After more than two weeks, the water has finally receded a little and no longer covers Hwy 14.  It's still dangerously close,though, and they had to bring a pump out to make it happen.  So the water here has been high for nearly 2 continuous months.  Also, the trip to take Pepper to get spayed involved driving on some pretty out of the way back roads, and one of those is flooded pretty bad as well.  At what point does it cease to be 'high' water, and just become the new standard level?  Atlanta: if you're wondering where your water went, I think we've found it.

It snowed this afternoon.  Pretty hard, too, in great large flakes.  For a while it appeared that it may even stick, but in the end the recent warmer weather prevailed and it all melted before I left work.

Unfortunately, snow in the end is just more water, and even more of highway 14 is now covered.  The water threatens the southbound lane now as well, and from both directions.  I think I'll need to find an alternate route before this week is over.

It's raining again.  Actually, it doesn't feel like we've had any more rain this year than in other years.  What we did have a whole lot of snow, and now it's melted and the water really hasn't gone anywhere yet.  There have been near-continuous flood warning in the area for the past month. 

Our house is less than 1/2 mile from a small creek that feeds into the Rock river, and it's in the flood plane for that creek, but I'm not worried.  Several years ago the city started a project to clean up the nearby lake.  They drained the lake and did most of the cleanup, but then funding ran out and the lake has not yet been filled.  So before any serious flooding reaches our home we'd have to get enough water to completely fill that lake bed.  It also helps that floor level is about 4 feet above ground on the main level.

There are two ways all this water does impact me directly, though.

One of the flooded areas comes right next to highway 14, which I take to work every day.  For the past 6 weeks the water has come right up to the edge of the road and for the past 3 weeks it's covered about 5 inches of the 2 foot shoulder.  This morning it was into the north-bound lane about 8 inches, and it's still rising.  I might have an interesting drive home.

The other thing is that even if there's no flooding some of that water has the potential to seep into the basement.  I'd been lucky so far, but last August's record rainfalls proved that our basement is vulnerable.  This morning it finally started leaking.  I'm still not worried-- it's not a large leak and the water flows directly to the drain.  What does concern me is that every time water comes in, the leak is worn just a little wider and will be a little worse the next time.  But this one is small enough we have some time before it becomes serious.

Update: It stopped raining late this morning, so maybe the water on the road can recede some today.
Update2: It started raining again this afternoon.  On the drive home there was lightning everywhere, there were tornado warnings the next county over, and the half the opposite lane was under water.

Got the sandals out today for the first time.  I also moved the lawn chairs back to the front porch and hooked up the garden hose.  It's nice to see the weather staying warm.

For the first time this year I was able to take my daily walk without the need of any extra clothing.  I was able to do it with just a sweater yesterday, but it was a sweater I keep at my desk for when the office gets cold.  Today I was outside with just jeans and a polo. 

It looks like it's gonna be a nice weekend.  A great chance to get some work done around the house .

There's a pretty good snow/rain mix coming down right now, with the snow in great large flakes.  It's even sticking in a few areas.