LaCrosse, Mississippi, and flooding

 

The above photo is from Riverside Park in LaCrosse WI. This little statue of the kids and the puppy waving to the boats on the river is something I always stop and admire when walking along here. This photo was taken in August of 2021 when I was getting new tires on my 'Ru.

There is a platform that goes right to the Mississippi's edge here below that statues.

Well not this week!

I shot this with the long lens because they had barricades up around the park. The 'Ru needed new brakes. Charlie and I went for a nice long walk while they were working on it.

People were going around the barricades to look at the water up close and personal...Not me!

After all that water had trees in it, and other gunk. It was swirling so hard that even the lone duck that was there had a hard time keeping afloat.

The bench I usually stop and sit at to people watch down in front of me? Well...

The damage isn't bad at the park at all, after all, the park is used to high water. However the neighborhoods near the river are/were getting their homes flooded. Below is a photo of Cass Street Bridge.

Those are river houses and boats out by Pettibone or Simmons Island. I have no idea how they stay in place.

This is a shot of the building at Pettibone Park across the way. I've never been here yet, but it is on my list of places to explore.

On my way back to the dealership with Charlie, I had to stop and read another funny saying on the sidewalk.  I don't know why these are in LaCrosse but they are! Silly sayings here and there!

It says:

The turtles in the trees
say please sing louder.
Swimming eagles eating cheese
curds and watch the sky for flying
cows driven by cats licking
ice cream. Ants line up at the libraries.

A child tells an adult.
The concrete beneath my feet
is alive with wild ideas
begging my shoes for a ride.

~Matt Cashion

I leave you with that to interpret any way you want. But I love this little ditty. It speaks volumes to me.
Don't ever lose sight of your imagination!

LaCrosse re did several sidewalks and embedded poetry and dance step instructions! What a fun way to celebrate walking through their city!

Stormy

Yesterday morning, the sky was interesting when the light started to appear in the sky. Ichecked the weather and apparently we were due for some storms on and off during the day.

I jumped in the 'Ru and took off to the ridge. I wanted to have some 'fun' with the Infrared camera as well as see a nice clear sky without smoke. Clouds and fog would add to the interest.

I parked and decided to walk up the road, that is until I heard the booming to the west.

I figured I had a bit of time before the storm would hit. So I hoped for a shot of some sun. I got fog.

I decided to head home. I didn't want to get caught in the storm and I knew Charlie would be having a fit if he could hear the thunder.

And then I saw the sun as the rain hit in big fat drops.

This became the start of a very long day of endless rounds of storms, lighting, thunder, and a quaking dog.

Thankfully, we were not hit by the rain like others were. 

Grabbed from VernonReportersPost on FB:

Because of the unique way our watersheds are situated, the intense rains were washed into other valleys and we were pretty much spared. Coon Valley, Chaseburg, and Avalanche were not however. Roads closed quickly outside of Viroqua as the flood waters drained down the hillsides and rushed towards the Kickapoo.

We got a total of 2 + inches in 24 hours. A tornado touched down in Boscobel and blew apart some buildings. Thank goodness no one was hurt. LaCrosse got nailed too.

This morning we had another round. Charlie got me up just as he was able to hear thunder in the distance. Other than being soggy around here right now, things are quiet for the moment. The storms may stay north of us which is good for us but bad for those in its path.

It looks like it might be a good day to stroll through the trails and see what the heat, rain, and humidity brought out. That is besides the skeeters.

Stay safe.

For those interested, the mighty muddy Kickapoo is quickly rising and doing its thing. The quiet little river always is ignored until a big hard rain. Then it reminds us just how powerful water can be.

Floods, Fall, Charlie

Of course it is all about the weather. This past week has been rain, rain, heavy rain, and then some more rain. If it rains an inch the creek is up. If it rains 1/2 inch, the creek rises.

While walking out to do chores yesterday morning I could hear the ground gurgling underfoot. I don't know if it will dry out enough in the next week or so for us to do a final lawn mowing. The winds and rains have clogged the porch gutters and I can't get up to clean them as the ground is so saturated that the ladder just sinks into the ground.

We went from cold temperatures to hot and humid for the past few days which brought in so much moisture and more rain. The Asian Beetles and the Box-elder bugs have swarmed the house in those brief moments that it did not rain. The weather is supposed to turn sharply colder in a few days and fall weather should return.

I have gone out for a walk with Charlie each day that we get a break from the rain. The subdued light was pretty beautiful for taking some fall photos.

