Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Well, we unpacked the trailer today. Completely. So now, instead of our house being dis-organized simplicity, it is PURE CHAOS. There is nothing organized OR simplistic about any part of it. We have boxes everywhere. And cabinets, bookcases, file cabinets, and other big items plopped IN the room they belong in, but not in place. That wasn't the mover-in-er's fault, but ours because we want to be able to vacuum before we put things into place. I know. A flood is looming and we want to make sure the carpet is vacuumed. Would it make you feel better if you knew that I toyed with the idea of shampooing the carpets before putting stuff back?? I decided that would be crazy.

A skunk update...no one is brave enough around here to truly dig through the bushes and find how many are dead under there. I can see at least one when I peer under there from about 4 feet away. I hope my husband someone gets rid of it very soon because you know, it was 85 degrees and very humid here today, with a repeat the rest of the week.....  I'm pretty sure the one in the siding came out last night. Or at least the pile of insulation that came out of the wall looks like it had been disturbed, meaning the skunk disturbed it when it came out. I certainly hope it came out! 

We do know there's at least one skunk left alive and well. How do I know this?? It is/was in the garage tonight. THE GARAGE. I walked out there to put the trash in the big trash can and there he was, scampering across the floor like he owned the place. Well, technically, he does. He ended up in the closet and we left him there, and the garage door partially up so he could get out.

If you have been praying for us, PLEASE pray that we will be able to get rid of these little stinkers without too much stinking going on. It's getting to the point where we can't mow the yard or even go outside without living in fear! I don't think they are rabid, they aren't acting weird or anything, but we don't want to keep them around either.

Here's a few photos from Ryonee Curtis, over at Big Lake:

Although I don't know who owns this place, I'm betting this (above) is an example of someone who thought they built high enough at the time, but they didn't take into account the Railroad raising their tracks and stopping the water with loads of rocks.

Doesn't it seem like this has been going on FOR-EV-ER?? Yet in reality, that first levee break here happened less than 3 weeks ago. And we're still looking at 8 weeks until they turn the water off (end of August) at this point. With this much complete structural damage, it kinda makes you wonder what will be left once the water recedes.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 :: More Skunk Adventures

Someday, when I'm dead and gone, I imagine my kids sitting around a table reminiscing, having a conversation something like this....

"Hey, do you remember that summer that flooded really bad, and we moved everything out of the downstairs including the stove and refrigerator so it was like camping in our house? And just down the road there were logs and fish floating across the highway? And the mosquitoes were like kamikaze soldiers so that every time you went outside, you ran for your life flailing your arms around like being attacked by killer bees, even in the middle of the day? And remember those 3 skunks that moved into our crawl space and that one that crawled BETWEEN THE SIDING AND THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE, and the day that Dad shot 2 of them 4 feet from the sunroom and stunk up the house so we all thought we were going to pass out? Yeah, wow, that was quite the summer."

What? You don't ever remember a childhood summer like this at your house?? Me neither.

I am now praying that this list does not get any longer by the end of summer.

So yeah, the news of the day is that the 3 skunks came out of their cool home in our crawl space under our house to take a nap under our bushes in front of our sunroom.  FOUR FEET from our sunroom.

My kids were out on the front porch saying, "Wow, I've never been this close to a skunk before!" And I happened to think, "I wonder what other kids do on their summer vacations...."

Dustin had HAD ENOUGH of this skunk business, so decided smell or no smell, it was time to get the gun. He's pretty sure he got one, he thinks he may have even gotten two. The funny thing about shooting skunks under bushes where you can't see clearly is that when you know there's more than one, you really don't want to go check and see if you got one OR two, on the sheer chance that you only got one.

While he was shooting at these skunks...4 feet from our sunroom...I happened to look right in front of us at the house and saw a whispy white tail sticking out from BEHIND THE SIDING. As in, a skunk is now between the siding and the inside wall of the house, where the insulation is. This is 4 feet IN FRONT OF US. I pointed it out to Dustin, who is channeling Rambo at this point, he pointed the gun at the foundation and said, "I'm going to shoot it through the siding." Ok, does that sound off-your-rocker-crazy to everyone, or just me?

And here's the scenario that played out in my mind...Shoot the siding. Make hole in the siding. (Imagine explaining this to the insurance adjuster.) Injure skunk. Make skunk really mad. Skunk sprays. Skunk cannot get out because it is injured. Skunk eventually dies and starts to ROT in our wall. We move out.

(Sidenote: I am NEVER EVER going to complain about the occasional mouse in our wall again. EVER.)

