The old foiks were right, when they said “when it rains, it pours.” I found out first hand, Tuesday night. A storm came across the fields, with roaring and the sky was snapping like the fourth of July. With it came rain that fell hard and mightily. The roof repair was hardly finished and so it rained in the old farmhouse-not leaked, but rain poured in. I was up on a ladder painting a high ceiling in the den, when I first heard the commotion. Kyle and Christian were scrambling and using loud tones, so I scrambled as best I could and found myself in the midst of a ruckus.
Christian was running from the pantry with every big pot he could find. Kyle had gathered the towels we use for the dogs, and then raided the linen closet. No matter, how resourceful they were, there was a large puddle of rain water on the floor and it was not letting up. There was thunder and lightening and wind, when Christian ran out and got on the roof. He stepped on a nail within three minutes. I was sure he had been struck by lightening and nearly fainted, when I heard him yell out. When I found out, he had not been electrocuted, I commenced to fussing. I knew it was a terrible idea that Kyle had gone to a cook out on Friday. I fussed because he went fishing on Saturday. I fussed because I lived in an old house. I brought up a lot of things in those moments.
Cash, my boxer, and the cats, Christopher Robin and Moon Shine assembled, like a choir in the corner. Moon Shine was skittish and jumpy. Cash seemed nervous and worried and Christopher Robin was calm and I declare he had all sorts of judgements about us, on his face about the predicament. I came close to crying, when there wasn’t a dry towel left in the house. When the worst was over, and the water was reduced to a leak, I examined Christians’ foot and decided he would live, after all.
I was exhausted from the excitement-and throwing my fit. I decided I would not climb the ladder again and began putting things away. . . That is when I spilt the pristine white paint on the hardwood floor. What a horrible shock to remember, there wasn’t a dry towel in the house, at that particular moment. my feet felt fastened to the floor-when I could move, I ran to the kitchen, taking care to select dish towels that had seen better times. When that was over, I just wanted to go to bed.
Of course, I couldn’t go to sleep right off-I had a lot of confessing to do. The more I listed things to beg pardon for, the drowsier, I got. I even remembered to be glad about the lilies. I thought of the blessed gardenia which is in full bloom and the Mimosa tree with its’ feathery blossoms that are one of my very favorite scents. I remembered laying with Brant, when he was weeks old, under a mimosa decades ago, on a soft blanket. I thought how I can’t wait to show Lyla, these beautiful trees, that her great grandmother, loved too, as does Jenny.
Yesterday, the boys worked on the roof, with an experienced roofer. This morning, it rained again, but the old house did not get wet. The towels are all washed and sorted. Supper is simmering, on this day that is cool enough to be one in late September. I bought a new can of paint, today. I also picked out the color I want to paint my cottage door, one day.
Dear Diary, I am glad to remember that a leaking roof . . .is just that. I am glad that in moments, when I do not act properly . . .it is just that, too. I will hope to take the high road, more often than not, which is strewn with things like mimosa trees with soft pink blossoms and gardenias in full bloom . . . and surely, I must “consider the lilies”.
Bless your heart. I can feel every minute of your trying time. Don’t you just hate it when things get to us like that. This has been one of those days here and now that it is bed time I am more than ready for this day to be over. My youngest son once ask his dad”Are we through with this day?” Country living has a way of doing just that to us. Tomorrow will be better and the sun will shine again. Thank you Lord.
Oh, wow, that must have been tough! But as you say, it all sorted out in the end and days where everything goes wrong really help us appreciate the days when everything goes right! And I think it is good for all of us to do some confessing now and then….
I was with you every step of this accounting of the day! I have been there with leaky roofs (still am) and less than stellar attitudes during those times. It is always good to consider the lilies and I am going to have to remind myself of that during those circumstances!
I am glad to hear they got your roof fixed and that you even have paint chosen for the front door of your upcoming cottage!
By the time I finished reading, I was exhausted — and happy for you, that so much did work itself out. Chaos doesn’t go on forever, and what’s better than supper on the stove and the laundry sorted? It’s such a nice thought — I may go fold some laundry myself, just because.
My, what a trying time. All in all – everything was better in the end. Life does have its moments – does it not! I have heard that expression my entire life – “When it rains, it pours.” (so true)
Hope you (and the roof) are drying out with this nice weather. You are LOVELY to share your travails with us, blessing our hearts and filling us with redemptive hope. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” (Vivian Greene) — dancing with towels, spilled paint, rushed rained roof excursions — and your persevering, humble, thankful spirit. Love & hugs (dry ones) to you & your family! Virginia 🙂
Awww bless you in your heart, your commentary brought every vivid detail to life ~ you wrote with humour and compassion, wishing you sunnier days ahead 😉
You write the best stories, they always bring tears to my eyes. You turn the mundane and mishaps into the magical and enchanting. If only everyone in the world had your mindset what a beautiful world it would be. Not that it isn’t, but it would be even more beautiful, filled with only lovely people who are kind and caring to each other…and of course filled with lilies!! xo
Oh dear, this sounds like a really upsetting and stressful time, I’m so glad everything is fixed now and all the towels have been washed. As always you have written your life as a wonderful story, full of magical description.
