Washed up

Last weekend was a very wet one. We had so much rain that the whole region was under regular and flash flood warnings. It's those flash floods that bring trouble to our house. And they brought trouble this past weekend. Thankfully, we had pulled up all the carpet in the basement, and had generally cleared the areas that are most often involved with flooding. We did have to shop-vac and mop, but it didn't take too much of our day (although it did tire us out!). To help with the drainage, we tried to clear some of the leaf debris from the drain at the bottom of the steps outside. That is where I found this little guy floating in the water. I thought he was dead, but fished him over to the lowest step anyway. Not too long later I saw that he was alive, and trying to get away from all that water.

We've had a couple of these snakes in our basement before. It's a Dekay's brown snake, stays quite small, and isn't dangerous (just smelly). We keep taking them to the garden to live among the bushes. I don't think Norah would appreciate one of them taking over some of her territory inside!

On another note, Jamie received his glasses in the mail this week. His last pair bit the dust when he fell in DC. I let him pick out his back-up pair, and this is what he wanted:

Yes, camoflauge glasses. They match a lot of his clothing. I ordered very sensible glasses for him, but did surprise him with clip-on sunglasses that he has always wanted. We're all happy now. And very, very "cool."

What's the temperature going to be?

Spring is trying to arrive here, and that makes for some awkward clothing decisions. It is still cold in the morning and evening, but the sunny middle of the day is gorgeous! What do you tell the kids to wear?
Layers.

Hmmm... maybe not that many layers. After deciding that a t-shirt and sweat pants was not warm enough, Jamie put on a winter coat, two sweatshirts, and a pair of slippers. He sat right down and started to do school, but not too much later he decided that perhaps it was too much. One sweatshirt was enough, after all.

He was happy, though, because he was warm enough, and because he finally got his box back. Remember kindergarten castles? (You know, those cardboard dividers that kept your neighbor from looking at your standardized test answers?) Jamie "needed" one so he wouldn't be distracted by looking out the window so much - or so he said. That's the joy of homeschooling. He can change clothes as needed, and can use a box to focus himself.