Tropical Storm Imelda winds down to her denouement, leaving us with one hell of a mess. State of your humble correspondent? Well, and grateful that we didn't catch the fourty plus inches of rain that appears to have come in south of Winnie. Or the thirty plus inches of rain they caught out toward Conroe and New Caney.

We got our share; about twelve to fifteen inches of rain where we are. So far, I think Beaumont seems to be having the worst time of it, in terms of houses flooded. Out toward Kingwood and Humble, they've had some houses hit. We just watched a piece on the local news about a family that just returned to their home three weeks ago, after being flooded in May.

Galveston is underwater, Lake Jackson and points south are catching the last remnants of the current go 'round. Things will heat up tomorrow, and then we'll have the thermal thundershower effect to pour a little salt on the wounds.

The way of it, September's our time here. When we get just the right kind of weakness and all the moisture in the Gulf surges to the beach. Imelda spun up and sucker punched us in record time.

And we all get to relearn the lessons. Don't get on the roads if you don't absolutely have to. That's a big one, but it's the hardest one to stick to.

I spent part of the afternoon wondering how I was going to get my little car to our daughter's school. The teenager's been driving our larger vehicle, the 4wd with a high center, while I've got my little runabout. She called, worried, not because the water was high enough to bother her or the vehicle she's driving, but because she was going to be leaving along with a bunch of other kids who've barely learned to drive. And the parking lot was ankle deep.

So I sat there, wondering whether I could make a Mini swim... and then I asked her just to wait a bit, let the parking lot clear. She did that and came through in flying colors. A small victory.

Stay safe out there, my friends, and let's get through the next few with a little smile and a lot of patience.