It’s been raining.
It’s been raining a lot! Accompanied by thunder and lightning, it rained all day Saturday, all night Saturday night, all day Sunday, all night Sunday night and half the day today, which is Monday.
(You want to know how long a pair of little Yorkies can hold their poop? Exactly two and a half days.)
Our governor, Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency for Missouri.
All twelve flood gates of our dam, Bagnell Dam, are open - have been open since yesterday. And not only are they open, they opened them even wider today! 100,000 gallons per second are coming through the flood gates. So much water that the river side is flooding.
I took a picture at the bottom of the dam yesterday late afternoon. You can see a cable covered in lost fishing lures and floats is still well above the water.
Late this morning, the same cable is almost completely under water.
After we left the dam we headed down to the boat ramp and found we had waited too long. The road was already closed.
We stayed on River Road and as you can guess, River Road follows along the river and comes out on the highway bypass. There is an old trailer there, and I’ve often wondered if someone lives in it. It has an antenna for TV watching and there is an old car there too.
Yesterday the water was getting dangerously close.
Today the water had swallowed it up.
Our friends Larry and Vicky own an RV park on the river side of the dam. Yesterday they were moving out all the units they store but there were still people camping in the park.
Today, the whole campground is under water except for the main office/house and that may be flooded too before this whole thing is over.
The first of the year is coming really fast. If you pay your taxes after the first they penalize you pretty heavy.
“You wanna go for a ride, Peg?” Mike asked me this morning.
“No. Where you goin’?”
“I need to go to Tuscumbia and pay our taxes. I thought maybe you might want to ride along and get some pictures of the flood.”
“We took flood pictures yesterday and this morning! I have a story rattling around in my head and I want to write it down,” I told him.
“You don’t have pictures of Tuscumbia.”
Tuscumbia is about twenty miles away, is our county seat and sits right on the Osage River. And he was right. I didn’t have any pictures of the flooding in Tuscumbia.
We drove down and after Mike paid our property taxes we took a drive down by the river. Yeah. It’s bad.
People in the area were packing trailers and trucks and I feel so sorry for them.
What a difference a day makes.
Yesterday I was having an off day or maybe I was playing devil’s advocate. “Christmas cards have no meaning anymore,” I said.
Today, when I went to the post office, I opened my box and you never saw a bigger smile than the one that was on my face when I saw all the cards stacked in there for me!
Wowzer!
To open your mailbox and see things that are not bills or advertisements is just a joy! I quickly flipped through them to see who sent me cards and I see our neighbors there at our Mountain Home have sent me another Christmas card.
“Really Rosie? A touch of old-timers there?”
I got back out to the Jeep -- oh. Wait. I have to tell you something here before I forget again.
Have you ever been on a motorcycle or driven down the road behind a motorcycle and noticed that they all wave at one another? Well, Jeep Wrangler owners do the same thing! We started noticing this phenomena a few months ago. “Watch this, Peg,” Mike says and as the Jeep gets closer, he says, “Is he gonna wave?” Nine times out of ten they will wave. Mike chuckles and waves back. “See that?” He gets such a kick out of it.
I came back with my stack of cards and as I got back into the Jeep I handed the mail to Mike. In anticipation of my return, Mike had already retrieved the letter opener from the glove box and he quickly and neatly sliced all of the envelopes open, handing them back to me.
I doubled my quota of Christmas cards plus I got three condolence cards at the passing of Baby Blue.
Baby Blue.
Rosie hadn’t sent a second Christmas card, she sent a very nice condolence for the loss of Baby Blue. She also wanted to thank me for giving Baby Blue a good life in our home as opposed to being just a mill cat.
And this kind note made me realize that I had forgotten to be thankful.
Thank you Lord, for letting us have Baby Blue for five years. She was truly a unique kitty that filled our home with so much joy and laughter.
And her passing has left a hole in our lives.
I have noticed before that the dynamics of a clowder changes when cats come and go. Molly, our twelve year old calico, is a different cat. She always used to be kind of a quiet cat and you hardly ever saw her. Now, with Baby Blue gone, she has taken to yowling and roaming around. And she is much more demanding in seeking attention from us.
But, back to Christmas cards, and this will be my last word on the subject, at least for a year.
It was with anticipation and joy that I opened and read each card, and it made me realized that yes, Christmas cards, although they seem so commercial these days, do serve a purpose. And if there is a personal note or pictures inside then it makes you feel doubly blessed.
“When I get a card from someone it’s like they are reaching out and touching me. Saying, Hey, I’m thinking about you. We’re family - or friends- And I love you. Is it really too much to ask that they do that once a year?”
“I don’t think so,” I said.
“And when I see all of my cards hanging there it’s like getting a hug. Is it silly to measure how much I am loved by the number of cards I receive?”
“You measure how much you are loved by how many cards you get?”
“Let me clarify. It is really my gift to the many people in my life that I don't see, but still love.”
I may have to hit the clearance aisle at Wal Mart and buy all the leftover Christmas cards so I can send her one every week.
And there you have it.
What a difference a day can make.
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