What used to be a blog about experiencing the places and cultures of the world has morphed into one of living in my adopted home of Wyoming.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Findlay, OH Flooding - The End is Near??
According to the First Evangelical Lutheran Church (Evangelical Lutherans? Who Knew!?) - Then End was apparently near......this sign was up the day before the Great Flood of August 2007. These photos were taken the day after, Wednesday, August 22, 2007, in Findlay, OH.
This was my backyard on the morning of Tuesday, August 21st, after the night of rain - about 9 inches. I was slightly worried. As you can tell, my neighbor's yard, to the East, is a bit higher and drains into mine. The water came up to my crawl space (a first), but I didn't get too much water in there. I started the day pretty upset at the water in my yard, because the 4 or so previous floods in town, all purported to be worst than the last (and I haven't been here 2 years yet), yeilded more water accumulation in my back yard. I was worried that this would be a growing trend in my yard, and what I could do - besides adding dirt - to amend the problem. The maple tree roots would be so prolific that adding drain lines would be difficult; adding dirt may force water into the crawl space or under the house, so some sort of sighting would be required to ensure it ran to one side of the property and then along the property line to the curb, so not to flood the neighbor's yard, etc etc. Then I heard it was 9 inches or so of rain - so, that made the impact a little softer, I guess. A never-before-amount of rain. And with plants in full glory, roots were able to suck much of that up. In fact by noon, much of the water in my yard had been absorbed.
But, the next day, the rain that fell in surrounding areas drained into our area, flooding our rivers, creeks, and drainages. This is a shot of the Blanchard River at Main street. Note the people driving over the bridge, as the water level of the river - over flood stage - is at the bottom of the bridge:
Finally, our offices were flooded, along with hundreds of homes in the area. The offices are still coming online a week later. Many homes are not. Why homes here are built with basements I'm not sure - only a hundred years ago, this was called the Great Black Swamp, and the water table is relatively high for a midwest/northern region. The few people I knew here with a basement, prior to moving here, said not to buy a home with a basement - they all had horror stories of basements whose sump pumps had failed, whose walls had seeped, where mildew provided a constant presence. So I purchased a home with a crawl space. To me, basement = place where everything goes down in horror movies.
The good news is that while many people were affected, I believe only one fatality occurred, and bulldozers have been making their way through town picking up debris piles on multiple daily runs. The local response and cleanup effort has been commendable. Here, two years after Katrina, I'm quite amazed at the difference. Findlay is up and running - albeit we didn't lose all aspects of infrastructure - some areas of town were not impacted, the mall was operational the day after the flood, we didn't lose power or services, etc. It's not a one-to-one comparison. But seeing New Orleans and many of its neighborhoods in the conditions that they remain in, after Katrina, and the state of cleanup that Findlay is in not quite one week later, provides stark contrast as to the level of involvement and engagement of community and civic leaders. And to be fair, both could be considered to be flavors of the good-old-boy network, to varying degrees. The differences with which both were able to enable response, however, is glaring.
Friday, August 17, 2007
I'm a Mommy!!
Below is the newest member of the family. Her SPCA name was "Melody", which is so lame I can't even say it out loud. So, until her new name reveals itself to me, I'm calling her "Doggie". I pick her up on August 22nd.
Update!! Meet Djiini (pronounced Genie).
Djinn is the original spelling for what we know today as Genies, and contrary to western culture, they're not the prototypical good helpers; historically, they have been documented as often tricksters or malevolent spirit beings. They have also been noted as being benevolent to 'true souls' in need of help. Not that I need any help....but when I saw her she reminded me of a dog that "found" a friend and I who wandered off-track in Morocco and walked with us all day until we reached the next town. There is an old proverb in the Sahara......that if one is of good will, and finds themselves lost in a desert, a genii will appear to them in the form of a dog to lead them to safety - hence my new dog's new name, with a modern twist on the traditional spelling: Djiini.
A little more about Doggie: She enjoys long walks, having her hair brushed, and bon-bons. She's part German Shepherd/part Whippet or Greyhound. She is about 4 years old, and knows how to sit, stay, lay down, and is ambidextrous in her handshaking ability. She's also knowledgeable about where to potty (e.g., outside). I asked the SPCA folks if she was cat-friendly, and was in for a shock. The girl I was talking to said she'd check - and then came back with 2 cats! Holy god. Epiphany - it all made sense. In January of 2006, when I went to adopt Kathman(du), no WONDER all the cats there seemed neurotic!!
But, the clinchers, for me, were the existence of a few oddities present in Doggie:
- First, she has an oddly shaped head. As though the bones that fuse upon the top of the skull did so too rapidly. Doggie is, in fact, an egghead.
