FAQ's

Our Top 5 FAQ's

1.  Is the water going down?
Yes, it is definitely going down.  Still lots of water, and TONS of mud to dry out, but the water is no longer pressing on the levee to the west of us, so I'd say the danger of our home flooding is gone. These photos (of the same irrigation pivot) were taken about 2 miles west of us, the top one from June, the bottom from last week, just to give you an indication of what's going on:

 Also, this photo from the same area--notice the silt that had to be bladed off of the road and now sits piled on both sides:

2. Did they ever find that State Trooper?
Not yet. We have noticed increased "State Trooper Traffic" by our house this week. The newspaper today said divers were back in the water looking for him, but no luck as of yet. Here's a news video on what's going on this week regarding the search:
http://stjoechannel.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=227877


3.  Do you have water yet? (Meaning, is your water line fixed?)
Nope. And that situation is complicated by two factors. #1) Where our line is washed away is here:

Sorry, the photo is bad. But see where the highway quits? There's a hole that is 200 feet wide, 600 feet long, and 45 feet deep. THAT is where the water line  is went. And bridging that gap, even with a temporary line, isn't going to be easy. #2) This is ALSO the location they are searching for Trooper Guthrie. I haven't received official word on this, but I would imagine (and hope) they need to make sure he is not in this location before the highway department will come in and start to repair the road, and then the water line can be fixed. So it's going to be a while yet, but if that means they find Trooper Guthrie's body, then that's ok.

But I do hope it doesn't start freezing outside....not sure what that will do to our tank and the lines running from it into the garage and house.


4.  When will the road be fixed?
Well, that depends on which road you're asking about, and how you define "fixed". If you're talking the road pictured above, I have no idea. If you're talking about Hwy 159 to Rulo, apparently it is passable but not open to the public. You have to have serious railroad "connections" to get thru on it as of yet. We have heard rumors that it might be ready for local traffic only by Thanksgiving, although "fixed" at that point will be gravel. Actual paving and truly "fixed" won't happen until next spring/summer.

If you're talking I-29, particularly once you get into Iowa, we've been hearing it won't be operational (and barely at that) for many months yet.  Like the end of the year. Or later. But don't quote me on that.


5.  How much did you lose?
That is a tricky question. And the guys haven't exactly told me (I think on purpose.) As far as crops go, we lost a lot. Here's one of many fields that bit the dust in a month's time:

And yes, insurance will cover some of it, to some point, but insurance is a sticky business, too. Claims never really cover everything that should be covered, plus claims affect future premiums. So yeah, there's the whole money issue, but when I sat down here to think about what we really lost this summer, we lost more than money.

We lost our summer. We lost the stress-free days of summer where you can actually enjoy a refreshing summer rain. Where you can sit down on a blanket in the yard and listen to the locusts without being pummeled by humming-bird sized mosquitoes.

We lost time with friends. You simply can't do much entertaining when you're home is either packed up in a semi trailer in your yard, or packed into a gazillion boxes piled in various rooms. And although that might sound like a really interesting dinner party to some of you, between that and the skunks we didn't want to redefine the term "entertaining company."

We lost family fun.  When you have to haul your water in with a tank, the Slip-n-Slide is pretty much out. And  Daddy is always doing something flood-related, and Mommy is unpacking boxes.

We lost our garden. And although that also meant we didn't have to slave over it, our garden is something we do together as a family. It is a way that we can bless others by giving away the things we raise. And it is a way the kids can learn about responsibility, work, and earning money by selling our produce, particularly pumpkins. Not to mention the fact that canned tomatoes and canned green beans were NOT added to our pantry this year, like they normally are. I guess we'll be buying those this year...unless FEMA shows up with a big truck of them for us.  Yeah, I know, don't hold my breath.

We lost trees in our yard. The water table was so high the trees in our yard started to die. Some of these trees are part of our windbreak. And ya know, it is kinda important for a windbreak to be a solid line of trees, so now we look at it and ask, "What's a person to do with THIS?" Some of the trees were ones we paid big $$ for. Some of the trees were apple trees the kids planted a couple of years ago so they would have apples to enjoy picking, eating, and selling. Will there be time for new ones now before they leave home?  

Funny thing, I don't remember seeing any of these categories on that claim form from FEMA.

But let me tell you about the things we did NOT lose.

We did not lose a life. And at least one did.

We did not lose our home. And so many of our neighbors did.

We did not lose ALL of our crops. We know several that did.

We did not lose our friends or family.

