I think it would be hard to not become some sort of naturalist with a job like this. With so little to do, without even realizing it, I spend a great deal of my day noticing nature, the weather, the changes of season, and how the three dance around each other.
These are, off the top of my head, some of the animals I've seen or heard around the ferry:
Owls
Eagles
Osprey
Ducks
Geese
Deer
Wild turkeys
Coyotes
Fox
Raccoon
Possum
Say nothing of the local housecats that rub up against my leg each morning as I walk up the hill to unlock the gate.
I keep meaning to bring a bird book down here. I'm curious to figure out what kind of ducks these are. They're very dark in color, almost black, with pointier bills than I expected. I've also seen gray and white ducks on occasion, sitting alone on the river bank.
Coyotes have jumped across the road in front of my car, I've seen them trotting through fields, and on occasion, before I leave for the night, I hear several of them yipping and singing at each other.
The owls amaze me. I'm always startled to see them, swooping off a road sign in the pitch black of early morning, off to hunt their prey. I don't know what kind of owl they are, only that they seem to be brown and speckled in the headlights of my car.
I know where the raccoon lives, and I'm always cautious as I drive around that corner in the morning, he may be scampering across the road. He's a huge raccoon, bigger than either of my cats by quite a bit.
It's also pretty amazing to watch the seasons change. I've never spent so much time focued on the seasons or the weather. It was a wonderful surprise to get to work one morning a few weeks ago when it was pitch black, to hear all of the pre-dawn birds singing their hearts out, ready to announce the new day. Such a portent of spring! The doe has a new fawn, I think they live in the cluster of trees up by the west gate. The first time I saw the fawn a week or so ago, it couldn't have been more than a few weeks old. The mother was very protective, but they stood not too far from me and watched as I walked up the hill.
I'm curious to see when the ospreys return from their southern winter vacation. The one nest I can see clearly has gotten overgrown with grass over the winter. Will they use the grass as part of the nest, or pick it all out? And will another nesting pair try to make a nest on top of the tower, like they attempted all last summer?
Last week, the temperatures climbed rapidly, it was almost 60 for several days, with wide open, bright blue skies. Maybe spring was actually here! But then this week, it turned cold again. I scraped ice off my windshield this morning, and noticed a few stray snowflakes falling as I left Salem. The animals know, though. Spring will be here soon!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
It's been a day
And it's not over yet.
Lately, I've really been battling insomnia. I'll get in bed at a decent time, but then it takes an hour or two, once the lights are off, to fall asleep. Considering that I don't get home from work until 7:30, I'm having a hard time forcing myself to get in bed at 9. So I'm really tired this week. The past few weeks, I guess.
This morning, around 8, I looked up from my book and saw a car on the other side of the river. I put the boat in motion, and went back to my book. I do watch the river, I glance up now and then, but it's 8 in the morning and drizzling. Nobody is out and about. So I mostly read my book for the 3 minute trip. When I came in to land, it was just...weird. The boat skewed to one side, it almost felt like one of the motors wasn't working, though I heard it rev up. I pulled in, sort of lopsided, to what seemed like an ok landing, but when the car pulled down the ramp, I realized that I wasn't on shore, well, I was, but the apron was about 18 inches from the concrete ramp. What the...?
I ran out to look, stopping the tiny car from trying to climb over the gap and started looking. The motors were clearly working. I ran up to the ramp and looked. Ohhhhhh crap. There was a tree, and a substantial one, laying horizontally in the water, across the ramp, and was caught in the low water line. Like this: (sorry if the images are super huge, I'm doing this from my ipad, and it's a little wonky)
At one point, I could get close enough to the tree to tie a rope to it, from the ferry. I tried to drag it out into the river, but it was stronger than the rope I had. I tried to go far out into the river, hoping that less pressure on the low water line would let the tree drop into the river. Nothing worked. Finally, I called my boss, and he sent down a crew with a chainsaw and truck.
It took a half hour for the crew to get down here. In that time, I had to turn around 3 cars, by yelling into a bullhorn. I hate that. My voice echos across the bluff, and I'm sure anyone who's home in Buena Vista can here me shrilly screeching, "I'M STUCK! TURN AROUND! SORRY!" The fourth car that came down, they wouldn't leave. They parked, and we had a yelling conversation across the river. Evidently they were the electricians the boss had said would be coming down either today or tomorrow. They asked how to get around to the other side, but I said that the crew should be down in the next half hour, and they sat there glumly and waited.
Finally the bridge crew came down. From the other side of the river, I watched as the used the chainsaw to cut off a few branches, then tied the truck's winch to the tree and yanked it up the ramp and onto the road, where they cut it into lengths and rolled it into the ditch. I went up and talked to them, once I got over there, and was relieved when one of them said, "Yeah, that's a big one." I guess I'm still insecure about calling for help. I was grateful to hear that they--former ferry operators--agreed that it was a big tree. So it was the right move to call for help.
