A Watery Day

Yesterday was epic! I did a pile of things before ten am.

It rained fiercely much of the day and the water in the house got up to six inches before receding. A tropical storm hit the area. When I went out to get bleach, a new mop and food I saw roads flooded out, and was grateful for my old SUV with the four wheel drive. People I know in the area were posting photos of the waters around Tamarindo, streets out and flooded. Others I know also had water in the house.

I am thankful there is almost nothing sitting on the floor of the house, almost everything is up, save a few things. Losses right now include Jim's scale. It was floating, desperately flashing weird numbers under the water. A pile of slides, slide albums and photo albums of Jim's family. I'd warned him before we left to pick them up from the pile on the floor because of the recent water creeping under the door in the living room. Typically, he ignored my advice and now it's all gone. The fridge is dead, the stove is dead, not big losses because my next project is a kitchen remodel and I was planning on replacing both.

The saddest loss was my old Bernina sewing machine that cost a bundle when brand new twenty years ago, like ten thousand dollars. I rarely use it now, preferring my cheap little Singer that does the exact same things and is great for most things. Impossible to get repaired here it's likely the computerized motherboard is ruined and the motor is too. I had to sat on the lowest shelf of the room that never floods, my sewing room.

By ten am yesterday I had:

• Bought a coffee maker, small stove, pots and pans and other kitchenware for the guesthouse along with enough easy to cook groceries (frozen, canned) for myself and Stinky.
• Sat up a litter box, food and water in the guesthouse for Stinky.
• Moved Stinky into the guesthouse while he panicked. We got him almost exactly two years ago during Hurricane Nate. I imagine yesterday triggered memories for him. He was panicked and feisty.
• Bought cleaning supplies like four gallons of bleach and new mops, brooms, etc.
• Bleach treated the rising flood waters in the house.
• Put much of the furniture up on cement blocks above the waters.
• Moved what furniture I could out to the guesthouse, the mahogany rockers and other small things now stored away in the covered area behind the guesthouse drying.
• Got a hold of the company that maintains our pool. Later after the rain stopped I got them to come out and turn the pool pump to pull about half the water out of the pool. The water from the house drained straight into the pool. They have to come out to clean, refill and sanitize the pool after we fix the drainage problem on the lot even if this was an extrodinary weather event that caused the flooding. The recent water problems we had at the house involved a small amount of water creeping under the door to slightly just inside the door. Yes, this storm created a lake that topped our pool by a good foot. We drained the water out of the house around 4 pm to the depth of about an eighth of an inch.
• Arranged to have a cleaning service come out this weekend to help do the heavy lifting of the cleanup. Mop everything. 
• Arranged to have our general contractor friend agree to come in and install a French drain all the way around the outside of the house leading to the lowest point on the acre and under the fence. 
• Bought two dehumidifiers and installed them. They are going full blast in the house along with the AC. My experiences in Louisiana growing up with the occasional hurricane that would flood the house is that running the AC afterward is critical in keeping the mold at bay. I am hoping I've now done enough to keep the mold away.

I am freaking great in a crisis and tend to fall apart later. After doing all that stuff I spent the afternoon in the guesthouse crocheting and watching YouTube videos. I found that the guesthouse needs four surge protectors to run all of the electrical appliances at the same time, another lamp in the living room and I need a squeegee, a bigger one than the one I use in the shower. Today will be squeegeeing the house, my primary task.

It has been good to see what it is like actually staying in the guesthouse, leading to some purchases yesterday and more today. Comfort is important.

Stinky has been driving me nuts wanting to be petted. He's been following me around begging to be petted. He's quite anxious throughout this time.

A few photos from getting up that morning. Keep in mind that the water rose up at least a foot in the yard and about four more inches in the house.

And to everyone saying I do not live in Costa Rica, that I'm merely visiting occasionally and posting from hotel rooms may I just say a big old up yours right now. I live here, it's not always paradise because of the second world infrastructure here. No one would willingly put up with this stuff for some stupid internet following or popularity.