Charlie was mostly interested in finding chipmunks and squirrels. He does still try to chase them. They generally fly up a tree and he loses sight of them. I call and he comes back fairly quickly.
He still wears the collar but I haven't had to 'ring' it much. I find the bell ringing distracts him enough so he comes to my call right away.

I think come winter I will be able to leave the collar off on our hikes. He is wearing his little black cord here too. He seems to understand that the cord means "stay close".

Yesterday I went solo to the creek and walked through the neighbor's land on each side of me along the creek. I got caught in a downpour and was thankful that I'd brought a cheap emergency poncho to put on over me. It protected my camera case and kept most of me dry.

It was alarming to see how swiftly the water began to run over the trails and down the ridge road.

I got home just in time too. The thunder began to roll and the lightening began to light up the afternoon sky.

Chores had to wait until there was a pause between storms. Three different wall clouds went over us in just two hours. Odd weather for mid October.

We are in a Flood Warning again for the Kickapoo River. It hasn't really gone back to normal since the rains at the beginning of September. I drove up the west side of the river the other day when I went to check on my MIL.

The power of that river water is incredible. It moved huge round bales that had been wrapped in a tube and displaced them all along the river.

I'm so over this rain! My driveway gravel and dirt is turning green in spots!

Water. Roads Closed. And Stuff.

When I moved here in 1996, I realized that this was a place of steep hills and valleys and little streams that twisted through the landscape.

Our place is in somewhat of a 'hollow'. It isn't on the ridge, it is about 100 feet or so below the ridge. Travel another 250 feet down and you can be at our creek.

A lot of bad weather seems to like to stay on the ridge and the flooding occurs in the bottoms so we have hopefully achieved a happy medium. Well, we thought so in 2007 when we had historic rains and then heavy winds.

We had 19" of rain in three days and then the winds blew. We lost hundreds of trees. In this photo I counted 43 trees blown over or damaged.
Again. We were lucky and our animals were fine as well as our house.

The line attached to the tree is my clothesline on the same tree still.

Well that is neither here nor there.

Monday morning I awoke with a start as I hear a huge boom that shook the house. Well, that isn't even right, I awoke and then it ... the sound made me stand up right out of a deep sleep. Lightening was flashing. I figured there was a strike close by.
So I fumbled around and unplugged everything. Sort of like shutting the barn door after the horses have left. The storm raged on. I got up for a while and checked the radar and weather.

In the morning when I stepped out to let Charlie do his business, I felt something was amiss.
So I tossed my boots on and walked to the shed.

One of the old honey locust trees must have gotten struck by lightening.
A huge branch and come down and crushed two corral panels. I think I muttered a few cuss words quietly and reached down to pet Charlie.
Charlie looked up at me with that goofy face of his and I smiled.

Well.
My Electric braid fence was down in more than one spot. As miracles seem to happen all of the time on our farm, not one animal was injured or missing.

Splinters, shards, or perhaps even Tree Shrapnel was spread in a 360 degree area. Far and wide it was....

Tree shreds were stuck into the ground up to the depth of 6 inches. I even found a piece that had electric line embedded in it. The line was not damaged.

So after accounting for the animals, checking to make sure the fencers were not blown, and making sure that the power in the shed was still on, I started to gather tools and get to work.

I am not the master of electric fences, I will admit that. I will make mistakes and go back over things until I have it right. I felt it was a cruel joke on me that I'd finally gotten the fence to exactly where I wanted it, when this storm came.

Now I had a new challenge. Fix and restructure the fence. I took the opportunity to redo some fencing. The cattle wouldn't be on this section of land anymore so why not just do it?

I'm also somewhat of a believer in reusing what I can. So I made the fence 'hot' again to the rest of the farm after checking on the mules and Dexters. Next was the riddle of WHY would the fence not read 'hot' around the tree? It took me a long while and I probably even fixed things that did not need fixing.

Eventually it dawned on me. Lightening.
Strike.
Electricity.
Wires.
Lines.
Lightening...strike...electric...wires...wires...wires...power...wires.

I stopped and had a PB&J. My grandson Dennis came out to see what I was doing. I finally figured it out.

The electric braid rope wire had been attached to the tree by insulators. The lightening exited the tree in more than one place. I peered closely at the braid enduro soft braids. I felt them. All the internal wires had been 'blasted' outward. The electric braid rope fence felt like a porcupine.

