Soggy, But Otherwise Well

Apparently our NW weather has garnered national attention and some of our peeps from far and wide have been checking in to make sure we haven't been swept away in the flooding. It was good and wet for a few days, and we had some high water in places. The creek on our property didn't flood the driveway, but where it flows through a neighbor's land down the road, it did flood the ditch and create a nice lake for us to drive through. The highway into St. Helens was closed with about a foot of standing water. The wetland in that stretch has recently been in-filled to accommodate construction of a car wash and storage unit business. Because, as you know, those wetlands aren't good for anything, that's just a waste of some good, buildable land. Way to go, Planning Commission. We did lose power briefly, had a bunch of limbs come down but no trees this time, and our cabin was leaking around the woodstove chimney--Mark had to get up in the middle of the night and set a milk bucket to catch the water. Other than that, the worst thing we had to deal with was sinking almost to our knees in squelchy, sucking wet mud when we went to the barn to milk the goats. The ducks are living large in all the newly formed ponds on the place. Oh, and the kids lost a money-making gig. We're doing a 4-H fundraiser--Elves for Hire--the kids are doing holiday chores and errands for people, just by donation. A local assisted living home had recruited them to help with their big Holiday Bazaar this Saturday, but they wound up with a foot of water on the first floor, had to evacuate all the residents, and now have two to three months of work ahead of them to repair the damage. We're all okay, thanks for the calls and emails, and please feel free to continue to call and email, just because.