though more than a bit damp.

Today was supposed to be another mushroom inoculation event.  A small one of course, with just 75 logs to get done and the three of us involved.   Brother in law Don was in as usual, depending on the weather.  Ron had ordered and received oyster mushroom spawn and we were going to try get the last of our logs set up with that.  I was more than ready to get them taken care of and out of the way.

But then on Friday the rain came and stayed.  And stayed.  And we had a tornado warning to boot.  Some serious damage down the road from us.  Once the storms cleared, Ron and Jo went out Friday night to check on things and came home soaked.  The creek was over their boots but they got across to the other side and back.   Plan was to head out to THF about 7 am on Saturday work for a few hours and then head home when the expected rain started.  Then we would go back on Sunday to finish it all up.

Ron checked the weather first thing this morning and we had a serious change in plans.  The rain was supposed to start at 9 am instead. No point in going out to get just 2 hours of work down. I started laundry and Ron puttered around.   Just waiting.  But the rain did not stop.  And the radar showed more on the way.  The day was a bust.  Jo and I went out to run some errands and came home again with the rain still coming down.

At 1 pm I got an alert on my phone, a flash flood warning.  That sent me down to talk to Ron.  We really needed to check on the farm. Still had quite a bit of equipment out there and our new tent.   Ron waffled but then gave to appease me.  It was pouring again and I put on a rain jacket, boots and hat in what turned out to be an extremely vain effort to stay dry.   We hit one patch of water streaming across the road which was not a good sign, but got to THF with no problem.

What we found there was a serious, crushing problem.  We had a lot of water in our work area.   The creek itself had not overflowed its banks yet, but water was coming from up the hill down to THF.  And there was nothing we could do about it.

And it got worse as we worked.  We pulled tools, the grill, pallets and assorted bins out of the water or its potential path.   And the water kept rising.  By the time we left I was soaked to the bone.  My boots were no where near tall enough to protect my legs and feet.

We headed home and once I changed into dry clothes, Ron sent me out with Jo to get ourselves some waders.  It was obvious that we were going to need them, not only for this emergency but for the others that might happen over the next 10 years or so.   One hopes that we have spent unnecessary funds on these boots and we don’t have to use them but this once.

At 5 pm the three of us loaded up and headed back for an update on THF’s condition.  I was driving my car which turned out to be an annoyance for Ron.  We hit one patch of water on the road after another.  Had to turn detour here and then turn around.   Finally he had me pull over and he drove from there.   After a series of turns we were finally on Solsville Augusta road and turned off it onto Route 26.  Then we hit serious water on the road.  We got through it but even Ron said we should have turned around.  The water was just pouring across the road and down the path to our farm.   We parked the car part way up a hill and started the walk back.

I think we would all have preferred to have snow again.

Ron wouldn’t let Jo and I follow him.   The water was too deep and current too strong. He came back up and we went down the way to the other path.

It was so much worse than we had expected. And hoped.

We didn’t dare open the tent to see how things were.   I had piled everything I could on top of our work tables and most the stuff was in plastic bins.  Tomorrow we will see just how bad it is.  We still have to get across the creek to check on our mushroom logs.  We could see some of them still upright on their frames, but have no way of knowing how they will handle this.   Our 2017 shiitake season could be over, unless they are as stubborn as Ron is.

By the time we left some of water had receded from the road and it was no longer pouring down our path.  So hoping that we get out there tomorrow morning and most of the water has moved down stream from us.   We have a lot of clean up ahead of us. Update to follow.