Interruption

The oven timer rang at the same moment the tornado sirens went off tonight. That meant the corn dogs were ready but we needed to head to the basement. We gathered up the necessities (we're getting good at this what with the crazy spring weather this year), I grabbed my glass of wine and my plate and we went downstairs with two dogs, two cats, and the threat of a tornado.

R was hooking up the little kitchen TV to the basement cable so we could follow the weather. Every channel was reporting, especially because we had severe weather in the area last night. The dogs, who never get to go to the basement, were a little disoriented. The cats were wet because we had just called them in and it was raining heavily.

Our basement is an old, concrete walled, wet basement in an old, poorly-draining neighborhood. Water seeps in in certain places and when it rains really hard, like tonight, it runs and occasionally spouts in. We know it, prepare for it, and live with it. No biggie. But something about our basement really disturbs our dogs.

First, our black pug cannot believe the smorgassboard that is available to her in our basement. And by smorgassboard, I mean cat litter boxes full of poop. We called her out of the boxes several times but she still managed to eat her fill, dropping cat poop like a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar every time we told her no.

Second, the fawn pug is always upset by the extreme change of scenery in the basement. Enough so, that it makes him crap. So almost as soon as we got everything down there and settled in to eat our rapidly cooling corndogs, he pooped. In the middle of the floor. Very aromatically. R had to bag it up and get it out of there so we didn't gag up our supper. It was pouring by this time, the sirens were blaring, and it was starting to hail. He went up the stairs and threw the sack of crap out the back door. It would have been easier to let the black pug eat it, but she won't eat dog crap, only the feline variety.

We had to light a candle for the smell. I guess that's what happens when you combine wet cats, half-eaten cat poop, and fresh dog crap in a confined, damp area.

We watched the weather for a while and I decided the concrete floor could use a sweeping (probably a disinfecting too, but it's a basement after all). The cat hair was ridiculous and was hard to corral. Then the utility sink was filthy, so I cleaned it. I even made R go upstairs during all of the excitement to get the 409. By the time I finished, the weather had calmed a bit, but it was still raining pretty good. Our neighborhood park flooded again, as did our back yard. R got out the shop vac and worked on the water coming into the basement.

Just another day in the midwest.