They left, and the electricians came on. Most of the work they were doing was to the electrical wiring that's under the operator's counter--basically under where the throttles, computer, gate switches, everything that runs the ferry--are. Which meant that whenever I had traffic, I was driving the boat with a guy--or two--laying at my feet. It was super awkward, but I think I managed to not kick anyone, though I did stumble over them a few times. I looked up at the clock at one point, as I was leaning across their prone bodies to lower the gate, and wanted to yell in frustration that it was only 11:30. GAH!
Finally they left, and things calmed down. The rest of the day has, so far, been uneventful. Knock on wood. I keep yawning, trying to wake up. I've had three cups of coffee, a diet coke, later I'll have a cup of tea, and some chocolate. You'd think that'd be enough caffiene. But it's not, and I'm still struggling to stay awake. I'm so very glad tomorrow is my friday.
The bright spot of the day is that I've finished a new pair of socks:
Lately, I've really been battling insomnia. I'll get in bed at a decent time, but then it takes an hour or two, once the lights are off, to fall asleep. Considering that I don't get home from work until 7:30, I'm having a hard time forcing myself to get in bed at 9. So I'm really tired this week. The past few weeks, I guess.
This morning, around 8, I looked up from my book and saw a car on the other side of the river. I put the boat in motion, and went back to my book. I do watch the river, I glance up now and then, but it's 8 in the morning and drizzling. Nobody is out and about. So I mostly read my book for the 3 minute trip. When I came in to land, it was just...weird. The boat skewed to one side, it almost felt like one of the motors wasn't working, though I heard it rev up. I pulled in, sort of lopsided, to what seemed like an ok landing, but when the car pulled down the ramp, I realized that I wasn't on shore, well, I was, but the apron was about 18 inches from the concrete ramp. What the...?
I ran out to look, stopping the tiny car from trying to climb over the gap and started looking. The motors were clearly working. I ran up to the ramp and looked. Ohhhhhh crap. There was a tree, and a substantial one, laying horizontally in the water, across the ramp, and was caught in the low water line. Like this: (sorry if the images are super huge, I'm doing this from my ipad, and it's a little wonky)
At one point, I could get close enough to the tree to tie a rope to it, from the ferry. I tried to drag it out into the river, but it was stronger than the rope I had. I tried to go far out into the river, hoping that less pressure on the low water line would let the tree drop into the river. Nothing worked. Finally, I called my boss, and he sent down a crew with a chainsaw and truck.
It took a half hour for the crew to get down here. In that time, I had to turn around 3 cars, by yelling into a bullhorn. I hate that. My voice echos across the bluff, and I'm sure anyone who's home in Buena Vista can here me shrilly screeching, "I'M STUCK! TURN AROUND! SORRY!" The fourth car that came down, they wouldn't leave. They parked, and we had a yelling conversation across the river. Evidently they were the electricians the boss had said would be coming down either today or tomorrow. They asked how to get around to the other side, but I said that the crew should be down in the next half hour, and they sat there glumly and waited.
Finally the bridge crew came down. From the other side of the river, I watched as the used the chainsaw to cut off a few branches, then tied the truck's winch to the tree and yanked it up the ramp and onto the road, where they cut it into lengths and rolled it into the ditch. I went up and talked to them, once I got over there, and was relieved when one of them said, "Yeah, that's a big one." I guess I'm still insecure about calling for help. I was grateful to hear that they--former ferry operators--agreed that it was a big tree. So it was the right move to call for help.
They left, and the electricians came on. Most of the work they were doing was to the electrical wiring that's under the operator's counter--basically under where the throttles, computer, gate switches, everything that runs the ferry--are. Which meant that whenever I had traffic, I was driving the boat with a guy--or two--laying at my feet. It was super awkward, but I think I managed to not kick anyone, though I did stumble over them a few times. I looked up at the clock at one point, as I was leaning across their prone bodies to lower the gate, and wanted to yell in frustration that it was only 11:30. GAH!
Finally they left, and things calmed down. The rest of the day has, so far, been uneventful. Knock on wood. I keep yawning, trying to wake up. I've had three cups of coffee, a diet coke, later I'll have a cup of tea, and some chocolate. You'd think that'd be enough caffiene. But it's not, and I'm still struggling to stay awake. I'm so very glad tomorrow is my friday.
The bright spot of the day is that I've finished a new pair of socks:
Monday, February 13, 2012
Been Awhile
First, the excuses:
My computer has been in the shop for a week, and still is.
I hate typing on the Ipad.