I put the skids on the whole "I'm going to shoot the skunk through the siding" thing. (Never in my whole life did I dream I would type that last sentence.) And it seemed like there was nothing to do but just leave it there. So we did. And later when I checked on it, there was a whole pile of insulation from between the siding and the inside wall that had fallen out of there. Who knows how far that stupid thing is in my wall. Or if he can even get out.

Someone please come rescue me from this twilight zone I live in.

Some good news today--I got my STOVE AND REFRIGERATOR back today!! Hooray!! Except now I have to cook again. Boo.

Also in good news--here's the extent of the flooding in our yard:

This is actually the ditch in front of our house--the lowest part of our yard. You can see there's some water, but not a lot. Enough to make things squishy.

Some other photos from the day...
Here's a Kamikaze mosquito that is very representative of what we have here right now. (Sorry, my finger is not normally that red--white balance off on camera I guess.)

 Can you say WEST--NILE--VIRUS??

Here's that collapsed grain bin just across the levee to the west of us.

And we're starting to notice a lot of junk in the water across the levee--pieces of dock, boards, paint cans, gas jugs, tires, tanks, coolers, and lots and lots of logs. Some very large.

We're going to start moving some of the things from the trailer back into the house tomorrow. It appears that back-up water is not going to reach us to the magnitude we thought it might. Of course unless the Corps decides to up their release numbers. And with the Corps, you never know. 


We are not out of danger yet. We will live the rest of the summer knowing that if the Little Tarkio Creek levee were to break to the west or north of us, we could easily have 4 feet or more of water around our dike. So although we are trying to return to some form of sanity in our home, we will not be unpacking everything.

And one last bit of news--our flood insurance went into effect today! Yes, you know, the flood insurance that, 3 days after we bought it, FEMA said "didn't count" for anything caused by the Missouri flood of 2011. Yes, that flood insurance. Good thing I also have insurance from a Higher Authority who has promised that He will provide all of our needs. And that's a policy I know will never be revoked.

Monday, July 4, 2011 :: No news is good news?

Not much to report today as we were gone most of the day. When we returned tonight, we couldn't really see much. I must say, though, ONE thing is for sure, the mosquitoes around here are VICIOUS. The National Guard at the checkpoint between us and Bigelow said they're like little body-builders--they're HUGE, with beefy legs and arms. I agree. They are IN-SANE. (the mosquitoes, not the National Guard.)

Last night when I returned to our fridge out in the garage to put something away, I thought I heard something buzzing, and when I stopped to listen I realized the buzzing was ALL MOSQUITOES.

Tonight when we pulled into the garage, they instantly started swarming our vehicle. Do you remember the movie Cujo? You know, about the big dog that traps a woman in her car and tries to attack her? That's a little bit what it was like tonight--we just sat in our car, all wide-eyed, plotting how we could somehow escape with 4 children, 3 of which were sleeping. Our final plan? RUN LIKE THE WIND, carry what you can, drag the rest.

I think it actually worked. But wow, this is going to be an IS-SUE, for the rest of the summer. They were even biting like mad this afternoon at 4pm, in the 95 degree heat, in the sun. Anyone have any suggestions...ones that don't include moving out completely??

On the water front, I can't even tell you how that has changed because we got home so late and we couldn't see much in the dark. But the water had not changed in our ditches, so I'm assuming everywhere else is the same, too. I WILL be taking more photos tomorrow, but I admit it was nice not to be consumed with water for the day.

In other news, I'm still taking orders for T-shirts until tomorrow morning, so if you're interested, click on the page link to the right and then email me your order.

I also think my children must be exceptionally gifted. Somehow, even though we basically have nothing on the bottom floor of our entire home, they have managed to still make it look like a tornado went through here. It take a uniquely intelligent brood to do that.

I guess that is all for today. No news is good news, right?? I guess when the sun comes up, we will find out...

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Well, so much for being in that orangish-pink color.

I guess the 1-2 inch rain we got last night is bringing the river back up. <insert sigh here>

We have a little more water in our yard now, but still just in the bottoms of the ditches and low parts of the yard. If we have any trees left when this is over with, it will probably be a miracle. I KNOW if there are any trees left over at Big Lake, it WILL be a miracle. Some of the big cottonwoods in the water on the other side of the levee are actually tipping over now. And there's a crumpled up grain bin floating around over there, too. I'll try to get some photos tomorrow.

I found this image on the Holt County, Missouri Facebook page that shows our county with flooded areas highlighted. I marked where we live with the bright red dot, just west of Bigelow. (click on it for larger view)

I'm not sure how old this map is, but there is actually a little more water to the east of us than what is shaded in. So you can see why our yard is the local wildlife refuge at the moment. You can also see why we get real nervous when it rains. We are pretty much surrounded, and the water has nowhere to go.

