Outside my window...
A whole lotta this.... This picture was Thursday morning. The rain started spitting on Tuesday, and then started to get down to serious business. On Wednesday night, I got nervous. The news on TV was pretty bad. Boulder, CO, which is 45 min. SW of us was already witnessing catastrophic flooding. I patrolled our three basement window wells on a frequent basis. At 1 a.m. Dean and I donned our rain jackets and visited this drainage ditch behind our house. (You can see our roof behind the spruce tree). The water level was at about 4 ft. on that pole there. See those bricks that line the backside? The water was even with the third row of bricks down from the top - so it was over the front wall there, by that grey metal screen. Once the water breeches this wall, there is nothing to hold the water back from our house. The geniuses that graded our yard when the house was built directed the water toward the house. Luckily there is also a slope that drains the water toward the left of the picture, where we are bordered by a street. That is our only saving grace.
A friend posted that it seems like our little area of the Front Range is in a bubble - impervious to the death and destruction that is going on around us. I feel like that too. The images that we have seen are horrendous, and the mountain towns that are less than an hours' drive away are getting the worst of it. Yet here, we can drive around (mostly), enjoy our dry basements and our running water and electricity. The only complaint we have is that the bridges that connect the southern side or our city to the northern side have been closed periodically due to the dangerous flooding of the river and the stresses it places on the bridges. Water isn't topping the bridges, but the flow rate is dangerously high at the moment. The worst may yet come for us. Today it is supposed to rain ALL day. An upslope has parked a storm system directly above us, and won't budge any time soon. We'll see what unfolds... For now we are counting our blessings, and I am ansy to get stuff off the basement floor.
I am thinking... about all of the displaced families and animals, and all of those who are still waiting rescue.
I am thankful... for the moisture, but this is such a deluge! The weather forecaster said that if we were to convert the amount of moisture we have received in rain into snow, it would be the equivalent of 100 inches of snow. We. would. die.
From the Learning Rooms... Another good week, but we lost it at the end, with all of the rain. Jordan and Rylan were supposed to take the fall MAPS testing at a district's testing location on Friday, but it got cancelled because the district closed the schools on Friday. Rylan started a weekly art class on Tuesday, and really enjoyed it. Owen has decided to give gymnastics another try, so his first class was on Tuesday as well. Rylan looked wistfully at all of the girl gymnasts that were doing their classes and begged for her chance as well. I looked at her like she was crazy. She is already doing jazz, tumbling AND ballet!! To her credit, she has mentioned that she has wanted to on at least a weekly basis for the past three years. So. On Thursday afternoons, Rylan and Owen will be taking their respective gymnastics classes at the same time. A scheduling win for me, but a loss for the pocketbook, and another. damn. trip. to. Loveland. :(
In the kitchen... Nothing fantastic going on there, I'm afraid...
I am wearing... Standard blogging attire. ;)
I am creating... A household binder. An organizational wonder that would make a few of you gag or roll your eyes, so I'll stop right now. But it makes me happy.
I am going... Maybe to the store once more.. although we are pretty well stocked up, in anticipation of a run on milk, eggs and bread by those who fear the end of times has come.
I am wondering... About our Girl Scout meeting we have on Wednesday, which is on the other side of the river. Hope the bridges are open by then.
I am reading... I opened Cold Mountain the other day, and read the first couple of chapters. Not really drawn in... I did hear about an interesting book from a friend last week called A Thousand White Women. I am going to see if I can find it at the library.
In the garden... Water? I did pick some rhubarb early last week to make a strawberry-rhubarb crisp.
I am hoping... What everyone is hoping for now...
I am looking forward to... this coming weekend, if things dry out this week, when we have planned to go camping.
I am learning... About a fun way to go internet geocaching. Pick a famous landmark - anywhere in the world - and get it's exact mapping coordinates. Come up with some questions about it (use Wikipedia). Send your teen on a geocaching excursion to locate the site by it's coordinates, answer the questions and copy and paste a picture of it. Pretty neat stuff. Thanks to PLATO science for the idea. (I really need to write up a review about PLATO... long overdue!)
I am hearing... Rain. Yesterday it was endless helicopter traffic - Black Hawks and Chinooks - as they ferried supplies and did rescues up and down the Front Range. Today they can't fly, due to low visibility. For a lot of these canyons, there is no way in or out except by air since the roads are completely washed away.
Around the house... There are 15 boxes of flooring waiting to go in. Dean needs to get the underlayment today and then we can get started on finishing the other half of the ground floor. After several long months of a halfway finished project, we can finally begin! We also met with the first of a few house painting contractors to get price quotes for painting the house. We only have a few more weeks to get this done! Also, the part for the washer came on Tuesday and Dean put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I'm glad I can drop the washing-in-the-bathtub-business - we were about to run out of towels!
I am pondering... how I am going to get my walk in. I'm tired of soggy walks.
One of my favorite things... Well... rainy days. But not six of them in a row. I could not live in Seattle.
A few plans for the rest of the week... Normally, I would say violin, jazz, boy scouts, Dr. appt., art, tumbling, Lego robotics, homeschool PE class, girl scouts, ballet, gymnastics, Lego robotics and fitting homeschooling in and around all of those things, but I am not really sure. It all depends on various road closures.
Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...
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| This is the storm water retention area that is across the street from our house. The night before it was an additional two feet deep. Owen (in the yellow rain jacket) was able to walk across it, though the water came up to his chest. Normally this area is dry and neighborhood kids use it to play football or soccer in. |
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