And Just Like That. . .

It been quite eventful around here for the past week or so.

I will just begin by saying, we are fine.

Actually, that's part of what makes some of this so weird.

We've been so blessed.

We were able to go skiing with 2 of three nieces on one side,

and thrilled that "young people" were willing to spend time

with us "ol' folk" :-)

Follow that high with the news that a friend was informed

that he won't make it to his 30th birthday

due to a horrific medical condition they don't even know how to treat.

Then the surgery date for hubby's sister was upped

so she went through an extensive surgery.

We were just trying to find our bearing from this roller coaster ride

when the river up the mountain began to flood.

That was Thursday and Friday.

The river hit the highest point in recorded history.

Luckily, fortunately, and gratefully, our place suffered little damage

 by comparison to many others. 

(So much debris)

The water that usually flows at around 1500 cfs

broke the 13,000 cfs mark though,

I'm not sure how accurate the reading was since so much water

was flowing out and in all directions.

It literally rerouted itself in multiple places.

Our house stayed dry, our shop had a trace of wet 

over part of the concrete slab, and 

our yard along the bank is about 10' narrower.

The fence behind the garden that separated our place 

from the neighbors is in our yard.

We stayed away Saturday thinking there would be 

many trucks and large equipment on the road and didn't want to impede.

They were still trying to evacuate people by helicopter.

We did go up Sunday to check on the place.

(A neighbor's driveway)

There were several rock slides with a path 

that was just wide enough for the pickup to go through.

I lit a fire in the stove out in the shop to help it finish drying,

but only had what wood I had brought inside the previous trip.

The rest was washed away.

Once the rest of the snow melts, 

we will have to go up with a tractor and chainsaw.

There wasn't much we could do so went down to a neighbor's

and helped shovel 5-6" of mud out of their garage.

(Mud)

They were also thankful that there was no worse damage.

I think there was hope of being able to begin work

 on restoring power yesterday.

The transformer was still under water as of Sunday.

There is no cellular service up there and phones are also out.

Luckily, most folks up there are at least accustomed to power outages,

but the road is completely gone in places so there is no access by vehicle.

They did get through (can't remember which day) via 4-wheelers.

We had taken several gallons of drinking water in case

any neighbors were running low.

Sheriff's office had already done that which was good.  

The area where we now live also flooded.

Our house was safe, but looking out at the field

behind the house looked like a lake instead of the river.

Most smaller bridges in both areas are gone.

And then Monday, we were back to work.

It somehow seems wrong to carry on 

as if nothing unusual has happened.

I know floods and fires and other natural disasters happen all the time.

I've never felt immune to such things.

The part that's bugged me though is

how foreign I felt in a place that's so familiar.

It changed so much.

Then I thought perhaps there is no place 

here on earth that we are supposed to feel at home.

Perhaps that feeling is reserved for Heaven alone.

Perhaps that's the reason.

A reminder that this is all temporary.

And so we carry on . . .

but with an awakened sense of being,

a gratitude for the day, the breath, the chance,

because

just like that

it can be gone.

Keep safe and well dear friends.