Yesterday was a wee bit stressful. I was at work, trying to plow through the eighteen hundred files stacked behind and next to me, and a terrible thunderstorm struck. This happened last week and it didn't even strike Lorain County where I live, so I thought nothing of it for about five minutes. Then my phone rang. It was Bryan, inquiring on the whereabouts of our flashlight. The power had been flickering. And the basement was flooding.

Oh, we have a sump pump. It worked, too. Unfortunately, it could not keep up with six inches of water in ten minutes. Neither could Roto Rooter, who told us the whole city was flooded.

Super! We didn't get flood insurance (and from what my mom says about our county it's a waste of money here anyway because they always get out of paying or decline the policy) and we've been using the basement as the living room since it's so freaking hot outside. There's carpet, and some power cords, and there were two kittens living under the stairs who wouldn't know what to do with five inches of water.

Bryan managed to unplug everything and get all five of the animals into the attic and eventually the sump pump caught up and removed the excess water. Of course, the carpet down there is totally soaked and makes a gross squishing sound when you dare to step on it. We moved the electronics to the real living room where it's still blindingly hot but dry.

Sprocket, the kitten with the busted eye, had to go the vet yesterday as well. His eye suddenly looks goopier and more red, and his face always has tears smeared all over the bad side. I guess his eye and the ducts around it are just too damaged and so we have a few options. We can leave it in, and treat it twice a day with antibiotics, which isn't healthy in the long run. His eye is irritating him and he wouldn't be comfortable, and it would always been an infection risk from the constant weeping. It also looks like the damaged tear duct is bugging his sinus on that side cause his poor little nose is always leaking from just the one nostril. So for a long term solution it looks like the best option is going to be surgical removal of the eye and the ductwork and to let it heal over so he always looks like he's winking. He can't really see out of the eye anyway, and lately it's always closed against the light and irritation, so no huge loss there. Still, it's sorta gross. One of the options involved a removal by chemical injection which sounds painful and will leave the eye socket open...gross! They claim that's totally healthy to do, but I don't believe it. Unless they use anesthetic and can close the eyelid up we won't be doing that one.

They'll probably do it when he goes in to get fixed so he'll be bruising from both ends.

Lest you feel to sorry for poor little soon to be one-eye, let me say that this damaged eye has in no way stopped him from bullying his brother. He pounces and attacks, and then cries like he's the one being ambushed. He's a little tricker and is clearly in no other way disabled.

It looks like rain again outside but I'm going to just ignore it. All our stuff is up. The animals are holding their own upstairs. Besides, unless it's another freak severe thunderstorm that floods the whole city again, I don't think we'll have an issue.

*crosses fingers*