On the lighter side, here are a few signs I came across while surfing the web tonight:

This is a restaurant sign. (The Pallid Sturgeon is a fish, and Piping Plover a bird. In recent years, the environmentalists have altered the way the Mainstem Dams have been managed in order to save these animals. Don't misinterpret--I'm not against saving the wildlife, that's for sure. I believe we are called to be good stewards of the earth God gave us. But when we put TOO high a value on saving the wildlife, things go crazy. And just to be clear, the "save the wildlife" thing is only one factor in this whole complicated mess. Please don't leave me nasty comments, ok?) Here's another one:

And I leave you with that. Everyone have a great and safe 4th of July!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Good news today...

Looky there, our river is back down into the orangish-pink color! This is good, but don't misunderstand, the river is still very very high. But because the river going down at least a little, some of the areas covered in water have decreased just a little. We are so very thankful!

We also are beginning to think that even if the river returns to higher levels, our house doesn't seem to be in danger from back-up water. That's not to say that we're completely out of danger--we will still run the risk of flooding if the Little Tarkio Creek levee breaks, but that threat doesn't seem to be immediate. (Of course a 6 inch rain north of us could change that in a matter of hours.)

So, we're toying with the idea of unpacking a few things. MY STOVE AND REFRIGERATOR are TOP on the list. Do you know how hard it is to feed a family when you have no stove, when your old junky refrigerator is in the garage, and the contents of your pantry is in rubbermaid tubs upstairs in the middle of the girls' room??? Yeah. We've eaten McDonalds WAY-TOO-MUCH this week, that's for sure.

So, right now, we're basking in thankfulness for no water in our house, and no water even around our house. And if you've been praying for us, THANK YOU, because your prayers seemingly have worked!

Friday, July 1, 2011 :: New Pets

This is actually the 3rd flood event Dustin and I have been through. In 1993, when we were still newlyweds, it started to rain just after the 4th of July and we kept getting massive rains for WEEKS. We are seeing water levels similar to the '93 flood this year, in both depth and placement.

Last year was the 2nd flood, although not quite the magnitude for us as the '93 flood. This year is #3...and they say the 3rd time's a charm!

There are some unusual things that happen when flooding is all around you. The stench that I mentioned a few days ago is one of them. Another is the ANIMALS.

You know, animals will generally move to higher ground when they have to. And apparently right now, we sit on a sliver of ground about 3 miles long that is the highest around. So, voila, instant new pets.

Yesterday Dustin said he saw 3 deer just outside his den window. Just this morning, there was a deer in the back yard, about 100 feet from the house. When I stuck my camera out of the bathroom window to get a picture, I happened to look down and saw THREE SKUNK crawling under our AC unit. Anyone have a good way to get rid of not one, not two, but THREE skunk?? One that doesn't involve the use of bullets--everyone I've talked to has said NOT to shoot a skunk close to the house because you will regret it...and your neighbors will not be happy.

We also have seen an increase in snakes on the road, although I haven't noticed any extra in the yard. Same with turtles.

Oh, and we have a new state bird...the mosquito. The next thing around here will be West Nile.

No photos today, although the river has been going down slightly all day, currently at 25.54. This is a nice change.  Also it seems like the water has stopped, or really really slowed down. We might escape water of any kind after all.

And NOW I'm wishing I'd have watered my tomato plants 3 weeks ago!!

Thursday, June 30, 2011 :: Just Add Water

"Before" and "During" shots...I wonder what the "after" shots will look like.

This first set is from the intersection of Hwy 118 and 111, looking south towards Big Lake.

It doesn't hardly look like the same area, but it is. It's taken on a slightly different angle, but from the road signs you can see it is the same place.

This next set is super wide (click on photo for larger view)--I took photos in a series and then stitched them together in Photoshop. It's not perfect, but you get the idea....  And this is from the top of the Little Tarkio Creek Levee on Hwy 118, looking west. The first one was taken June 19, the second today, June 30.

And then a quote from the ACE's video on Gavin's Point Dam, "Much higher water can be released from Gavin's point dam, especially the spillway. Gavin's Point Dam, including the spillway, can release a flow of 584,000 cubic feet per second in the event of an extreme flood event." (emphasis mine)

And what, exactly, would he call this?

Click here to watch the video on Gavin's Point Dam, made by the ACE. I'm getting tired of watching videos where the ACE's act like it's just water. No big deal, just water.