I was in the shops for three weeks. There's really not that much to talk about.
Anywhooo.
The ferry reopened last thursday. I started my regular Sunday-Wednesday week yesterday. Last week, the boss was in a class most of the week, and had told me that I'd be doing office stuff during those days. So I came to work wearing office clothes--my favorite jeans, a cashmere sweater, pearl earrings. And ended up stuck down at the ferry, washing the muck and silt off the ramps. I was filthy. And then Thursday, I'd been told the day before that the boss was going to sit with me in the morning and give me stuff to do, then go down and open the ferry with someone else. So I wore jeans and a WHITE sweater. And ended up possibly filtier than I've been before on this job, since I ended up working to open the ferry too. Serves me right. I guess I should keep a ratty old hoodie in the trunk of my car or something.
When we came down on Thursday to open the boat, the ferry was grounded. The water had fallen so fast that it was sitting smack on the hull. When you stepped on the boat, you could feel how far it listed over, with the front end leaning against the slope of the ramp. We tried everything we could, even pushing pickup trucks against it, but in the end, we had to call for a backhoe to come down and push. Took the backhoe about 30 seconds. We should have done that in the first place.
It was sort of cool to do all of the steps to get the boat back up and going. Last time we closed for high water, we called the Bridge Crew in to get the boat reopened. I did help, but they're Big Burly Dudes and didn't want a wee wimpy girl to help. This time, there were three of us, and we did it all. My arms were so damn tired by the end. Tons of bolts that had to be tightened tighter than you knew you had the strength for, 1000 feet of heavy metal cable that had to be fed out from the back of the truck slowly so it doesn't kink. It was a heck of a long day.
After we did all of that, the boss and I had to go up to the other ferry, and do some work up there. I was fine with it, it meant an hour or so of overtime, which has been sorely lacking working in the shops. Somehow on the drive up there, he and I ended up on the topic of religion. I think I started it, I was relating the story my sister had told me the night before about how her 5 year old had gotten in an argument on the school bus about whether "GodandJesus" existed. My boss was all starting up that he'd have to convert me or something, and I was getting uncomfortable. Finally I said, "Look. I'm a cross between a lapsed Jew and a lapsed Catholic who met and got married in a commune in San Francisco in the early 70s. Growing up, the Grateful Dead was my religion!" He cracked up and gave in, "Ok already, you've got a good excuse." HA!!
Working in the shops was nice...and weird. It was so awesome to not have to be at work until 8. I loved the short, 8 hour days, the paid lunch, and the fact that, holy cow, I was home by 5 every night! But at the same time, it was downright odd. I sat at my old desk most of the time, which was nice, but weird. Nobody was the boss of me, telling me what to do or caring if I was working. Which, mostly, I wasn't. It was more the odd questioning looks that other people gave me when they saw me. People who I never really talked to or associated with when I was a planner. They'd look at me with a look that very clearly said, "I recognize you, but you don't work here anymore. WTF are you doing here." But they wouldn't actually say anything, just give me a really weird look and the cold shoulder. I felt like an outsider. That part sucked. Like my old home wasn't my home anymore. Which I guess it's really not.
The flood did a fair bit of damage down by the ferry. As I sit on the boat typing this, I can see a work crew up on the road about 100 feet from the ramp, repairing a washout and hole that developed under the road. A coworker described it as "as big as a bear den." Having never seen a bear's den, and only a bear in the wild once, I don't know if that's accurate, but I know I wouldn't want to drive over that spot. Also, a ton of gravel and fill under the concrete pad around the tower washed out, and the fence is ruined. If it stops raining today, I'll walk up and take pictures. The chain link fence is totally covered with grass and weeds, the water was well higher than the height of the fence. The force of the water was strong enough that it pulled the fence posts out of the concrete, and the fence is leaning at an angle. It's a bit of a mess. The boss said that FEMA money will help fix that sort of thing, since the whole county was declared a disaster area.
I talked to a local yesterday who said that a creek near their house changed course, and is now about 30 feet from their back porch, instead of about 150 feet. Water levels have dropped, and the creek is still there. Instant waterfront property. Rather nuts.
The water level dropped pretty fast, once it finally started to. So fast, in fact, that I just recieved notice that the other ferry has closed. Closed for LOW water. WHAT?! While river levels are higher than they are in the summer, the flood deposited a ton of gravel in an already high spot in the path of the ferry. Looks like the WF will be closed for at least a week, and they'll have to get out there and dredge. Fingers crossed the BV doesn't close for low water. I don't think I really want more time in the shops. Plus, my paychecks are suffering! I've gotten used to 24 hours of overtime each paycheck!
My computer has been in the shop for a week, and still is.
I hate typing on the Ipad.
