Headline from the online edition of USA Today: "Texas floods deliver snakes, ants, debris to neighborhoods" story by Doyle Rice, 7:26 p.m. EDT May 31, 2016

One of the streets in our subdivision.

****I am delayed from leaving this morning from the house until it gets daylight because of the street flooding in our area. It's been some different kinds of rain related events over the last several weeks. Stay safe. ****

Welcome one and all as we open up today's edition on this Thursday, June 2, 2016. I heard a lady talking about going back to their flooded home to try and retrieve some sentimental items. She said they had to wade in chin high waters to get into their house. Yikes! Chin high. The forecast for the remainder of the week for our area doesn't look promising. The potential for heavy thunderstorms: 80% today, 80% tomorrow, 80% on Saturday, and 90% on Sunday. We have a part of the subdivision where we live that is flood prone. They did a lot of work a few years ago that seemed to help with this issue, however, the rains in April flooded out many of these same houses. The homeowners dutifully went to work and tried to get their houses gutted and fixed so they could return to their normal lives. It is heartbreaking to see those same houses flooded again. Many of them already have more of their belongings out on the street to be picked up. Again. Just five weeks later. And, sadly, we have these serious threats for more of the same the rest of this week. I pray for every person impacted by this situation. I pray for the six families who have lost loved ones during this most recent rain event. And, I pray for us all as we deal with this continuing weather situation. Amen.

I do have some of my own thoughts about this most recent round of rain and flooding. Government. No. I don't blame them for the rain that falls from the sky. However, the non-stop seeking of new tax revenues as seen by the huge amount of the building of new structures does have an impact. Construction debris does clog a lot of the drainage systems. One person observed that when you turn all the landscape into concrete there's really no where for the water to go. I know. They have permitting processes that supposedly take all of this into consideration. And, we all know those doing the developing follow all the rules, all the time. I'm sure the political answer will be to raise taxes for the improvements needed to deal with these drainage related issues. I'm out and about quite a bit and it just seems to me that when we continue to overrun the capacity of the current infrastructure, we will continue to see these kinds of problems occur. That doesn't mean this hasn't been a unique circumstance in terms of the rain amounts we have received. I'm just throwing my two cents worth into the hopper and I'm pretty sure, that even with inflation, it's not that valuable.

Things are not always what they appear to be. I read a little story that illustrates this. It supposedly is a true account of what happened. A fellow arrived for his train a little early. He went to the concession area and purchased a coffee, a small bag of cookies, and a newspaper. He then went and sat down at a table just outside the concession area. It was crowded. A guy in a business suit sat across from him. Suddenly, the guy reached over and took a cookie out of the bag. The fellow was stunned. What should he do? He pretended to continue reading the newspaper. The intruder did it again. Another cookie. The fellow grabbed one from the bag for himself. The other guy did the same and they went forth and back until the bag was empty. The nerve. Surely he was able to buy his own snacks. They never said a word but the man who had bought the coffee, newspaper, and cookies was fuming. As he stood in line, he opened up his newspaper to read some and to his surprise his unopened bag of cookies fell out on the floor. I do know that something very much like this has happened to me but I couldn't immediately recall the details. I will continue to frisk my aging data banks up there in that illusive brain storage area and get back to you if I come up with one to share. Until then, stay dry, take care, and remember to thank God for His mercy, grace, and kindness towards us all. Amen. ....More later.