How high is the water, Mother?

Besides our little trips for my mother, we have been busy bees here at home with the dreaded "water problems." Rains equaling more than five inches in 36 hours precipitated (what an appropriate word) some bad damage to an aging basement with a drain about 52 years old. My father had, all alone in 1958, dug the channel for the drainpipe by hand to a ditch about a quarter of a mile from the house (seven foot deep!!!). At the end of it, deep within the coziness of Mother Earth, giant maples had intertwined their roots, developing a mess for us! At last count, we have the cleanup from about two and a half foot of water, the water heater, the control board of the furnace/AC, and the blower from the furnace/AC, the plumbers, the ditch diggers (who had to dig well over forty feet to find the end and the clog because nobody knew except Daddy where the ditch actually "came out", and the hassle... And the DirecTV receiver decided to join in the fun and boycott working, so they're send a new one. Only the TV should be free. Everything else? To the moon, Alice... Calling the insurance man... Nope.. no extra coverage for drains, so it won't be covered. Oh, well... sorry to vent.. When I see other ruins in other towns, ours is nothing... and certainly nothing compared to the heartache of the oil spill and its toll on the Ocean, our Mother.... But it has been, as one of my dearest friends always says, "Interesting." Oh, yeah... Six feet high and risin'!!!!!