random thoughts – Day 1,132 – (Sunday) – rain day

The rain that held off on Saturday rolled in overnight and hung around all day on Sunday. It was fine with me, because we got to dance on Saturday. Now we're looking ahead to the next booked performance in September.

The water level is plentiful and rising at Lake Lafayette, also known as the end of the driveway on the deck side of the house. The lake used to form in the street outside the shared driveway, but the owner of the house next door two owners ago kept calling the city about it. Right before he moved, the street was repaved, which solved the problem of the lake forming in the street. 

Lake Lafayette.

Now, the puddle starts collecting in my half of the shared driveway, creeping up to about one-third the length, and spreads to the neighbor's side of the driveway. At the deep end of the puddle along the street, it's usually an  inch or two deep. To get the trash bins out to the curb requires tall rain shoes or taking the long route into the neighbor's side and around the shoreline. I’m waiting for an increase in the property tax for the waterfront location. 

The ride to dance class has a stretch of Route 113 that is under construction and is at the stage were the old pavement was removed. On Friday and Saturday, the stretch was packed dirt, but this morning it was approaching mud bog status. I wondered what it would be like on the return trip.

After class, I decided to pick up the plastic table cloths for a comedy show fundraiser event on Saturday, which put me on the Route 2/495 path home and spared me the mud bog Jeep adventure. In a moment of reckless abandon, it was decided to skip the Waze app. I use it regularly for the updates like “vehicle on the side of the road” and “police reported ahead,” and the sometimes sudden and unexplained instruction to exit the highway earlier than the previously plotted route.

When the traffic slowed to a 10-mph crawl at the Chelmsford exits on 495, the choice to skip Waze was regretted.  After what felt like forever at a snail’s pace and then finally logging into Waze, there was a notice about “accident reported ahead.” By then the lane closure, tow truck, and police lights were visible, so I’d figured it out.

It might have been the rain or maybe it was bad driving, but there was a crunched guard rail and a damaged medium sized white car on the shoulder of the road facing oncoming traffic. Two guys in jeans and sweatshirts stood in the breakdown lane in the rain, staring in the direction of the oncoming traffic. I felt bad for them. Once past the tow truck, the traffic broke free and moved again.

From then on, it was the regular Sunday afternoon drill. Market Basket for Winston’s chicken and a check of the discount bakery rack. Laundry. Empty the small wastebaskets into the larger one to prepare for trash day on Monday. Carve up the roasted chicken. Finish the Finnish homework. Watch the latest season of Better Call Saul. All indoor things, perfect for a rainy day. The rainy night is booked with reading the book for book club. It’s been a busy month and slow going on the reading. I’m on page 81, with 302 more pages to go for the meeting on Thursday. It’s not looking good.