"Stranded dinner for 5; your table is ready"

Oh, dear.  Why didn't I listen to that still, small voice which whispered last month, "Hire someone to clean out the gutters."

My bonsai garden is thriving in this weather.

Perhaps this much water would have clogged anyway in the narrow arteries lining the house.  But looking at the quaint bonsai forrest growing in the rich decomposing slop in the gutters provokes such feelings of regret.  I just stand here with my hands on my hips staring at those gutter-trees.

Thankfully, skipping a gutter cleaning hasn't resulted in any water pouring into the house.  We are cozy inside our dry house.  Still having electricity, music constantly plays while the kids resort to watching movies and playing video games since we can't leave.

Seriously, I cannot leave the neighborhood.  The creek on our road is so swollen that we were turned back after a car had to be towed to safety.

Shoot.  This raining is really ruining my dinner plans. First, flooding on my family's street prevented me from eating there with them.  Now I cannot reach my friends' home.  If I can't reach them, what will I serve these stranded kids?