My walk down to what is known as the ‘creek’ but is really a river (we also have another river steps away from the creek) showed me just how bad this storm was around here. I’ve never seen the level of the creek so high, completely covering little trees that were on bits of land within the river. The sound of the water is so loud, even this morning. I stood on the bridge (which has a deepening crack in the road – I called the county to report it) and looked down on the water, stunned. Then I walked down the road that my neighbor lives on, which also leads to a very popular campground. The entrance to the road said ‘road closed’ and it was quickly evident why it was closed. The water from the creek was right up to the doors of two different houses, one of which is a sort of shack, but lived in and maintained by a guy I’ve spoken to before. They weren’t trapped, as they could get out the back door, but it was frighteningly close. And down the road, another home that had been raised with supports (I’m not sure what you call them) under it because of another storm – that storm happened a few months after we moved in – had water covering the entire property.

The road to the campground was closed because water was completely covering the road. At 2:30 am, they had to evacuate everyone camping there. Everyone was transported to our fire station.

Don went into the neighboring town and the river had flooded the area called ‘the flats.’ Roads were closed. Bridges were closed. And this doesn’t take into account the horrific scenes in NYC, the tragic deaths throughout the Northeast.

I’m going to walk down there with Don when I finish this post to see how much of the water has receded.

We are on higher ground. The creek which is across the street is well below my neighbor’s property. And we are at a higher elevation than they are. The elevation changes that make mowing this property a bit of a pain are, it turns out, a good thing.

It’s a beautiful day today. The ground is very soggy, but as so often happens, you’d never guess what was happening two days ago.

After nearly a month of not painting, I did start one the other day. But I haven’t been able to get back to it because of…life. I was supposed to coach Ben yesterday via Zoom, but he asked if we could do it today instead as he’s got a heavy filming schedule and he’s just plain tired. So today, I’ll be working in the afternoon.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.