A Tale of Twisters and Monsters

What a strange two days! I took Friday afternoon off to head up to Hodag Country to meet my sister Nell. Not a local? Rhinelander is the home of the Hodag pictured above.

This mythical, mischievous creature was first “discovered” in Rhinelander in the late 19th century but may have been roaming the Northwoods for eons before that. I can't confirm or deny! Today, the Hodag has become the official symbol of Rhinelander – it’s even the mascot for the local high school and can be seen pretty much anywhere visitors go in Rhinelander.

That is not the reason we were going to Rhinelander. We swear. But it you can believe it, for me, meeting up with one on my sisters up there is twice as close (less than 2 hours) to driving 4 hours to see them in our Up North back home towns.

So when she said she was going to a conference Friday and Saturday and could use the company, I said sure!

In our routes up and over yesterday we were both more like the Storm Chased versus the Storm Chasers. We knew tornadoes and crazy stuff were predicted. In fact, on my route up I-39 they had already dismissed schools early for safety. We both had sunny skies and stayed ahead of it thankfully!

Me arriving to town: "Hey, sis, I found the Hodag!"

40 minutes later... clouds and high winds before we find a place to eat!

As we scarfed down our delicious Friday night burgers at a place called Bucketheads Sports Bar & Grill, we heard no less than three tornado warnings on the multiple TVs! We're like, should we take shelter? And... wait is that what county we're in? 

Who knew being a tourist in Hodag Country could be so dangerous?

We did make it back to the hotel fine and she beat me in two games of Five Crowns before we realized the twisters did destructively touch down between Rhinelander and Wisconsin Rapids. Uff da.

And this morning we woke up to 30 degrees and a "real feel" of 21 degrees. So Wisconsin had sunny and golfing Thursday, twister Friday, and winter Saturday.

*Checks calendar*

Oh right, it's spring.

Got home about 6 p.m. tonight and am grateful for at least a little sister time. And super grateful for our safe travels.

Prayers to all dealing with tornado/wind damage and flooding right now. Consider any way we all can support them!

Oh and keep an eye out for those sneaky little monsters among us!

Water Under-Over the Bridge

I feel bad for all the areas of the United States dealing with drought-like conditions while we had another inch and a half of rain overnight. And now we are in a flood warning. And it shows.

Morning walk around Lake Wazeecha and the dam on the west end could hardly keep up.

Much of our walking path on the north side of the lake is under water. you can see the lake in the distance. About halfway between here (the road) and there is where the walking path (both paved and gravel) usually goes. How crazy!

And if you can see the item floating and actually stuck on the sand bar on the east end by the bridge, that's someone's dock.

And back at Blue Jay Drive... The usually low – and sometimes almost dry – Bloody Run Creek is inching into our back yard.

Hubby usually mows up to the row of trees. So that's a lot! Not enough to go fishing or skinny dipping. But more than usual. Probably means the mosquito population will triple in the coming days. Uff da.

August will have to do a March lion and lamb thing. August came in like a lamb and goes out like a Sea Lion.

Be careful out there!

Oh That's Why We're Called Rapids

How high's the water, mama?
Five feet high and rising
How high's the water, papa?
Five feet high and rising
                    – Johnny Cash

If we wanted to, we could rewrite Johnny Cash's song and say 14 feet and rising. Though the Wisconsin River was allegedly going to "crest" at that depth today. One drive along the river this afternoon and I was quickly reminded why they call it Wisconsin Rapids.

It was like everyone who had free time in the late afternoon was taking a field trip down to the river's edge just to see how much flooding there was and see how impressively (and scarily) fast the water was flowing.

This park was formerly the location of the East Side Pool – back when Carter was a baby.

No pool, but plenty of water these days.

Kayaking, anyone?

See that railing? There is a sidewalk and walking path on this side of it. Somewhere.

Pretty sure no one's walking there dog that far out. Normally, of course, that's situated right by the sidewalk.

 Got some media coverage today.

 Smartly wearing boots and on the correct/safe side of the fence.

Yes, this is what we mean by rapids! 

Inching its way up to bridge level.

Down on Second Street. Now I've heard of water flooding and crossing the road but hadn't see it until today.

Homes on the left had water up to their front porches. The park on the right was nowhere in sight.

How scary see actual waves coming toward your house when you're not on a beach.

Water reaching some of the side streets there, too. Since it goes up hill from there, though, it didn't get too far down the street.

