Things Not to Do During A Rainstorm!

Sooo... I learned a few things from last night's massive storm.

1. Don't run outside in the hail to cover your plants with towels.  (Hazardous to personal well being.)
2. Don't cover your plants with towels when its raining or will rain. (Hazardous to plant well being.)
3. Don't try to drive in water.  Your car is not a submarine, even if it looks like one. (Hazardous in multiple ways.  DO NOT DRIVE OR OPERATE MACHINERY IF YOU ARE... UNDERWATER.  If you have any serious changes in mood or behavior, or thoughts of suicide... please pull over.)  

So to go into more detail, I was getting ready for work yesterday afternoon, and it started raining really hard.  I decided to wait out some of the storm because I was getting reports of hail, and OH! ANOTHER THING!

1. Don't drive in hail.  No bueno. 

So as I heard it start hailing on our house, I suddenly remember "Oh no! Not my rose bushes!!!" So I ran to the closet, grabbed the ugliest towels I could find, and ran outside barefooted into the hail, covering my head with the towels.  Of course, about halfway to my bushes I'm starting to realize that once I cover my bushes with the towels I won't have anything to cover me with, but ya know, health, who cares (point number one).  I covered them up carefully and bolted back inside.  Thankfully the hail didn't get any bigger, and I wasn't really at all affected by the hail. About 2 minutes later, the sun is out.  Thanks Colorado.  By then I was late for work, so I decided to leave the towels on the bushes and take care of them when I got home.  After work, the three employees closing the store with me locked up, and we walked outside.  The storm was back with a vengeance.  It was pouring rain.  We all stood under the awning and decided whether to run out to our cars. The employee closest to the building decided to make a run for it, and then she picked us up and dropped us off at our cars which was very kind.  

I started driving home, and about 1/3 of the way home I had my wipers going as fast as they could, and I was slowly losing sight of the lines on the road.  Not only that, but there was at least an inch of water on the road itself.  I pulled over and waited (because I knew my car wasn't a submarine!! YAY!).  After it had slowed and then picked up again, I decided to try to get home again, and I got back on the road.  Despite having seen the 'FLASH FLOOD WARNING' messages on my phone, I kept going.  At one point, the rain started falling in heavy waves, and every time I hit a huge rut of water it scared me half to death.  Then I came to an intersection which, in the dark, looked just like all the others.  Wet, and black.  (Quite the description, I know.  *Bows*) But as I drove into this one, it turned out not to be road at all, but about 12-14 inches of deep running water.  Of course as the car splashed into this one it scared me even more and several things flashed into my head. 

1. AHHHHH!!!
2. Oh yeah, I can get out of this, its just like skidding or hydroplaning.  No big deal.  Wait, yes it is.  I COULD BE FLOATING!! WE NEVER WENT OVER THIS IN DRIVERS ED! AHHHH!
3. Why on EARTH don't they have police here with traffic cones so people don't FLOAT AWAY?!?!
4. I should call the police and tell them to get over here.
5. But wait, I'm driving in a foot of water, I can't call anyone, I'm awful at multitasking. 
6. Why haven't they said anything about flash flood warnings on the stupid radio yet?!
7. Can water get IN the car? Maybe I should have brought a swimsuit. 

Yeah.  Adrenaline makes your brain work about a billion times faster.  I didn't actually start floating, I didn't hydroplane (strangely...), I never drowned in my car, and I never called the police.  But the lesson here is, just don't.  Don't drive in a storm like this. Ever. You could float, you could hydroplane, and you could drown.  Okay probably not drown, but yeah. (Point three).

Lastly for point two.  When I finally did get home, I went out to take the towels off my roses, and found them to be completely waterlogged and weighing down my rose bushes.  I carefully peeled them off and found some of the new growth on them broken off because of the immense weight.  Thus, don't put towels on plants, but tarps instead.  Tarps don't absorb water.  Towels do.  There's my helpful spiel of the day! Enjoy :)