A Flood Day?

This is truly a weird day in Colorado.  Actually all week has been weird.  It has actually rained for days...something that never happens here!  We are in the midst of what is being called "a hundred years flood", however, Mr. Ranch pointed out that some experts he knows say it is actually more of a "thousand year" flood.  It is crazy enough that my school (and all the others in the suburb I work in) are closed today.  The Ranch children do have school today, but they are on slightly higher ground.  My school is actually closed due to flooding in the area, the last I heard the school is safe and it appears (from the news) that most of the houses in the neighborhood, while not dry and with flooded basements, are ok for now.  However, the streets are a river and the park across the street from school (which is a retaining pond, but I've never seen it actually used like this) is full of water and overflowing.

Here at the (Sub)Urban Ranch, we are safe and dry...except for Liberty who keeps going in and out and in and out...which is making me irritated and her wet.  Here is a photo sample of the last couple days...we'll keep you updated on our personal Facebook pages as the story continues....

 Yesterday mid-day one of my co-workers said, "you have to go look at Utah Park, it is a lake!"  I replied with "yeah, yeah...I'm sure the lake overflowed a little, whatever"...."No, no, you've really got to see it...."  So down I trek...the full .25 miles from my office to the North doors (I'm not kidding, it is  a quarter mile from one end of our building to the other).  And this is what I found.  What you are seeing is the North lawn of our school building, facing Lake Michigan.  I mean Utah Park.

 Here's a closeup by one of my co-workers...see the baseball field scoreboard submerged on the right?

And here is a visual created by one of our over-achieving drama/tech students...
















Yesterday was my weird teaching day anyway, I teach 9th grade Freshmen Orientation for 50 minutes at 7 am and then I don't teach again until 1:06.  Sometimes a very long day.  I had two IEP meetings scheduled. one went off as planned, one the family wasn't able to come or call due to the weather.  Yikes.  I spent more time than usual wandering the building...some time in the cafeteria "supervising", a couple walks in the hall, several trips into the staff restroom to secure paper towels for seriously wet kids. There aren't paper towels in the kids' bathrooms anymore, only hand dryers...which came in handy once the kids were damp-ish, but didn't go far towards mopping up water. My fourth hour class had about 50% attendance to begin and more kids were picked up by parents.  The storm broke briefly about 5 minutes before the end of the day bell and most of us (literally) told our students to run home.  There was some discussion of "should we hold them" for parent pick up, but I think, due to the language issues, etc, we decided the kids would be better off at home than hanging out with us (especially as the water crept towards us from the park). The drive to the Ranch Kids school was icky, not treacherous, just icky.  Here's a pic The Girl took at some point...

At the Ranch Kid's school, the area that is usually referred to as "the ditch" and is part of the playground field area is full of water.  That of course inspired some Girl drama, but it's all good...

Last weekend we went to a movie in the park in our neighborhood...here's the park last night...

About 9:30 last night my school district, as well as the school district that surrounds it, are both closed for today.  This morning Mr. Ranch took the kids to school and I'm at home...so far I've started laundry and dishes, made lunches, and spent way too much time on the computer. Oh, and let Liberty out and in about 30 times.  Really.  Of course it is only 8:20 am.




The rain is constant, but ranges from a drizzle to a pour....it is currently a drizzle, so I think I will take a quick trip to the garden to see what is out there...The Girl is supposed to have a cross country meet this afternoon...hmm...we'll see ...

Stay safe and dry folks...and stay tuned for more Colorado adventures...