Yep, I felt like Einstein for a moment. Then I realized how darned hot and humid it was and how much work I had to do yet. I showed Dennis the rope and let him feel it gently.

I took down some other fencing and used that to replace the ruined wire.

When all was done, I had mostly working fencing. So I let the mules back into the area to clean up the locust leaves.

The mules did the cleaning and I smiled. It had been hot and horrid.

The grand kids went home with their mom and I dropped into bed after doing some timed exposures of the night sky.
Another storm was brewing and it was supposed to go North of us.

Rains. Lightening, rain, thunder...I got up and checked on Charlie and the house. The rain was pounding, my cell phone blinked with a weather warning alert.
Flash flooding.

Oh here we go again, I thought. I stepped out onto the porch and decided it to try and go back to sleep.

I was startled awake.
I had no idea why.

I peered outside while warming up a cup of coffee.
The sky looked like it would produce an incredible sunrise.
So Charlie and I grabbed the camera bag an headed out.

I stopped.
There it was again.
The something IS wrong.

Ahhh.
The exploding tree had lost another section.
Oh.

And again. No animal had been harmed.
I tied Charlie up and went to check on my other creatures.

The sky was amazing.

And the mules were just fine.
I touched everyone and said good morning to them.

And then I set to work and it wasn't even 6:30 AM.

I got the fence re adjusted and back in service within 30 minutes.

I read the Sheriff's report and discovered that nearly 43 roads had been closed in our county due to mud slides or water over the road.

After running an errand to town [I stayed on the roads that keep to the ridges], I got home to watch another 4" come down in 3 hours.

I checked the animals and all were accounted for when the rains let up a bit. I walked to the creek and before I got around the last bend, I could hear it roaring.

The chairs I'd left down on the bottom were gone. Swept away by flood waters.
As I hiked back up the hill the rain came down in unbelievable amounts.
The pasture became a stream of its own.

And in the distance, you can see the mules coming to check on me.

I assured them I was just fine and they escorted me back home.

At 6pm we had 50 roads closed in our county.

Ever hear the saying?

You can't get there from here?

I think it applies tonight as another round of steady rain pours down.

Weekend Away

Okay, it was not 'away' really. But it was away from Mother in Law care and appointment making, check book balancing, book-work, and fencing.

My friends from the Kenosha-Racine area came for another visit.
The men folk changed the oil in the diesel and we moved a hay feeder, took care of chores and items that needed extra hands.

Then we packed snacks and sandwhiches and instead of hiking in Awesome Creek we went to Duck Egg County Forest.

As you can see in the top shot, the Springville Branch of the Bad Axe River was running hard. Normally it is a very swift river anyway. The six inches of rain was still coming down the hills into the streams and rivers.
We had a scare with Scout, pictured below.
He loves water and decided to jump in next to the bridge, he was swept away and we all freaked out.
Lucky dog. He was able to get out about 10 feet down stream. We kept him on a leash near all the water crossings after that. Whew!
However, Scout is a quick learner. He didn't try those waters again.

Saturday morning was spent on exploring the recent flooding of the Kickapoo River.

The Kickapoo River is a rather slow moving river and when it floods it just creeps over the banks and spreads out.

Most of the towns along this river have parks into which the river can overflow into. After many historic floods most of the homes that can be flooded have moved homes out of the flood plane.

The wild flowers at Duck Egg were in rare form. 

I'll have to do another blog just on them.

So many wild flowers vivid at the same time instead of the usual order of things.

Flooding in our area

If you follow the news I imagine you've heard about the flooding in Southern MN, NE Iowa, and South Central and SW WI.

We have approximately 60 some roads closed and some of those roads are major highways. Some of the towns near the Kickapoo River have very limited ways to get in or out of town.

Townships have limited resources and apparently a limited amount of Road Closed signs.

There are mudslides, and road wash outs everywhere. Even the scenic River Road aka Hwy 35 has been closed between Prairie du Chien and Genoa. 

I drove up highway 14 from Readstown yesterday to Viroqua and I can say that I am happy that this is not my only route to to town. The roadside is cluttered with rocks, logs, trees, and busted up pieces of buildings and culverts.

Most of the folks who live along the valley near 14 have had either flooding of their homes or lost most of their driveways due to the flash flooding.

I followed the request of the Vernon County Sheriff's Department and stayed home on the 22nd. Two people have died due to the flooding and mudslides. 

Many small towns along the Kickapoo and the Pine Rivers have been affected. 
The flooding is pretty widespread in this state. From the Mississippi River to Hillsboro.