Water Watch

Up another foot today.  It was slightly less than a foot as opposed to slightly more than a foot as its been the past few days, so I'll take that as a positive sign.  The river is still rising, the park is still quiet, but life goes on, there are still projects to do.
On my drive around the park this morning, I saw that my coworker had done a great job cleaning up the debris left by the water on the road.  Aside from a little residual dampness, you wouldn't be able to tell that the whole area had been submerged for three days.  When I got to the office, I went walking right away to see where the water was today.  It had crossed the sidewalk, as I expected, but it was still passable.


When I walked around the water and made it out to the river dock, I saw that the floating dock that had drifted in from upriver a couple of days ago had moved to a new spot.  It was hanging on to our favorite tree.  Those giant roots held on to it and I began picturing the mess we would have if it stayed there when the water receded.  Fortunately, later in the day as the water came up a little more, it made its way further down the river.

 
The river was moving quickly, but the surface looked still.  With the bright rising sun and the dense fog on the water, it almost looked like an ice rink.  It was a really beautiful morning.


From the cabin porch, I could see that the water was almost at the high bank across the spring.   The water is now over 19 feet above sea level.  It was around 8.5 feet above sea level in mid-November, before it began to rise again. 


After I finished my paperwork this morning, I went over to the cabin to help our volunteer with a project that he has been working on.  The three pocket doors in the cabin had seen better days.  They were cracking and splintering and needed to be replaced. 


We had purchased three replacements and our volunteer had stained and sealed them.  He did a great job.  He had also gotten the molding around the doors off with minimal damage and removed the old doors.  He just needed an extra set of hands to help guide the new doors into place.  I was happy to help out and it was great to see the new doors in place.


By mid-morning, I was ready to head to the nearby town of Live Oak to run some errands.  I stopped at a tractor supply store to check on a part needed for a piece of equipment at Adams Tract.  The price was higher than I was hoping, and it was a special order item.  I decided to hold off on it and think about other options.  When I got to the hardware store, I purchased some new door knobs for the restrooms at Adams Tract.  I chose hardware that would not remain locked once a person opened the door,  unlike the current door knobs that lock people out all the time.  I also returned the thermostats that didn't work with our heating/cooling systems and purchased ones that will.  I looked at some other prices and picked up a few more odds and ends before heading back to the park.
On my way back to Troy, I stopped in at Adams Tract for a brief visit.  The volunteers were busy taking care of some visitors that had arrived.  I checked in with them, dropped off the door hardware, and went on my way.  Back at Troy, I caught up with my co-worker and brought in all of my purchases.  She informed me that a tree had fallen on the nature trail.  We walked out and took a look at it before I went home.  It won't be hard to clear it from the trail.  It will have to wait a couple of days though.  With the trail flooded as well, I don't think anyone will mind if there is a tree on the path.


When I got home and watched a little TV, I was surprised to find that we are expecting freezing temperatures again tonight.  I was hoping that we were done with all of the cold nonsense.  The dog and I headed out for a walk around the park to visit all of the water faucets and set them dripping... again...