And we certainly did not lose our faith. Because we know that although God sometimes allows things in our lives that are not pleasant, He also promises to be there with us and for us through those circumstances. And that our job is not to ask why or gripe and complain, our job is to allow the circumstances to refine our character, to increase our dependence on Him, and help us gain a new and valuable perspective that never would have occurred otherwise. Our job is to minister to others, in spite of our struggles, so that we might show those around us what it means to really LIVE what we believe.

So yes, we lost a lot, but we gained a lot, too. And although I'm thankful for what we gained, I'm still hoping for a nice, quiet, completely uneventful year next year. Wishful thinking?? Yeah, probably so.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011 :: Floating Down the River

There was a meeting today in Mound City where the Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, and MoDOT gave an update and information to the public. These are my thoughts from that meeting.

There's nothing like watching your livelihood float down the river. Don't get me wrong, we are going to be fine. Not great, but fine. And honestly, in the grand scheme of things, I'm ok with fine. There are a lot of people in this world who hope and PRAY for fine. So I'm certainly not complaining.

But there are still things that kinda irritate me. Such as....

• No real plan in place to even try to make sure that this doesn't happen again next year. Add to that the fact that they KNOW not all of the levees will be fixed in time for Spring, and they EXPECT the season to be wet again next year. Sounds hopeful, doesn't it?
• That we have allowed this country to get to the point where we value wildlife MORE THAN people and their "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Want to know why we can't get more money to fix our levees? Because it would jeopardize the Endangered Species Act. That's a long story and I know I'm leaving out about 9/10 of it, but when you go down the path of "where are we going to get the money needed to repair all of these levees?", you end up with "Sorry, you can't take that because you'll jeopardize the Endangered Species Act." YES, I'm serious. And we let it get this way. (If you want to see what's coming down the pipe next, check out this article. It will make you sick, or at least it should.) 
• That questioning what happened this year, what caused this, is always interpreted as an attempt to assign blame. Isn't it true that if we don't figure out what happened, we are bound to repeat it?? So when we're told, "You must focus on the future.", if we're wise, shouldn't that include an examination of the past and what caused this in the first place? I know, I know, the excess rain and snow up north from this year caused this. And I would agree with that to some extent. But have we not learned anything from this experience? Can we not do anything better?? We certainly won't  if we adamantly refuse to examine the past. 
• Newscasters who don't have a clue what they've come to cover. I mean seriously. I had one news channel guy asking me where all the flooding was? (Like he was surprised downtown Mound City wasn't under water.) Was anyone in Mound City impacted? When I told him a lot of the damage was over at Big Lake, he asked me where that was and how far it was from Mound City. I might as well have told him it was flooding on the moon.
• Children who had a hard time being quiet during the meeting. Oh wait, those were mine. If you were at the meeting and those children in the back were annoying you, SORRY!  If it's any consolation, they were annoying me, too. And we are working on the problem.  (And unlike the above, our solutions do NOT impact the Endangered Species Act...at least to my knowledge, but I'm not going to investigate that issue because you never know.)  

So what did I think of the meeting? It was pretty much what I expected. Plenty of people saying they will come and "assist me" as we "recover", but not a lot of effort to ensure this does not happen again. And I know, there's no way to ensure that. But I don't need someone to hold my hand now, I need to NOT GO THRU THIS AGAIN.

Friday, September 2 :: Skunk #6

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...photos of skunk #6!  If you're new to my blog, you might not remember skunks #1 and #2 under the bushes, #3 and #4 that died of...well, let's just say they just died so as not to incriminate myself....,  skunk #5 welcomed us home from vacation, and then there was the illusive skunk in the drain pipe. And before they all died, one did go off in our crawl space   . Oh yeah, it's been a fun summer.

After 4 skunks had been taken care of, I always thought there was one more. But I did NOT think there was yet another after that. And to be honest, I'm not 100% sure this is a skunk. What do you think?

I'm pretty sure it is was a skunk. I will NOT be around when Dustin hauls it off to make sure.

This lovely creature was found under my lilac bushes....about 3 feet from the corner of the house. This also may have contributed to the dead animal smell that plagued our house when we returned from vacation. Ya think??

And although I'm sure examining the bones and what's left of the rest of it would make a fascinatingly educational experience for my children (and I could count it in their homeschool log books), I think we'll just let this little critter find it's merry way to the edge of the bean field.... Ewww.

So there you have it. Skunk #6. I am now taking bets for how many dead skunks will be found in our yard before the end of the year. I'm hoping for 6, but I'm certainly not holding my breath.

I also have been reading that some elected officials are stating that now is not a good time to ask Washington for money to help repair the damage that has been done in preparation for next year. They simply don't have the funds right now.

That's ok, as long as THAT gets to be MY answer when it comes time to pay my taxes this next year. Fair enough?

