Storm Team 8 is our local NBC weather station and Severe Weather Center is CBS, both named for a purpose. They make their money by scaring us all witless every week or two, so you never know for sure if this is really the big one coming or if it's all about ratings and advertising money. Some people ignore them. Not me. They get me every time. I start hyperventilating when an inch of rain is forecast. And I manage to get John worked up as well. We love living on the Grand River, but we knew very well when we purchased our house now nearly 8 years ago, and our cottage 7 years ago, that our lives would never be the same. So here we are again in major flood preparation, though this morning the sun is shinning bright and the water is receding.
We always take our cars out to high ground well before a foot of water is over the road; some neighbors might laugh at us, but now there are more than a dozen vehicles stranded, though the water may come down enough today for them to get out. Most houses are perched on higher ground fairly close to the river, and now (as in all floods) the river flows by on both sides of the houses. Yesterday John and Alex (our business partner and cottage renter) went to the cottage and put her stuff in the attic or up on tables and counters. This afternoon John and I will be returning to turn off all power there and take her perishables out of the refrigerator/freezer to be stored at her sister's house. In the meantime, she's living upstairs in her studio here at the Gardens. Dr. Ike, Ph.D. (her cat) has made himself at home up there already. Above are pics of the cottage and of her kayaking to high ground.
We could only wish that the weather reports of torrential rain for the next 2-3 days are pure hype, but the BIG one may actually come this time. (There has not been a 100-year flood here for more than a century, so it's overdue!) After John and I close down the cottage this afternoon, we'll be returning on kayaks to our house to stay until the rain is over. (Alex will keep the shop open.) Our house is about 18 inches higher than the cottage. With an eye on weather reports, we'll probably start taking things to our upper floor tonight or tomorrow. If it's all for nothing, we'll get a good spring cleaning done in the process. IF the water should come in and cover our floors, we'll hopefully have everything up high, and we'll kayak out and live in our loft above the barn here at the business until we can safely go back in. Alex is a good sport, a great friend and partner. She goes with the flow-----even in floods!