I was in the shops for three weeks. There's really not that much to talk about.
Anywhooo.
The ferry reopened last thursday. I started my regular Sunday-Wednesday week yesterday. Last week, the boss was in a class most of the week, and had told me that I'd be doing office stuff during those days. So I came to work wearing office clothes--my favorite jeans, a cashmere sweater, pearl earrings. And ended up stuck down at the ferry, washing the muck and silt off the ramps. I was filthy. And then Thursday, I'd been told the day before that the boss was going to sit with me in the morning and give me stuff to do, then go down and open the ferry with someone else. So I wore jeans and a WHITE sweater. And ended up possibly filtier than I've been before on this job, since I ended up working to open the ferry too. Serves me right. I guess I should keep a ratty old hoodie in the trunk of my car or something.
When we came down on Thursday to open the boat, the ferry was grounded. The water had fallen so fast that it was sitting smack on the hull. When you stepped on the boat, you could feel how far it listed over, with the front end leaning against the slope of the ramp. We tried everything we could, even pushing pickup trucks against it, but in the end, we had to call for a backhoe to come down and push. Took the backhoe about 30 seconds. We should have done that in the first place.
It was sort of cool to do all of the steps to get the boat back up and going. Last time we closed for high water, we called the Bridge Crew in to get the boat reopened. I did help, but they're Big Burly Dudes and didn't want a wee wimpy girl to help. This time, there were three of us, and we did it all. My arms were so damn tired by the end. Tons of bolts that had to be tightened tighter than you knew you had the strength for, 1000 feet of heavy metal cable that had to be fed out from the back of the truck slowly so it doesn't kink. It was a heck of a long day.
After we did all of that, the boss and I had to go up to the other ferry, and do some work up there. I was fine with it, it meant an hour or so of overtime, which has been sorely lacking working in the shops. Somehow on the drive up there, he and I ended up on the topic of religion. I think I started it, I was relating the story my sister had told me the night before about how her 5 year old had gotten in an argument on the school bus about whether "GodandJesus" existed. My boss was all starting up that he'd have to convert me or something, and I was getting uncomfortable. Finally I said, "Look. I'm a cross between a lapsed Jew and a lapsed Catholic who met and got married in a commune in San Francisco in the early 70s. Growing up, the Grateful Dead was my religion!" He cracked up and gave in, "Ok already, you've got a good excuse." HA!!
Working in the shops was nice...and weird. It was so awesome to not have to be at work until 8. I loved the short, 8 hour days, the paid lunch, and the fact that, holy cow, I was home by 5 every night! But at the same time, it was downright odd. I sat at my old desk most of the time, which was nice, but weird. Nobody was the boss of me, telling me what to do or caring if I was working. Which, mostly, I wasn't. It was more the odd questioning looks that other people gave me when they saw me. People who I never really talked to or associated with when I was a planner. They'd look at me with a look that very clearly said, "I recognize you, but you don't work here anymore. WTF are you doing here." But they wouldn't actually say anything, just give me a really weird look and the cold shoulder. I felt like an outsider. That part sucked. Like my old home wasn't my home anymore. Which I guess it's really not.
The flood did a fair bit of damage down by the ferry. As I sit on the boat typing this, I can see a work crew up on the road about 100 feet from the ramp, repairing a washout and hole that developed under the road. A coworker described it as "as big as a bear den." Having never seen a bear's den, and only a bear in the wild once, I don't know if that's accurate, but I know I wouldn't want to drive over that spot. Also, a ton of gravel and fill under the concrete pad around the tower washed out, and the fence is ruined. If it stops raining today, I'll walk up and take pictures. The chain link fence is totally covered with grass and weeds, the water was well higher than the height of the fence. The force of the water was strong enough that it pulled the fence posts out of the concrete, and the fence is leaning at an angle. It's a bit of a mess. The boss said that FEMA money will help fix that sort of thing, since the whole county was declared a disaster area.
I talked to a local yesterday who said that a creek near their house changed course, and is now about 30 feet from their back porch, instead of about 150 feet. Water levels have dropped, and the creek is still there. Instant waterfront property. Rather nuts.
The water level dropped pretty fast, once it finally started to. So fast, in fact, that I just recieved notice that the other ferry has closed. Closed for LOW water. WHAT?! While river levels are higher than they are in the summer, the flood deposited a ton of gravel in an already high spot in the path of the ferry. Looks like the WF will be closed for at least a week, and they'll have to get out there and dredge. Fingers crossed the BV doesn't close for low water. I don't think I really want more time in the shops. Plus, my paychecks are suffering! I've gotten used to 24 hours of overtime each paycheck!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Still Closed
The ferry is still VERY closed. The boss sent me this picture from the ferry today:
That's the gate at the top of the ramp, almost totally covered. Need to see that better?
