Rain Gauge

Happy New Year! Larry and Georgia have sent us two muffaletto buns and a jar of olive salad from New Orleans. We’re going to have mufs and wine with Sandy and Tony for lunch. Then Tony calls to tell us that Sandy has broken her foot (again), so we’re going to Burger King for lunch and save the “fixings” for supper. We expect Sandy will be able to put her cast “up” and relax. I’ll bring her a tray and she won’t even have to move. Heavy rains continue, and our new rain gauge in the front yard indicates 3.5 inches. Some places in the mountains have recorded over twenty inches of warm rain which is melting the seventy feet of snow at higher elevations. The situation appears to be getting rapidly worse.

This morning, January 2, the rain gauge has gone over the top at 5.5”. I empty the gauge to start over again. Late last night I put on a slicker and checked the gauge at 4.25”. Are we scheduled for a seat on the Ark?

Katherine calls to tell me that the river is over its banks in front of their house in Fiddletown, so she won’t be able to pick up her work at the show in Sutter Creek, today. We’ve just crossed the bridge in Sutter Creek on our way to the Post Office, and the waters are racing madly just below the level of the supporting structure. Water is tumbling white and violent between the town hall and the antique store on the east side of the bridge, and is over the top of the windows of the library on the west side. If a large tree comes floating down the creek, the bridge will probably fail. Failure of this bridge would stop all north south traffic on highway 49 and cut us off from Sutter Creek.

In the other direction, water is flooding over the roadway in Jackson and inundating the hotel. All of the parking garage under the civil center is covered in muddy water, and the foot bridge across Jackson creek is swinging dangerously as water crashes against its span.