Rainy Day

It's November and it's raining. I woke up to rain and fog and lovely 50 degree weather. A rare treat this late in the fall. I love rainy days. I feel more energized on rainy days. I get more done. I'm sitting writing right now but I thought I'd actually post a picture since I promised to post one daily. Oops. I have to learn not to make these kind of promises.

This is from a trip that Jeff and I were taking up to Minneapolis this summer. The storm clouds up ahead were impressive and a bit intimidating. But we kept driving anyway. By the time we got up there, it was just the tail end of the rain. But I snapped some pictures of the rather scary clouds.

Rainy Day Reading

I had so much that I was going to get done today. I had been so productive last night and I was looking forward to really making progress on a couple of projects today. I have a letter for our homeowners association that I need to draft in the next day or so. That hung over my head all day. I have a house that severely needs to be cleaned out. We have reached that extremely cluttered stage that drives me crazy. I had some writing I was going to get done. But I woke up late this morning with a headache (stupid wine) so instead I drank endless pots of coffee, ate most of a loaf of beer bread, and spent the entire day reading.

I'm currently reading Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky which is a rather fascinating history of how the salt trade and production has shaped our world. I got interested in the book after reading At Home by Bill Bryson last week. Bryson had done a small section on salt and pepper for his dining room section. He didn't list where the salt information came from but when I found the book at the bookstore, I figured I'd found a definitive history. I love seeing how one product has impacted us so immensely. I would rank Salt right up there with A History of the World in Six Glasses as one of the more incredible food based histories I've read.

I read some of Salt, but the rainy day called for a little lighter fare today. So it was off to the library to return my stack of books and pick up more pictures books for my 1001 Children's Book Challenge. I picked up a brand new stack. I can't seem to leave the library without at least a dozen books. I brought them home and lay on the floor reading, like I was 10 again. I even started craving hot chocolate. I laughed and I marveled. So many of the books were just great. Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French made me laugh so hard I snorted. Even Jeff was surprised at how hard I was laughing. Joyful Noise, Poems in Two Voices has such interesting insect poems that I found myself rereading the poems over and over. A Van Allsburg made me gasp at the beauty of the illustrations. It wasn't the most productive day but it was a good one. A perfect rainy day.

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}

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.