Orage !

Well, at just about 7:00 this morning the thunder started, then it got darker than it had been at 6:30. We started to see lightning and it began to pour. It's the hardest rain that we've seen in quite some time. The satellite tv went out. We turned off the computers (I'm doing this on a laptop).

Then the kitchen ceiling started to leak. The water was coming in right over the microwave and the spot where we have a pretty big power transformer plugged in for our American appliances. Big panic to unplug everything and get towels out to soak up the water. I went up into the attic and, sure enough, there's a spot where the one valley in the roof line meets the eaves that's leaking. There's no puddle up there, just a damp spot, so the leak must be internal to the structure. Great. The only good thing is that we hadn't gotten around to painting the kitchen yet. Phew.

It must have something to do with the direction and intensity of the rain, because this is the first leak we've had in the 4 years that we've owned the house, even though we've had two or three gully-washers in that time. Now we will have to call a roofer and the insurance company to figure this all out.

Callie is freaked out by the big claps of thunder and has taken refuge at my feet.

So, no photos today, since I'm not turning on the big computer for a while and I hadn't prepared a post yet for today. See you tomorrow - lord willin' and the creek don't rise !

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UPDATE: 8:55 am - The storm has passed. I went back up in the attic about a half-hour ago during a particularly hard downpour and noticed that there was a small debris dam in the roof valley where the tiles meet the metal valley liner (I can see all this from inside because the roof is simply terracotta tiles nailed on wooden strips - no sheathing, no moisture barrier or membrane, and only the attic floor is insulated, not the roof). Water had backed up in the metal liner and was spilling out and running down the wooden rafter. I cleared the dam as best I could ; the water drained out and the leaking stopped. But so did the storm. Still, the roofer must be called.

As Roseanne Roseannadanna's father used to say : It's always something. If it's not one thing, it's another.