My Hometown is Flooding

My hometown of Decorah, Iowa is floundering under too much rain. Many roads in town are closed, and sandbagging is going full force. The above photo is from local newspapers and in it you can see my family hard at work. On the far right, in a blue jacket, appears to be my brother. Standing near the sand truck in a navy and white baseball shirt is my nephew, and toward the left, in a coral colored ball cap, in my brother-in-law Aunt Mike. I'd love to be in town helping but the last thing they need is more people driving in and needing to shower and flush toilets.

This "summer" is reminding me of 1993. That summer I lived in Iowa City while southern Iowa endured 3 months of torrential rains. It was miserable. The city of Des Moines lost all water services for weeks. People had to shower in donated WaterPik trucks. No one could do laundry or flush. Anheuser Busch trucked in loads of canned water. And so far, this summer is just as miserable. Following one of the coldest winters I can remember, we've now had months of gloom and rain. Sigh . . . . . .

So instead of sandbagging, I spent a lovely afternoon with my new blogging friends Christopher and Shannon and their two darling daughters. We were able to spend of bit of time on the screened porch while the rain drummed on the roof and the thunder rolled.