More Rain???

Okay, we got that nice January warmup, but with it came some really high winds and more rain than anybody cares for at one time. We have localized flooding throughout the countryside of Dekalb County, where I live. And guess what? It's STILL raining! Yesterday I forged a small "pond" that just happened to take residence in the middle of the road. I was on my way to pick Ashley up from her school, and didn't have much choice but to see what my Wife's Honda CR-V could do. Yikes, it was a tad deeper than I thought! I made it through, but realized there was a sweet spot in terms of speed. To fast, and I was plowing water everywhere, to slow and the water becomes to much of a drag and I risked stalling. 1st gear, steady she goes, slip the clutch a bit to keep the RPM's handy - and I was on the other side with a good rush of adrenaline! Okay, now I have to admit afterwards it seemed relatively harmless to try crossing it, so I did it on the way back too! Now that I really think about it, I probably should have just gone a few miles out of my way (ok, several miles, we live in the country) to avoid it. Ashley said her bus goes through the high water on the roads too. The water isn't more than a few feet deep, but it's enough to give the bus a little trouble from what she said.

Our property has a 1/3 acres pond on it under normal circumstances. Today the level is higher than the overflow pipe at the back of the pond, I can't even see it! The back 2 acres of our property are under water, along with another 10 or so acres of neighboring farmland! Our pond has essentially merged with this huge body of water. I finally have that "bigger" pond I wanted! Now, it gets pretty wet back there every winter, but this is the first time we have seen this much flooding since moving here in early '05. The water usually receeds pretty quickly, there are drain tiles (pipes) under the land all across the county, it just needs time for all of the standing water to let gravity take it to a nearby drainage ditch, which will eventually empty into the St Joseph river.

So, if you have a small boat and motor for sale...

So January is here again!

Ah January! And an Indiana January it has been so far for my poor wife especially! She took the '96 Ford F-150 to work last night and ended up in the ditch on the other side of the road! She wasn't hurt, nor was anything on the truck that I could see...save a rim caked with frozen mud and ice. Deb was a bit shook up, hell, I would have been. She chanced the back way to work after stopping to get gas, and the country roads out here in the frozen wastelands of Indiana are pitiful for driving. Doing it in a 2 wheel drive short bed on a sheet of ice is futile. After I was on my way to help Deb I had her call the police to report it, which turned out to be a good decision because in the small town of Auburn, they get the tow dispatched for you too, and they picked our State Farm preferred towing company as well. The police sent a polite young man to help us out and wait for the tow truck. He had no need for any info and waited for the tow truck from the church parking lot across from the field Deb ditched in. We waited in the Honda, January is no time to sit outside in Indiana. The tow operator was on it right. He had obviously done this many many times. With me in the Ford and the tow operator at the winch, I was out in less than a minute. I guess if I pay a few dollars more a month for State Farm (seems everyone in Auburn knows Joyce Hefty, our agent!) then it's worth it because they have roadside assistance, which will pay for this incident thankfully. Deb still feels bad. I feel worse for letting her take the truck, she probably would have done better on that road had she been in the Honda. Deb usually uses the truck when we both work because she is closer to the house, and the truck sucks for gas mileage, so I take the Honda to make my 50 mile round trip run into work. I start at 4am, so the plowmen are usually just fueling up their trucks at 3am when I leave the house. I suppose they have one or two in operation in the County for the main roads, and a few in the city for downtown, but other than that, you are on your own in the wee hours of the morning. The drifting is the worst! Within minutes of a plow clearing a road, you get back filled from drifting snow, leaving berms of snow in the roadway. With an ever present layer of snow on the road and persistent traffic, you end up with lots and lots of ice on the road. Right now it's about 12 degrees F outside, so salt doesn't melt much.

Ah, January! But the month also brings my 39th Birthday this year, last stop to being 40 next - ugh? It's a number is all, and being humans, we like to use numbers. My dogs and cats don't have much use for them for sure, that's why we get away with using things like dog years and nine lives. My oldest step-son, Matthew, will also be 19 on the 20th of this month. Happy Birthday Matthew!!!! Matt is going to go to IPFW (Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne) this year, and is living there, working hard, and getting ready to start his pursuit of higher education.

The younger kids at home start back to school in the morning, but are already on a two hour delay - - Old man winter is really dropping the mercury tonight, but sometime in the next few days we are supposed to get highs in the low 50's! What the...??? They say if you don't like the weather in Indiana that you should wait 10 minutes, and it's true by my accounts!