Take care and hope you find time to paint your cottage door sometime 🙂
– Carly
Oh no I can imagine how you might have felt thinking he was struck by lightning. I would have thought the same thing too! I am glad to hear everything has settled.
Dearest Rabbit … I can relate to your tale. When living in our old cottage, I was woken up in the middle of the night to hear a heavy rainstorm outside, and a dripping noise. I turned on the bedside light and couldn’t see where the dripping was coming from. So I woke Mr.Cobs. He couldn’t find any leaks around the window and nothing was showing up on the ceiling. He told me to go back to sleep and he’d find it in the morning.
SHOCK … HORROR … was showing on my face, and I new it.
This cannot be the man I married! (I shouted in my mind). “Who the heck are you, and what have you done with my husband???” I said to himself.
“Wait till the morning?? Are you joking? We HAVE to find that leak now. I can’t ignore it and go back to sleep, you daft fool!”
After turning the central light on, and wandering around the bedroom for several minutes, head cocked on one side in order to hear better … then … I found it!
It was a leak from the front of the chimney, and it was dropping down onto the mantel shelf over the fireplace. A pot was collected from the kitchen, and I put a scrunched up flannel into the bottom of it, in the hope of ‘deadening’ the noise of the drips.
Drawing the story to an abrupt end … the upshot was we paid to have the whole roof re-roofed. (They were the original roofing tiles and it was waaaay past it’s due date to have the tiles replaced.
So although my leak wasn’t as dramatic as yours, I know the panic of the situation, and was with you every step of the way.
I’ll add to your ‘When it rains it pours’ … by giving you another well known saying: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. 😀 ❤
I'm so glad that you got the roof fixed the next day, and that all was finally safe and sorted. Sending heaps of love to you Rabbit. ~ Cobs. x
I was with you every step of the way, The pouring rain came when the roof repair wasn’t done? How frustrated! We only had leaking from our patio cover, and we don’t have enough buckets to catch the leaking. Spilled the white paint on the hardwood floor? That would give me a heart attack! I could imagine how jumpy your cats were. Thank you for your last line, “consider the lilies…” Thank you for your diary!
BTW, I haven’t seen you for awhile because I had problem with my site link and it may not feed into your Reader or went to your email.
I made a slight change of the site link. The old link is now Inactive.
The new link has the (s) in different place. You may click the new link and FOLLOW my new site again, or
To have my new posts come to your Reader – copy and paste my NEW link and paste to your Reader – Blogs Followed, click on the blue Follow and it will turn green and change to Following. Then my new posts will come to your Reader.
Oh, those days; they crop up from time to time in everyone’s life, and we don’t always conduct ourselves the way we wish we had. But you know that because you expressed it beautifully for all of us when you wrote “I am glad that in moments, when I do not act properly . . .it is just that, too.” Thank you, dear friend for understanding all of us who blunder at times.
rabbitpatchdiarycom 
I love your writing Ms. Rhem!
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Bless your heart. I can feel every minute of your trying time. Don’t you just hate it when things get to us like that. This has been one of those days here and now that it is bed time I am more than ready for this day to be over. My youngest son once ask his dad”Are we through with this day?” Country living has a way of doing just that to us. Tomorrow will be better and the sun will shine again. Thank you Lord.
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What an awful day you had! At the end, you turned it around. Wow! Most impressive.
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Love your kitty cat names. Hope you have better days ahead! Take care! 🙂
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“The sun will come out tomorrow, it’s only a day away”. Lovely post. ☺☺
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Oh, wow, that must have been tough! But as you say, it all sorted out in the end and days where everything goes wrong really help us appreciate the days when everything goes right! And I think it is good for all of us to do some confessing now and then….
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I was with you every step of this accounting of the day! I have been there with leaky roofs (still am) and less than stellar attitudes during those times. It is always good to consider the lilies and I am going to have to remind myself of that during those circumstances!
I am glad to hear they got your roof fixed and that you even have paint chosen for the front door of your upcoming cottage!
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By the time I finished reading, I was exhausted — and happy for you, that so much did work itself out. Chaos doesn’t go on forever, and what’s better than supper on the stove and the laundry sorted? It’s such a nice thought — I may go fold some laundry myself, just because.
