Twenty-one minutes to breathe…

Okay– I had two deadlines in one week. I had to have The Locker Room edited by Friday and a selection of blurbs in by tomorrow, and because I’m an idjit and do shit bass-frickin-ackwards, I started the editing first and then elected to do the blurbs second.

*facepalm* DOH!

Anyway, let’s just say I felt an inordinate pressure to get both things done by March 23. (Even though, mind you, Locker Room wasn’t due until March 25th.) And I did! As I started this blog, it was done at 11:39 p.m., and I have 21 minutes to breathe!

WOOT!

Okay– I really don’t have too much to talk about beyond that. I did the water aerobics thing today–it was 47 degrees when I left. When I got out of the (thankfully) heated water, if I’d had balls, they would have frozen off. (Alas, the big ass has remained exactly where originally seated. *snark*) But I did that, scooted my contract off to DSP, and bought Squish some brand new dry erase pens and a board and eraser to go with them. It promises to rain for FRICKIN’ EVER and I thought she’d need the distraction. (Dudes, the bulb project can be safely written off… if they had little bodies to jettison, the bulbs would have sent them up to show me that all life in the poor suckers were drowned. As soon as the rain lightens up a little, I’ll go buy us some new bulbs and try again. Yikes!)

So I’m back to hobbling my fat ass around the neighborhood in my rainslicker for exercise. It’s a good thing I don’t melt… but maybe it would make my life a whole lot easier if at least parts of me melted in the water– just sayin’! And I do find it a little bit funny (not too much–it’s going to happen again!) One of the things people found ‘unbelievable’ in Keeping Promise Rock was the flood that occurred in a pivotal part of the book. Well, Levee Oaks is based on a REAL town nearby– one we drive through in order to get to my daughter’s dance lessons.

Folks, those smaller creeks (like the one in the picture) are rising, and the Discovery Park (which is along the American River) is flooded again. We’re promising to rain for another two weeks, and I’m telling you– floods look like they’re coming. Floods–big floods–happen in Sacramento. In fact, John Sutter wanted to build Sacramento someplace higher up, but James Marshall built Sutter’s Fort near the river anyway. (I forgot how Marshall won that argument– it was something underhanded.) Anyway, the damned city flooded for its first fifty years–the existing city is built on the silt and ruins of the previous attempts. Once every ten years this city floods, and once every twenty-five-thirty years it has a big kahuna. I lived through the big kahuna in 1986 barefoot and walking with my best friend on a deserted country road, trying to get to her horses which were JUST FUCKING FINE thank you–but that’s another story. The second one happened while we actually lived near the river. My husband’s mom called us up and asked if we were under water. We said, “Huh?” and she said, “Turn on the television!” We did, and every apartment building on our block EXCEPT ours was flooded. Dayum– sometimes you’re under water, and sometimes you’re watching otters swim for it.

So anyway, my suburb is a little higher than the flood plain (although there is a small creek near us that doesn’t look too promising) but I’ve got my eye out (as, I’m sure, does every weather service in the nearby area.) What happened before is that the ground got saturated, the waterways got high, and then a warm rain melted the snowpack, and WHOOSH! No place for the water to go. It’s not a tsunami, but after Katrina, the big skeery buzz was that Sacratomato was the next New Orleans. They’ve shored up the levees since then, but seriously–I’ve got big eyes, like this: 0.0 –there are good things and bad things about living in the same place all your life. The bad things I could take two more blogs to list, but one of the good things is that at least you know what your natural disasters might be. Earthquakes, floods, and the occasional tornado.

I’ll watch for the rain and hope for the best!

And I SWEAR I’ll have a personal picture next time. I’ve got my deadlines met (for the moment) and tomorrow is all writing. And, of course, the twenty-one minutes to breathe:-)