It looks like we're in for more rain here through Friday with the heaviest predicted on Thursday. Wonderful. We weren't going to complain about wet after last summer's drought. However ....
You know high tide is possible in Iowa when The Register begins reminiscing about the Great Flood of 1993, the year the Des Moines water treatment plant went under; and The Gazette, about the Great Flood of 2008, when Cedar Rapids drowned.
Great floods are unlikely in Lucas County because of our position astraddle the ridge dividing the Mississippi and Missouri River drainages, although both the Chariton and the White Breast as well as smaller streams can give us fits as both did earlier this season.
I usually check the Iowa Department of Transportation's road conditions map on mornings like this. When Highways 65 and sometimes 34 go under at Lucas, you know the water's high. So far, highway closures are concentrated in central Iowa, most notably near Marshalltown.
If you're interested in reading more about Iowa and high water, here's a link to an earlier post about the the Great Flood of 1851 --- the first experienced by a substantial number of EuroAmerican settlers in the interior of Iowa. Must of this was written by Tacitus Hussey --- isn't that a great name? --- Des Moines-based printer, journalist, poet and amateur historian, who arrived in 1855.
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We're now officially open for the season at the Lucas County Historical Society museum --- from 1-4 p.m. daily Tuesday through Saturday --- although the first week is kind of a shake-down cruise.
Judy Besco, after a good many years of loyal service, has decided to focus on other projects this summer --- I ran into her at the hardware store yesterday hauling a bag of potting soil that I think weighed substantially more than she did toward her truck (and helped out a little).
So we're missing her efficiency, but glad to have Kathleen Ditmer join us for the summer and early fall as chief tour guide and coordinator of volunteers. Stop by and say "hello."
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