When it rains....

....it pours.

So about a month ago in May we got a big rain.  It rained hard and it rained all night and day.  I knew it was going to be wet, but when I let the dog out in the morning I didn't expect to have sudden lake front property.

You can see the neighbor's pool in underwater, but don't worry no water in the house.

There is a pond across the street that serves as a catch/holding from the water flowing from the golf course.  It then travels down a creek/ditch to a series of other retention areas.  Most of the year this pond is bone dry, (we have had a drought here for several years) but in the summer it usually fills as it's the rainy season.  I guess this rain was just too much too fast and the ponds didn't have time to drain out before they overflowed.
By noon the water had receded back  and while it still held in the park area it wasn't covering the road anymore.
So that made for some good play for the dog and the kids...

 This picture is for comparison.  I'm standing in my driveway and you can see the Hubs holding the baby in the distance.  Notice the mailboxes to the left, they had water about half way up.

These two are loving that the water is at this level.  Perfect for running amok.

I love this picture.  The moss on the trees, the ferns, the water and my boy...it looks amazing.  Really makes me wish I had the dream Canon, but for now we will deal with what I have.  I can make it work. :)

"Look, Mom, these two frogs are nibbling each other."   Ha.  That's right, buddy, they sure are.

Now this tropical storm Debby is in the Gulf and she's really dumping a lot of water. We spent most of Sunday the same way we spent the day back in May, playing in the water.

There's our cool neighbor Mr. Bill.  The blur of dogs is our black lab and Mr. Bill's  white fluffy dog.  There were also accompanied by Mountie's brother, a yellow lab, and a weimaraner pup.  I couldn't really get any good shots because they were in full speed play.

This picture is really dark and bad, but I added it because you can sort of see the mailboxes behind my hubs.  And that area behind them is the park that was ankle deep in the previous pictures.
It eventually got too dark to play or take pictures so we had to head in for warm baths.

When I woke up on Monday morning my hubs was still in bed.  I thought maybe he set the clocks wrong, since we had lost power on Sunday for about 3 hours.  I give him a shake and he tells me that he couldn't get out of the neighborhood.   Towards the front the roads were completely underwater.  About 9am, he ventured out again and was able to get the truck through.  So off to work he went.  
I got panicky around noon and called him to come home.  I was afraid that if it kept raining he wouldn't be able to get back to the house.  I mean, I guess he could have parked and walked across the course, but I didn't care, it felt safer with him home.  So he came back, to be with his family :)
The whole neighborhood was out buzzing around.  A few houses got water last time so there were some kind guys getting sand bags from the fire dept and bringing them to those in need.
We heard rumors that the golf course was doing bad.  There are a couple quarry holes that this course is known for on what you golfers would call the "back nine."  I guess all the rain caused some major landslides.  So we went with our other neighbor on his golf cart to check it out.

 

Here I'm standing on one side about the same height up as the house across the quarry.  You can see the small landslides on the opposite cliff.  In front of me is a huge drop off that also ran down.  The water on the left is not supposed to be there, nor all the dirt mess on the fairway.

 What a disaster.  I'm not sure what they are going to do about this.  For now, the course is closed.  I can't imagine the amount of machinery and money it will take to clear this out.  I'm not a golfer, but this is a beautiful area.  I hope they give an effort to clean it up.

Today it seemed that the water was the same, but it had actually receded a little bit.  More people were able to get out and go to work.  And there were men working on the golf course, cutting the grass and picking up debris.  Still along way to go, but things are looking up.

This is the main access for the neighborhood to get in and out.  Right now, only big trucks and SUVs can pass.  I'm hopeful that the house did not get any water.  They had sand bags blocking up their front door.  The land next to them is a vacant lot turned river from all water running off the golf course looking for somewhere to go.
For now the rain seems to be holding off and I believe the storm is making land fall up in the panhandle.
Seems as though Mother Nature heard everyone's request for rain.  She literally opened the flood gates.
Hope y'all are staying dry or playing in the rain.