A little rain this way comes

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. 

-- Rabindranath Tagore

It is that time of the year. Water in the yard or to be more accurate, River in the yard. For those who are reading this for the first time, I live on the river side of Garden Hwy, and G.H. loosely follows the winding path of the Sacramento River. I live in a two bedroom house above a garage and storage area. In the fall I start looking at my tools, and supplies and assortment of "stuff" and start putting it up above the 4 foot mark, more or less.

This year the flood amount data from the I Street Bridge Gauge told us we would get about a foot into the yard, so I knew my garage and yard would be under water for a while. Then the level shot up. The storm that dumped all the rain was very warm. The projection changed to include snow melt. Folsom Dam began releasing water so that when the snow melted they would have room. Folsom Lake and dam release into the American River. That extra release of water is what can back up the Sacramento River at the Confluence. So we went from expecting 1 foot (no big deal) to 4 plus feet by Midnight Friday. GULP. That was a rise of 11 feet in 36 hours. That is millions and millions of gallons of water. So I expected to come home from my last day of work (another lay-off, separate story) to at least a foot of water in the yard if not more, at 4 pm. I figured something had changed. 

So as of 8:35 pm on Saturday night, I have water in the yard, in the garage, but just a few inches. I will be able to walk to the car without waders so life is good. The dog won't think so, but he is small and I can carry him. Here are some pictures: looking South towards West Sacramento on the left,The center shot is looking straight on to the Weir Gates and the Old River Road, looking West on the right. December 15, 2016 Successive days down. This blog program is funky, BTW, Looking for a new one. 

And last, but not least, a beautiful sunset. 

More tomorrow, at 10:09 p.m., there is about 6 inches of water in the front yard, and yes, in my garage. The car is in the driveway. I can hear the water rushing under the bypass gates. I should be seeing a few more ducks, maybe some geese or a heron. Last year I had a beaver for a day. All is well.