For several years my gutters were untested.
I didn’t have to check the bricks for wet.
The drains out front were never storm-congested.
But New Year’s weekend was the dampest yet.
They call the wave an atmospheric river.
The forecasters have managed to deliver
an accurate prediction for the storm,
and lucky I was home and dry and warm.

Elsewhere the weather wreaked fantastic flooding.
Some levees failed, and mudslides covered roads.
Municipalities bore overloads.
My only woe is ant invasion budding.
The tiny pests are breaching doors and cracks –
their scurries evidence minute attacks.