Lastly, apparently the railroad is done working on the line south of Big Lake and will start running trains across it sometime tomorrow. Here's an article about it, and here's a video to see part of it.



Ah, yes, $300 million at work. Honestly, if they had $300 million to spend, why didn't they help build the new levee this spring and help beef-up the rest of them around here so potentially none of this would have happened in the first place? I've heard that the railroad scratches no one's back but their own.

I wonder if they've ever read the fable of the Lion and the Mouse?  Apparently not.

Thursday, September 1, 2011 :: I Love Insurance Companies

So, you all may remember that the flood insurance we bought on June 4 was declared invalid for this flood on June 6 by FEMA. Apparently we're covered for any other flood other than this Missouri River Basin flood. So I guess if my toilets overflow or my leaking hot water heater really starts to make a mess, we'll be good. (Hot water heater is fixed now, by the way.)

Anyway, today I decided not having to deal with yet another insurance entity might not be such a bad thing. Why? I'm so glad you asked.

My Dr.'s Office called today saying a claim they sent in for Clayton's visit back in February for his Kindergarten shots was denied. Being a homeschooler and all, I figured it was because we didn't actually get his Kindergarten shots until February of his Kindergarten year. Nope. The reason is because they had his birth year recorded as 1904. And apparently they didn't think someone who was 106 needed Kindergarten immunizations. Go figure.

And then I got to spend an hour on the phone with them (mostly on hold) getting it all straightened out. And to be fair, they were very congenial and the problem was resolved quickly....once I got to speak to a real person.

It did make me really thankful, once again, that we did not have any water damage to our house which would have forced us to press the issue with the flood insurance people.

In flood-related news, FEMA was at our house Sunday recording the damage to our foundation and looking at our rigged-up water system since we lost water about 6 weeks ago. If you remember, our water line goes went along the highway over where the Trooper disappeared....you know, where there's a 40-50 foot crater now? I have no doubt that water line is long gone. Anyway, a FEMA guy sent in the report of our damages and loss of utilities (water) on Monday morning.

On Tuesday, a gal from FEMA called and wondered if water had been restored to our residence yet. I was speechless. I didn't know whether to laugh, or cry, or hang up on her. I kindly told her, "no."

She asked if I thought it would be fixed anytime soon.

I wished I could have sent her this picture:

"Ma'am, this is where our water line is  was. I don't believe they'll be fixing it anytime soon."

Speaking of not fixed anytime soon, how about these pictures of the interstate up by Council Bluffs....

Yikes. And to think these were the last to be covered by water and the first to be uncovered.

Can't wait to see what else is under all of this water.

Wednesday, August 31 :: I Know You've Missed Me!

Ok, ok. I hear you already. You're wondering if I'm EVER going to post again. Yes, I know it's been a while. Sorry. Things just pretty much look the same around here, so I didn't figure you all wanted to see more of the same old thing. I know I don't want to see more of the same old thing around here!


But the water is starting to go down, so there are a few new things to post, and hopefully that will continue (both accounts) from now on!

First, the most common question I get now is, "Did they ever find that Trooper?"

No, they did not, although they do believe he is still in that 50 foot cavern under the highway. They told the family they are just going to have to wait until the water is gone and then recover the body. Assuming it is still there. The family is really hurting, so please send up a prayer or two for them.

I said the water is going down. Yes, that is a great thing! But don't misunderstand--there's still a LOT of water left. Case and point:

 Won't this be a fun mess to clean up when it's all over with.

And lastly, look here--Walmart sprung up in my back yard!

Ok, not Walmart. The guys are building a new shop just west of our house. It is nice, amid all of the destruction and inconveniences of the flood, to see something beneficial going on.

More coming soon, INCLUDING a picture of skunk #6!! (Yes, you read correctly! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??  Yes, I bet you can!)

Sunday, August 14, 2011 :: Skunk #5 Welcome's Us Home

You know, I always suspected there was one more skunk. And when we took off for a week's vacation in Branson last Sunday, and Dustin said it kinda smelled like a dead animal in the crawl space when he closed the doors, I wondered what we would come home to.

Well, this is what we came home to....hello skunk #5 (or what was left of skunk #5):

Yes, that's right, it is dead, floating in water in our crawl space.

And goodbye skunk #5:

Seriously, that was disgusting. And the whole house still smells like dead animal skunk.

And you would think that would be enough drama for us to come home to, right??? RIGHT???

Of course not.

Remember that room that had water all over the floor when we put our "new water system" in? Well, our hot water heater is in that little room, too. And today, of all days, upon arriving home and turning the water system back on, it decided to spring a leak and continuously pour water all over the floor. "What caused that?" you ask?? I have no idea. It is less than 10 years old.

