A fishing we will go....

We went up north to Rhinelander this past weekend for Kai's third birthday. We all had a good time trying not to get carried away by Wisconsin's state bird, the mosquito, while letting the kids fish for the first time. The fish were biting and since we were in very shallow water, the kids had a good time watching the fish. Enjoy the pictures...

The river has crested.

Well the river has crested and as of this morning has dropped four inches. The river broke the previous flood record held from 1917 by just under an inch at a whopping 25.95 feet. Travel is still very complicated due to almost every major highway and interstate being shut down between the Dells and Madison. Our little Baraboo River was able to shut down two interstates and multiple highways in this whole mess. Traffic was being routed up HWY 12 up until this morning when there was a serious accident and now there is a detour of the detour. For my family that is traveling from Madison to Rhinelander this weekend, have fun snaking your way between Madison and Baraboo. I hear it is taking hours. They are watching the dam up river very closely for signs of failure it would be catastrophic for many towns if it went at this point, and unfortunately as of this morning there are more dam failures in the area so more towns are evacuating.

If we can hold off getting any more rain for a while we should be ok. Last Saturday and Sunday we got at least twelve inches total Causing the wash out of Lake Delton in the Dells. then Thursday we got at least another four to five inches in a matter of hours which caused flash flooding in Baraboo and surrounding areas.

I have included pictures of some of the most mild flooding around town and it doesn't even give a good perspective of how bad that is. We are completely avoiding where the major flooding is for obvious reasons. Given we are not as bad as Cedar Rapids is but for Wisconsin this is unbelievable.

Sand bagging in the flood of a century

I have never been so happy to live on a hill. With all of the torrential rains southern Wisconsin has had the past week we are very flooded. Numerous roads are out making travel very difficult. By the time Chris got out of work today we easily got another two inches of rain I would bet. Try as Chris might he couldn't find a way home. He got stranded for quite a while until the rains let up and luckily was able to get back to Sauk City to stay with family for the evening. HWY 12 has washed out from the sounds of it, and most of the other roads were already closed because of the flooding. It is a helpless feeling to be living on a hill and know that a large part of the town below you is slowly getting swallowed by the raging river. It got so bad so fast today that they actually called in the Ducks (WWII amphibious vehicles) usually used up in the Dells for tours to come and rescue people in Baraboo.

I was driven to do something. I figured my house is safe and my husband is safe so I should help where I can. I ran down to the town shop to see if they were going to be making sand bags today and I was shocked at the lack of help that there was. I ran home and sprinted up to my neighbors house asked if they would be willing to watch my kids for me so I could go volunteer. They said they could, but Mark decided that he was going to come with me to help. I ran down the hill and bugged my other neighbor and she decided to join also. We made sandbags for three hours in the pouring rain and thunder. At least 6 dump trucks full of sand were put at our feet and we as a group of 50 people got to work.

We got a rhythm down some shoveled some held bags and some tied, all the while watching rescue trucks pull boats behind them to help people who were trapped in their homes. The only time there was a break in the work was when there was too much lighting for it to be safe to be out in the cold rain. My hands are torn and blistered from tying twine around already soaking wet sandbags, there is not a dry part on me and I am sand from head to toe. I lost count of how many bags I tied twine around. As Mark and I were leaving I cringed to overhear it said that the battle is being lost, another house is gone. I get to go home and take a warm shower in my dry house while someone just lost everything. I hate feeling helpless.

Tomorrow Mark and I decided that if they were still making sandbags that we would go back down and help. It is the only thing that we can do to help at this point. I would imagine that it is going to be a few days before the river crests so more people will probably be evacuated from their homes. I would be really surprised if Chris is even able to make it home tomorrow. I can only hope the rains stops soon, but from the look of the Doppler radar I think we have a few more hours of bad weather.

For now we are all safe so don't worry. We will keep everyone updated.

Trike-athon

Jasmine's preschool puts on a end of the year event for the kids called the trike-athon. Basically they invite all the kids in the school to bring out their bikes and have a fun ride / race followed by a big pot luck.

The event was held at one of the local elementary school's playground area. It allowed for a safe fenced in location where we could unload our kids with their bikes and let them loose among the swarm of other children.

Both of them had a great time and got quite a bit of sun. The only sad part is that as Jasmine finishes this year of preschool it will mark the end of the school itself. Both of the teachers who have run this program for the last 10+ years have done a wonderful job and we are sad to see such a great school close. The good news is that over the year Jasmine, Shannon, and I have made a number of new friends.