Rain, Rain, Just Go Away!

OK, I've got a lot of catch-up blogging to do. Last week was actually pretty interesting and I remember to take pictures for most of it.

But the thing that consumed most of our time was moving. Moving in a nor'easter rain storm. Not too much fun. It's Sunday, and we're tired, facing tons of boxes and dirty floors.  Then we look out the window to see that our new backyard has now turned into a pond:

This causes a sleepless night for both of us, as Andrew compulsively wakes up every couple of hours to check to make sure that the basement isn't getting any water. Miraculously, it's not getting anything except a little dampness under one window.

Monday morning brings a new trickle in a different corner but we're amazed at the fact that the massive amount of water outside still hasn't found a way into our basement. The water has definitely moved into the car port and the empty garage, but thankfully, the house and basement are located on an upward swope from the rest of the backyard. 

As a precautionary measure, Andrew takes the day off from work to keep an eye on the basement while I test out my first (longer) commute into work (which takes forever considering that every road surrounding my builiding is closed due to flooding!). Andrew keeps me posted throughout the morning, and out of the blue, sends me a somewhat panicked email in the early afternoon. I leave work immediately and this is what the backyard looks like now (note how flooded the park is next to our backyard):

Our neighbor's yard looks even more flooded, but luckily, their house is set way up from the water:

And the flood in our basement. Andrew and I are bailing water with a work shop vacuum and improvised buckets for a couple of hours, and then are assisted by Andrew's dad Tom (who also left work early), his workshop vac and a pump. They spend the next couple of hours bailing even more water and finally got it down to a level where the automatic pump is removing pretty much the same amount of water that's coming in:

Best use for a champagne cork goes to Andrew for his idea to plug a hole in the basement with it - this means my uncle Rich gets thanked twice - once for getting us the champagne Andrew and I toasted each other with last night as homeowners and once for unknowingly helping us with our basement woes!

The weather forecast is calling for the rain to end by midnight (it's about time) and for sunny days and warm weather for the rest week. I guess this is what being a homeowner means - dealing with the unexpected things that crop up. I just would've appreciated at least one week to unpack things before dealing with a flooded basement!