Blog Update June 11, 2008

Tags -- Blog Update

Water is every freaking where. I am sick of water. Cindy suggested we go for a swim tonight. I asked if she was freaking stupid without thinking.. We are all freaked out watching the media repeat the same crap over and over but not really telling the story.

We don’t expect to crest (reach the highest point) until next week at the earliest. Stubby took us upstream on his boat, older then I am and maybe Pops, to show why the old people were so worried.

To Read the rest click
here->

Many of the streams that we normally ‘jump’ over when hiking are 10 feet wide and running very fast cutting new channels and screwing up the river channel.

Stubby called someone from the corps and he was there in twenty minutes and called a buoy crew and a dredge barge immediately. He asked if Stubby could go up another 20 miles but Stubby refused with us greenies on board. The corps man understood and offered to give us a ride back.

So instead of a leisurely ride on the river we found out just how bad things are probably going to get.

Several people Pops know went through a levee break early this morning on the other side of the state. The care taker at the big house put a large capacity water pump in the crawl space at the big house. He borrowed it from the stone quarry that can not work because their roads are flooded.

The pump’s first section of the trip was on a three wheeler, the second stage on a boat, the third stage on a 4-wheeler to the edge of a field and the last stage in the bucket of our caretaker’s end loader.

Pops and Dani can not get home right now. The rest of us are either on the tenth floor in hotel suites or a few are still at the cabin but have a way out if needed.

William, Jeni and Stubby are all at the cabin - actually an out building on very high ground. Stubby found out today he needs surgery. He said he’d let Moms do it before the Doctor he talked with today would touch him. He won’t tell us nor let William or Jeni tell us exactly what his problem is until he talks with Moms and Pops.

Dani was suppose to call and give me an update on Grannie but never did. Captain was in bed all day – said the shitty food here poisoned him (but the rest of us are fine).

Annie and Cindy walked to work and now Annie wants to find an apartment or condo or penthouse to rent or buy – they both says it’s the big city girl in them.

Cindy ruined a pair of hose getting dressed this morning and none of us had the right color. I reminded her she could go a half block out of her way to get them. She left early and came back with hot low fat muffins, fresh jam and preserves, orange juice, fruit and several different flavors of coffee. It was great.

Cheese called and wanted to know where to dump the sand Pops wanted. Sand? Then he explained about sandbags. I figured Pops would want it on high ground but I called Stubby and he talked to Cheese. They dumped it in the driveway so that everyone that needs it can get it.

Jeni told me about ten people were there within an hour filling bags and using them to ‘protect’ the rest of the sand. Another guy loaded his flat bed and took off to the little town upstream to distribute to whoever wanted them.

Cheese says they have done it this way for many years. Cheese keeps bringing sand as long as they need it. When it is over the bags all come back empty and Cheese hauls away the unused sand.

He told me to move the family back home – it’s going to be a month before things return to normal and that’s if we don’t get any more rain. Yeah right.

Pops left me mail tonight to keep the suites reserved for at least another two weeks and then we would decide.

So water every where. We are sitting waiting for the end. I’m sitting looking out the windows down at the river. It looks so peaceful then I see something flash on the TV and it’s a river house splitting in two and falling into the water. One of the buildings in the background on one of the tapes looks a lot like the boat house.

And I remember the new channel a normally small little stream was cutting with a maddening roar and violent water.

The other night I was worried about a tornado – Captain told me to watch for high water. It was a lot worse. I get it now.