Rain Rain Go AWAY!

Barkers Island, Superior Wisconsin

It started raining here in May, and it has rained some every week since.  Memorial weekend was a literal washout.  Last Thursday I had taken the day off of work for a Goover Zoo Day, but I ended up going to work instead, in the pouring rain, and we'll try that one again when the kids are finished with summer school.  I didn't want to cancel, I kept waiting for a break in the weather.....but it never came.

Then yesterday it started to rain, and it wouldn't let up.  Several neighborhoods in Superior are flooded out, and the city across the bay,(that is actually on a hill) Duluth MN got it much worse.  Strangely enough the deepest flooding seems to be on top of the hill.  There are restaurants half drowned, a car dealership where all you can see are very top of some car roofs, people kayaking and jet skiing down streets, and a fan boat like the ones you see down south in hurricane disasters. 

Who knew we even had one?  Oh, and I mentioned the zoo, which is also in Duluth.  Two of their seals got all the way out, and the polar bear was loose inside of the zoo.  Several of the barn animals unfortunately drowned, but the other animals were luckily recovered without too much incident.   A very sad day for the staff over there. 

Things like this just don't happen here.  We usually do get a lot of rain, we all know the Nemaji river is going to flood in some spots, there are country roads might need a little fixing, but the above just does not happen.  It's pretty common for plans to be ruined by rotten weather.........really any time of the year around here.  I should mention that I am fine, my family is fine, some of them are a little basement soggy, but everyone is o.k.  Milkie is a little weirded out, but she'll get over it. 

My co-worker Ann sent a 7:10 text this morning to let me know that the only way to work was to head over to Belknap and then down Highway Two.  She had tried all the other routes and they were flooded over.  I thanked her for the heads up, and got a move on.  It was pouring like an S.O.B. but the drive down Belknap was pretty smooth.  I turned onto Highway Two and we all came to a dead stop.  Why?  What the heck is going on?  HOLY $#%@!  The road was quickly flooding over.  Traffic slowly progressed, but now we were slogging through what quickly became a foot of water. (The area to the right of the pictures above actually.)  All I could hear was last nights weather dude in my head "Do not drive through water.  A car can float in six inches of water."  Panic was setting in.  My car is about the lowest rider I have ever seen.  I did not want to be the car that stalled and stopped all these people in the water.  I did NOT want to float away!  It lasted about two blocks, and thankfully I got out of it alright, but I have driven through much worse things in winter with a slower heart rate! 

I'm fine, but my heart is sad.  The above pictures are of a set of three culverts that go under a road that leads to Barkers Island.  Well......... they used to anyway.  Surrounding these culverts was a decorative wall.  I can't tell if any of it is left, and when I drove home that way this evening it was still flooded.  Why do I care about a dumb brick wall?  Because my Dad built it.  He worked for the city of Superior in the Sewer Department, but he was also a bricklayer.  He was proud of that wall. 

My Dad has been gone for over twenty years, so I guess that wall was something tangible to look at, something that left his mark on this place he called home, something that made me smile every time I drove by, and something that I could point to and say "Hey, my Dad built that!"  I was proud of that wall.

 He left some other marks on this place he called home, my two brothers, my sister, and myself.  He would think I was silly to even care about a stupid brick wall, when my family is all safe and sound.   I'm hoping that something is left. I'm hoping that if anything is there that maybe, just maybe, I could LEGALLY get a piece of it. I probably know better than to go dangling over rushing water just to get a stupid brick, but if any of you know someone who works for the city, you might want to introduce us. :)