Read the part about Napa Valley.
Guess what? I LIVE right on the Napa River! My house is about 200 yards from the river. At 7am I got up and put on all my rain gear and boots and saw that the river was only about 2' from going over! Yikes
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051231/ap_on_re_us/western_storms
Anyone have a life preserver or row boat?
Oh man! Stay safe girl!
We're trying to get our 3 horses moved out today. They are so wet and their corral is just keeping their hooves too wet. Not to mention they are only about 30' from the river. Bad news is we have more rain on the way -next 4 days and we are so saturated there is just no where for the water to go.
Wish my DP order would arrive so I could play indoors! Is there mail service today? or is this a 'holiday'?
I got mail today.
So it should probably arrive
Oh boy. I've been keeping my fingers crossed that the river wouldn't get up to your place! I'll be keeping you and your neighbors in my prayers.... If the water comes, get out of its way! As Lorry said, Stay safe!
oh, and move your AV babies to the second floor... ;-)
This message was edited Dec 31, 2005 3:22 PM
The sun teased us for about 20 minutes. Now it's clouding up again. This morning, the river was so high that if I laid down on my tummy right on the bank, I could have touched the water. I hear the emergency sirens going off all over town (we live in a bucolic little town with a volunteer fire department)
Here's the river with a pink line to show the water level at 7am today and what it is now. We've had a bit of a break in the weather and I was able to get a few shots.
Here's another shot. it's not a huge rive but we are a narrow valley at this end and the river runs right down the middle.
One more river shot.
The north part of the orchard is under about 8" of water, but that's not too bad, I've seen it worse. In 95 we had the river going through our bedroom! NO kidding! Woke up to 6" of water in our room and half the house submerged!
And because God does show some mercy -even if it is brief, I took a picture of the blue sky because it's the first time I've seen it in DAYS! But it was fleeting at best.
I had to reinforce my greenhouse cover as it was just about to blow away!
I think we'll be fine if we can just have some more moments like this. Its when the rain is constant that the river just can't take it.
Our town.
Begonia,
I'm doing a rain dance now to bring your rain here where there are fire bans in effect because we are so dry. :)
Seriously though, stay safe, floodwaters are so very dangerous.
We're good for now. The rain has let up since I posted last. We've got some dry weather for a short time before the next front hits us.
Thanks all for the good thoughts and Plantmom, I'd happily share some of the rain with you. So keep dancin'!
Glad to hear it's stopped raining (for now, at least). I hope you have at least a couple of good days before the next front.
Looks like it is supposed to hit tonight late. They are predicting record floods in Napa, 4' higher than the record, or so they say, but the weather man (person) has been wrong before. Let's hope so or we'll be sandbaggin tonight!
Last flood got my Honda! When we got up, about 2' of water in and out! Found a bunch of walnuts in the engine compartment LOL (or orchard is planted in walnuts)
I'm still praying stay safe !
Begonia - - stay SAFE!!
Update, we have had a nice break in the weather for about 18 hours so the flood waters are receding.
Doing good! Thanks!
Awesome to hear! I was so worried about you!
Nope, we're pouring again! I spoke too soon, GeeWhiz, enough!
So sorry to hear that!
Dang! Will continue to pray for your safety and for your property....
Thanks everyone! We're doing an hourly vigil on the river. Blah!
Stay safe.Your in our prayers.
Be safe, I will keep you in my thoughts.
We're doing much better now, thanks to all for the well wishes, seems to have worked for my house anyway. Mostly dry all day yesterday. Got the horses moved out and the chicken coop repaired from the wind damage.
The Governator declared a state of emergency in Napa, over 140 million in damage!
We're just soggy now, skies are still grey but I did see a little patch of blue earlier.
Just checked this thread to see how you're doing. So sorry to hear that so many suffered damage. I'm glad things are looking better.
Just checking in to see how you are doing... Glad to see you posting, was worried about you yesterday. None dropped down our way. Just alot of clouds. Darn it. Take care...
It's raining again, a soft rain, not the volumes that we had. Been raining for a few hours now. We're very soggy, but at least the flood waters have let up a bit. Honestly I think it has been 14 days straight of rain, not solid of course, but everyday none the less.
We're going over to the coast on Sat for a double date kayaking with friends. They say the estuaries are loaded with wildlife after a big storm like this. So I'm just hoping for a partly cloudy day on Sat. I'd be ecstatic for a little sunshine here and there. But cloudy/overcast -no rain will suffice just fine right now.
In the mean time, I dream of Maui, and our little campsite that my best friend and I go to each year to escape from our men, kids and jobs.
Here's the view from our tent!
You go each year WOW
Yea, we do the cheapest route we can, get out tickets from Suntrips, rent a wreck of a jeep, the cheapest they have and then split the cost, then we pack all of our camp gear in an igloo cooler and one suitcase and head to paradise.