- Second, she seems a little shy (but who wouldn't at the dog pound!), but also very loving. I don't think she has come from an abused home, because she was dropped off by someone who said he'd found her as a stray, but she had a collar, and she cried for that man after he left. This besides being trained, housebroken, and immaculately clean, considering her purported 'stray' status. Apparently, people often do this at the SPCA rather than pay a pet surrender fee that helps the pound's operating costs. One woman at the pound said that the majority of people who bring in animals that way often are bringing in their own pets, for whatever reason, and as a result, full histories don't come with them. For a dog that seemed shy and a bit sad, she showed no hesitation in being very loving to 'strangers'.
- Next, I don't know what planet this dog came from, but she had no idea what to do with a tennis ball or a chew/pull toy. She barely paid attention to either of them during our "get acquainted" time, and then looked at me as though I were crazy. So she's got character. Or she doesn't like the smell of other dog-spit.
- And finally, when I was squatted down and eye-to-eye with her, she would sidle up next to my right, lean up against me, and use my right leg as her left front paw-rest. Not in a doggie domination way, like trying to herd me, or in being possessive of me. This behavior didn't strike me, either, as though she were shy or afraid and required physical reassurance. Instead, it was more like, "Hey. How's it going? Cool. Let's do some doggie-watching!. Check her out. Poor pooch. Can you believe they made that Bitch wear a red collar?!?!"
Doggie seemed to be very interested in seeing what kind of adventures she and the two Experiment Kitties could get up to, but the Experiment Kitties were not having any part of it. Since she exhibited curiosity - not agression - I feel OK about introducing her to Kathman. I may end up needing to keep them separated initially and work on training and integrating them together as 'friends'. We'll have to see what kind of hilarity ensues next week.
In the meantime, I've got some Doggie-proofing to begin this weekend.......
Friday, August 03, 2007
As Promised...Wyoming Photo Update
A little horseback riding does a body good....
While in Wyoming, I got to help (or at least observe and photograph) feeding some animals...
chinking some interior cabin walls (the top row!).....
Cabin interior....
Hyattville's Annual Old-Timer's Festival and Street Dance
Prairie Chickens
Some bunnies.....
Some bunnies are less shy than others.....this one seems not to have developed a healthy fear of humans yet. He came up to within two inches of Gary's boot, but moved a little too quickly for me to perfectly focus on him.
I Say, It's a Pig-Nic!!
The PIGnic took place in National Forest in the Big Horn Mountains, so everything needed for it had to be brought in, and it was the Wyoming folks who did so - from the custom-made roaster on a trailer, to the drinks-and-ice trough, to the firewood for the all-night campfire from the previous night (and that night's fish-fry), to all of the varieties of side-dishes: sweet corn, pasta salad, bread, salads, baked beans, and other goodies too numerous to count. We're not talking Kroger ready-mades, either - these were all home-made delights. It was a treat, and a massive effort that the Wyoming gang undertakes each year to maintain the PIGnic tradition. Job well done!
What the....??
Table of Friends
...and from West Texas:
Turk, Linde, & Fancy (in that order....)
Medicine Lodge State Park, WY
Petroglyph....
and recreation!!
On my first day in Hyattville, Gary showed me around town, introduced me to several neighbors, helped me explore the local cafes and the one bar, guided me around the ranch, took me fishing, and showed me around Medicine Lodge State Park. Besides the pictographs and petroglyphs, there is an outstanding fishing perch nestled on the side of Medicine Lodge Creek, with a detailed panelboard describing some of the various favorite nibbles for the fish. This was prior to our fishing effort, so I read through the panel indicating which types of nymphs are preferred by which fish - when I realized, at the bottom of the panel, that it was dedicated to Walt & Dorothy W. - Gary's parents! So, I was able to explore town with a bona-fide legacy heritage son in Gary, here pictured next to the observation deck / fishing platform / information panel.
Mmm....home-made cherry pie!!
Streamside Paradise
Mmm...muddy!
Now let's say you're a rental car company. Let's say you're in the incredibly picturesque state of Wyoming, where the men are Men and the women are equally tough, and the best driving is on roads yet to be (and hopefully never to be) paved. Let's say that your stock of vehicles is all-wheel-drive Subaru outback little station wagons, and that you charge a fee of $50 if they are returned "excessively dirty". Seeing here that I had about a quarter inch of clearance between the caked up clay on the tire and the wheel well (that I had to create using a stick), and that I had to use the 4 wheel drive function in first gear to get out of not one, but three mud-sticles, I'm worried that I might see that $50 fee crop up on my bill. Of course the nice folks at the rental car company don't start their day before my flight leaves, so I'll have to wait and see when that hits my credit card account....because I'm sure not going to call them up and ask, "hey, that little grey car, with the bottom third covered in red? was it returned clean enough for you?" Any takers on the chance that I won't be seeing that convenient little charge? (Of course they're going to nail everyone with that charge who does anything more than drive from an airport to a KFC in their rental car when it rains in Wyoming in July, multiple times - that's like a miracle event!!). Just in case, I've got a few pre-emtpive names in my back pocket on standby.