The gated area around the tower was flooded as well. See all the debris stuck to the fence? That'll be a pain in the butt to clear off.
Oh, plus there's a washout under the road right at the ferry, my coworkers described it as a "bear den" cause it goes almost all the way under the road. It'll take awhile before we can get that fixed.
We had a staff meeting this morning, and right before it was wrapping up, the boss got a phone call that the ferry was somehow in the middle of the river. Turns out that the two ropes we'd used to tie the ferry to trees and metal supports had both broken, plus the super heavy duty chain locking the ferry had also broken. The boat was still safe and attached, there were several lines attaching it to the power lines up above. So they had to get in a work boat, motor out to the ferry that's adrift in the middle of the river, climb aboard, then just drive back to the ramp and tie it back up, and tie it better. And by that point, the local paper had gotten wind of it, and was down there taking pictures. So if it's in the newspaper tomorrow (and since it's the Salem paper, it'll probably be a slow news day and it'll probably be front page news), I'll link it for you tomorrow.
That's the gate at the top of the ramp, almost totally covered. Need to see that better?
The gated area around the tower was flooded as well. See all the debris stuck to the fence? That'll be a pain in the butt to clear off.
Oh, plus there's a washout under the road right at the ferry, my coworkers described it as a "bear den" cause it goes almost all the way under the road. It'll take awhile before we can get that fixed.
We had a staff meeting this morning, and right before it was wrapping up, the boss got a phone call that the ferry was somehow in the middle of the river. Turns out that the two ropes we'd used to tie the ferry to trees and metal supports had both broken, plus the super heavy duty chain locking the ferry had also broken. The boat was still safe and attached, there were several lines attaching it to the power lines up above. So they had to get in a work boat, motor out to the ferry that's adrift in the middle of the river, climb aboard, then just drive back to the ramp and tie it back up, and tie it better. And by that point, the local paper had gotten wind of it, and was down there taking pictures. So if it's in the newspaper tomorrow (and since it's the Salem paper, it'll probably be a slow news day and it'll probably be front page news), I'll link it for you tomorrow.
Friday, January 20, 2012
The Flood of 2012
When I was a teenager and living in Corvallis, we had a huge flood. The '96 flood. I remember walking through a huge field and a mobile home park with my mom and aunt, to check on my aunt and my grandma's houses. The water was up to my hips. I was so terrified. Their places were both pretty much fine in the end, but the flooding was massive.
Yesterday was scary, and reminiscent of the '96 flood. I hadn't given it much thought until late afternoon, when I was driving home from the library. I turned to go up a side street and saw the Pringle Community Center:
Usually Mill Creek is about 1,000 yards to the left. This community center had flooded and been ruined during the '96 flood, and the new center was built to FEMA flood standards. I took a two day floodplain development class there, and the building was a really awesome example of what to do. While this picture looks catastrophic, once they clean out the silt and wash the place, it'll be about as good as new. It's really impressive.
When I got home, friendly neighbors were clearing the storm drain at the corner next to my house:
I wasn't very worried at that point. I've seen that corner, which is quite low, get about that full, and usually the people that run the Buddhist Temple on the other side of the street come and clear it out.
It got worse. A lot worse. I looked out the window about two hours later, and my car was getting swamped. I don't have a driveway, and park on the street. I realized that I wouldn't be able to get to the driver's door without getting extremely wet. The water was almost up to the curb. As I went out to the car to move it, and go get some supplies, I was talking to a guy walking by, who got stranded by his bus about 8 blocks from his house. I climbed into my car from the passenger side, and gave him a ride home.
When I got home the next time, I realized there was no way in hell I could park on my street. My house is a designated floodway, which means that my street as well as some of the streets around it have been engineered to flood, and that it would keep the houses from flooding. I parked my car a block away, on the other side of the large park across from my house, and had to walk through water more than ankle deep to get home. That was utterly terrifying.
By the time I went to bed, there was no street, only a river. The grass median between the street and sidewalk was inundated. I went to sleep prepared to get up and leave first thing in the morning. I had a plan. I'd try to go get some sandbags and put them in front of the doors, grab the cats, my computer and some clothes and head to Corvallis.
Yet, when I woke up this morning....the water was gone! I still don't quite understand it. I guess Mill Creek crested before the Willamette, which still hasn't (and is currently at 29', and still going strong. Average for this time of year is usually around 14'). As I drove around today, most roads were open. It's freaky to see houses less than a block from me surrounded by a fortress of sandbags. Neighborhoods not too far from here were swamped. Most of those houses had basements, too, which made it worse. I'm very fortunate that I don't have a basement, and I don't have heating ducts in the crawl space, either.
