First of all, let me apologize for the repetition here. I have taken all of the pictures you’re about to be force fed before. Many of them were taken this month. So I am sorry about that.

We have had heavy rain and lots of snow and even more snow melt. The result is that rivers are running high. So I went to two spots on the Spicket River today and took a few pictures that I’d already taken (see paragraph 1 for the apology). The difference being that this time the water level was really high.

First, the damn. The last time I went here the water was trickling over the damn. This time it was roaring over it.

The water is getting close to the bridge here, but there is still some room to spare. I wonder what it looked like two days ago when the water was higher.

Now we move over to the music hall, where I took pictures just a couple of weeks ago (see paragraph 1 again). This time the water is a wee bit closer to the bridge.

The water is so high the waterfall is almost gone.

Please pardon my lame attempt at artsy… Trying to get the water through the drain pipe. Autofocus doesn’t work.

Manual focus, however, gets the job done. How did I ever live without it?

Another view at the bridge that is close to getting wet. Again, I bet this was even worse yesterday and the day before.

The view from on top of the bridge. Also known as route 28.

Finally, one from yesterday. It was snowing and I tried to see how the new camera would handle it. It did all right.

So there you have it. All stuff I’ve done before but felt like doing again.

A few more for luck…

and the best for last… thank you Annapolis, MD!

The match up is in place. The rematch of the Olympics!

Sunday at 3:00pm Eastern time… the men’s ice hockey gold medal game…

The United State of America

Canada

(I did a quick search of my Flickr account looking for pictures of the US flag. I know there are better shots in there somewhere, but we’ll have to settle for that one for now I guess.)

Come on guys, bring a gold medal home to the USA!

USA!
USA!
USA!

(the search for US flags seems to be at an end now. Flickr is apparently down. I went to the US Capital in Washington and the White House too. I have to have flag pictures from those two places, I have to!)

First, something relevant to the world around me. Team USA dropped a plutonium bomb on team Finland today blowing them out with six first period goals. Team USA has earned a shot at the gold medal and will play the winner of the Canada/Slovakia game which is currently in progress.

Canada is up 3-0 after two periods. I am thinking this one is all but in the books. USA vs (more likely than not) Canada on Sunday at 3:00pm Eastern time. The winner gets the gold medal.

Now a non-topic note…

You folks know that I love it when you come to my goofy little blog, right? Have I mentioned that I have, like, three different sites tracking hits on this stupid page? I do. You can see two of them. the third one is commented out of the code and I never look at it, but it’s still there. I love hits. Just like anyone else who has a blog, I love hits.

I also love comments. Hint hint hint. Lemme say that again. I love comments.

I love comments.

Thanks

After having just enjoyed a string of Beatles videos done in both Lego and The Sims on Youtube I thought I’d post a few minutes worth of the real thing.

The rooftop concert. On the roof of the Apple Corps building, January 30, 1969.

Part 1/3

The Beatles – I Saw Her Standing There

Jen just sent me this. It’s some video from the Lawrence Eagle Tribune showing some of the high water levels in Methuen.

Keep dry people!

Well the craptastic weather continued last night. Heavy rain and very high winds buffeted our little half-a-house all night. The power stayed on through the night after flickering off a few times between 9:30 and 10:00 or so. We had one interesting four or five seconds where the lights in the living room were flashing on and off so fast it was like we were in a disco. How 70’s of us!

The wind has died down almost completely and the rain has stopped for now, although there is supposed to be more on the way. The concern now is flooding. We are reasonably close to two rivers, the mighty Merrimack (literally) and the mighty Spicket (not quite as literally). My beautiful wife whom I love with all my heart and soul sent me this a few minutes ago. I believe it comes from weather.com and it is the current flood warnings for our area:

THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE MERRIMACK RIVER AT LAWRENCE. * FROM THIS EVENING TO SATURDAY AFTERNOON… OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED. * AT 8 AM FRIDAY THE LATEST STAGE WAS 14.7 FEET. * FLOOD STAGE IS 20.0 FEET. * THE RIVER IS FORECAST TO RISE TO 20.7 FEET LATE TONIGHT. * IMPACT… AT 20.0 FEET… MINOR LOWLAND FLOODING IS EXPECTED ALONG THE MERRIMACK RIVER NEAR LAWRENCE. THIS WILL AFFECT SOME BUSINESSES ALONG THE RIVER SUSCEPTIBLE TO BASEMENT FLOODING.

THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE SPICKET RIVER NEAR METHUEN. * FROM THIS EVENING UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE… OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED. * AT 7:45 AM FRIDAY THE STAGE WAS 7.7 FEET. * MINOR FLOODING IS FORECAST. * FLOOD STAGE IS 8.0 FEET. * FORECAST… RISE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE BY TONIGHT AND CONTINUE TO RISE TO NEAR 8.3 FEET BY TOMORROW MORNING. * IMPACT… AT 8.5 FEET… MINOR FLOODING IS EXPECTED TO BLOCK SOME ROADWAYS… INCLUDING THE SHORT STREET BRIDGE IN LAWRENCE… AND APPROACH SOME HOMES IN LOW LYING AREAS NEAR THE RIVER. FLOODWATERS SPREAD INTO LOW LYING PARKING LOTS AND BUSINESSES IN METHUEN.

