everyone has this post

So…it’s been a while. About 6 months to be exact. I read several of your blogs and feel like each of you have had this post. Life’s been busy and blogging really hasn’t been on my radar. I so want it to be though!! (Especially since a lot of my family is not on Facebook).

Stuart and I have had a fun summer, just enjoying the laid back summer feel of Memphis. One thing I’ve really begun to appreciate this summer is well…my southern heritage. As cheesy as it sounds the hot, steamy, rainless days have been so nostolgic. I’ve been a frequent visitor of the Memphis Farmer’s Market since my grandmother’s and aunt’s fresh garden veggies aren’t a 20 min drive down the road. Tomatoes, peas, okra, OMG. We’ve had a multitude of BLT’s in these parts!! Oh, just takes me back home!

The thought of Southern summers just makes me smile. I’ve become a huge fan of Southern Living magazine (I know I’m a little late to the game) but my new fav is Garden & Gun.  Citizen Cope, one of my favorite bands, has a new album out and Southern Nights is one of the tracks and it’s dreamy. We’ve sat outside a few nights listening  to tunes, letting the dogs run around, sipping on a cold drink. Life has been good for us!

I am missing home though. My parent’s front porch, catching lightening bugs, and the attic fan…ahhhh…makes me want to take a back road.

We ran a couple of 5ks, one for Mamie’s Poppy Plates, we’ve watched Sam grow (he’s about 150lbs now…see my last post…he was 98lbs), we’ve eaten a lot of oysters, Stuart raced in a canoe down the Mississippi, we been to couple of concerts…Luke Bryan, James Taylor, and we’ll see Brad Paisley with The Band Perry and Easton Corban next month…and now we’re catching up the Olympics. Go USA and go all you southern guys and gals!

 

unbroken

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, is probably the best book I’ve read in a while. I wanted it read it after I read an bit Amazon.com. I knew I would love it and I soooo did!! I was telling Randy, Stuart’s biz partner, about this book and he had read it and was so excited that I was reading this amazing story. Definitely not for the quaint at heart, this book is a WWII story of survival and ultimately forgiveness. Unbroken tells the story of  Louis Zamperini, a fighter, utilizing the many meanings of the word. Phyically, mentally, and emotionally. The best part of the book is that you get a great history lesson along with a squeeze and pull of your heart strings. My grandfather, Olen Hughes, fought in WWII, he was a paratrooper jumping out of planes into Germany…I believe Germany. My respect for our vets, this war and my grandfather magnified after reading Unbroken. If you have any connection to a WWII vet please read this book. If you don’t read it anyway!! It will rock your world!!!

New Member of the Fam

Long story, but two weeks ago a dog was found behind our house. He was soooo skinny and scared. To make the story short we decided to adopt him!! The first day we had him we went straight to the vet…he weighed 94lbs. This past Friday, he weighed 99! He is precious and things have been smooth so far with Bailey and Charter. I love him so much!! I can’t wait to get to know his personality better.

mamies poppy plates

With all the traffic I’ve received to my blog in the past two weeks I decided I had to acknowledge my dear friend Sarah, again. More people have to know about her journey and what she has done to honor her baby girl Mamie. Today, May 10th, Mamie’s Poppy Plates launched it’s new website and you have to see it and read Sarah’s story! My friend is so courageous…and I’m so proud of her!

crest! whew! we’re breathing a sigh of relief.

According to news reports the river crested over night at 47.85 feet at 2am this morning. Our backyard remains dry, our home safe and our end of Mud Island passable. The Grizzles were our priority last night as we watched them play to Triple OT so we missed this news report on Nightline with Diane Sawyer. I have to say I’m so disappointed that I did not know that DIANE SAWYER was in Memphis. I love her!!! I really would have stalked out her location and asked if we could go to lunch.

So here’s  a link to local news channel WMCTV and their report on the crest.

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts folks! Now for the clean up and planning strategies to keep the snakes away.

mississippi river flood 2011. may 9. ? days to crest

Sunday was a GORGEOUS day and instead of taking pictures of some of the small changes from Friday  I decided I was going to enjoy a stress free day. I sat in the backyard, read magazines (Elle Decor…since I’m starting a new project that I’ll introduce soon, Runner’s World, and Self), and I worked on a tan. Mom, I did wear SPF 30 and reapplied once. Stuart ran, trimmed the hedges, and took me to dinner. He told me I was being lazy, I told hime I was working…on a tan. I guess reading Runner’s World motivated me a bit so I did try to run later in the afternoon, which was a disaster and I’m pretending it never happened.

On to the river. There are a few reports that here in Memphis we may see the crest of the river later this afternoon. I wanted to post a few links that you may find helpful information

WMCTV

National Weather Service

Shelby County Office of Preparedness

I’ve asked a few people that have taken pictures in other spots around Memphis if I can post a few of their shots. As soon as I have permission I hope to post them.

Have a good day!

mississippi river flood 2011. may 6. 5 days to crest

Friday was a very busy day on the Island. In hopes to keep water off Island Drive near the round-about workers were bringing in load after load of dirt and building up the road. Let’s hope it works! Island Drive is down to one lane.

