the last three days was more than any of the previous days combined.   When we checked in, we asked the ranger if he thought the ban would be lifted anytime soon (we were getting rain when I checked in).  I was told that he didn't see it happening unless there "was so much rain someone started to build another Noah's Ark."  Today, I thought we were going to float away.  There were "rivers" all over the campground.  Our "yard" was a pond.  There were some people across the way in a tent and the water was just rushing in.  That was about 2 hours ago.

Guess what?  The rain is starting again.  I wonder how much rain we will get from this one.  Our family is just hoping and praying all this rain will help lift the burning ban before we leave.  At the same time, we're hoping it doesn't delay the shuttle launch.  We can only stay for a few more days after it's currently scheduled date, but right now all the storms seem to be coming through at exactly the same time of day as the launch is scheduled.  We shall see.

A Wornderful, Yucky Day

Well, today we "moved" from Hollywood, FL back to the campground across the river from Kennedy Space Center in preparation for the final shuttle launch scheduled for July 9.  We weren't planning on being back here for another week, but the last campground was less than ideal.  Don't get me wrong, the campground was nice, but the train that drove by multiple times a day and night was more than we could handle.  Especially since it was so close to the back of our camper.  Can you say, sleep deprived family and cranky children.  Not pleasant.

(You can see the blue commuter train just to the left of the bush.  The most annoying were the freight trains that came through at 2 and 5 AM)

The drive today was relatively uneventful.  A little wind, but no real rain to speak of.  This was our view for most of the day.

(Clear skies ahead with rain behind.)

The rain did finally catch up to us, but not till after the camper was all set up.   We've spent a majority of our time camping in this area and we found out from the ranger at the campground that today was the first rain they've gotten since we left and we only got rain once while we were here the previous month so this is definitely needed.  In fact, we couldn't even rent a fire pit to roast marshmallows because of a fire ban that was enacted a few days ago.  :-(

We did have one issue today though.  We made a stop for gas and food and on the way back to the truck, our daughter slipped and fell in (and into) a puddle of oil.  You see, being 60 feet long restricts the kinds of places you can stop (and park), so we end up going to truck stops.  We had parked in a spot where the previous occupant must have leaked about 1 qt of oil, and of course my daughter found it.  Many paper towels, shed tears, and about 30 minutes later we were able to get back on the road (without shoes and with knees that are still a bit black).  

 (Note the hands that match the color of our pickup truck.  One knee got pretty nasty too).

I don't know how many times we tell the kids to walk in parking lots and watch where they are going.  Perhaps this will be remembered and there will be no repeats.