If I thought this morning was bad, this afternoon was even worse. Our lovely Ms. Fay stepped it up a bit and began pelting us with even more rain. Winds were kicking at around 40mph. It is almost 7pm and I haven’t even fed our dogs, yet, because they can’t go outside with the rain so bad. They usually eat late morning. I had to go get my midday dog walks in, I think only one actually went out and walked, and then I got to an evening client early to hang out and dry off – or so I thought.

When I got to PJ the Yorkie’s place, I was driving around the corner of the apartment complex parking lot and slammed into a pond. The whole parking lot was flooding. I almost got caught in it but I thought quickly enough to back up and rethink my plan. Sidewalks were overflowing, the grassy areas were underwater and many residents were going to be stuck. I decided to park my car out on the main road which happens to sit beside Lake Monroe in downtown Sanford. Earlier I had bought my new Gortex rain jacket so I knew my upper body would be ok. I hunkered down, locked the car and hoped it didn’t get stolen and then walked quite a distance to get to PJ. By the time I got there my great Gortex boots were wet because the standing water came up over them. I was supposed to be pet sitting PJ from tonight through Monday night. If things were this bad at 3:30 in the afternoon they were only going to get worse. I had to simply bring PJ with me.

I got his food, put on his harness and leash and we braved the whipping winds in our faces. The poor little guy was more soaked than me – he didn’t have a Gortex jacket. He is also heavy. I found this out about halfway to the car as I had to carry him or he would have floated away. As soon as we got to the car I put him on the grass and he went potty very nervously. Luckily I had towels in the car (which was still sitting there) so I tried to get him as cozy as possible. I had decided I would take him to board at my vet clinic and explain to his owners why I had to do so. We started off down hwy 17-92 and got caught up in school traffic. I decided to u-turn and try taking hwy 46, thinking it would be better since it was a bigger road. Well, I was wrong…it was flooded in many places! My little Scion trudged through water almost up to our doors, poor PJ was panting by my side and I was holding back tears. You see, if I got stuck I couldn’t even call for help because I had gotten my cell phone wet at the barn and it was dead. Scottie will not let me forget that for some time to come.

PJ and I made it the 7 or so miles to I-4 and prayed we would be ok on it. There wasn’t standing water but everyone was driving about 25 mph with their blinkers on. PJ and I looked at each other and held on. We had about 15 miles to go to get to the vet clinic. I talked to PJ and kept telling him he was a good boy. He kept giving me looks like I was a crazy person. He didn’t believe me. After what seemed like an excruciatingly long time we pulled up to the vet clinic. I had not been able to call to have them ready for me (because my cell is dead) so they were surprised to see me. When I walked in the door, Christine asked – Kathleen, are you alright?! I must have looked like a drowned rat carrying a drowned rat! At least my jacket kept my upper body dry, the rest of me was squishing. I got PJ all checked in and he was going to get the spa treatment before being put to bed.

I only had a 2 mile drive from the clinic to make it home. Part of our privacy fence is down, the back porch is completely wet, along with the bunnies and birds. I called PJ’s owners explained what happened. They trusted my judgment, whew. I called Trish (after having to hunt her number down because it’s in my dead phone!) and left her the message that I couldn’t make it back to feed the horses dinner. I was just too scared to go back out. If Fay is still messing with us tomorrow, Pookie Bros. Pet Sitting may have another rare day off. Now that I’ve had a hot shower, it’s time for a glass of wine.