Wet St Louis.. Floods Famine & Pestilence

Alright, no famine! I need to drink more water, not see it come from the sky and rivers.... working toward food control is not exactly famine.

The wet events continue and more pesty events to come. With snow to our north and rain to our west in the last week looks like more of the same Water Water everywhere!

Flooding and clean up! Ugh! The CLEAN UP! River cottage dreams shattered. Levees are tested & we have passed, for the most part, at the moment. My visit to New Orleans the year after the flood for the National Association of Realtors Convention was so eye opening. The speed and power of water and the length of time to recover has been so underestimated. I pray for those NOLA folks, still. It is such a beautiful sad place with huge heart attempting to heal.

Thanks to prayers, engineering wonders, helpful hands and sand bags St. Louis and the Metro East are doing fairly well battling the water at the moment. The area has experienced tragic loss of life, property, irritating numerous clients with roof leaks, many wet basements, overflowing gutters, soggy ground everywhere, closed roads and horrible traffic.

In 1993 my Mother lived in East Carondelet IL with one home between hers and a swollen levee. We moved her out and back again, she and the property thankfully survived. It took awhile to get her to move, but we are all now happy she is safely in Crestwood, aware from flood risk.

That '93 year the charming town of Valmeyer, IL was flood ravaged and eventually was moved up the hill to a new location. I understand so was Pattonsburg and Rhineland, MO. What has become of those towns I do not know.

While visiting my Grandmother this week she shared her Reynolds County Courier newspaper detailing flooding of Ellington, home of our grandfather Foy Haywood. It ripped through that sweet historic town. A well respected man, Mr. Baker was lost trying to removed debri from the bridge in front of his home. The flooding must have caught people by surprise.

The sweet little town of Piedmont was seriously flooded. As was one of our favorite parks, Sam A Baker State Park. I remember as I child climbing the roots of huge trees that were ripped from the earth along the river there.

Being in the center of the country I thought we may be insulated from the wild, perhaps global warming, weather that the world has been experiencing. Thsi winter and even a single day has shown rain, snow melting, spring and winter in the same day with 50 degree temp drops in half a day.

I am ready for Spring with kind & gentle showers that grow flowers, planting the herb garden and allow for a little pestilence. I pray for the strength, healing, people, property and the land of ours.