water music - long post, be warned

Donner, Blitzen and the 9th reindeer, Regen, arrived early this Thursday morning. One (2syllables) the Dog was howling and was exiled to spend the day with his pack, 2 doors up from my folks' house. I had returned the night before with Tutu because, yes, my 74-yr. old parents share primary care giving duties (with Sis C) for dad's 91-yr. old mother. I had taken a shift Tuesday night and was all set to stay in town with her Wed., but dad didn't want to change her routine so we trekked back to the windward side. Unfortunately Tutu has had a series of small strokes so her personality has disintegrated. For example, she's now pleasant to be around.

Woke up to the howling wind and rain and set up to get some work done after making sure mom had some breakfast. Dad was getting ready to head to work after dropping Tutu off at senior day care. I had made a few trips up and down the stairs and noticed water in the entry way around 7:30.

I yelled, "Flooding!" and pushed out the front door into 4 inches of rising water. Mom said grab a broom and try to sweep it away from the door and use boards to block the door. Sister A came out with me and we spent 15 futile minutes paddling through 6 inches of water as dad and mom tried to stem the tide, then bail. After we paddled the equivalent of a nautical mile, we realized how ridiculous this effort was and Sister A went inside to help bail while I pushed water around and thought about what to do next.

I went inside the house, now under 6 inches of water which had seeped in from the garage wall, and barked at my mom to put down her bailing pot, go upstairs and turn off anything electrical. Sorry for that mom. As you read through the following, please be reminded that it is set to the music of water. Lots and lots of water.

The lots on either side were as full of water as ours and it was clear the water had nowhere to go. I abandoned my soggy broom and ran to the beach, looking for places the water was coming through, but the dang illegal cement seawalls, meant to protect from threats from the ocean, were now successfully stopping the water from draining. I wanted to dig a trench away from the house so the water had a safe outlet. Sister A suggested looking at the empty lot next door after my explorations around the house proved unpromising. Sure enough, there was a slight trickle through the naupaka kahakai which literally means naupaka by the sea (future post will explain the Naupaka legend).

I put on shoes, because who knew what had been left, thrown, or abandoned in that lot over the years (Sister A later found a partial jawbone) grabbed a pick-ax and shovel and sloshed my way to the thick naupaka shrubs next door..except without the door. Luckily, the neighbors on the other side of the lot were home and husband grabbed a machete after assuring me their place was fine. He hacked and I swung and our trench to the sea soon was filled with water running from the lot.

We had asked Sis C to call nearby friends for help and S showed up in complete rain gear with heavy garbage bags to be filled with sand. We surveyed the empty lot and ours to pick a spot to trench and drain. We decided to fill sandbags first and use them to divert water from the house.

Sister A prepared some food for mom - the show must go on - and I went to check on her and Tutu. Mom was cool, reading and munching on nuts. Tutu looked at me as if I were a nut. I updated mom on the latest water movement and ran back outside to begin phase 2 of Operation: Flood for Thought.

Sister A, S and I shoveled sand, hefted buckets of sand and swung bags of sand. Thank you Trainer K for all those 80lb gorilla squats, 495lb leg presses and 480-repetition upper body workouts. At one point while shoveling sand, Sister A and I started laughing hysterically because the night before I was urging her to come to the gym with me and work out.

Oh yeah, I don't recommend lifting sand in 32 gallon bags. The sand flops and is quite unwieldy. Not to mention one has a tendency to overfill them. This means you, Sister A.

Garbage bag break wall completed we took a snack break to plan phase 3, a trench to divert water to the empty lot and out to the beach.

The rain stops and the sun comes out. It actually gets hot. Our lot and empty lot have mostly drained, but the house next door is still in standing water and across the highway the lots are under water.

We obtain permission from mom to pull out some plants between the empty lot and trench a discreet diversion, keeping our prune-ish toes and fingers crossed that it will work to run off water if we get inundated again.

We see off S with profuse thanks. Dad's friend T arrives with a sump pump and Brother B shows up with our ordered supplies, including real sand bags and a blower. Dad has been using a shop vac to suck up water, laboriously emptying the container. Neighbor N, 2 doors up and breeder of One the Dog has been helping him.

Many hours later, we've torn out the rest of the carpet (mom had been working on a floor project before she got sick), chiseled off the wet ancient fake tiling underneath, sopped up puddles, washed off the sofa, cleaned or threw away anything under the 6 inch level, gotten soaked again as we checked our handiwork in the evening rainshower, and watched a dvd of a local comedian that I was glad E wasn't there to see as he was exceptionally vulgar and not that funny. Sister A and I had laughed much harder at our ersatz gym workout and at all the odds-n-ends that kept popping up throughout the clean up, including a 12-inch long lei sewing needle that flew as if thrown by an 8-inch tall warrior and almost impaled Brother B as he was pulling up carpet.

More water expected tomorrow.