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Almost How It Was
As you move around the Atchafalaya Basin these days you see many places where the sand has filled in what was open water 80 years ago. The forest you see on that newly created land is mostly made up of...
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Birthday Present
This will be just a short note to send notice of my birthday present to whoever cares. On Thursday morning, November 4, I walked down to the river onto our deck, down the 22 steps to the walkway and...
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Christmas Eve 2010
Sunrise on Christmas Eve, 2010. And a red-shouldered hawk in our backyard. It was intently watching a fox squirrel. Perhaps that why I was able to get so close to it. Merry Christmas everybody!The...
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2011 High Water – One
They say the water is coming. They say it will be very high this year because the rains in the Midwest have been unusually heavy, and frequent. They have exploded the levees in Missouri to save Cairo...
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2011 High Water – Two
More warnings and more approximations. It is hard to plan the rescue of your belongings based on approximations, but that is all there is. If not for that, I suppose there would be no warnings at all,...
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2011 High Water – Three
Put out (at the curb) a prodigious number of cans full of waste today. Garbage pickup tomorrow. Somehow getting rid of stuff makes you feel safer, or lighter in the sense of being buoyant,...
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2011 High Water – Four
Coming home from Lafayette late this afternoon I saw them finishing a levee being built to fend off water that would threaten the Butte La Rose Visitor Center. I had no idea anyone could build a levee...
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2011 High Water – Five
Blogger was not working last night so I skipped til now. Also, it temporarily lost the previous post. Odd. But that post is back now.Tired. It has been a long day, made much shorter than it would have...
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2011 High Water – Six
Now we wait. All the boxes have been packed and moved out of danger from flooding. All of the things in the yard have been picked up and placed high enough to avoid floating away, we hope. All the...
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2011 High Water – Seven
Sunrise this morning on a river in flood isn’t much different from a river in normal flow, at least on this river. If you don’t see the current racing south, it can look peaceful, even. Right now there...
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2011 High Water - Eight
Things go slowly once you have done all you can do. We will not leave until we have to, either because the electricity has been turned off or the water has denied access in some way. In the meantime we...
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2011 High Water - Nine
Leaving the house, the timing for it, has been determined by the authorities. The notice came out this afternoon. Mandatory evacuation of Butte La Rose will be in effect as of Saturday May 21. No one...
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2011 High Water – Ten
Today there was a mass meeting of emergency personnel at the Butte La Rose store, down near the boat landing. I parked a little way from it and just watched for a couple minutes. There must have been a...
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2011 High Water – Eleven
The day got progressively more tense. We were packing the final suitcases and other stuff to go and live with others. It was hard not to be depressed about leaving. Then things sort of turned around....
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2011 High Water – Twelve
And what is the mood of the river these days? The introduction to Riverlogue suggests that the mood of the river changes as the seasons pass, and so it does. Sometimes the mood is only slightly...
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2011 High Water – Thirteen
Today is the last day we can stay here at home for some undetermined time. The mandatory evacuation notices were delivered to each house this morning by the sheriff’s personnel. I don’t think there can...
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2011 High Water – Fourteen
Exodus from Butte La Rose. We are now somewhat established in the home of friends in Lafayette. I say somewhat not because we are somewhat welcome, far from it, but somewhat is the best we can do after...
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2011 High Water – Fifteen
Here is a picture of the Myette Point boat landing taken this week. The vast area covered by water is actually the parking lot. The previous picture taken while construction was going on was taken...
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2011 High Water – Sixteen
Well, we are back. Our evacuation lasted all of eight days, and thanks for that. We came back to an empty house. No food, no anything. Except, that the house is here and it doesn’t need repairs, and no...
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2011 High Water - Seventeen
So the excitement begins to fade. We are no longer looking at a charging wild animal. Facing us now is something resembling a sleeping cat, calm and relaxed, becoming more and more relaxed as each day...
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2011 High Water – Eighteen
Night Visitors. There are night visitors in the back yard. Today Flurry the Cat and I discovered the evidence. Beings with cloven hooves are walking up and down the riverbank in the darkness. The water...
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2011 High Water – Nineteen
Well, we are settling in, or resettling in, I guess. The water is down off of the deck and the six inches of mud on it has been brushed away. The river is becoming more calm by the day. Throughout this...
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Back to Normal
At least that’s what it feels like. It’s hot and the grass is growing, and mosquitoes let us know they like the rain too. We are seeing the first major hatch of mosquitoes in over two...
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Wildlife and Windy Rain
Once again there is something weather- related to note. I often wonder about the birds and other animals that find themselves exposed to weather events. We humans see rain coming and we...
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The Sharks Are Back, and So Am I
At least for this post anyway. Yes, the sharks are back in the Atchafalaya Basin, and they are early this year. I was down at Myette Point (St. Mary Parish) this past week and my friend...
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