And now for something non-flood related . . .

Everyone is still cleaning up from the flood. Many of our friends had damage and some even had to be evacuated. Streets are still really damaged. There are still parts of our town we can't get to and there are TONS of damaged, roads, bridges, and detours.

BUT.

The sun in shining and I even see blue skies and today is supposed to go up to 78. Beautiful. Just like the rest of our summer weather has been, flood notwithstanding. Beautiful.

So, here are some random thoughts, in no particular order . . . (but I'm going to number them anyway, because I'm orderly that way).

1. I have been VERY blog negligent, I know. I haven't kept up on reading people's blogs nor have I kept up on writing on ours. I hope to remedy that soon, "hope" being the operative word.

2. We have been busy cleaning out our schoolroom and WOW, does it look nice. The chi is definitely flowing in here again. And we're all excited for all the fun stuff we're doing this year.

3. I have become totally addicted to "Gilmore Girls." And now I want to move to CT.

4. We've had a GREAT summer and I'll post about it eventually. When I think of summer 2011, two summary words come to mind -- "guests" and "concerts." But, those are only parts of a glorious sum. We miss the Johnsons. :(

5. We made the best scones ever a few days ago - Dark chocolate and Cherry with Sea Salt. Amazing. If we ever open a B&B, we're so serving those.

6. I saw some GREAT news today. I can't tell you how excited that makes me.

7. I signed up to be an Municipal Liaison again for NaNoWriMo. I almost said no, but I'm glad I didn't. I think.

8. Beach, beach, beach. I love the beach. I'm so glad we live near a coast. Beach, beach, beach.

9. Hmmm, I was going to post 10 things, because that seems like such a neat number for a list, but just to mess with you, I'm only posting 9. And to add to the fun, I'll also sing this for you: "Shave and a haircut," . . .

Evil, I know.

Update, Part 2

You have got to see these pictures to get AN IDEA of how bad it got. And remember, this is after the rain stopped, so it was even worse than pictured! The rivers are still rising. Lots of curfews and boil water advisories. Scary stuff.

Update

It has stopped raining, but many roads are still closed. Hershey is completely under water and shut down for the weekend, if not longer.

We are in a State of Emergency and just found out that we are also on water restriction. It's ironic to me than an excess of water (flooding) can cause the need for water restriction. I understand why, but it just strikes me as very ironic.

Some of our friends were close to being evacuated and many lost power and got very flooded basements. I haven't ever seen anything like this . . . we're very grateful to not have been hit hard by it. It impacts our business, of course, and we can't get around very easily, but we're safe and dry.

Wet.

Did you see us in the news? It's been headline news on CNN and MSNBC. So much destruction.

This Pizza Hut is totally submerged.
People had to be rescued by boat.
There is also a gas leak.
I heard the whole thing has since collapsed.
We were just near there the other night . . .

We have had a VERY wet summer. We've had a ton of rain and we've also had a tornado, hurricane, minor earthquake, a tropical storm, and now flooding.

So many roads have buckled, bridges are overrun by overflowing creeks and rivers, minor roads are flooded from people pumping out their basements, and minor AND major roads are just flooded period. I haven't ever seen anything like this.

Many schools had to keep kids overnight yesterday, because they couldn't get them out and parents couldn't get to them. What a mess.

Thousands are being evacuated. Many are stranded.

We are trapped in every direction. Here's what our local news has to say:

PENNDOT AND THE PA. TURNPIKE COMMISSION ARE STRONGLY URGING MOTORISTS TO AVOID ALL UNNECESSARY TRAVEL IN EASTERN PA. INCLUDING THE AREA FROM HARRISBURG NORTH TO THE NEW YORK BORDER, EAST TO THE NEW JERSEY BORDER AND SOUTH TO THE MARYLAND BORDER. CURRENTLY I-80 IS CLOSED IN BOTH DIRECTIONS FROM EXITS 232 TO 236 AND I-81 IS CLOSED IN BOTH DIRECTIONS BETWEEN EXITS 90 AND 100. ALSO HUNDREDS OF SECONDARY ROADS ARE CLOSED.

Yep, we're pretty much stuck.

Plus, our town in particular? Locally? Stuck in every direction. We can pretty much go about 1/2 a mile in any direction right now and that's it. Lots of cancellations today. No one could get to our business and we couldn't get to any of our appointments and lessons.

Unbelievable.

Thankfully, though we're only 3 blocks from the creek, we're up on a hill and there is no flooding at all in our basement. Let's hope it stays that way. It's supposed to rain for the next 24 hours . . .

Here are some pictures we took today right around here:

This is down 2 streets in our neighborhood.
And the creek is rising.

Same creek, but this time at the park where we play weekly.

The park.
The creek usually stays behind those thinner trees
you see in the upper left corner.

This is where Thing 2 plays little league baseball.
What? Can't you see the fields?

More of the baseball fields.