Showers this morning, following a day of light rain yesterday. According to the long-range weather forecast, we'll have rain throughout the rest of the week and weekend. Not too much, I hope, since the river has already risen perhaps five feet from what it was last weekend, and is still coming up. This rise came as the fast-melting snow found it way into the upstream network of ditches and rivulets, brooks and small creeks, and eventually into the river which flows past my cottage—a stream which will carry and dump it into an even larger river, and thence into a third, and finally a fourth—the mighty Mississippi—which will take it all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.
I don't know why, but whenever I consider this network of streams which runs from the rich black farmland of northwestern Ohio to Louisiana's salty deltas, I'm always amazed to have such a front-row seat. Watersheds were our first highways—the arterial blood of a burgeoning nation; from canoe to flatboat to stern-wheeler, streams carried explorers, traders, families, goods. Most of our first towns were located adjacent to a river. Thinking about "my" river, I see not only the geographic connections, but also the historical.
One bit of good news is that our temperature today is supposed to hit a high of 64˚F…incredible considering not many mornings ago the thermometer read a numbing 16˚F when I went out to replenish the bird feeders at dawn. Moreover, the week's highs are suppose to remain at least in the 50s, which I suppose makes the rain more tolerable, though it doesn't do much for photography and taking walks.
Ahhh-h-h, but isn't spring's coming always about weather? Why should this year be any different?
———————
12 comments:
Griz: Sometimes I think life is all about the weather. At least my life is. Hot, cold, snow, rain. It affects almost everything I do.
Carolyn h
HI GRIZZ-
I love the pictures of "your" river, ever changing, ever mysterious, ever beautiful. And I so appreciate how well you know it's moods. And I think, I am pretty sure that 'it' knows yours.
Love Gail
peace......
Carolyn…
Weather affects us all—our daily plans, our dress, our moods. Doesn't matter whether you live in the country or city, or whether you care a whit about the outdoors. Weather's influence, its ups and downs, finds its way into everyone's life. Not that we can change it, of course…only be changed by it; weather has the upper hand.
Gail…
This ol' river sure seems to know my moods, crazy as that sounds. No question I pay attention to its daily nuances and am influenced by what I see and feel and hear.
Glad you liked the photos.
Still fairly cold here - the pond outside my back door only just melted. Daffodils, those harbingers of Spring, very late.
May that river keep on rolling...
Ah, but you do have a wonderful way with water!
Solitary…
Rolling, I'm fine with, but not rising. It's now up another couple of feet since I posted this piece—though slowing its rise-rate, I think/hope.
Warm here, 65˚F (18˚C) and a few more crocus have bloomed. No daffodils in bloom, however. But they can't be far behind the crocus.
Bonnie…
I'm a riverbanker at heart. If it shows…well, that's why.
You may have said somewhere, or sometime....are you on a branch of the Miami or Little Miami??
And we here are expecting as much as 3 inches....on top of all the melting snow. I am very glad I'm not too close to any stream.... It's bad enough having a wet basement!!!
Giggles…
Now where would life be without mystery?
No wet basement here—in fact, no basement. And the river has crested—for now—with feet to spare. One does have to accept the fact that you live beside the river at the river's pleasure…or not.
Is there an official flood stage along your river? Are you on high enough ground that whatever that stage is you do not get flooded?
Living near the wide Susquehanna, I am attuned to flood stages. One of my best friends has a house facing the river--and 2 or 3 times a year, waters rise, and she has to move all the furniture up a level.
KGMom…
There are a few water-level monitoring devices on the river, which I presume are employed by the Conservancy District and various municipalities, readings from which may get fed into the data at the National Weather Service's regional office, located about 40 miles from here—but so far as I know, there's nothing "official" in terms of levels and warnings.
This is a single-level house, and it has had water into it (at least a few inches deep) three or four times since being built in 1919. Chances are that sooner or later, it will happen. I knew that going in. I pay my flood insurance and should flooding occur, will move the piano, books, and a few other things—and simply replace the rest. It's not going to happen every year—and may never happen during the time I'm here…but it is a river, and the "perfect storm" syndrome could make the difference.
Post a Comment