Crazy Weather

The above image is a screen shot I took from KOTV's website. It shows a Severe Thunderstorm Warning, a tornado watch, a blizzard watch, a flash flood watch, and a winter storm watch ALL IN THE SAME VIEWING AREA!!

They tell us to expect up to 6 inches of snow tomorrow, even though right now it is 60 degrees today.

Gotta love Oklahoma.

July?

How in the world can it be July already?

I might as well give you an update as to the current status of things:

My grandmother is home from the hospital. She is still having difficulty sleeping. Mom said she did have a good night last night, though. Thanks for your prayers, but continue to lift her up to God.

I'm feeling rather melancholy from all of the contact with IMB folks this week. A good friend of mine called me this morning for a chat. I planted a church in HK with them back in 1989-90. (New Hope Baptist Church). They are retired (sort of) and living in Knoxville.

There is a 1964 Ford Falcon convertible for sale in town for an extremely reasonable price. The only problem is, is that we don't have a garage to put it in. It is definitely a parade car. Sally has wanted one since we got married, but I can't see leaving it out in the weather. (It is sky blue)

I'm ready to go fishing, but the lake is too high to get to my dad's dock.

I'm working really hard (except for right this moment, when I'm blogging) to be completely ready for Sunday by Thursday so I can take Friday and Saturday "off".

Sally starts her "new" new job next Monday. She was head-hunted by Muskogee Public Schools and will be their federal grants secretary.

The girls are bored, but there isn't much I can do about it. They can't stay with either grandmother right now for various and sundry reasons. At least they don't fuss. And, they are right next door. I feel bad about it, but I don't know what to do.

The church is doing pretty good. Our attendance is down because of the summer-time, though. I am encouraged about all the things that are happening right now. We ordered a fancy new sign that should be here in 6-8 weeks. It will be very, very nice.

Well, I guess that about sums things up. I need to get back to work.

Too much rain

We had about 6 inches of rain this afternoon in Wagoner. This picture is at Emily's school. The driver (who attends my church) says she was swept off the city street and into the ditch by fast moving water on the street. The police had arrived and had closed the street for nearly 6 blocks because most of it was underwater and you couldn't see the ditches. It was a real mess picking the kids up from school. Audrey's school parking lot was under about 8 inches of water.

What a weekend!

Remnants of Tropical Storm Erin brought much needed rain and much cooler temperatures to Oklahoma this weekend. Wagoner was spared the brunt of the storm, but a town just 50 miles away got 10 inches of rain in 4 hours! CNN and the networks have been running video of helicopter rescues from housetops, flooded cars, and flooded fields. It was very interesting, to say the least, to have tropical storm dump rain this far north.

Here in Wagoner, we got about 3 inches or so and the temps didn't reach 90 yesterday. There was a brief time when the neighboring county, Muskogee, had a tornado warning, but we held out pretty good here in Wagoner County.

Flood Gates Video

Water Water Water

I took this picture yesterday afternoon, in our day of sunshine, below the Ft. Gibson dam.

Flooding Continues

The picture on the left was taken about a month ago or so and the picture on the right was taken this morning. As you can see, the lake is halfway up the utility pole.

Lotta watta

Fort Gibson Lake can only be 28 feet over normal, or it will top the dam. It is at 27.5 feet and holding. The amount of water that they are releasing from the dam is just incredible.

I'd sure like to get to the docks.

Flooding, Flooding, Flooding

All the flooding in Kansas and Northern Oklahoma promises to bring an additional 9 feet of flood water to Fort Gibson Lake. The Lake is currently 18 feet above normal. This could be the worst flooding that the lake has ever seen. In July, the dam usually has all the gates shut, but, with this situation, they are full open. It is really something incredible to see.