What I’ve been doing, what I haven’t been doing, what I wished would happen.

I stopped driving to work through flood waters when I found myself in water up to the door. I did not float away or wreck the engine, but the situation in Clatsop County between Seaside and the junction with highway 26 had gotten progressively worse. The flooding happened rarely in the 1980s, then occasionally, then often, then routinely during heavy rains. No one seemed to understand why, which was ridiculous. ODOT and the local governments, organizations, and newspapers proposed various causes. The actual cause was simple enough. People were building berms and building in the flood plain.

Finally, a local nonprofit purchased and returned large tracts of land in the flood plain to allow flooding and most of the high water was gone from the highway. Instead of flooding 12 or 15 inches several times in the winter, there might be just a couple inches of water on the road once.

This week is different. Heavy rainfall and an already soaked landscape and the highway closed down altogether for all of yesterday. It’s open to heavier vehicles as I type this. The photo below shows modest flooding compared to what I have driven through. I would not have hesitated to drive through water the depth shown in this photo. I did it a hundred times. No exaggeration. And it was much higher when the highways closed… Well, have another look at the top photo.

There is no “local detour” but there is a very long drive-around that turned my twenty minute/fifteen mile south drive home, into well over an hour to get around the water. I drove north, then SE, then W, then finally south on roads originally built for loggers. In the dark. Did that twice. Then I took a school bus. Water came in the bus and flooded the first step.

I knit three hats and three cowls and two scarves, wrapped all our holiday gifts (except for the ones I ordered and have not arrived), and mailed four packages. Tried a new popover recipe yesterday that was not a success. Made applesauce. Did not get my run Monday and probably not today. Have not addressed holiday cards and have not stitched some things to put inside—which I should have begun and planned to begin in October, but my hand wasn’t functioning (all better now, but I am out of time). No news about publication, though I do try to reason with myself that there is still hope there. Foggy outside just now so far as I can see. Dark too. So not seeing much. I am not in the middle of any book or I would be reading. I have not completed the incomplete story, nor have I worked further on the collection. I feared that would happen. [“That” being not writing after the hard push through November.] Slept well last night but not at all today so far. We tried to watch the new Indiana Jones movie and turned it off. Managed to watch Dr. Who. The first episode in the new season of Midsomer Murders was barely watchable, so we did. I could write volumes about the Korean rom-coms and fantasies I’ve been enjoying, but will spare you. Only, the best of them are better than anything I ever seen on US television (except for three or four series that have probably not aged well).

Gary has bought bread so I will not bake today. I will address cards and scrub the upstairs bathroom. Or not.

CNN sends news of 5 Things each day. Our local rainfall was #3 this morning.

Floods  Around 16 million people were under flood alerts in the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday night as a strong atmospheric river soaked the region. In Portland, Oregon, at least one person died after being swept away in floodwaters, authorities said. The powerful system pummeling the Northwest has already dumped more than 8 inches of rain this week and forecasts show more is on the way: An additional 2 to 4 inches are possible today. The treacherous travel conditions also prompted Amtrak to temporarily suspend all train servicebetween Portland and Seattle due to a landslide.