Monday Morning Chit Chat - Rainy Day Edition

Happy rainy Monday! I wonder if your weekend was as wet as ours. After having about 4" of rain last Tuesday, and barely avoiding a flooded basement when the power went out, we had even more rain over the weekend. Our rain gauge had a little over three inches on Saturday and Weatherbug is showing that we had more than 5 inches overnight last night. Our total for June (per Weatherbug) is a crazy 15 inches!! Needless to say, our rain catchment system, as well as any other sizable bucket or barrel we have, is full now. Who knows when we'll need that water? At this rate, not for a while.

Saturday we visited my parents for a few hours. My mom has a condition called bronchiectasis, which was initially caused from scarring in her lungs from a case of whooping cough she had when she was a toddler. She's 77 now and not doing very well. She has other problems as well, most of them stemming from the lung condition.  She stayed in her nightgown and robe during our entire visit, which is something I've never seen her do before, so I know she really isn't feeling well these days. :(

My dad, on the other hand, was as peppy as ever, and took us around their lawn, digging up lots of perennial plants for us to bring home and plant. 

We didn't stay long, and tried to get them to go to lunch with us, but Mom didn't feel like it and Dad wouldn't leave her alone, so we left early and headed back home, stopping for lunch and a couple of flea markets on the way.  Once home, we planted some of the living things we'd brought from Mom and Dad's yard, then had a short visit from Shane's mom and step-dad.

Yesterday we planted the rest of our goodies between rain showers.  I don't know the names of all of the plants we brought back, but once they are established, I'll try to get pictures of them.

Today I'll be working on cleaning my kitchen and dining area.  I usually do alright with maintenance cleaning, but eventually things get out of hand and I have to spend several days cleaning the house room by room to get it back in shape.  I call that zone cleaning (a la Flylady), and I'm going into zone mode this week because the house is driving me crazy.

In addition to zone work, I'll have garden work this week.  Some of the zucchinis are almost ready to cut, and I'm sure there are green beans to be picked.  I may be able to pull a beet or two this week as well.

What will you be doing this week?  Also, just for fun, what's your favorite rainy day song?  I can think of a lot of them, from Led Zeppelin's "Rain Song" to Ronnie Milsap's "Smoky Mountain Rain".  And for some reason, I always think of "Summer Breeze" by Seals & Crofts.  I don't think it even mentions rain, but it still gives me a rainy day feeling.  But those are all oldies.  Anyone have anything new?