Yesterday we had a good "frog choking rain" in the middle of town. It did not rain so hard up in Briargate, but it was running almost a foot deep and a car width wide in the gutters near Memorial Park, where I was showing property. The photo above was from my cell phone, and does not really tell the story, but I could not get out to my car for a bit because it was so deep. Some of the side streets were several inches deep, as wide as the road! It is easy to forget how fast the rain can fall sometimes, especially during a dry summer like this one.

We were looking mainly at foreclosures, and I was surprised at a couple of them. For $70,000 they weren't so bad. One we saw I think had been a meth lab house, it smelled SO awful, and there little kids playing in the yard in the house right next door. My sinuses burned for hours afterward. I have not showed in this category for a long time, it was kind of a special situation, we'll see what they decide to do.

Speaking of water, I had to replace our water heater this week. The last one only lasted 9 years, and the one before it only 6. I asked the plumbers about such things, and they seem to think it is the cheaper steel they are using. I noticed it was a lot more expensive this time around, and the new one does not appear to have any features the old one didn't have. I ended up buying the unit at Home Depot, and having a plumber install it, total package $840 (including the required permit from Regional Building), which was $100 - $150 less than the phone quotes I was getting. Maybe next time we go tankless? I still see water heaters from some older homes lasting 15- 20 years, some things they just don't make like they used to.