Bumper to Bumper traffic over Auction bridge and at the round-about

Stuart and I rode around on our bikes taking pictures until dark!

Ben's Park

Ben's Park

Ben's Park

Wolf River

Marina area. Maria Montessori is right side of the pictures.

Maria Montessori. Sand bags.

Marina

Greenbelt Park facing south

Mississippi River

So this guy did kayak up the river! I would be so scared!!!

I've taken a picture here every day! Sadly the bird house has been pushed down by the water.

We also rode to the north end of the Island. The road is currently closed there, and here are pictures of water over the road.

North access closed. Levee to the left of picture

This is Island Place (first road closure that I've previously pictures of) from Island Drive

Stuart's attempt to ride his bike up the levee. (After he had a wreck, flipping over his handlebars. He was obviously ok. I have to admit I laughed a little. Ok a lot).

Stuart took this picture with his phone from the levee.

And finally….

From our fence. May 6th. The water only has a few more inches before it makes it to our fence.

We’re still optimistic that water will not get in our home. A few of our neighbors have received evacuation notices. They are further east of us and we believe it may be due to where their electrical boxes are located. We’re hoping that electricity stays on, but that’s our newest worry.

Thanks for all your comments and calls!! Until tomorrow!

mississippi river flood 2011. may 4. 7 days to crest

For you out-of-town readers I thought I would help clear up some confusion, at times the news media says “Harbor Town” or “Mud Island”. Harbor Town is a community on Mud Island. It was the first community built, the remainder of the Island is considered Mud Island. Miss Cordelia’s, Maria Montessori School, and the Arbor’s Apartments are all in Harbor Town. The road Island Place is not. I hope that helps.

On another note, I know I’m repeating 7 days to crest, they are now predicting that the river will not crest until May 11th, not the 10th. I’ve worked 12hrs shifts the last few days so it’s been difficult to find time to take pictures, much less blog them. Here are a few that I took Wednesday evening, May 4th. Bare with me on the quality, it was getting dark.

In Harbor Town

The cottages that are near the Montessori school. Really, really close to getting water in their homes.

Auction bridge

the marina

the marina

the Montessori school is to the left

the marina

This was a little scary. Stuart said he saw the match behind our house.

South end of Island, near the round-about.

South parking lot

Love the Coast Guard, who I'm sure are working crazy hours and extremely hard to keep us safe. Thank You!!!

I've taken this same shot a few days in a row and will post a sequence in my next post.

South parking lot

I hope to get out this afternoon a get a few more. The water has definitely crept up very near our fence, we still continue to take it day by day and are watching the news.

There have been a MILLION people driving to the Island to take pictures of the river. As much as I understand the desire to see how amazing this flood is, all the traffic has added to the anxiety of those of us who live in the community.  People just stop  in the driving lane, put on their flashers and get out of their cars to take pictures. OR they pull over super quick, try to parallel park on a busy street. It’s been nuts! Thankfully law enforcement is now only allowing people who live on the Island access, although I’m sure that’s hard and I haven’t been stopped. They’ve said they were going to ticket people who come over! Hopefully just the threat will help! We’ve even had tour buses!!

SEE!

Pulling over for pics! With their flashers on.

mississippi river flood. may 3. 7 days to crest

My previous post may have been a little premature, and I have to say the post made by WMCTV made me panic a bit. I was at work and just checked the news and began to stress. This post may be short as I’m beginning to feel that I’m a bit bogged down with thoughts of “what the heck are we going to do” and my emotions are making me a complete lunatic. The Commerical Appeal posted an article (by Tom Charlier) that helped me feel a little relieved, basically saying that there are a small number of houses in Harbor Town (Mud Island) that currently may flood, but that we should all be prepared to evacuate.

On Mud Island, the vast majority of homes in Harbor Town are high enough to avoid any flooding impacts. But several homes along the eastern side, including on Marina Cottage Drive, could experience flooding at least in their storage or garage areas next to Wolf River Harbor, officials said.

“You might have some garage flooding, or you might get some in the home,” Nations said.

As a result residents of that area should be ready to evacuate if necessary, he said.

I think at this point we would all feel blessed if all we received was water in storage or garage areas, or even just a little in our homes. Many people north of us have had their lives turned upside down with all this flooding. I’m just trying to keep my perspective.

As I’ve said our house backs up to the Wolf River, here are some pictures to show how much farther the water has to rise to reach our backdoor.

May 3rd. From the fence in our backyard.

Now from the fence, facing the back of our house.

Please don’t pay attention to the fact that we need to mow and do some yard work (obviously not a priority). On another note, my handsome handy husband got out his hand-held GPS, put on his knee boots and measured the elevation from where the water currently is and how much it would have to rise to reach our back door. 9 – 9 1/2 feet.  As I’ve said in my last few posts we’re not really stressing about water getting in, it’s being cut off from our home that we’re worried about.

Sorry for not posting pictures from the river, today was a long day at work and frankly all the people driving down to the Island to see the flood are starting to stress me out. I may get out early in the morning and take some more.

probable evacuation in harbor town

http://www.wmctv.com/story/14565568/parts-of-mud-island-could-soon-flood