It has been stormy here the past few days, but last night was a whopper: the high winds woke me up periodically through the night … and I prayed the Columbia River would stay put.
The flood level was 21.6 feet last night when I went to bed … and the top-off level is 21.5 feet; so, obviously the Cowlitz River jumped its banks overnight: when I woke up, I canceled my afternoon hair appointment. A haircut is not worth risking my life for – by noon, today, the maximum flood level for the Cowlitz had reached 22.2 feet.
Those poor people – to be hit with flood waters again (last one was in 2015).
I canceled my hair appointment, but there is no way to cancel getting into town to the Post Office to mail off payment for the hospital bills. So … into town I drove. Ocean Beach Highway – the stretch I live along – was littered with torn limbs, leaf litter, tree mosses, ect. from the overnight rain storm that swept through.
If things look this bad in town – where there is very little for the weather to wreak havoc with, I could only imagine what the rural countryside looked like. I didn’t have to imagine for very long: people were more than happy to share their storm damages with me.
There was also a bad wreck on I-5 North, just before the Headquarters Road Exit – it was raining so fast and furious that the saturated ground gave way; and a tree fell onto the freeway, where an SUV slammed into it.
And on Tower Road, up the Toutle, there was wind-blown storm debris all over the roadways … and 2 houses were demolished when trees fell on them (the people escaped okay – shaken, but okay). And the power was out, up that way, too.
After I left the Post Office, I decided to find Matt’s Custom Meats business and see if I could find beef liver, there (I can’t find it in any of the grocery stores in town): they had it! So, I bought 3 packages 😊 Liver supplies natural iron supplement my body needs: I am severely anemic. Fortunately, I happen to like the taste of beef liver.
I also bought half a Beef Locker Pack, and a big bag of Beef knuckle bones, for bone soup.
On my way home, I was feeling on top of the world … but was quickly snapped out of my buoyant mood when I was hailed by a police officer on Industrial Way – the backroad I like to drive home on.
I stopped my car, and he motioned for me to wind my window down: so, I did. He bent into my window and asked, “How did you get here?” I just looked at him (trying not to be a smartass), and said, “I drove.” He followed that up with, “Where did you come from?” I pointed behind my head, and said, “From that way.” (By now, I was wondering what was going on). He said, “That road is closed.” Now, it was really getting hard to rein my smartass side in, but I fought it, and said, “No – no, it’s not; I’m here.” At this point, he was clearly getting exasperated. He said, “This road is supposed to be closed.” To which, my smartass side prompted me to add, “Well, there were cones on one side of the road, but there was oncoming traffic in one lane … and another lane between the truck and the cones, that indicated I should take that center lane: so, I did.” He rolled his eyes, huffed, and pulled out his walkie-talkie; and barked into it. Then he looked at me, and said, “The road is closed from The Lewis and Clark Bridge to Washington Way” – and he points down the road in front of us. I asked, “The whole road?” He said, “To Washington Way, yes.” I said, “Where am I supposed to turn around?” I guess he surmised it would cause more upheaval for me to attempt an in-the-middle-of-the-road-turn, than to just let me continue home … so, he slipped his walkie-talkie back in its holder and said, “Just go.” And I didn’t say another word: I scooted 😉
As I passed him, I caught sight of a mangled car with the front end smashed into the back seat area. Apparently, I had stumbled into a investigative scene. But in my defense … there had been no clear warning to stay off that road; there had been no blinking digital road sign with a detour warning – and the cones being set out, back by the bridge, were set out in such a manner as to indicate there was road work to be done at the Car Wash & Espresso Shack location (for months, there has been road work going on all over town, at different locations). And there had been 2 lanes open for what indicated 2-way traffic movement.
The road was subsequently totally blocked off to through traffic.
When I got home, I opened the meat box from Matt’s, and was very happy with my purchase. Except for the smaller steaks, I broke the other meat cuts down for solo lobo cooking – and I sliced the large sirloin steaks into stew cubes: I eat more stews than I do steaks.
I consider the meat package purchase a good expenditure: I garden, and freeze my harvests; I buy noodles and rice in bulk, I stock up on condiments … and I bake my own bread: my freezer and pantry are stocked – meat, and paper products, is all I have to fork big bucks out for. And I really only go big on meat because I want quality meat, not that greasy stinky stuff sold in the supermarkets. If I could, I’d grow my own meat too … but I can’t do that, here; and Bob didn’t want to go back to living on a farm.
Bob did agree to let me have chickens, though for a few years – before we downsized, and went suburban: he even built me a Hen House and Hen Pen. But, I did all the tending, and the butchering (which shocked Bob; he didn’t think I’d be able to do it).
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