I have to tell you, I wasn't even surprised. I just went and got the Little Green Machine and started sucking up water. Two buckets full.


And it just kept coming. So, of course you would think, "Just turn the water valve off to the hot water heater." Oh yes, it should be that simple, shouldn't it. But not here, in twilight zone world. No, the only way to shut the water off to the hot water heater is to shut the water off to the whole house.

And our plumber would have had one in stock, but for some reason that didn't make sense to me and doesn't really matter, he doesn't. So, I guess we're living without water, once again. 


But here's the best part. Realizing we couldn't have water draining out of the hot water heater onto that floor anymore (we're starting to fear the floor might cave in at some point....), Dustin takes a drill in there and drills a hole through the floor. So the water can drain into the crawl space. (which is full of water anyway) And as he puts the drill away, he comments, "There are advantages to living in an old house--when the water starts to pour out on the floor, you just drill a hole."

So either we've officially gone crazy, or we've learned the lesson of just dealing with a crisis rather than reacting to it.

Speaking of crisis', (and one that is bigger than skunks and hot water heaters) they apparently have not found the State Trooper that disappeared here nearly 2 weeks ago. The search has been scaled back significantly, although as of tonight, it was still ongoing. We've heard the Red Cross and the Mobile Command Unit will be leaving soon. I hope they find him, at least so the family can have some sort of closure.

Jamie and/or Rick Barnes posted another video of the Railroad work going on. It is interesting, especially when you think they have raised the actual highway in order to accomplish the work they are doing on the rails. (The highway would have been under water most, if not all, of this way.) Of course I wonder what one does with that partially one lane highway once the water recedes. As if the state department didn't have their work cut out for them already...

Here's the video:


On the bright side, we had a fantastic vacation. It was so nice to get away and just spend some relaxing time not dealing with anything but what fun thing to do next. No hip-waders, no boxes to unpack, no SKUNKS, no check points, just fun. Of course, we live surrounded by water, and where did we spend most of our time on vacation?? Yes, IN WATER.

August 5, 2011 :: Quick Update and a Funny Story

It is raining a little here today. Search efforts for Trooper Fred Guthrie are still ongoing--I can hear an air-boat when I go outside.

I posted this on facebook, but thought I'd re-post here--the video below was taken in June, but this is the area they believe Fred disappeared from and are searching in. Most people cannot imagine how much water there is, so hopefully this will help you all understand. The water also extends for miles in every direction of where the video was taken. This is a 360 degree view, and about half-way thru, you can see the current rolling over the highway.


I've also read people are tying blue ribbons around their trees to show support for Trooper Guthrie and the search efforts for him. Of course I didn't have any wide blue ribbon, but I did have wide blue strapping, so I tied that around our tree. From a distance, you can't tell it isn't ribbon...don't tell!

The water situation remains the same, although some of the very last areas to flood are draining away a little. I imagine that is due to the lack of rain and the slightly lower release level from Gavin's Point.

Our indoor water situation remains the same. We can go a little over a week on one tank, and then it has to be hauled into town, refilled, hauled back out here, and re-hooked up. Makes a person thankful for the times you just throw on your water, and out it comes.

Having realized very recently that we can now put my 4-year-old's hair in a pony tail, it reminded me of a funny story. I always love a funny story, and since there seems to be a lack of funny things going on around here right now, I decided to point you all over to my personal blog (where I use code names for my children...yeah, probably should have on this blog, too...), to a "situation" that occurred about a year and a half ago. It is the most non-life-threatening-yet-ultra-dramatic....maybe ultra-traumatic....thing that's ever happened to me. Some of you read this post way-back-when, but for those who haven't, or those who just want to laugh until they cry again, here you go:

Why Moms Get Gray Hair

Enjoy! And have a great weekend!

August 1, 2011 :: More from our neck of the woods...

Well, if you have heard about the missing Missouri State Trooper, that is unfolding just about in our back yard. Ok, so not in our back yard, but very very close to us.
Click here to watch the newscast about it.

This newscast was recorded 1/4 mile to the east of our house. In fact, my brother emailed me tonight and said, "We're watching the news and the news guy is right by your house."  Yep, that's true.


The truck and boat was found 2 miles on the other side (west) of our house, down at what we call Newburg's corner. Remember this photo?

That's where the trooper disappeared from.

And although I've checked twice to make sure all of our doors are locked tonight, we're probably the safest we've ever been with 30 State Troopers driving back and forth.

