Venting: Literally and Figuratively

Right now there are six industrial strength fans running in my kitchen. The noise is so loud that I'm camped out upstairs. This morning as I was just about ready to pack my lunch for work I noticed that the floor was shiny. It was reflecting the light we have in the bathroom. Thankfully I turned the kitchen light on before walking in. Otherwise I would have soaked my feet. There was a good inch or so of standing water all over the floor.

Instead of packing lunch I woke Jeff up, grabbed some towels and headed back downstairs to start the long process of mopping up my kitchen. We filled buckets with gray water and hauled them outside to dump on the lawn. We got good use out of the new mop we bought last month. With Jeff using a sponge and me using the mop we were finally able to make headway on the mess. Just as we had gotten mostly under control, our neighbor rang the doorbell and pleaded for help. She was in the same situation. Water everywhere. We helped mop out her kitchen as well.

With the water gone I headed out to work (I'd told my boss I'd be late) and left Jeff to wait for the sewer company. They arrived about 9 and quickly realized that there was a blockage in the main building line. We had taken the brunt of the mess along with our neighbor. Four other units were also affected but with much less damage. Jeff called a company to come in and clean up and they're the ones that set up the fans. They're also the ones that realized that the underfloor was soaked and that the vinyl flooring would have to come up. So not only do we have the charge of the clean-up but we'll be laying in a new floor and new baseboards. An expensive and very frustrating morning.

So right now I'm venting... along with the kitchen. It's hopefully getting dry, particularly the walls. And I'm starting to accept things the way they are. I won't have a kitchen for  probably a week and a half. Jeff and I will be looking at flooring tomorrow. I have the frustration of not being able to use my downstairs bathroom comfortably. And of course the added expense. The only positive is how incredible Jeff has been through this whole thing. He's been the one to deal with the insurance company (we don't have sewer coverage), the sewer company, the cleaning company, and shopping to make things simpler for me. He's been a godsend today. I hope I cool off before the floor dries. Otherwise it's going to be a long frustrating week.

Don't Cry Over Spilled...Water?

It came down from the state meteorologist yesterday. This summer has been listed as one of the wettest summers of all time for Iowa. Wetter than 1993 even and that was the year we saw some heavy flooding. We've had two incredibly horrible nights of storms in the last two days. We were driving home through the first one. The second one I didn't even hear but the branch lying just inches from my car told me that it was a doozy.

But I didn't need the official pronouncement. Jeff and I went out hiking at Saylorville Lake, the local reservoir, and found out how wet it was on our own. The trail we took was actually pretty dry. Closed and off limits, but dry. After the hike, we drove around the lake and that's when it hit us. The lake was high, really high. We drove across the dam and finished our afternoon at the spillway.

The reservoir empties into the Des Moines River through a spillway. When I was in high school, the spillway was my favorite place to go to think. I would drive out there on a quiet afternoon and sit on the bench for hours. It was a great place to be alone. And a great place to feel small. The power of the water coming out of the spillway is humbling. Depending on the lake level, it is opened or narrowed to regulate the flow. This year...its impressive. I don't need a meteorologist to tell me that we're having a wet summer. All I need is to see that spillway. Here is a video of the spillway taken from the ground.

And then from the hill over the opening. It was so loud I couldn't hear Jeff talking to me only inches from my ear. Make sure to turn your sound down to watch these. They are just as impressive on mute.

I've also included a video of the lightning Jeff and I saw on our drive home over the weekend. Incredible. This doesn't even remotely do it justice. {Warning: I'm in the car for this. You'll want your computer on Mute to watch}

Odd mood

So I woke up this morning, threw open the blinds to find a hummingbird perched beautifully right in front of the window. Okay well Jeff pointed it out. But still I brought it to the house with my hummingbird feeder. I receive a small flighted guest a couple times a day. There is both a male and female ruby throated hummingbird that make appearances regularly. Ruby Throated hummers are the only ones in Iowa so identification is pretty easy.

