Summer Flood

Right around the time that school finished for 2013 we had major flooding. We are near the Grand Rapids area and all around the rivers overflowed. In our little town we have the Grand River and the Flat River. They meet just past the downtown area. We happen to live within sight of the Flat River. When we moved here I asked my mother-in-law if the river had ever flooded. She scoffed and told me there was never a flood to worry about. Yeah....

 Train bridge by the flour mill that is downtown. This picture was taken when we first moved here. The picture below is the same train bridge taken during the flood. The water actually got higher than this.

 See that road above? That is the main street of town. The above picture is when we moved here and the picture below is from the flood. Of course, the flood picture was taken while I could still get over that way. The water got higher than this.

The water flooded the Riverwalk and the Showboat. It made its way towards the library. The library was cleared out as much a possible. The main street was closed down which cut us off from town and the grocery store. A 20 minute alternate route through dirt roads was the only way to get around for a day. The police finally started letting people that lived in our area through but you had to give the address that you were going to. The power company decided they would shut the power down to our side of the city since there was a large transformer type thing right near the Riverwalk and rising water. We got the notice and decided to leave our place. In the end we were only gone for one night since the water finally stopped rising.

Our street did flood while we were gone. We actually got taken out by the Grand River. It flooded across Main Street and met up with flooding from the Flat River. The water was too much for the storm drains. The city had pumps and tubes running from one set of storm drains to another in the hope of keeping the water down.  There was a lot of damage done to homes and businesses. The Kent County Fairgrounds had tens of thousands of dollars in damages.

 

Of course, the water receded and today everything is frozen over and covered in mounds of snow.  

 

 



2014

A new year has started. It is very cold here with wind chill temps at 21 degrees below zero. School was suppose to start up on Monday, but we are on our second snow day. Considering that the last day of school before the Christmas break was cancelled for ice, the children have had an extra 3 days of vacation time.

Less than a week after writing the last post in August my beloved Chang Po died. He was 12 years old and had been my baby since the day he was born. His passing was unexpected and very quick. I am thankful that I got to hold him and tell him how much I love him. I wrapped him in the cardigan my mother always wore and we buried him next to his mother in my in-laws' backyard. I would love to write an entire post based on him and all his Tibetan Spaniel silliness, but even writing this much has me in tears. He is much loved and very missed. However, I am at peace with his passing. A long life lived to the fullest and a dignified, swift passing.

LuLu has been much more clingy since Chang's death. She does not like being an 'only dog' and she hates being left alone for more than half an hour. She sits on my lap whenever I sit down and being a Lab-mix she is not actually lap-dog size. Still, she is my comfort and my friend.

That last post in August had us taking Irene to a Pediatric Cardiologist. We went, she had another EKG and we met with a fantastic doctor. He was very charmed by her. Irene was given the lowest grade of heart murmur. She never has to mention it on forms and is not required to see the cardiologist for it ever again. Great news!

Things here are as they ever were. I have been suffering from insomnia for the last two and a half months. It is like living in a nonstop fog. I find that I have a low tolerance for noise. After a day of the kids being silly I have to sit with headphones in and music playing. By the end of the day I feel like my skin is full of prickles. I have to be careful of content when I read because of horrible dreams when I do get some sleep. It is like living in a slightly warp version of actual life.

Today the kids and I will watch The Avengers and Thor. We have become huge fans of The Avengers so we watch Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Thor and whatever other ones I may be missing. The kids all have their favorite character and Christmas gifts this year reflected that. Gavin wants Captain America bedding.

And....that is life in a nutshell. I do hope that 2014 finds everyone healthy, wealthy, and wise!