I hope the guy is fine. Even if he just fell in the water, the current down at that corner is massive. Seriously, please join me in praying for him.

It's now midnight and the patrol cars are still driving by like crazy.

Friday, July 29, 2011 :: Who started this rumor??

People have been telling me, "Looks like the water is receding." Which makes me want to stop and look around and go, "Really?? Because I hadn't noticed a whole lot of that."

Now, to be fair, yes, the water level has went down a little. But honestly, that's like saying an inch of water evaporated out of an olympic sized swimming pool. To prove my point, I took some photos today... (click on any of them to see them larger)

Here's the panoramic view from the top of the levee a mile west of us.

This is a mile west of our house, on the west side of the west levee. You can see the water is starting to eat the side of the levee away. Although it would have to eat quite a bit to break all the way through, you never like to see your levees doing this.

Continue on down the road about another mile and our neighbor's NObama sign has literally floated down the river. Sorry Kelsey. You know I would have saved it for you if I could have.

Continue west about another half a mile and the highway has completely washed out, indicated by the roaring rapids through here.

Also, this pivot is in serious trouble as it appears the ground underneath it has started to wash away. We are wondering if the other end of this pivot has washed up against the poles down there and toppled them over, along with the lines. When I was down there, I thought it had, but I can't seem to prove it from any of my photos.

This one (also down that direction) is one of our neighbors' homes. It looks as though all of his bushes are going to die around his house. That just stinks, ya know? And I know he's already lost a couple of trees, too. You can buy new possessions, but you can't just go out and buy a new 30 foot tall tree or established bushes.

Come back to our house and head south about a quarter mile, and this is what you will see. Actually, we do own this field (and for as far as you can see), and although it looks like dead stalks laying on the ground in the foreground, it is in fact a mat of dead stalks floating in about a foot or two of water.

Continue south of us about another mile and you will find this:

And this--we own this field, too, what is to the right of the gravel road...you know, the gravel road you can't see because it is covered with water.

Now, if you come back and travel straight east of us about a mile, you will see these fields. Again, anything brown is dead corn standing in water.

...and this...

Go back to our house, and here's what's going on there...
First, the deer are feasting on our poor little apple trees, or at least the bottom half of them. We have four of these trees--I hope they survive...and if I catch any deer out there munching away...well, let's just say it won't be pretty.

In other "wildlife" news, apparently massive hoards of flies accompany floodwater or something. I've resorted to hanging fly-strips in the garage....and if I could remember where I put the rest of the box of fly-strips, I would hang a couple in my kitchen. So if you come visit me, don't judge me for the nasty fly-strips hanging in my kitchen....or the couch and deep-freeze out on the front porch. KIDDING. Just kidding, people. (...about the couch and deep-freeze, not about the fly-strips in my kitchen)

But speaking of my deep-freeze, the guys moved it from town back into the garage today. YEAH! (I can't tell you how inconvenient it is to drive to town just to get into your deep freeze.) I did take the "opportunity" to defrost it and get it all organized and sorted through...even if it doesn't look like it from this photo....

 And last but not least, although I am making progress on the unloading of boxes part, the sunroom still looks like this. <sigh> At least the boxes are sorted out into rows, with each row containing items that go in a certain place in the house. So if I'm looking for a book that went on the tall bookcase in the school room, I at least know where to start looking.

So, what do you think? Is the water receding? Maybe, but not enough. And it does sound like the Corps has a schedule to start reducing releases, but that won't start for a while yet. But I'll save that tasty bit of information for another time. All I'll post right now is this quote from the Corps' facebook page, "Eventually, this steady drawdown from the reservoirs, and respective floodplains, will bring water levels low enough for contractors (weather and funding permitting) to begin repairs as early as Dec. 1." (emphasis mine)


Wow, Dec. 1. And don't you love how they make it sound like such good news. More on that another time. 

Thursday, July 21, 2011 :: How To Get Water When You Have No Water

Simple. Follow these easy steps...

Get yourself a 1500 gallon poly-tank and a trailer and fill it full of water. (the tank...not the trailer)

Fix yourself up all manner of fittings and valves coming out of said water tank so that the water goes into a pressure tank. 

Then run pressurized water line out of pressure tank, thru the doggie door into the garage... 

...through the garage into a hydrant in the wall of the garage...ok, so we had to remove the hydrant, and that is a long story in itself....

Start 'er all up and VOILA! Water in the house. The good kind.

Does that sound simple?? Oh yeah, you know it wasn't. Let me just tell you...


