Steve and I happened to be in downtown Iowa City yesterday. I heard a helicopter approach and when it and another passed over our heads I said "It’s George Bush".
Turns out I was right.
This photo captures his helicopter flying over the flooded Coralville strip.
P.S. That’s all I’m sayin’.
As I write I am reminded of the old story of the Finnish fisherman with a leaky boat who observed that owning such a thing is better than having a sunken boat, etc.
Connie and I are doing just fine here in "river city" (yes, Iowa City is the spawning ground of "The Music Man") and we are safe and dry.
The good news is that according to the Army Corps of Engineers the Iowa River has "crested" and we should now begin to see the flood waters recede from the University of Iowa’s buildings. At present 19 buildings on campus are either flooded or are damaged.
But mercifully no one has been hurt and we have much to be thankful for.
I know I speak for many when I say I am thankful to the thousands of Iowa City citizens who worked tirelessly to save the University of Iowa’s library from the floodwaters. While several adjacent buildings to the library have been flooded the library is still operational as of this afternoon. Perhaps its just the student and scholar in me, but I feel great sentiment about the library and the sight of over 2000 people erecting a wall of lumber and sand in the service of saving our books, well that’s a very powerful thing to behold. The spirit of our students and staff and of the local friends of the University of Iowa has been evident all over this town.
If the weather forecast is right, and if the Army is correct, then we should begin to see the waters receding soon. It will take a lot of work to put the U of Iowa back together but I know that the Hawkeyes will succeed.
S.K.
LINKS:
Oh my gosh!
It’s the middle of February. In Iowa. There is a foot of snow on the ground. It has been "unseasonably" cold for weeks now, or so I’m told. (This is not a great "first year experience" for those of us who have just moved to Iowa.)
A fly has suddenly appeared on the lampshade in my study, not four feet from where I’m sitting. Out of nowhere I tell ya.
What could this possibly mean?
~ Connie
Planet of the Blind 