The Old Man is Snoring

It's been raining since Tuesday...it rained and rained and rained and this caused a lot of flooding out here in the swamp. So much so that people were actually traveling around by boat. This was not just a spat of rain, it was a torrential downpour augmented by massive jolts of electricity and tornadoes. "Cats and Dogs" did not describe this rain, "Lions and Wolves" didn't even cut it.

It was funny. Tuesday afternoon, when my parents and I stood in our driveway and stared at the black cloud of death that hovered in the distance, coming closer as the seconds passed; my father said: It's only going to rain for, like, 5 minutes...it's not going to rain forever.

It rained 5 minutes. It rained the rest of Tuesday, all through the night...and continued raining until today...although we're still expected to get showers.

Now, if you've read this blog before, you might ask: But this is so unlike you, why are you telling this story?

I'll tell you why.

As I said before, all of this rain caused a lot of flooding. When an area floods, things from below tend to float up. Correct? Well, not only is there and abundance of septic tanks, but also a poorly crafted sewer system. When these areas flood...reader...what do YOU think comes up into the water?

That's right, the flood water is no better than a wet port-o-potty.

Do you know what most of the children and a lot of the teenagers and many of the young adults here happen to do when there is a flood?

THEY PLAY IN THE FUCKING WATER!

I can understand the children; clearly, there's no one paying enough attention and they don't know any better. I can even go so far as to say I understand the teenagers who probably weren't listening if they WERE told. (Being 18 and therefore still, technically, a teenager...I am aware of my capacity to not listen XD)

Here's my problem. I have a friend who just happens to be 22 years old, she's lived here her entire life and she STILL PLAYS IN THE GODDAMN FLOOD WATER! The scarier part is that when she was doing this, one of her friends was doing it with her and he caught...SCABIES *shudder*

Do you have any idea how horrifying the IDEA of scabies is? It's fucking MANGE! People are out there catching MANGE because they want to play in disgusting flood water.

If you don't know, scabies is a skin infection that occurs when tiny mites burrow into your skin. They leave little "s" shaped tracks in your skin as they move around and they create BURROWS.

Here's a mite:

Pretty goddamn scary isn't it? Think about that disgusting thing and ALL of his family members just a crawlin' away under your skin...AND you can see them just havin' a ball!

Now, my 22-year-old friend...(after having played in the flood water and after seeing her friend catch this awful...terrible...mortifying infection; AND, after knowing that it's quite a common thing to happen to people playing in the flood water)...well, she had only one thing to say about the whole situation:

"There's nothing wrong with it, I've been playing in the flood water my whole life!"

Which, in and of itself, is a statement that proves...beyond a reasonable doubt, no less...that all of the sun and humidity here in Florida is ACTUALLY frying important brain cells.

On a final note:
If the scabies were not frightening enough to make you stay out of the flood water, surely the possibility that an alligator would come and take you as it's dinner would make you stop right? Reader?