Rain, rain, rain...

Day 5 of the rains:
Today is supposed to be the last day of the rains in Southern California, or at least of major rains. Its supposed to do a little something through the weekend, but hopefully we've made it through the worst part. Our local neighbors of La Canada, Lacrescenta and those areas had some evacuations which I can only imagine is heart wrenching and very difficult. My home was only about a 1/2 mile from an evacuation area back in September with the Station Fire. And we all knew that when the rains came, we would be back to possible evacuations.
We are in hopes that all of those folks are able to get back into their 'untouched' homes and go back to living normal lives at some point this weekend. The good part of the rain is that we are supposed to be slightly ahead of pace for rain this year, but I'm sure our good news media will find something negative to say and we'll be right back into drought conditions come next week. If you can't find anything bad to say, then you're not going on the air.

With the rain comes possible challenges in the homefront. I have a skylight at home, which was actually part of what made our home so attractive when we purchased it. Well...those things leak. The first time it leaked, which was from just a small amount of rain, I attempted to repair it. I caulked it, caulked it and then caulked it some more. With the second round of rain, I watched in anticipation to see what would happen. Drip, drip, drip.
Back up on the roof, I noticed some loose shingles, so I got a lesson from the internet on how to install shingles. Well, with this last rain, I headed up to the attic and wouldn't you know it...drip, drip, drip. But the drips were not caused by me and my roofing skills, so I got a great lesson in how to install a tarp. And that has fixed the leak. And it only took me about 20 minutes to install it.
But my wife informed me that we are not in Southern Virginia and will not be living in a house with a permanent tarp installed on it. So I will be right back at it when the sun comes out again...you know, when the sun comes out and there's a forecast for rain. But I don't feel too bad about this as my dad told me its a trial and error process. I think I can live with that. Otherwise, I have my tarp on standby.