We've only had a few days of monsoon weather here this summer and it really wasn't a monsoon. Technically our monsoon weather is tropical and comes up from Mexico. What we had here in July was an Atlantic Ocean storm, an eastern ocean storm. No tropical storms yet and we usually have them by now in July. I know because our daughter's birthday is July 25 and in 1979, our home was flooded during one such summer storm. She was a year old and I was pregnant with our son. My husband was in Los Angeles for business at the time, and I awoke at midnight to the sound of water running through the house. I grabbed my baby, my purse, the bills (I know...) and our German Shepherd and stumbled out to my VW van and drove out of the flooded areas, only to become stranded on a bridge. Fortunately, a fire truck came by and we spent the night at one of the fireman's home (yes...the dog, too). My Siamese cat wisely crawled to the top of our roof, out of harm's way. I did manage, before I left, to "swim" across the street and wake up our elderly neighbor, who profusely thanked me, as he was a heavy sleeper. I also awoke our neighbors on the other side, who were able to save their house full of antiques. Phew..the things you can do when you are 28!!! For YEARS after that, every time it rained, I ran around the house and picked up my shoes and other items on the floor! (much to my husband's annoyance!) Once your house is flooded (we lost all our couches, chairs, bed, and carpeting, and some clothes), you never really recover. We got a SBA loan and replaced everything, but I'm always on edge when the summer monsoon storms come rumbling in...So I await the monsoon season. OOPS! Hurricane on the way...see link: http://news.yahoo.com/hurricane-dora-reaches-cat-4-strength-off-mexico-002141603.html To visit Nature Notes, please go to: http://ramblingwoods.com/