The water tank did not fit between the fenders of the trailer like it was supposed to. So it is loaded on the front and it is working, just not as planned.  The water shut-off valve in the house needed to be replaced for our "new water system" to work. When the plumber (Tom) cut through the line, water started coming out like mad. When I walked into the room, the water was about 6 inches deep. (We do not have a basement--this is on the main floor of the house.) They used black electrical tape to seal it off until we could get the valve shut off in the yard.

Which brings me to the next issue--the valve in the yard can only be shut off by using a long T-shaped "wrench". Since we had packed everything up in the house and garage, as well as the shop, we had no idea where that wrench was. Finally found that and then we couldn't find the valves in the yard. We had 6 people out there poking around in the ground with wires trying to hit the valve caps that were just under the grass. (Imagine driving by our house at that moment....) We ended up having to get a metal detector. (Thank you, Corey, for finding a metal detector for us!)

Valves located and wrench located, we tried to shut the valve off and it was froze up. Yes, I'm serious--I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried! The man who put the valves in (back in 1994) said he's put valves like that in for years and has never ever seen one freeze up before. Of course.


I don't even know how they got the valve issue resolved, but somehow Tom was able to do what he needed to do in the house and they hooked up the lines through a hydrant in the garage...turned it on...and blew out the hydrant. Water, once again, spewing everywhere in that little room in the house....

Got that water stopped, pulled the hydrant out and replaced it with a straight line. Turned water on again and the first thing we replaced, the valve, started spewing water. Turned water off. Fixed valve.

Turned water back on....and it worked!! PHEW!!

Now I suppose one of my children will trip over that blue line in the garage tomorrow and pull everything apart. Because that is just how things apparently go around here! 


But PRAISE GOD WE HAVE WATER.  It had been less than 24 hours and I was already getting tired of flushing the toilet with a bucket.
----------------------------------------------

One other thing--I found this satellite image of the flooding and wanted to show you how God has really just protected our area. In the duplicate images below, the left one just shows the image, but the right one shows the image with our place marked by a red dot and an arrow. So when I say we have water on 3 sides of us, I'm serious. (click on it for larger view)

How amazing is that!!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 :: An Ironic NEW CRISIS

The most frequent question I get now-a-days is this, "Do you have water in your house?" Thankfully, the answer is no.

Except NOW, the answer will be, "No, in fact, we don't have ANY water AT ALL."


Yes, that's right, now we have NO water where there's supposed to BE water--IN..OUR..PIPES.  Apparently a water line has broken somewhere, likely under the rushing floodwater to the west of us, so they have shut off the water to everyone down this way. Nice.

They are going to do some investigating tomorrow to see if they can figure out where the break is and if it can be fixed (or kinda fixed). If not, guess what....we will have no water until the water goes down....which will be September or October.

How's that for irony. Yesterday having no water was good. Today having absolutely no water is BAD.

So for all of you that have this today...

...be thankful.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011 :: Amazing Video!

Wouldn't you know it, on a night I thought I wouldn't have anything to post, I ran across this video by Barnes Realty. It starts out near Fortescue and travels west over the highway at first, then the highway and railroad  (when they are together), then when the highway veers off to the south, the video stays on the railroad, then they come together again. (And for those who don't know, where the video begins is approximately 4-5 miles straight south of us.)

Particularly note the damage that is shown between 1:25 and 1:30. Truly amazing.

One thing people often don't realize if they aren't familiar with this area is that this video is of the WIDTH of the river, like from side to side, not upstream or downstream. The river flows (basically) from the north, to the south. This video was shot starting at the east, traveling west.

We're talking an amazing swath of destruction, and not just for the highway and railroad....

Monday, July 18, 2011 :: Photos!

Ok, since I didn't figure anyone was really interested in seeing photos of my pantry, I got some water shots for you today. Some of these kinda overlap others I have taken previously, but thought you might like to see what the water looks like today anyway.

Panoramic view a mile from our house, looking west, standing on top of the Little Tarkio Creek levee. The view is the same on the other side of the highway, there's just some trees blocking the view.
(click on it to view larger)

Looking back east you can see the levee that is protecting us, and our elevator on the other side. Our elevator is actually about 3/4 of a mile from the levee, even though it looks like it is sitting JUST on the other side of it.

This (in the circle) is a FISH....ALONG THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. You just don't see that everyday, now do ya. Ok, well we do, but not most people....

This is the highway under water. I believe the actual highway is starting to wash away in the circle. And we're in for another 6 weeks of this.

The debris along the side of the highway is really starting to pile up. Mostly corn stalks and other plant life...well, it was life....but also some "fun" stuff like lawn chairs, pieces of docks, propane tanks, and tires. My favorite so far, a can of WD-40...see I told you that stuff is useful!

