Spring springs!
The one sure sign of spring around here is flooding. The Red River is cresting at about 22 feet today or tomorrow, with anything over 18 feet officially being a flood. We drove over to the river today to see what was going on, and found the park there to be full of water.
Above, you're seeing the Red River gently spilling from its banks, with us in North Dakota and that barn on the right over in Minnesota. There was still a bit of ice on the river, which I think combined with today's warm temperatures to cause that cool foggy effect.
[Note that Ellie has just one sleeve pulled up, apparently to show off the pretty tough tatt she currently sports on her left arm.]
It's funny, though – Fargo is totally blasé about this level of flooding. The Forum published a short article last Tuesday going through the motions, and explaining that nothing was happening. The basin by the river was going to flood, and Elm Street between 14th and 15th avenues was closed, as it always is this time of year.
It looks like the high was around 66 at the airport today, though it felt warmer where we were. One bank we drove past pegged it at 71 degrees. Katie announced that we should eat leftover pasta outside for dinner, which was an excellent idea. She wiped a winter's worth of grime off the patio table and chairs, and we had a very nice meal in shirtsleeves under the big sky. The sun set at about quarter to 8, and as darkness fell we were quickly reminded that we were still in North Dakota in March.
At dinner, we amused ourselves with a word game Katie had learned. The game involved going around the table and building this sentence word by word (and repeating the growing list each time): "I am going to my grandma's beach house with my aunt, balloon, car, dog, elephant, firefly, goat, hamster, ice cream, Jack, kangaroo, lion, Mom, noodle, octopus, pizza, queen, rhinestone, stable, Thomas the Tank Engine, umbrella, violet, water, xylophone, yo-yo, and zebra." (Bonus points if you can figure out who was sitting where at the table.)
We picked up the pace when the temperature started dropping – the final rounds can be very long. I was very proud of Ellie especially – she totally understood the game, participated well, and did an excellent job rattling off even the long list.
Above, you're seeing the Red River gently spilling from its banks, with us in North Dakota and that barn on the right over in Minnesota. There was still a bit of ice on the river, which I think combined with today's warm temperatures to cause that cool foggy effect. [Note that Ellie has just one sleeve pulled up, apparently to show off the pretty tough tatt she currently sports on her left arm.]
It's funny, though – Fargo is totally blasé about this level of flooding. The Forum published a short article last Tuesday going through the motions, and explaining that nothing was happening. The basin by the river was going to flood, and Elm Street between 14th and 15th avenues was closed, as it always is this time of year.
It looks like the high was around 66 at the airport today, though it felt warmer where we were. One bank we drove past pegged it at 71 degrees. Katie announced that we should eat leftover pasta outside for dinner, which was an excellent idea. She wiped a winter's worth of grime off the patio table and chairs, and we had a very nice meal in shirtsleeves under the big sky. The sun set at about quarter to 8, and as darkness fell we were quickly reminded that we were still in North Dakota in March.
At dinner, we amused ourselves with a word game Katie had learned. The game involved going around the table and building this sentence word by word (and repeating the growing list each time): "I am going to my grandma's beach house with my aunt, balloon, car, dog, elephant, firefly, goat, hamster, ice cream, Jack, kangaroo, lion, Mom, noodle, octopus, pizza, queen, rhinestone, stable, Thomas the Tank Engine, umbrella, violet, water, xylophone, yo-yo, and zebra." (Bonus points if you can figure out who was sitting where at the table.)
We picked up the pace when the temperature started dropping – the final rounds can be very long. I was very proud of Ellie especially – she totally understood the game, participated well, and did an excellent job rattling off even the long list.
posted by Tom at 10:35 PM
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