The town of Turner, about 5 miles from Salem, was totally flooded. I feel terrible for everyone there. I can't imagine my house flooding, swamping everything. Two people died in Albany (20 minutes south of here) when water flooded and swept away their car. Floods are scary. I'm exhausted today, just from being so stressed yesterday.
A coworker, K, the gal I've been training recently, sent me two pictures today:
This is the west landing at the BV. I don't have a picture to show you what it usually looks like, but usually you drive up to the stop sign, then go down a steep ramp at least 30 feet before you get to the boat. That picture blows my mind.
And here's one from the WL ferry. I actually wonder if houses may have been flooded in the small community down there, since it's very flat.
Usually once you get to that sign, you still have to travel several hundred feet before you get to the boat.
Crazy stuff. Super duper crazy. I'm glad I'm safe and dry, and so are my friends and family.
Yesterday was scary, and reminiscent of the '96 flood. I hadn't given it much thought until late afternoon, when I was driving home from the library. I turned to go up a side street and saw the Pringle Community Center:
Usually Mill Creek is about 1,000 yards to the left. This community center had flooded and been ruined during the '96 flood, and the new center was built to FEMA flood standards. I took a two day floodplain development class there, and the building was a really awesome example of what to do. While this picture looks catastrophic, once they clean out the silt and wash the place, it'll be about as good as new. It's really impressive.
When I got home, friendly neighbors were clearing the storm drain at the corner next to my house:
I wasn't very worried at that point. I've seen that corner, which is quite low, get about that full, and usually the people that run the Buddhist Temple on the other side of the street come and clear it out.
It got worse. A lot worse. I looked out the window about two hours later, and my car was getting swamped. I don't have a driveway, and park on the street. I realized that I wouldn't be able to get to the driver's door without getting extremely wet. The water was almost up to the curb. As I went out to the car to move it, and go get some supplies, I was talking to a guy walking by, who got stranded by his bus about 8 blocks from his house. I climbed into my car from the passenger side, and gave him a ride home.
When I got home the next time, I realized there was no way in hell I could park on my street. My house is a designated floodway, which means that my street as well as some of the streets around it have been engineered to flood, and that it would keep the houses from flooding. I parked my car a block away, on the other side of the large park across from my house, and had to walk through water more than ankle deep to get home. That was utterly terrifying.
By the time I went to bed, there was no street, only a river. The grass median between the street and sidewalk was inundated. I went to sleep prepared to get up and leave first thing in the morning. I had a plan. I'd try to go get some sandbags and put them in front of the doors, grab the cats, my computer and some clothes and head to Corvallis.
Yet, when I woke up this morning....the water was gone! I still don't quite understand it. I guess Mill Creek crested before the Willamette, which still hasn't (and is currently at 29', and still going strong. Average for this time of year is usually around 14'). As I drove around today, most roads were open. It's freaky to see houses less than a block from me surrounded by a fortress of sandbags. Neighborhoods not too far from here were swamped. Most of those houses had basements, too, which made it worse. I'm very fortunate that I don't have a basement, and I don't have heating ducts in the crawl space, either.
The town of Turner, about 5 miles from Salem, was totally flooded. I feel terrible for everyone there. I can't imagine my house flooding, swamping everything. Two people died in Albany (20 minutes south of here) when water flooded and swept away their car. Floods are scary. I'm exhausted today, just from being so stressed yesterday.
A coworker, K, the gal I've been training recently, sent me two pictures today:
This is the west landing at the BV. I don't have a picture to show you what it usually looks like, but usually you drive up to the stop sign, then go down a steep ramp at least 30 feet before you get to the boat. That picture blows my mind.
And here's one from the WL ferry. I actually wonder if houses may have been flooded in the small community down there, since it's very flat.
Usually once you get to that sign, you still have to travel several hundred feet before you get to the boat.
Crazy stuff. Super duper crazy. I'm glad I'm safe and dry, and so are my friends and family.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Closing down
When I got to work, I had to get wet to get onto the boat. The way my boss had me set the boat for the night meant that it was able to drift a bit. And drift it did. I had to step into the water with one foot, then make a flying leap forward and up onto the boat. The water rose over 2 feet overnight.
Around 11, the boss called and said that the river was going up 3/10 of a foot per hour, and that he was going to come down to close the boat at 3. I was stoked. I knew there was a very good chance we'd close today, and if so, I wanted to close during daylight, and also early enough so I could take the afternoon off. It worked out perfectly.
