Saturday, August 14, 2010

Flood Watch

Place: ...and the wiener is...
Lunch: Coney dog, Italian Stallion dog, grape Crush

There is no shortage of hot dog joints in Wichita.  This place is a hole in the wall that sells pop in cans which you retrieve from the fridge yourself.  They have 45 specialty dogs.  This includes a $10 dog called "The Widowmaker", which is topped with chili, mac and cheese (instant box mac and cheese, no less), steak meat, grilled mushrooms, grilled onions, little Smokies, a fried egg, barbecue sauce, cheddar, and provolone.  Rumor has it there's a hot dog in there somewhere too.  They have a Reuben dog, a Thai dog, a S'Mores dog, a PB&J dog...you get the idea.

The Coney is perfectly dressed in chili, mustard, and onion.  The Italian Stallion has pizza sauce, mushrooms, onions, and either mozzarella or provolone.  The dogs themselves appear to be the same ones QuikTrip uses.  I guess it's not the wiener, but what you do with it.

Begging Snoopy's pardon...it was a dark and stormy night.  Monday and Tuesday nights were full of pounding thunder, lightning, and rain rain rain.  It was hard to sleep through, especially when the cat who tends to curl up against me kept jumping at every good thunder clap.  Rain totals have been insane...three to five inches of rain fell across the metro per night.  Glad I don't have a basement.

With no room to give, areas around manhole covers and sewer grates had standing water through the following days.  Even with the heat index above 100, none of the water could evaporate because the air is so humid to begin with.  Flooding was a big issue in some areas, particularly in Ames.  Hilton Coliseum, home of the Iowa State Cyclones basketball teams and many concerts I've been to, had several feet of water inside.

A really snowy winter, a really wet summer...you'd think a break in this pattern would be coming eventually, right?

Ironically, they're complaining of the LACK of rain down here.

I can't believe August is half over.  I guess time flies when your work projects are many. 

Come to think of it, I was supposed to go home this week.

Not so much.

Oh well. Maybe next year.