If It's Not One Thing...

...it's another.

Last year, we were all about the fires and praying for rain to put them out.

Well, the rains came.  Maybe a year late, but they're here.  You know, you can't always coerce Mother Nature to bend to your will.

I was five when the Big Thompson flood hit and to this day, I get nervous when it's been raining for too long.  Back then, Mom and Dad both disappeared to work.  Dad was a firefighter and was helping with rescue/recovery and Mom was working in the soup kitchens, keeping all of the rescuers fed.

This flood, though much more devastating to property, hasn't claimed nearly as many lives, as our warning systems have gotten better and our rainfall was spread out over days not hours.  I'll never again have faith in the "flood improvements" that will be made.  After the flood in '76, the Big Thompson canyon was improved and we were assured it would withstand another flood.

Unfortunately, the pictures say otherwise:

Highway 34, the most common way into Estes Park

Of course, the technology used to make the canyon flood-proof is over thirty years old.

Back in 1997, Fort Collins was hit with a flash flood that killed a handful of people and caught us completely unaware.  We were all okay, but the kids were very small and Ashinator texted me on Thursday, when we started flooding, to let me know she was feeling very anxious about delivering in the rain.  Maybe anxiety over flooding wasn't quite the tradition I wanted to share with the kids.

Mom and Bill were thought to be completely cut off.  The only ways in and out of Estes Park were washed away (except Trail Ridge Road) and Highway 7, the direct route to their place is no longer existent in certain places.

What used to be Highway 7 (sorry I couldn't get it to resize)

Luckily, they did find a way off the mountain (should they ever decide to leave), via the Peak to Peak Highway (Highway 72), so their guests were able to leave and catch their planes back to Germany.

As devastating as the fires were, this flood I believe to be worse.  Jay and I are mostly dry out in Ault, but here's a quick run-down of the family situation:

• Nebalee, et al are on high ground above the Big Thompson, but surrounded by flooding. The worst Nebalee has had to deal with is brown water, but since she stockpiled water before it turned brown, she's set.
• Junior and his family are on high ground east of I-25, but are pretty much the only neighborhood in his town that are not under mandatory evacuation.
• Deejo's family is high and dry.
• Jay's family is dry, but completely cut off.  There's no way in or out of the town they live in.
• Grandma Nita is dry this go 'round.  She barely missed the flooding in '97, but the flood improvements seem to be working well and keeping her dry.
• The Heathi are all doing well.  Digger and Monster live closest to the river, but they're still out of danger and Ashinator doesn't live anywhere near the flooded areas in town.

As a family, we're especially blessed in this disaster, even with Mom and Bill inaccessible.  They have food, water, and the horses.  Life is pretty good for them right now.

I just wish all of my friends have been as lucky as we have.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  I've made a small donation to one of the local evacuation shelters, but there's definitely more need than I can help fulfill.  If you have an extra dollar or two to donate to the cause (I hate asking for donations), you can go to Northern Colorado Flood Relief.  Yesterday, I had Ashinator drop off supplies that the evac centers had specifically asked for, but by far, the best way to donate is monetarily so that the centers can purchase what they need.  Here's another place to donate: Larimer County Flood 2013 Long-Term Recovery.

28 Hours of Hope

This is a re-post from last year, but it's as relevant now as it was last year.  I know money's tight all over the place, but this is a most excellent charity that does a whole heap of good for abused children.  --GunDiva

In the three years or so since I've been blogging, I've seen bloggers who have never met face-to-face pull together to help little girls with cancer, mommies with cancer, people just having a rough time who need a shoulder to cry on and have seen the bloggers stand together, strong, through good times and bad.

I've been lucky enough to participate in the blogging community and have been blessed enough to help some of our fellow bloggers.

This time, I'm asking for help.  Not for me, but for abused children in Larimer County.  I was lucky enough growing up that my mom got us out of a potentially abusive environment.  She took the beatings for us until she said, "enough!" and got out.  She had a very wise counselor at the time who told her that she was going to get out of the marriage no matter what - she either gathered her courage and left, or she'd get out of it in a pine box.  There were no options.  He also explained that wife beaters don't stop with the wives - they move on to the pets and the children and when he killed her, who was going to protect the kids?

People knew about the beatings Mom was recieving, but what is there to do?  Our close neighborhood friends knew, but, you know, what happens behind closed doors, how is it their business?

We kids knew.  Hell, Dad would line us up on the couch in birth order and command us not to move when the beatings commenced.  We knew, but we didn't say anything.  It was our own dirty secret.  If we told, we'd be the ones getting the beating.  Selfish, I know, but we were kids.  Dad was a big, strong firefighter.  What chance did we have against him?

Silence was our enemy. 

We didn't tell. 

The neighbors didn't tell. 

The teachers didn't tell.

Silence.

Thank God for Mom's counselor.  I don't know if she told or if he figured it out.  He was a smart man.  Smart enough that he knew the patterns of abusers.  When Dad started in on Junior, the youngest of the four of us, Mom realized her counselor was right and got out.

There are a lot of kids nationwide, not just in Larimer County, whose parents aren't as strong as Mom is.  There are a lot of kids for whom Silence is their enemy.

They don't tell.

Their neighbors don't tell.

Their teachers don't tell.

Silence...








...it's killing our kids.

The Good Morning Guys at K99 sponsor the 28 Hours of Hope every year in an attempt to break the silence and raise money to help abused children in Larimer County.  They will stay on the air for 28 consecutive hours, taking calls and pledges from the community and Country Music celebrities.  They will go on the air at 5:00 am tomorrow morning and will continue to be on the air until 9:00 am on March 23rd.  Jeez, and I complain about working fifteen hours straight - these guys will be working non-stop for twenty-eight hours for a cause they believe in.

RockCrawlinChef and I will be making a donation and I'd like to ask each of my followers to make one, too.  It doesn't have to be a lot.  Even $1.00 on your credit or debit card will help.  The change in your car's ashtray or change jar will help.  To donate, click here.  You can make a donation on-line, over the phone, or via mail.

If you can't afford to donate, then do something about the Silence.  If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, tell someone.  Break the cycle of Silence.  All it takes is a phone call to break the cycle - either to the police department or social services.

And, please, please feel free to steal this post for your own blogs or link to it.  The more exposure we can get, the more we can help the children and break the Silence.