Looking out the window I saw a small fawn, still with spots, running through the common area. And I realized that I loved my neighborhood. I love backing to the creek. I love most of my neighbors. It is a very quiet beautiful place. I know most of the people on my block and talk regularly with them. One of the neighbors is moving and I'm a little hesitant about who will buy. Pat is a quiet tidy neighbor who is enjoyable to talk to. We'll miss her. I'm just worried about someone loud and obnoxious moving in. We'll see. Such is home-ownership So far her place has been on the market for about three weeks.

So the morning started out beautiful. Any day when I can spot deer and hummingbirds before 7 is a good day. Work was good. I just finished a pot of coffee so the caffeine has me jittery and productive. I just went out to lunch at one of my very favorite restaurants in the whole world, Lucca. All and all a good day.

But something conspires to keep me pensive. I've just been in an odd mood. Lucca has been closed for two weeks due to flooding. I've missed them. The parking lot at work flooded yesterday. Luckily my car was safe. So flooding has been on my brain and I started thinking about Cedar Rapids. And then I wrote this poem.

Cedar Rapids

Dark clouds shroud
a city underwater.
Daily, hourly warnings plague,
a population already tired of warnings.
Tired of rain.
Tired of treading water.
Rebuilding, their only thought
Rebuilding lives,
scattered by river torrents.
Rebuilding hope,
washed away.

See what I mean about an odd mood. Great day, depressing poem. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a crap day and write happy poems. We'll see.

Flooding and Fun

We escaped Des Moines this weekend to head up to Minneapolis for a trench party. What's trench you ask? Don't worry I'll get there. First though I have to add some of the pictures we took on the way there and the way back of flooding in the state. Now we took I-35 which hasn't seen as much flooding as the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area. So there are no pictures of building underwater. But there are a ton of pictures of what look like lakes until you see the fence tops or trees sticking out of them. Here are just a couple pictures to give you an idea. 

These were taken from the car, so sorry about the medians. I didn't really want to stop and gawk. This last picture is an image of my office building. This river is normally at least half this size. My building is just shortly after the Chinese pagoda. While leaving the office (in an voluntary evacuation) on Friday, I passed more police and state troopers than I have ever seen in one area, the national guard, and the Red Cross. It is a never a good sign if you have the Red Cross, CNN, and the National Guard in your city at the same time. And again we are still far better off than other places in the state. 

Even with all the flooding we had a fantastic weekend. Some good friends in Minneapolis invite us up every year for a trench party. Trench is a modified Dodgeball where after getting hit once the person goes to the "trench" (an area surrounding the other teams players). They can then hit the opposite teams players from behind or the side. If one of the players catches a ball thrown by the person in the trench they are out for the rest of the game and one of their players who was in the other trench gets to come back in. I know a little confusing but it makes sense once you see it. It also makes for a much more exciting game. We always end the evening with great food and video games and normally don't leave until late. Sorry guys. Here are a couple trench shots I took. 

We also started Saturday with breakfast with a friend and then the zoo. Jeff took some great videos and pictures of the animals that I might post later. My favorite is a video of a wolverine moving a huge tree branch. Some of the animals were active and it gave me a chance to see the outside portion of the zoo. I got burnt, again. But the trip was great, filled with plenty of friends. 

Forecasters don't know anything

Since we have started flooding I have kept a very close eye on the news. You do that when you are waiting to see if the waters will take out your car and office. So I have been reading the predictions about when and how the river will crest. I wish I could say that the forecasters have been accurate. But if that was the case I would have been home both yesterday and today. No flooding today. Worked a full day, with only minor street flooding outside the building. It was rising so fast that I was a little worried but no need. A half an hour later and the street was almost totally dry. 

Now they are saying that it will be Saturday for the crest and it will be almost a foot lower than expected. That is today. Give it a couple hours and they'll be predicting the end of the world. You have to love weathermen. The only people who can be wrong over 50% of the time and still keep their jobs. 

