"hey, dat's quite de rain storm ya got dere, bud."

So much for any hint of drought here in Tampa Bay. At least three inches of rain fell before nightfall yesterday; it let up before the sun went down (though it had been so dark from the cloud cover that you could've sworn at 4 PM that it was already twilight). This morning I awoke to another heavy storm. Not much lightning, but the rain's coming down hard.

A mop bucket in the laundry room catches the occasional drip from that ceiling, drips that only fall after extended heavy rain, where the angled roof joins a flat section. The bucket had two inches of water in it by the time yesterday's rain let up. And Norman pointed out a puddle on the vanity in the main bathroom; that water had come through a light fixture in the ceiling. I figure that water came in through a vent on the roof - one of those that spin in the wind - because I can imagine that the weather had been forceful enough to drive rain through to the attic. The light fixture that channeled the leak is located almost directly beneath the vent in question.

For the past week or so, it has rained a bit nearly every day. No complaints about that. Rain is good. But the humidity combined with the native heat to produce heat indices well over 100F. Nothing like the catastrophic situation in Texas, to be sure; just mighty steamy. And the AC ran too much of the time trying to keep the house at a reasonable 79F temperature, even during the nighttime hours.

(** A Quick Aside ** Question to the Hagees and Pat Robertsons of the world: since y'all are so casual about declaring that hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, etc. are God's way of saying "wake up and stop offending me with yer sinnin' ways", is it possible that the critical drought and wildfires in Texas are a message that you Dominionist Christian Texicans are particularly evil in His eye? Rick "Goodhair" Perry, I'm looking at YOU! **)

When I went out to check the electric and water meters this morning, it was 75F in the house (thermostat set at 79) and our electric usage for the past 24 hours was only 36 KWh. Lately the number has been between 50 and 60 KWh per day, thanks to the heat, with the AC running even at night (overnight lows have been around 80F). Stormy weather saved us a bit of electricity.