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My, what a trying time. All in all – everything was better in the end. Life does have its moments – does it not! I have heard that expression my entire life – “When it rains, it pours.” (so true)
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Hope you (and the roof) are drying out with this nice weather. You are LOVELY to share your travails with us, blessing our hearts and filling us with redemptive hope. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” (Vivian Greene) — dancing with towels, spilled paint, rushed rained roof excursions — and your persevering, humble, thankful spirit. Love & hugs (dry ones) to you & your family! Virginia 🙂
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Awww bless you in your heart, your commentary brought every vivid detail to life ~ you wrote with humour and compassion, wishing you sunnier days ahead 😉
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You write the best stories, they always bring tears to my eyes. You turn the mundane and mishaps into the magical and enchanting. If only everyone in the world had your mindset what a beautiful world it would be. Not that it isn’t, but it would be even more beautiful, filled with only lovely people who are kind and caring to each other…and of course filled with lilies!! xo
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Oh dear, this sounds like a really upsetting and stressful time, I’m so glad everything is fixed now and all the towels have been washed. As always you have written your life as a wonderful story, full of magical description.
Take care and hope you find time to paint your cottage door sometime 🙂
– Carly
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Oh no I can imagine how you might have felt thinking he was struck by lightning. I would have thought the same thing too! I am glad to hear everything has settled.
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It was awful! What a night! It seemed like a bad dream the next morning! thank you Sharon.
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😊 Glad everyone’s safe.
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thank you Sharon!
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Dearest Rabbit … I can relate to your tale. When living in our old cottage, I was woken up in the middle of the night to hear a heavy rainstorm outside, and a dripping noise. I turned on the bedside light and couldn’t see where the dripping was coming from. So I woke Mr.Cobs. He couldn’t find any leaks around the window and nothing was showing up on the ceiling. He told me to go back to sleep and he’d find it in the morning.
SHOCK … HORROR … was showing on my face, and I new it.
This cannot be the man I married! (I shouted in my mind). “Who the heck are you, and what have you done with my husband???” I said to himself.
“Wait till the morning?? Are you joking? We HAVE to find that leak now. I can’t ignore it and go back to sleep, you daft fool!”
After turning the central light on, and wandering around the bedroom for several minutes, head cocked on one side in order to hear better … then … I found it!
It was a leak from the front of the chimney, and it was dropping down onto the mantel shelf over the fireplace. A pot was collected from the kitchen, and I put a scrunched up flannel into the bottom of it, in the hope of ‘deadening’ the noise of the drips.
Drawing the story to an abrupt end … the upshot was we paid to have the whole roof re-roofed. (They were the original roofing tiles and it was waaaay past it’s due date to have the tiles replaced.
So although my leak wasn’t as dramatic as yours, I know the panic of the situation, and was with you every step of the way.
I’ll add to your ‘When it rains it pours’ … by giving you another well known saying: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. 😀 ❤
I'm so glad that you got the roof fixed the next day, and that all was finally safe and sorted.
Sending heaps of love to you Rabbit. ~ Cobs. x
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you made me laugh outloud! Well, t didn’t kill me but it hurt me badly! ha! Thank you my darling friend-you made my day!
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I was with you every step of the way, The pouring rain came when the roof repair wasn’t done? How frustrated! We only had leaking from our patio cover, and we don’t have enough buckets to catch the leaking. Spilled the white paint on the hardwood floor? That would give me a heart attack! I could imagine how jumpy your cats were. Thank you for your last line, “consider the lilies…” Thank you for your diary!
BTW, I haven’t seen you for awhile because I had problem with my site link and it may not feed into your Reader or went to your email.
I made a slight change of the site link. The old link is now Inactive.
My OLD link is https://theshowersofblessing.wordpress.com
My NEW link is https://theshowerofblessings.wordpress.com
The new link has the (s) in different place. You may click the new link and FOLLOW my new site again, or
To have my new posts come to your Reader – copy and paste my NEW link and paste to your Reader – Blogs Followed, click on the blue Follow and it will turn green and change to Following. Then my new posts will come to your Reader.
Sorry for the trouble. Thank you, Miriam
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Thank you Miriam! I like the name of your blog-and found it. I will not forget that night for a while.
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Thank you for finding me and I won’t forget your diary!
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The two links look similar, but the (s) is in different place, now is Blessing(s).
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Oh, those days; they crop up from time to time in everyone’s life, and we don’t always conduct ourselves the way we wish we had. But you know that because you expressed it beautifully for all of us when you wrote “I am glad that in moments, when I do not act properly . . .it is just that, too.” Thank you, dear friend for understanding all of us who blunder at times.
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Your words are always medicine for me-thank you-I sure especially love your visits. I am quite behind, but as grateful as ever to you. xx
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