Skip to main content

The Great Flood of 2008 #3


Sigh...

As I posted earlier, we had 2" of heavy rain on top of record-high temperatures on Saturday. This melted all the snow (over 50" in December) and proceeded to flood areas that shouldn't flood, yet again. This is the THIRD 100 year flood in calendar year 2008, and I am quite sure I'm not the only one who is tired of it. 


Many people had flooded basements, again. People who don't live anywhere near rivers even had flooded basements--the water simply could not percolate through the semi-frozen ground fast enough. Fields were flooded, again. Fortunately, not much is actively growing at this time. Doesn't this look like a lake? It's a hayfield. 


To add insult to injury, a wind storm overnight Saturday left many without power, exacerbating the problem by preventing basement sump pumps (standard equipment in former-swampland western Michigan) from running. All this on top of extremely difficult economic circumstances, and we wonder, "How long?" and "What next?"

We are fine, personally, but we feel badly for those who have endured flooded basements, cold houses, and the final straw of no flood insurance. If you are the praying type, please pray for the people of Michigan. 


This is a photo of the ditch in front of our house. It was just cleaned out this summer. The bank (which The Farmer discussed not-so-happily with The Ditch Cleaner) is threatening to cave in. Which will necessitate more ditch-cleaning. If we're lucky. It seems as though the ditch is a snapshot of the economy in Michigan.

Labels:

Comments

  1. PamJanuary 6, 2009 at 11:54 PM

    I'm so sorry Lona. It was bad here too, but we didn't have quite as much snow as you had (I think it's 35 inches for the winter so far) so the flooding wasn't quite as bad. Those pictures are really quite amazing! I pray for our state and all those in it. Hard, hard times.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 8, 2009 at 7:08 AM

    Oh my, Lake Shady Side! And now we have ice again, and topped with slippery snow. But I would much rather look at the snow than the mud.

    It was just WONDERFUL to see you at Shepherds Weekend and to get to visit a bit. Congratulations to Mike on his winning sock ;)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bloggy Giveaway--Now Closed

**This bloggy giveaway is now closed** Thanks to all who participated and gave such great comments. Janette is the winner of the $15 gift certificate to our etsy store . I'm participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival . Click the link to go to the carnival where you can enter to win literally hundreds of things. The good news is that even if you have no time to play on the computer trying to win hundreds of things, you can still enter to win one thing right here. This week, I will be giving away a $15 gift certificate to be used toward the purchase of an item in my etsy shop . This contest is open to residents of the United States or Canada only. The winner will receive free shipping on whatever item they choose. Items in my etsy shop include handwoven rugs, wool yarns and roving from our farm, and the ever-popular cotton dishcloth! To be entered in this wonderful drawing, you must go to the etsy shop and look around a bit. Then come back here and type a comment that ...
132 comments
Read more

This Giveaway Is Now Closed!

Today starts a giveaway at Farming in the Shade! I am happy to contribute this complete hat kit (needles not included) to someone who has a knitting obsession and a small person in their life. Here are the rules (contest open to US or Canada residents only): Giveaway ends May 1 at 9 p.m. EST. Winner will be announced by Sunday, May 3. Enter by posting a comment on this blog post. Tell me something about your knitting--who taught you to knit, your favorite yarn, the coolest thing you ever knitted. Make sure you leave contact information! Earn extra entries by: 1) Following me on twitter. (If you don't know what twitter is, don't worry. It's another way to waste your time on the computer.)  Add a comment here so I will count it as one entry. 2) Tweeting this giveaway (no more than once daily). Add a comment here so I know you did it. 3) Blog about this giveaway. Add a comment (with link) here so I can go visit your blog. 4) Follow or subscribe to this blog (or tell me if have...
45 comments
Read more

Lambing Jugs

We usually let ewes begin lambing in the large pen, with the other expectant ewes. After the first lamb is born, The Farmer will let her care for it for a few minutes. Then he will go in and pick up the lamb (or lambs, if he's arrived after multiple births) and move slowly out of the large pen. In this case, the lamb is the bait that makes the ewe move, too. She is very concerned about her lamb, and will follow closely, calling out the whole time.  The ewe and her lamb(s) are placed in a small lambing pen, called a jug. I have no idea why they are called jugs. If anyone knows the origin of that term, I'd love to know. They are kept there for 1-3 days to ensure that they bond, and that the ewe is caring for her lambs well. No distractions. We set up a whole row of temporary jugs during lambing time. This is one of our hay storage areas, so we need to be sure that we've used most of this hay up before lambing begins. After their time in the lambing jugs, the ewe...
2 comments
Read more