A neighbor's house--these neighbors are in their 90's and are living at a truck stop hotel. Just saw them last night and they said the water was touching the bottoms of the main floor beams, but had not ruined the floor yet.

We've also been getting a lot of comments like, "The river's going down, isn't it?" Well, yes, but if you look at the front corner of this guy's house, you can see the water has went down about 6 inches. And do you think that has made this guy any bit of difference at this point? So yes, although the river has went down a little, we haven't seen the impact of that much at all.

And it looks like the river level has kinda leveled off.

I'd love to see this graph heading downwards, but hey, I'll take a flat-liner any day at this point.

Sunday, July 17, 2011 :: An Organized Pantry

Well, I had really intended to get some pictures today since some of you were disappointed I haven't posted any in the last few days. But that didn't happen. I DID, however, get my pantry put back together, which makes me so happy.  You try living with your pantry in rubbermaid tubs packed away in your daughter's bedroom for a month and you'll probably come to the same conclusion I have....let the flood have it, but one way or another, I'm putting it all back.   Trust me on this one.

One good thing is that my pantry NOW has NO food that is expired (did you know Jello actually expires??) and it is super tidy, clean, and organized. In fact, I'm so happy about my pantry, I'll share a picture with you...  Ok, ok, this is NOT MY PANTRY. But I do think this pantry is pretty cool. 

And my pantry is pretty organized at the moment. Complete with shelf labels...on clothespins so I can move them as the contents of my pantry changes. I've become a big fan of labeling things over the years. I'm so "global" that I can create a beautifully organized system, walk away from it for a day or two, and when I come back, I don't remember a lick of the system. So although I'm global, I can still read. Hence, the labels, and we're all happy.

We also finished moving everything from the garage back into the house. So although my garage and pantry look fabulous, my school/play room is a complete and total disaster. I should take a picture of THAT for you all. We didn't put anything into place because I'm trying to rearrange and I haven't decided on a configuration yet, so everything just got dumped. This is what I will be tackling this week. Along with about 150 boxes....

And the water? It's the same. Along with the smell. And the animals...although I do think we have one more skunk in the crawl space.... And since things aren't changing much in that department, I'm going to just start updating this blog whenever I have news...or a funny story, because you know how I love a funny story! But I WILL try to get some photos tomorrow and post tomorrow night. And if all else fails, I'll take some picture of MY pantry so we can all enjoy my clean, tidy, organized pantry together.

Saturday, July 16, 2011 :: Assessment

I thought it would be a good time for an assessment of our situation, because the question I hear most is, "What's the situation where you're at?"

#1 We are still dry here at our house and shop. The ground water is pretty close to the surface--our crawl space is full of water and the ditches in our yard have water, but dry otherwise. So thankful for this!
#2 To the west (towards Big Lake), water is in the fields in the lower areas for about a mile, then you come up and over the Little Tarkio Creek Levee and it is solid water beyond that.
#3 To the south (towards Fortescue), there's water over "Tater Ridge Road"-that's about 1/4 mile south of us. Water is in the lower areas, including in the ditches and lower parts of the field right across the highway from us.
#4 To the east (towards Mound City), about a mile down the highway there's quite a bit of water in some of the lower fields--like 2-3 feet I'd say. But between us and that, the ditches are full and lower areas in some fields.
#5 To the north of us, dry other than ditches and lower areas.
#6 Immediate threats--the only threat we have right now is the Little Tarkio Creek levee. We believe this would have to break for us to see water in our house. And although this is a possibility, we don't see it as a critical threat right now.
#7 When will the water start to leave? Well, at the earliest, September. The dam that is releasing water that is effecting us will be releasing this much water until late August. So the water has no place to go until the river starts to go down and only then can it carry some of our water away.

All this to say, things are kinda at a stand-still. We have water, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere, better or worse. And this will continue for a while.

So with that assessment, we decided to return the semi trailer that has been parked in our yard for our "emergency evacuation." We're so thankful for friends willing to leave their truck and trailer parked in our yard for half of the summer! But it doesn't seem to look like we will be needing it.

And now, for the fun part of unpacking all of the boxes and putting everything back together and in place. And then we HOPE AND PRAY that the levee holds because next time we think we're going to get flooded, I'm inclined to let the flood have it all.

And THAT is the current situation of where we're at.  Water is stable, so we're trying to get our lives back to normal. I just hope I remember what normal is for us...it's been so long....

MORE Perspective....

Forgot to include this photo (THANK YOU, JODY) in my post for Friday.

Here's an additional "perspective" of our place. (Click on photo for larger view.) This photo was taken today, we believe. For bearings, north is the right-hand edge of the photo.