We put up our tent on the beach and bring a little hibachi for cooking fresh Mahi Mahi. We eat fresh fruit from the farmers market and drink plenty of wine and pina coladas! In all, 10 days runs us about 800-1000 depending on if we do a lot of shopping. We've been so many times now that we don't shop too much, you can only have so many T-shirts that say Maui on them.
We torture ourselves at the beach every day(not!) or drive to the hill country to visit the botanical gardens. Of course the whole island is a botanical garden (all of the islands are).
It's rough camping, no facilities or water, BUT the public beaches all have showers and water. We just plan ahead! On our last day, we go to a North shore beach and shower, then it's only 5 minutes to the airport. We cry all the way there!
Our families figure it's cheaper than therapy (LOL) and we have a great time. It recharges our batteries. I've done the whole trip with our kids and such, but it's so much better when it's 'just the girls'. We've been best friends for so long now and it's literally a laugh a minute!
When we get home, all we do is plan for the next time we get to go. Since we're in Cali, it's not such a bad flight like for those of you coming from FL. or the east coast.
Oh yea, the best part is that as soon as we get our jeep, we head to the local thrift store to get chairs and a coffee table for our camp site! Look at the photo of us being bums below. We're talking to my niece in SFO at the time, I put my camera on auto and took our picture at our camp!
Dang, I'm ready to get on the plane now with all this beach camp talk! LOL
How about this one, we had just gone up to the Iao Needle park, it's really rainforest there! and stopped in the creek for a self-timer photo!
And look at the sunsets we see from our tent! Can you see why I'm homesick for the island!
Begonia, you are torturing me! We had planned to go to Hawaii in May, but hubby and I couldn't coordinate our court schedules to get time off at the same time. Problem is now solved--I resigned (easy enough when you work for and with family)!
Can you rough it in Hawaii? I think the roughest conditions would be set off against the pure beauty! So, do you come back with a lot of plants? Visit Ted Green's hoya paradise? What about orchids?
Can you tell how jealous I am? :)
Stephanie
WOW what a dream world ! I could only imagine. Thanks for sharing :))
Stephanie, all I can say is when I get off the plane, a sense of peace washes over my whole body. I can't even explain it. It's like I'm 'home', only in my heart.
There's an orchid nursery for sale upcountry, it's only a milion four. The couple wants to retire and downsize -or so they said. I'd happily grow orchids in paradise! My hurdle is getting DH to move with me. LOL.
There are several campgrounds in Maui. The one we stayed at is closed on Wed. but we got away with it. It's reaaaaalllly rough. And like I said we shower at the beach, so you have to have an adventurous spirit!
I did get some plants, a disocactus (two actually) and a few others. no orchids though, I can get orchids all day long at trader joes for $7-12 (big ones) so I didn't bother buying any, shipping is spendy too!
Here's the place I got them and I'll post some photos that I took there too
http://www.tropicalgardensofmaui.com/garden.aspx
I did get one orchid, I admit, but it's not doing very well. (if you go to my blog I think I put a photo there.)
(over neglected blog too!)
I didn't get to teds, is that on the big island (Hawaii?), when I go back, I'm headed to that island, I want to invest in a lot for my retirement. (ok, it's a pipe dream, but we can dream cant we!)
Ted Green's in Kaaawa and he sells hoya, dischidiopsis, centrostemma, ceropegia, dischidia, stephanotis. I've heard that it is just awesome to go there although I believe you do have to make an appointment to make sure he's there and not off plant gathering.
I only have 20-30 orchids and do not have one like yours--it is absolutely beautiful. I checked in one of my orchid books and it apparently likes a lot of water and a lot of light with increased fertilizer in the summer. Good luck with it.
I keep telling my husband we need to move out of MO--I hate it here! I need to be somewhere that is green year round (I tend to get "blue" in the dreary winter months), but we're both attorneys and have to practice for a certain number of years before we can get reciprocity from other states. Otherwise we have to take that particular state's bar exam and, believe me, I'm not going through THAT again.
Good luck talking hubby into the orchid nursery!! :) Can't imagine doing something so enjoyable for a living (although I'd have to do some sort of apprenticeship or I'd probably start killing things). Does the business come with a house??
Beautiful pictures, nice being able to put a face with a name. BTW--what is that beautiful red flower??
Stephanie
Comes with a beautiful house and ohana! how can you beat that.
Yes, i'd have to have someone stay on and guide me in the growing. But I'm a quick study so I'd accept the challenge just to be somewhere that has summer all year long!
I get that SAD thing too. We're FINALLY seeing some sunshine today. After these last two plus weeks of rain and grey skies, I almost need to go sit in a tanning booth for a vitamin D bump!
that red flower is torch ginger and looks and feels like those wax teeth and lips we used to chew on as kids. (well at least I used to chew on them LOL! remember the coke bottle wax candy filled with colored sugar water?) I might be dating my self here.
BTW, in the photos, I'm the one with short hair.
Here's a staghorn that looked to be on steroids.
no idea what this one is named, but I've seen it here on DG before, anyone?
I think it's something about a bat?
Here's a bromilead bract & blooms
