Water, Water Everywhere--Enough Already!















This is the front of our house. We think the flood has now crested, but we've been fooled several times in the past few days. Right now the reading is 15.17 feet, more than 3 feet over the 12 ft. flood stage (which is the level of the road). Today we got up to beautiful sunshine---that, after the forecasters had proclaimed this the cloudiest December on record.

This photo looks off our deck on to the mighty Grand River. Last night we went a dozen houses down river in our waders to our retreat house cottage which is almost 2 feet lower than our house. We put everything up on blocks (including the piano) just in case the water comes in. We're leaving tomorrow to visit friends and vacation in Texas.

The predictions show the water dropping below flood stage by Sunday and to continue to go down after that. We would have canceled everything if the water were planning to stay real high---and we might be back early. I'll be checking the flood website several times a day and we'll be keeping close contact with our neighbors. When we walk in the 3 ft. deep water on the road we use ski poles that poke into the ice that we're walking on; otherwise we're in kayaks. Yes, that's me!

Another Winter Flood

It's nail-biting season on the Grand River in Comstock Park. This is the second time in 2008 that we're having a flood. It's less than 2 feet over the road in the deepest areas, so ho-hum, EXCEPT for the fact that we're supposed to get temps in the 50s tomorrow and an inch or two of rain. I spent much of the day cleaning out files and book shelves. It was hard to concentrate on my writing so I packed up 8 large grocery bags of papers to throw away and 6 bags of books to give away to a seminary student who needs them. They are great books, many of them new, but I won't be using them anymore. And I still have hundreds of books left on my shelves. I got rid of files because I don't expect to be ever teaching again, and those bags I took by kayak out to high ground where our car is parked. We'll recycle them this week. With that much gone, I feel more prepared to face the big flood if the water rises and decides to come right through our house. Life never gets boring here on the river.

Mountains Moving Outside My Window

As I sit at my desk trying to pump out another thousand words (per day) on my church history text, I'm distracted by the river. In recent weeks there has not been a lot of change in the sheets of ice that float by. But today there are large jagged "mountains" of ice piles, some 4-6 feet high---sometimes moving and sometimes coming to a complete standstill. The beauty is as breathtaking as it is frightful. Ice jams cause the worst floods. Last February we left our vehicles on high ground and kayaked over the 3 feet of ice and water on the road to get to them. This season, which is already sporting a record snowfall, could be much worse. The Grand River gave the Grand Rapids region a 50-year flood in 2004 (still 18 inches below our floor level). The last 100-year flood was in 1904, which I guess means we're due for another one. I would much rather make headlines with a church history text than with a flood.

Contemplating Wealth and Glory

This morning John was reading to me from Frederick Buechner, The Longing for Home, and one of the lines that stuck out was "Solomon, in all his great and tiresome glory." Last night, the reading was from Thomas Wolfe, You Can't Go Home Again. One of the characters has virtually nothing in his apartment; even books are considered clutter. Those readings stirred in me thoughts about things. I glance out on to the river as I write, ever conscious of the water rising and the big ice chunks forming. The river is higher than it was last year at this time, and last year we had a February winter flood. At the time and looking back, it was no more than an inconvenience---having to kayak out to higher ground where we parked our vehicles. But it could have been much worse. And this year it just might be the big one. The flood might wash right through the house. I look around me at my book shelves. Are the books merely clutter? Many of them are. They sit there gathering dust. But if the flood waters come in, we'll be doing all we can to save our clutter. If the flood waters take all our clutter away, we'll still have libraries were we can find more than Solomon's glory in books written by the likes of Buechner and Wolfe.