The "closing parenthesis" shape is the dike around our house/yard that ties into the highway at the top and bottom. The large grouping of grain bins in the center of the photo is our elevator. (Thankful we got all of our grain out, just in case!) The long brown rectangle on the other side of the highway is that field with the dead strip down the middle. Behind our house (in the center of that field) you can see how the water is in the ditches and into the field in places, but not bad.

Traveling west (or upward in the photo) you can see the fields have water in the lower areas. At the very top of the photo (about a mile west of us) you can see water water water. The Little Tarkio Creek levee is what is holding that water back from us. Did I mention how thankful I am for THAT??

Friday, June 15, 2011 :: Perspective

Perspective is a funny thing. The wrong perspective can make you think you have the worst situation in the world. The right perspective can make you realize there are always blessings to count. I've been thinking a lot about perspective in a crisis this week.

I think sometimes when we're going through a trial, it is so easy to see nothing more than that trial, staring you right in the face, 24/7. It is consuming, overwhelming, and exhausting. So it's no wonder our perspective gets skewed. But it is in those times, in these times, that I must step back and realign my perspective. For example...

...I have no water in my house.  I know people who's homes are underwater, up to the gutters and beyond. People just a few miles down the road.
...I have no water, to speak of, in my yard. I know people who will have no grass, no trees, no flowers, and no bushes left when this is all over with. Well, that's not entirely true--they will have dead grass, dead trees, dead flowers, and dead bushes....all which must be cleaned up. These people live all around me.
...I get to see my husband every evening. We are not separated by the river. I know people who live on the other side and work on this side who spend the entire week away from their family, only spending the weekends together. These people work less than 5 miles from me.
...I have the privacy of my home, as well as all of the conveniences of home like a stove, refrigerator, washer and dryer, my own bed, and my own shower. I know people who are living with friends and relatives, or without conveniences we take for granted, like running water, or a stove. These people are my friends and family. 
...My husband does not have to drive 5 hours to work every day. I know people who do. These people are my friends.  
....We have only had to give up some preferences. (We would prefer to not live out of boxes. We would prefer not to have skunks in our crawl space or the air to smell like the sewer.) Some people have had to give up so..much..more. These people are my friends.
...Some people feel like they have lost everything, and to them, they have. But from an eternal perspective, we know that we have only lost things that really weren't ours to begin with. We also have figured out you don't realize how much you find satisfaction in your possessions until they are being pried out of your hands.

So, I don't know about you, but I have tons of things to be thankful for. Absolutely tons. And if my situation were different and I had water in my house, I'd STILL have tons to be thankful for.

What are you thankful for today? If you can't think of anything, maybe it's time to step back for a new perspective.

Thursday, July 14, 2011 :: More wildlife

Well, apparently the garden..is..toast. Dustin said something has been eating just about everything, including the tomato plants--there's nothing left but stems. Fantastic. Chalk up thing #83 that has bit the bullet because of the flood.

In other wildlife news, we have these big weird green beetles flying around in the front yard. Like these (the green ones on the left--I did not take this picture):

They fly really close to the ground and their size and sound is very reminiscent of a bumble bee. Apparently they are Green June Bugs, and in the picture above, it is shown next to a normal June Bug. Yeah, I told you they were big. Yick.

I think maybe they are hatching out of the grass...which would make the skunks digging up every inch of the front yard make more sense. Has anyone else seen these?? I'm not sure if they arrived because of the flood or just because they thought we needed some new pets.

A new indoor wildlife addition around here is ANTS. And guess where my ant poison is at? Yep, in some box somewhere. I remember having an issue with ants during the '93 flood, too. And although they're not as bad as most of the other things we've encountered, still. I have ANTS IN MY HOUSE. 


I'm afraid to even wonder what might be next.


The mosquitos haven't been quite as bad the last few days. Of course that might be because Dustin sprayed the living tar out of the entire yard to kill them all. So, we'll probably all die of cancer next year, but we will NOT be dying of West Nile.

I guess just one other wildlife tidbit--the other day (when we still had a dead skunk in the yard) there was a turkey buzzard that landed up on the top of our chimney. Those things are HUGE. (And ugly, I might add.) I ran in the house the get the camera, but it was gone when I returned. So you'll just have to settle for this picture I swiped off of the internet. How would you like one of those sitting in top of YOUR chimney, looking for it's next meal....

And last but not least, I was on someone else's blog today and saw this image, which I just loved:

And how true it is. Sometimes, being able to cope with life is all a matter of having a right perspective. When our perspective gets "off", that's when we get ourselves into real trouble.


More on that tomorrow!