This duck is not going to find food in the street.

 See the painted stripes under the water? These ducks are hanging out in a parking spot.

See the duck on the left? Pretty far off the river path.

River may have crested but it could rise again because... snow. See it in the foreground? There's still some more melting to come this weekend.

View from the side street looking down the hill to the river.

 Canceling all playdates at Lyon park on the south side of the Expressway Bridge.

What bench?

Not a nice day for a picnic, either!

Inching toward the road here, but was over the road further south. I was smart and did not drive there.

You may notice water to the south toward Port Edwards. There were also sandbags, too. That same area was hit a few years ago and lots of basements flooded and some walls even caved in. Messy stuff.

More media checking things out. Does my blog count as media?

"Where the sidewalk ends." Gonna have to walk on water to get to that bench out there!

Pretty crazy stuff! Hopefully no major damage to homes in the area or injuries. There's definitely power behind those rapids! Be careful out there and smart!

The Great Meltdown Begins

It this looks like a scene from a horror movie, it kind of is. While we are thrilled with temps in the 40s – what?! – it also brought rain instead of snow. Lots and lots of rain. Like I think 24 hours of rain.

So my morning and evening commute looked like the scary scene above. Only a lot more foggy. Anything reflective is water turned to ice. I literally glided out of my driveway and out of my neighborhood this morning! Thankful for the county and state roads since they were pretty clear.

During the day, high water everywhere – including the basements of several friends. Yikes. I figure since tomorrow is going to be in the 50s, this is only going to get worse before it gets better. I should be thrilled, but...

My nephew out in Rapid City, S.D., is dealing with a blizzard that boasted 94 mph wind gusts. Not kidding. Is it coming this way? I don't know and I don't want to look.

The sad thing is that we've had the most snow ever and my friend Cindy and I didn't get out snowshoeing yet! Seems like it either snowed a storm, iced a storm, or was wicked windchills. On the weekend when there was daylight anyway!

Maybe we'll still get out. Or maybe we'll be kayaking down Blue Jay Drive! For the sake of our homes and basements, let's hope not.

Flirting with Natural Disasters

Whether or not you have friends or family beyond the borders of Wisconsin and Minnesota, you still can't ignore what's happening in the category of "Natural Disasters" in and around the U.S. right now.

While Houston folks are just starting to see dry land after Hurricane Harvey, Florida and the Caribbean Islands are hoping to survive the monstrous path of wreckage from Irma. Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest is on fire and in Wisconsin we are about to turn on the heat.

Just. Plain. Crazy.

I have friends in each locale and this is scary business.

So far, the Houston friends have survived with minimal flood damage – compared to what we see on TV. In Florida, it's too soon to tell where Irma may or may not hit and how much damage will result. Hoping friends are safe.

The wild fires are the most concerning really. They just seem to be out of control. So far, friends in Washington and Oregon are fine. My girlfriend and her family in eastern Montana are OK for now, but she said it is pretty bad for lots of relatives and friends in other areas of the state. And a few of the fires have been pretty close to her parents' ranch. Wow. Just scary.

Suddenly, considering turning the furnace on doesn't seem so drastic, does it?

Pray for safety and the ability to recover. Pray for strength, too, for all emergency personnel meeting dealing with floods, fires and storms.

And thank God if you have blessings you can count today!

Southern Soaking

Apparently all that rain earlier this week did a number on Adams County, just to the south of us in Wood County. I happened to drive through there today on my way to and from a work conference in Wisconsin Dells.

Heading down south on Highway 13 at 7 in the morning, I was not camera ready. But I remembered for later and I snapped some pictures on the way back in midafternoon. Sorry these are blurry but I was just holding my camera phone with the window down, snapping pictures at 55 mph with my eyes on the road. Seriously, eyes on the road. Saw way too many dead skunks!

A look at the southern (from here) soaking...

Luckily the driveway is still usable at this place.

Roadside fields full of water.

Ditches full, too!

Not sure where there was water they were pumping from and why it was being dumped into one of the already full ditches.

Road was completely covered with water on the way south this morning. Looks like – from the afternoon view – the warmer temps are drying it out a bit.

Thank goodness only the sign, not my actual ice cream stop, is threatened by high water.

Ironically, they are selling "lake property." Do ditches count?

Now that I am home safely, I'll have to start paying closer attention to the creek in our backyard. If I see ducks, a water pump or a new real estate sign, then I'll know to get out the umbrella and sandbags.