Fall has Fell!

I guess I spoke too soon on Sunday. After a rather dull week the new one started off with a bang. A little yard work in the morning and then...all @##$$%^$%$ brought loose. While Jo was in the bathroom hosing off some excess potting soil the Fennimore tornado siren starting wailing. A quick check of the TV news weather bulletin showed a lot of bright colored stuff going on just north of us. It seemed that the worst of the storm(s) were following the Wisconsin River valley which is several miles north of Fennimore. We were feeling relatively safe as we monitored things on the on and off antics of the Satellite TV until we looked out of the window only to see a wall of water so heavy that we couldn't see the street, let alone the house across the street. The rain let up, the sun came out and it seemed as though things had calmed down. But, when I looked out the front door I discovered that half of one of our maple trees was lying in the street. Jo suggested that I go out and move it off the street. HA! I reminded her that I was 72 years old and that was half of a tree lying there and if it was in the street, the city would come and move it. Sure enough, in no time at all, the trusty Fennimore Volunteer Fire Department showed up and Jo saw first hand that this husky crew could hardly move it. A chain saw and a front loader later and it was gone leaving only a slightly smaller version of a mighty maple. Not much of an adventure when you consider what other folks around the area are experiencing. Lake Delton, GONE! A 257 acre lake containing around 400,000,000 gallons of water drained into the Wisconsin River taking entire houses with it. And, hundreds of other homes under water throughout the area. Half a tree isn't much of a hardship by comparison. Besides, that's just that many less leaves to rake when Fall really arrives.

Valley Delton 20 feet deep, a quarter mile wide - Formerly Lake Delton