All day, K (who was training again, and getting good experience with crazy river conditions) and I listened to the dispatch radio. Yesterday it was all about snow and the snow plow guys. Today, it was clogged storm drains and water across roadways. Also, there were some humongous trees heading downstream past the boat. Every single time I took off from one shore or the other, I had to scan upstream, looking for trees that I needed to avoid. Several times, I had to stop the boat in the river, or reverse, to try to avoid trees. And we're not talking saplings here. I'm talking full grown oaks, pines and cottonwoods. They were huge.
Around 2:30 or 3, M, a guy from the bridge crew, came down and grabbed K, and they went to flip ferry signs to closed on the west side of the river. There are four or five signs on each side, usually they're in the "ferry open" position, but we flip them down to "closed" during high water. Even though all the signs were flipped, cars kept coming down to the river, expecting a ride. People are oblivious.
When that was done and the boss showed up, we started setting up the boat. We released the low water line, then drove across the river. I landed, and it was a screwy landing. Without that line to hold me in place, plus with the high water, I sort of hit the rocks...hard. oops. The boss was decidedly not pleased.
We attached the low water line, which is a 5/8 inch thick heavy duty cable and about 1,000 feet long, to the tow hitch on a pickup, and the boss and I drove down the road, so the cable came out of the river and laid down the road. Then, I hopped into the bed of the truck, and the boss slowly reversed down towards the ferry. It was my job to pull the cable into the bed and coil it up. Holy crap that was hard work! My arms and wrists are exhausted. I made him stop a couple times so I could just breathe. And all the while, the rain was pouring down. I was so wet after that, my pants got so heavy from the water it felt like they were just going to fall off.
Once the cable was coiled into the truck, we tied the boat to a tree in two spots. I was at the back spot, and the boss had just said to hold onto the rope, letting it in and out so it wouldn't get caught in the propeller. Finally the front line was tied, and he hollered at me to secure the rope, tie it up. And I hollered back that I didn't know how. I don't know knots! My luck, I'd tie it wrong and the boat would get free and something bad would happen. He walked over, but before he could show me what to do, the ferry started shifting, the rope started pulling, and my hand was caught hard between the railing and a huge knot in the rope. I yanked it free while the boss held the rope, but not before I squished it pretty hard. One knuckle is really sore and a bit swollen. That was dumb of me. I'm always talking up the whole "my body is more important than this boat" aspect. I don't put myself in dangerous situations. Yet when one presented itself, pride took over. I didn't want to drop the rope, which would have been a hassle (and I would have felt like the dumb girl), and instead put myself in harms way. I told the boss I was fine, then walked into the cabin and cried from the pain. :(
Finally we were done. I took the rest of the afternoon off, and was home before 4. There was a lot of standing water all over the back roads, and I hydroplaned a few times on the interstate. I got home and took a scorching hot shower, trying to stave off the shivers. My legs were blocks of ice.
The ferry is probably going to be closed for at least two weeks. For those weeks, I'm not going to take vacation. I'll do shop days. I'll have an 8-4:30 schedule, Monday through Friday. What a novelty!
Around 11, the boss called and said that the river was going up 3/10 of a foot per hour, and that he was going to come down to close the boat at 3. I was stoked. I knew there was a very good chance we'd close today, and if so, I wanted to close during daylight, and also early enough so I could take the afternoon off. It worked out perfectly.
All day, K (who was training again, and getting good experience with crazy river conditions) and I listened to the dispatch radio. Yesterday it was all about snow and the snow plow guys. Today, it was clogged storm drains and water across roadways. Also, there were some humongous trees heading downstream past the boat. Every single time I took off from one shore or the other, I had to scan upstream, looking for trees that I needed to avoid. Several times, I had to stop the boat in the river, or reverse, to try to avoid trees. And we're not talking saplings here. I'm talking full grown oaks, pines and cottonwoods. They were huge.
Around 2:30 or 3, M, a guy from the bridge crew, came down and grabbed K, and they went to flip ferry signs to closed on the west side of the river. There are four or five signs on each side, usually they're in the "ferry open" position, but we flip them down to "closed" during high water. Even though all the signs were flipped, cars kept coming down to the river, expecting a ride. People are oblivious.
When that was done and the boss showed up, we started setting up the boat. We released the low water line, then drove across the river. I landed, and it was a screwy landing. Without that line to hold me in place, plus with the high water, I sort of hit the rocks...hard. oops. The boss was decidedly not pleased.
We attached the low water line, which is a 5/8 inch thick heavy duty cable and about 1,000 feet long, to the tow hitch on a pickup, and the boss and I drove down the road, so the cable came out of the river and laid down the road. Then, I hopped into the bed of the truck, and the boss slowly reversed down towards the ferry. It was my job to pull the cable into the bed and coil it up. Holy crap that was hard work! My arms and wrists are exhausted. I made him stop a couple times so I could just breathe. And all the while, the rain was pouring down. I was so wet after that, my pants got so heavy from the water it felt like they were just going to fall off.
