Magic carpet ride

The day started out innocently enough. In fact, it was to be quite an exciting one. Thursday was Su's first day of kindergarten. And she was just giddy about taking the bus to school. I even arranged to get off work early and planned to be home to photograph the moment when she returned home from school, bounding off of the bus.

About 2:45, the bus was nearing its stop on the route near our home. But so was an unbelievable storm. We had been watching the skies for a little while and knew it would be a photo finish to determine what would arrive first -- our girl or the rains. We had heard that nearby DeKalb was in the midst of a tornado warning. Shortly after, so were we.

The bus that we watched go up one side of the nearby block failed to come up our side. And the tornado sirens wailed. A neighbor yelled out that the buses had been sent back to shelter areas. We hustled back to the house, grabbed flashlights and the pooch, and took cover in the basement as the winds and rains pelted the house. And within moments, we also lost power.

The initial blast did pass and we went upstairs to assess the damage. Nothing terrible in our area, although we would later find that nearby spots weren't nearly as fortunate. But the question of the day soon became: Where was Su's bus? Frantic calls to the school and transportation service confirmed that the bus made it back to the school (a VERY odd choice to take the 10+ minute drive back to the elementary school with a bus full of students when the middle school was 2 blocks away, as were other safe locations, in the middle of a tornado warning). After some time, all buses were released, although it took quite some time for us to be hooked up with Su.

Through it all, Su had been virtually oblivious to what was happening. She arrived smiling and waving. And had no real idea what the fuss was all about. Other kids on other buses were rain-soaked from open bus windows. Su didn't even realize that there had been a warning. She was just bored with the additional time back at the school and on the bus. But we were just plain relieved.

But that was short-lived. Our power didn't return all day. And the additional pouring of rain that continued through the day -- mixed with all of the rain we'd accumulated over the last week or more -- evolved into something unplanned. With nowhere to go and no power to the pump to push it out, the rain water invaded our basement.

Frantically, I worked to save items of value. Up went boxes, work samples, and children's toys. And the biggest task -- saving the music studio. If there was a shelf or a chair above the safe level, I piled on with electronics, boxes of equipment, and a couple of decades worth of recorded works.

With nowhere to go outside, water kept moving in from the outer walls of the basement. But with most items out of harms way, we just waited out the storms. By midnight, the power was restored. Water was quickly retreating. Of course, it was too late for the carpet.

So the weekend was spent tearing out old, soggy, cat-pee smelling (previous owners had cats -- apparently some who must have treated the entire basement as a litter box... cats suck), and hauling it up to the roadside curb. After serious cleansing, next comes drying, painting, and new carpet.

Oh yeah. On Friday, Su took the bus back to school. And this time the bus arrived on time. No winds. No rain. No problem.