I checked our basement last night and we were still very dry. I didn’t have a chance to check this morning. I’m not terribly worried about it though. We’ve had major rain before and not taken in any water. I’ll check again when I get home.

All of this talk of flooding brings me back to the flooding along the Merrimack back in May of 2006. I know Lowell and Haverhill were both underwater at that time. I don’t know about Methuen and Lawrence though. My primary memory from that time, however, was taking what might have been my first photo walk along the Merrimack in Lowell. I am hoping that we avoid any flooding this time, but if we do have to suffer through some my hope is that it’s minor enough to avoid any damage to anyone’s homes or businesses, and all we get out of it are more pictures.

Good luck!

I left work at 5:30 intending to pick up the kids by 7:00. On the average day I can make it to them with about 10 minutes to spare. (for those of you new to the story, I work 40 miles away from home and it usually takes about an hour and fifteen minutes due to evening traffic. Now that you’re all caught up I will continue.)

It’s been raining pretty steadily since Tuesday, and tonight the rain was coming down pretty hard. The wind had picked up quite a bit too. As soon as I got onto the road it was apparent that the traffic was going to be bad. The volume was heavier than usual, I guess people decided to avoid the highways tonight, and there were many people who were obviously afraid to drive in those conditions. I knew it was going to take some luck to get to the kids by 7:00.

My luck ran out at 6:29. On an average day I can get from the office to route 3 by 6:30. That’s sort of my good trip/bad trip barometer. I made it tonight with a minute to spare. Unfortunately it all went downhill then. Route 3 was crawling. I immediately called Jen and told her I was worried about being able to get up to Salem on time. She said she could get the kids for me. I was a little saddened by that. I like to be Jen’s hero who gets things like this done when she needs it. I was failing in that tonight.

By the time I reached route 495 though it was clear that I had zero chance of getting anywhere by 7:00. The interchange there is a little weird. You exit route 3 north at the start of the Lowell Connector and the exit to route 495 North is about half a mile down the road. The traffic on 495 was so bad that it backed up onto the Connector and all the way back onto route 3 and all the way back to the previous exit. In other words, it sucked. Jen told me to find away around 495 and not worry about getting the kids.

I took the Connector to the end and drove through Lowell until I got to route 38, and shortly after that route 133. I took that across the Tewksbury line and turned onto River Road. Up until then it hadn’t been too bad. Just the occasional people who were too afraid of the rain to top 25 miles per hour. No big deal.

When I got onto River Road there were signs warning about flooding. Before reaching the Andover line there were two or three places where I feared for my safety. The road was under water. Deep and wide like the mighty Mississippi. (not really, I just occasionally enjoy typing the word Mississippi)

About that time my phone rang. It was Jen. She was calling from a road in Salem, NH that was closed due to floods. We were in the same boat (pun not really intended). AT&T in all of it’s glory dropped our call just as Jen was talking about her car almost stalling. I called her back. She didn’t answer. I called her again. She didn’t answer. Now Robbie is nervous. What happened? Did she stall? Did she get into an accident? Did a meteor fall from space and hit the front of her car? (Robbie often has problems keeping his over active imagination in check.)

I had reached route 93 North. The highway was moving much slower than usual, but at least it was moving. I got on and headed to Salem. I had to. What if she was stuck there? I had to get close so I could help if she needed me. I also had to get the kids if she couldn’t. It was 7:00 on the dot and if one of us didn’t get there soon they’d be nervous to the point of panic (perhaps… Robbie’s imagination again).

I was just South of the state line when Jen called again. What a relief! She said the car stalled while going through a puddle. It started up again quickly and she didn’t get stuck. Again, relief. She also said she had the kids. That’s three times relieved. We talked for a minute or two before she said, “Oh my god! I’ve got to let you go” and hung up. Welcome back nervousness.

I had nearly made it to the state line when she called back. Apparently route 28 in Salem was under water and she had hung up in order to keep two hands on the wheel. I thank her very much for that. I’ll take a few minutes of anxiety in exchange for her keeping herself and the kids safe any day of the week. No question about it.

The wind and the rain had both really picked up by then and it was getting hard to see. I had turned around in the Mall at Rockingham Park parking lot and was heading back to the highway. She pulled onto route 93 South a minute or two ahead of me and we hung up again to concentrate on driving. When I reached our exit in Methuen I was very, very happy to see her car right in front of me. The three of them were safe. I followed her home and we all dashed into the house in one piece.

It was quite the adventurous night I tells ya!

Here is the best sight I saw all evening. Jen and the kids safe in front of me.