Flood

The fun just keeps on coming. After having record snowfalls, the pineapple express (warm winds) came in and started to melt it all. Then the rains came. When I woke up Wednesday, as soon as it was light, I looked out the windows of the house to see water all around. It was like being back on a boat. But I was in my living room. I wasn't too freaked out until I realized that the water was on all 4 sides. We've had it on 3 sides before, but not 4.

The small river that flows across the very back of our backyard, had breached it's banks north of us, flooding a field that abutts our property to the north. The water became another branch of the river, flowing across and filling our yard, and dumping into a stream that lead it back to the river. It's the worst flood this river has seen in 25 years.

After a series of steps that ended with our having a load of sand in the driveway, lots of empty bags, a crew of people filling the bags and placing them around the house, and a pump standing by to pump water out from under the house, 12 hours and lots of sweat equity later, we had the house surrounded by sandbags and the pump doing it's thing to keep our floor dry. We were very fortunate that even though our crawl space was quite full of water, our floor stayed dry.

And today, two days later, the river waters have receded so that all that is left is a small stream flowing across the back yard. As fast as this river rose, it has gone back down. There are big puddles around the yard, but things are getting back to lawn with reasonable speed. I think we have about 65% of the lawn visible now.

Carson was a true champ- following after his Dad. He wanted to help out in the worst way. I was able to put him to work doing things like taking coffee orders for the folks who were filling the sandbags. But after a while, when he was given a small shovel, he dug in and was filling sandbags as well. Jim was a machine, plain and simple. He and I worked wonderfully together to round up everything we needed. And then he was the muscle putting the bags around the house. Because of the herniated disc in my back, I couldn't lift a sand bag, but I kept coffee and hot soup flowing.

It was truly a team and community effort that kept us from flooding inside the house. For all the help we are eternally greatful. Pictures will be posted when I get a chance.