Time to Build an Ark

Our summer monsoon season is in full swing now. This afternoon we had torrential rains for over an hour -- the most I've seen in several years. This was the first big rain since I moved into my house and I ended up with a bit of a flood in my backyard. Thank goodness I had a "rock river" built into my landscaping that helped to store some of the water.

The chair to the upper left saved my 8 ft tall cactus, which would have fallen over otherwise. Now I have to figure out how to get it back upright without getting stabbed, or worse, breaking off its arms.

I had to dig a small trench to help drain the water. My yard is graded correctly; however, the common area on the other side of fence has some high spots, which kept the water in my yard. On the positive side, all of this rain brought down the temperature, which is currently 77 degrees. Downright cold for 9:22 pm in summer.