Enough is Enough

It all started with that crazy amount of snow Iowa got. Then there were wildfires in North Carolina pummeling us with smoke. Then the Parkersburg/New Hartford tornado (see slideshow on right side bar), then the flooding, then our 110 degree heat, then our Dismal Swamp fire, then more flooding....and THEN yesterday Jessica was in the basement weathering a funnel cloud that was rattling the house so much she thought it was being taken...luckily no damage, but they had trees down and inches of hail....when will it stop?

Last night, on our way to dinner, I took these pictures of the smoke in our area. About 10 miles away at the Dismal Swamp there is a fire burning. This is the 3rd time this year already that we have had smoke from a NC or VA fire. This one is the closest to us and wherever you go, it's like something right near you is on fire. After we finally stopped the 100 degree heat, we still can't open the windows because this is what's going on outside. Our building at work smells like it's on fire and it's hard to breathe wherever you go. For those of you who have been to our house...these are from our house to Chesapeake Square Mall.


On Portsmouth Blvd going over 664.


Coming up on 664 near Lowe's on Portsmouth Blvd.

At the end of Shoulder's Hill road where all of the cell and weather towers are.

A neighborhood down the street from us...

The cemetary down the street.

Then there's the flooding...it breaks my heart to see these pictures and see the places I know so well. Our friends Charity and Dave right near some of these pictures. Last I heard they were still ok but I need to check in again. Our friend Devona is from New Hartford and her friends and family have had to evacuate. Our friends Josh and Michelle in Cedar Rapids have several friends and family affected. They are going to investigate with FEMA today if her mom's house is still liveable after having 10 feet of water. Her aunt's house and cousin's house are both total losses as they were closer to downtown. It's the worst flooding they have ever seen in Iowa...And we've had some bad flooding there.

There's a 200 mile detour from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and they are right next to each other. Interstate 380 in Cedar Rapids is closed because it's over the river.... It's unreal.

This is where my friend Tiffany Hansen used to live in Waterloo on San Souci island They were hit with water several times but never this bad. This is taken from the 1 bridge that is still open to get back and forth from one side of Waterloo to the other. I saw some news reports that said it was a 1 hour back up to get over the bridge. This is about 1 minute from Charity and Dave's house.

San Souci island again

This is the road I used to take to work.

Riverfront Stadium about 4 blocks from Charity and Dave's house.

Downtown Waterloo where I used to work.

the traffic after they said downtown Waterloo had to evacuate.

The Cedar River under all of the downtown bridges. I used to work in the 2nd building from the right.

downtown bridge again.