The benefit of talking

On Monday I was taking in my trash cans when one of my neighbors was walking by. I started talking to her about the incoming storm and how I felt lucky that it looked like it would not affect us in a major way (it didn’t). During the conversation I asked her if there was any flooding from storm surge last year from Hurricane Ian, she said there was not. She said the only time there has been standing water on the street was during Hurricane Irma 6 years ago. She said the water started to touch the sidewalks but never threatened the houses.

This was all good information but the most interesting part of all of it was she told me all of the houses in the development have emergency drains. There is a capped off 4 inch PVC pipe near the front of my house which I never knew it’s purpose. That is the emergency drain. If there is a flooding threat I unscrew the cap and it will divert water away. I thanked Barb for the information, information I would have never learned without initiating the conversation, something I historically have been poor at doing.

Like I mentioned, the storm was pretty insignificant for us except for about a one hour period yesterday afternoon when tornado warnings were flying around. I am not exaggerating when I say between calls to my cell, my home and texts I was notified at least 20 times about the potential threat. Is it odd to admit that I eventually found these notifications intended to protect me from harm, annoying?

Tonight I host the fantasy draft for the first time at the new house. It should be interesting to see what sort of arrangement I come up with.