NOOOOOO!

If you remember, in September we had some heavy rainfall and our basement flooded.  After around $4,000 in repairs, it's back in a livable condition (Thanks insurance!).  Then came the snow and freeze.  Christmas morning we had 10 inches of snow on the ground and had about 7 days of a hard freeze (Some of them didn't get above zero).  Yesterday it started to rain and the temp climbed.  By the evening it was 47 degrees and the snow was melting rapidly.
Now for the fun.  A couple of years ago we installed a French Drain coming off of the down spout. 

It emptied into the alley behind us.  Well, somehow the downspout became dislodged from the drain and most of the water was going to the foundation.  Bdog noticed a puddle on the floor in the basement around 10:00 pm.  I took a look around outside and saw the disconnect.  Problem is that the connector didn't allow for a smooth connection so even after playing with it about half of the water missed the drain.  I finally ended up cutting another 2 feet of downspout and stuck it farther into the drain so the water had no choice but to go in.
Then I needed to clean up the large puddle of water next to the foundation so it didn't seep inside.  Out came the Wet Vac, which I'm sure the neighbors loved hearing at 11:00 pm, to clean up the mess.
Problem solved?  Not quite.  We had thunderstorms over night (I know...It is winter) and a heck of a lot more rain.  About .53 inches according to my gauge.  We have a gutter that runs the length of the house in back ending in the downspout that connects to the drain.  It seems there was a leaf jam in the gutter because the water was falling over the edge and not going down the drain.  What a mess and of course there was another (Larger) puddle against the house draining into the basement. 
So the missus and I went to Home Depot first thing to get an extension ladder.  We didn't clean the leaves this fall because I couldn't find a ladder to borrow and wasn't about to purchase one for use once a year.  Guess what?  we bought one...
By this time it was driving rain when I was tying the ladder on to the Outlander.  It made for a sopping mess.  But, we got it home without the ladder falling off and not too many drivers annoyed at me for going the speed limit.  :-)
Bdog came out to hold the ladder in the rain while I climbed up to dislodge the leaves.  20 minutes later and the water was flowing freely down the downspout.  Bdog and I Wet Vac'd the foundation again and things looked better.
End of the story?  I hope so!  To find the silver lining though, there were a few instances where the Lord showed He is good even in stressful times like these.
First, when restoring the basement from the fall flooding, we chose to paint the concrete floor rather than re-carpet.   We would of had a huge mess if we had carpeting.  Second, we were playing games downstairs and Bdog just happened to put his foot in the water.  If he hadn't done that, we wouldn't have discovered it when we did and could of had a lot more water in the basement.  And lastly?  The ladder we bought was on sale for $115, normally $209.  What a blessing!  :-)
BTW - Another 1-3 inches of RAIN is predicted for this afternoon.  Stay tuned...