ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad you felt free to share this story with us, Lynda! You had me laughing harder than I have in years! When I thought I couldn't laugh any harder, I read your signature! LOL!!!!!!!!! FloodTheLast got me giggling again with, "Also if I get such an email in the future I will no longer believe any excuses, ;P" LOL!!!! But, seriously, Lynda, I think we've all accidentally sent an embarassing email before and had it come back to bite us. You apologized, and I'm sure the member really understands. Now, we can all look back on this great story and just giggle every now and then. That's what I love about humor. It's rarely funny when it's happening to you at that moment, but later, it really can bring a good chuckle. Blessings, Angela

Hi Folks...I am a good mate of Kerry's and live nearby. I live in Lismore about 30mins drive from Kerry. I was speaking with her yesterday and all was basically well. While our area has had a lot of LOVELY rain, and Kerry backs onto a LOVELY creek; she had no water up hear her house - shade house that is, and garden. I believe she is snookered in front of her PC preparing for her presentation at next weekend's Australian Bromeliad Conference in Adelaide. I know we are both VERY excited about the event in general. Catching up with friends and meeting new ones. As far as the floods go in NSW; the worst area has been the mid north coast area around Coffs Harbour. I know a couple of participants on here (Richard from thebromplace) have had a trememdous amount of rain also - and Richard lives closer to Coffs. I have not heard from Tamera in Port but I think it is ok around there. I know that during the previous big wet (Feb09), that a renowned Brom nurseryman (Peter Tristram) at Repton near Coffs Harbour suffered extensive water damage to his (new) shade houses. (Peter is the breeder of Tiger Tim among other treats; one of my favourite brom-breeder-sellers.) So I am concerned for how Peter got on in this big wet this big area has had in the recent week. Richard (a GW contributor) may pass on other news if he has any; and I am sure Kerry will extract herself from her PC soon; well to catch the plane to Adelaide at least!! Shane-the-Bromaholic

Hi All! I thought I'd check in from Cocoa, Brevard. It's after 4pm and we are still getting a bunch of wind and rain. So far no damage so I'm grateful. My fibromyalgia is going crazy, my kids are getting antsy and my dog's poor bladder is bulging because he hates to go out in the rain but other than that we have been very fortunate. My poor husband has been out in the weather all day since he's a police officer, but luckily the bad guys don't like to get wet either. We haven't lost power which I consider amazing. So I hope everyone is safe. Best of luck! Tammy Something I did today to kill some time: SCENE: -Tammy can't sleep. After taking another half of a sleeping pill she gets out of bed and opens the bedroom door. -As an after thought, Tammy slips into her sandals, so as not to bump her toes trekking through the house at 4am to get outside to the back porch to listen to the rain on the metal roof from TS Fay. -It's dark. -Tammy can't see, but it doesn't matter because Tammy knows her way around the house with her eyes closed. -Tammy reaches the back door and flips the light switch on the wall for the back porch light so that she can see the bugs that are just waiting behind enemy lines for Tammy to make one wrong move so that they can drag her into the night and chew on her flesh so that she is never seen or heard from again. -Before Tammy can open the door, she feels something with lots of tiny legs scurry across the top of her foot. -It's still dark. -Tammy has not opened the door yet. -She vigorously shakes her foot trying not to screech like a banchee and takes several steps back. -Nothing. -Tammy takes a step forward with her right foot. She hears and FEELS a sickening C-R-U-N-C-H under her right sandal. -Don't move. -It might have been a Froot Loop. -It might have been a cookie crumb. -It might have even been a piece of dried Play-Doh that was left on the rug over the weekend. -Please don't let it be a giant bug. -Tammy opens the door and lets the light from the back porch spill in. -What lies before her on the floor in a crushed pile of gooey bug guts and oddly colored slime, turns Tammy's stomach. -It was one of those giant flying cockroaches. -The ones that no one can get rid of. -The ones that would survive nuclear fallout. -The ones that live under your house, planning a coup de grace while you sleep. -THIS ONE never knew what hit him. -Which was good. -Tammy had ALMOST gone out with no shoes on. -Which was bad. Tammy has had the heebie jeebies ever since.

Lynne: If you are going to try to save that carpet, you have to get it up and start drying it fast! Pull the carpet up away from the walls. Put chairs or other furniture up underneath it to prop it up. Then get your fans UNDER this lifted up carpet. You will have to do sections at a time. We had a flood in Houston and through this process my husband saved our carpeting from the entire downstairs in our house (only to be told by State Farm in Texas that because the carpets were more than 5 years old it was a waste of our time and effort). He had a wet vac and sucked up as much water as he could before he pulled the carpet up and started drying. As far as the downspouts, ours shoots out to one of those concrete directions thingies that Lissa mentioned they slope away from the house and go to an area where DH has all these red volcanic rocks. I thought it was strange when he did it but it works. Best of luck to you