I went out today in bare feet with my jeans rolled up Tom Sawyer style and wandered in the wet grass by the house. Nothing makes you feel more like a kid than playing barefoot in the grass. I even got the cat to come play with me. 

We were out of town last weekend in St. Louis, enjoying 90 degree sunny days and visiting Jeff's family. We had a fantastic visit and got to see his brother off before they head to China for six months. I also got to see my little brother who took us to a fantastic bar/grill called Pat's for breakfast. Shockingly I didn't take advantage of the $2 Mimosas. It's amazing the effect that in-laws can have. 

This weekend we are heading into what appears to be the opposite. We head north, to Minneapolis. The weather there has been cool (70s) and rainy. We are supposed to go up to play trench, a modified dodgeball. Okay Jeff plays trench with the boys while the girls sit and talk and eat and watch the boys make fools of themselves. It's a wonderful time. Let's hope the weather holds. Okay lets be honest, lets hope the roads hold. They closed I-80 today east of us. I'm hoping that I-35 stays intact. And lets hope that Minneapolis is even a little drier. I'm tired of flooding. 

Flooding...Maybe....Possibly....Probably

So I went to work today. And although there was some minor street flooding the river stayed mostly in its banks and the world continued on like it was any other day. Last night Saylorville went over its emergency spillway and poured billion of gallons of water down at us. The river rose but not enough to crest the banks. I went to work waiting to be dismissed all day. And for good or for bad, it didn't happen. 

At first they said that this would look nothing like '93. That there was just not going to be that much flooding. Then they said that it would be similar to '93. And now they say that there is no use comparing the two. This year will just be worse. There may be less damage (we are more prepared) but there will certainly be more water. The river outside my office laps at the bottom of the bridge. It will crest the bridge by Sunday at the latest. 

I watched water shoot out of a manhole producing little geysers in the street. Another wobbled around on edge letting out bursts of water. It would have been fun and pretty if it wasn't for the two inches we are supposed to get tonight. "Rain, Rain, Go Away". 

Tomorrow I will get up and check my email before heading to work. I will arrive, replug in my computer and work. Trying to ignore the files piled up on my desk and the fact that my car will need to be moved to higher ground at some point. Tomorrow night I will unplug my computer before going home. Because as they say, this is not an exact science. And we have no idea what tomorrow will bring. 

Des Moines in Trouble

This afternoon at work was an interesting one. I work in downtown Des Moines right by the Des Moines River. Normally a pretty view and a nice walking trail. Today a difficult place to be. I spent my afternoon at work moving all my files over three feet off the floor. Why three feet you ask? That's how much water they expect to flood the office tonight. Saylorville Dam, the local reservoir is well over it's banks. It's actually going to be over the emergency spillway. And all that extra water is heading downtown. Most of the bridges were closed this afternoon. I may very well have a couple forced days off. 

My older sister lost her car on Thursday to flooding. She had parked in back of a restaurant when a flash flood hit the area, totaling the car. We were in St. Louis this weekend so she borrowed Jeff's car for the weekend. Although that may just be the curse of Suburus in my family. My little sister lost her Suburu to flooding as well in 1999. I know I'm not buying one, ever. 

Everyone is comparing this flood to the one in 1993. The water levels are very similar. The patterns are very similar. Now here is hoping that we still have running water. Everyone who was here in '93 remembers being without water. Three weeks without a good shower is enough to drive anyone crazy. Hauling water to flush the toilets. Boiling water to bathe in. Now I know there are many people who don't have running water regularly. But for a city of Des Moines' size to be suddenly without water was tough. So far they are not predicting any problems with running water, but I'm not so sure. The forecast for this week is Rain, Rain, Rain. 

No one is sure what to predict for Des Moines but I know that we are far better off than a lot of other cities. Cedar Falls and Waterloo evacuated their downtowns this afternoon. Newton's surrounding areas were underwater when we drove by yesterday. We are escaping up to Minneapolis this weekend and I am beginning to wonder if we will have a way up there. I just know that tomorrow will be interesting. And there may be a lot of sandbagging in my future. Wish us luck.