Should I be looking for pairs of animals?

The area I live in may or may not have been on the national news. We wouldn't be able to tell since the cable has been out for days now due to the rain and the resulting floods in our area. Mr. Strong and I have had to get used to the lack of background noise. We've actually had to talk.

And the word is that the cable won't be restored for at least another week. Apparently, cable doesn't work well under water.

All over town, roads and bridges are closed. You might want to go right up the street to the grocery store but soon you find out that you are going to have to go around your ass to get to your elbow take a different route.

The water is so high in some of the drivable areas, you can barely see the tops of the utility poles. It is hard to imagine what the water is like in the areas where the roads and bridges are closed.

And still the rain is expected to fall. We've never had a flood to this degree in our town. Last night, some friends of ours told us that people were hanging out in lawn chairs at a particular cemetery. The flood waters had reached the burial grounds and they were waiting for the caskets to float up to the surface. How sad it would be to have your loved ones float down the river.

We took a drive to the cemetery. I just had to know that my father's grave site was not under water. It wasn't. Although, I'm not sure what I would have done if it was.




We'd been going by one of our friend's house for the past couple of days to check on him. The backyard had slowly been claimed by the river. When we went today, our hearts sank. You can't even get into the driveway enough to see the house unless you use the canoe.

Surprisingly, I was moved to tears. I've always felt bad for the displaced natural disaster victims I've seen on the news but it just struck a chord for it to be someone I know who lives just a few blocks from me.




The house has been in this cool ravine for 40 years and never experienced a flood. Now, there is about 10 inches of water inside the house. The river is expected to rise 12 to 24 more inches. And there is still the rain that keeps coming and going. There are some houses in the area that are basically completely submerged.

At least we have an apartment in our backyard that is currently being used for storage. It'll make a great home for our friend while he renovates his house.




I guess this means the drought is over.