When the Forecast Runs Your Week

It started Thursday when I checked the forecast and saw 32mm coming our way over the weekend. I know that number now the way I know Eli's school pickup time. It's the number where I start thinking about gutters.

We had a decent dry window on Friday, so I got over to the Saint Paul rental and cleared the gutters and downspouts before everything opened up. There's always winter debris packed in there, the kind that looks fine until you pour a week's worth of April rain on it and suddenly you have water sheeting over the edge and pooling against the foundation. I've learned that one the hard way. Mark did a pass on the Minneapolis gutters the same day while I was in Saint Paul. We're a good team when the radar is motivating us.

By Sunday it was really coming down. I did the basement check at our house and found nothing, which is honestly the best possible outcome. You go down there half-expecting something soggy and instead it's just... dry concrete and the hum of the dehumidifier. I'll take it. Did the same check Monday morning after a second round of rain. Still dry. I logged both as complete and felt like a genuinely competent homeowner for approximately four minutes.

While I was in the sensory room earlier in the week doing a spring safety check, I noticed some of the wall padding had worked its way loose in one corner. Nothing dramatic, just the velcro losing its grip after a winter of Eli leaning into it the way he does. I reattached it with fresh strips. Took maybe ten minutes. The anchor points on the swing were fine.

The whole thing is pretty unglamorous, honestly. Check the gutters, check the basement, check the padding. But there's something satisfying about doing it in the right order, before the problem, instead of after. epBode keeps the checklist so I don't have to hold it in my head. The rain comes, I already know what to do.

We ran the smoke detector test on Sunday too, because we were stuck inside anyway and Eli thought it was very important that he be the one to press the button. He was right. It was very important.