Once the cable was coiled into the truck, we tied the boat to a tree in two spots. I was at the back spot, and the boss had just said to hold onto the rope, letting it in and out so it wouldn't get caught in the propeller. Finally the front line was tied, and he hollered at me to secure the rope, tie it up. And I hollered back that I didn't know how. I don't know knots! My luck, I'd tie it wrong and the boat would get free and something bad would happen. He walked over, but before he could show me what to do, the ferry started shifting, the rope started pulling, and my hand was caught hard between the railing and a huge knot in the rope. I yanked it free while the boss held the rope, but not before I squished it pretty hard. One knuckle is really sore and a bit swollen. That was dumb of me. I'm always talking up the whole "my body is more important than this boat" aspect. I don't put myself in dangerous situations. Yet when one presented itself, pride took over. I didn't want to drop the rope, which would have been a hassle (and I would have felt like the dumb girl), and instead put myself in harms way. I told the boss I was fine, then walked into the cabin and cried from the pain. :(
Finally we were done. I took the rest of the afternoon off, and was home before 4. There was a lot of standing water all over the back roads, and I hydroplaned a few times on the interstate. I got home and took a scorching hot shower, trying to stave off the shivers. My legs were blocks of ice.
The ferry is probably going to be closed for at least two weeks. For those weeks, I'm not going to take vacation. I'll do shop days. I'll have an 8-4:30 schedule, Monday through Friday. What a novelty!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
High Water is Coming
The weather has been really crazy lately. I spent last weekend in the Bay Area, visiting family and a friend. It was almost 70 degrees, wonderfully sunny and delightful there. I went to the coast and saw a whale in the distance. Then I flew home and got off the plane to snow flurries. For the past few days, it's been snowing overnight, then raining all day. Tonight, the prediction is for 3-7 inches of snow, but mostly at an elevation just above where I live. So all that snow will fall as rain. And all that rain will fill up the river. The river forecast website we use is currently showing that the river is almost a foot above the prediction, and is projected to rise rapidly over the next few days.
This evening, the boss called, and walked me through how I should set up the ferry for overnight. The concern is that when I come to work tomorrow, the river may have risen so quickly, locks, clevises and ropes may be underwater. So I moved the locks up as far as I could, unscrewed the clevises, and crossed my fingers. I have to admit, while I've got used to working in the dark, to dealing with the wet and cold of winter, the combination of bleak darkness, massive rain, and impending flooding totally creeps me out. I know that in reality, nothing bad will happen, but it's just tense and a bit stressful. I was very glad when 7 pm came this evening and I could head home.
In addition, because of the snow last night and the fact that most schools were either closed or delayed, I only had 12 cars today. That's 12 cars in 12 hours. I think it's hard for most people to fathom that level of boredom. You're stuck in a very small box, in the pouring rain, for 12 hours, without a break. I'm training again today and tomorrow, the same gal as a few weeks ago, which is nice. There's someone to talk to, but it's still boring to an amazing degree. I'm really looking forward to the weekend. Plus, I've decided that when the boat closes for high water this time, I'm going to do the shop days instead of use up all of my vacation time. What I'll do though, is take sunday as a vacation day, giving me 4 days off, then three 10 hour days in the shops. It appears from the forecast that the ferry might be closed for over two weeks. I like the idea of a 3 days on, 4 days off schedule.
This evening, the boss called, and walked me through how I should set up the ferry for overnight. The concern is that when I come to work tomorrow, the river may have risen so quickly, locks, clevises and ropes may be underwater. So I moved the locks up as far as I could, unscrewed the clevises, and crossed my fingers. I have to admit, while I've got used to working in the dark, to dealing with the wet and cold of winter, the combination of bleak darkness, massive rain, and impending flooding totally creeps me out. I know that in reality, nothing bad will happen, but it's just tense and a bit stressful. I was very glad when 7 pm came this evening and I could head home.
In addition, because of the snow last night and the fact that most schools were either closed or delayed, I only had 12 cars today. That's 12 cars in 12 hours. I think it's hard for most people to fathom that level of boredom. You're stuck in a very small box, in the pouring rain, for 12 hours, without a break. I'm training again today and tomorrow, the same gal as a few weeks ago, which is nice. There's someone to talk to, but it's still boring to an amazing degree. I'm really looking forward to the weekend. Plus, I've decided that when the boat closes for high water this time, I'm going to do the shop days instead of use up all of my vacation time. What I'll do though, is take sunday as a vacation day, giving me 4 days off, then three 10 hour days in the shops. It appears from the forecast that the ferry might be closed for over two weeks. I like the idea of a 3 days on, 4 days off schedule.
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