we get asked lots of questions every year about flooding and living on the Illinois River, so here's a shot at clearing some of that up....
?do you guys flood?
what do you think?
?does it get in your house?
no. our house is a raised ranch (see pic), so it gets in the garage not the house. for it to get in the house, it would have to be the "flood of the century". and that could happen, but not to us...yet!
?you can still live in your house?
yep! everthing is raised up so we don't have issues with electrical or water. it's like any other day but with water added.
?what do you do with all your stuff?
we have huge shelving units in the garage and work benches that we've built so we put everything up on those. in a lot of ways, a flood is better than a yard sale cuz it forces us to get rid of stuff you don't want to try and save. you have limited space and time when preparing and we don't want to use that space and time for crap we don't need. it's amazing how instantly you can decide you really don't need those golf clubs after all!
?how bad does it get?
depends. each year is different and we may have a year where we don't flood. i don't remember that year yet though. sometimes it's in Spring, sometimes in Winter. this time Fall. in Winter, all that water turns to ice, so we have some pretty awesome ice skating and hockey get togethers! lemons into lemonade people.
?can you still drive in?
depends. some years it doesn't make it over the berm and into the yard. others (like now) we'll be an island unto ourselves. when that happens, we kayak in and out each day.
?what about the Monsters?
well, that gets a little tricky. but we kayak them in and out twice a day or more for bathroom breaks. Cookie was 8 months old when we had our first flood so she's used to it. this will be Butters first flood, but we spent lots of time this summer working on his kayaking skills and doing swim lessons, so he'll be okay. and we do actually make them wear life vests just in case - Cookie finds it humiliating!
?do you have a lot of cleanup when it's all done?
yes. you'd be surprised the things that come down the river. one year we had a awesome brown velvet waterbed that landed in our yard. another year we got a Garmin GPS that actually worked after we dried it out. remember the lemons to lemonade thing?
"I couldn't do it. I don't know how you do."
IT IS NOT FOR EVERYONE and we don't pretend it is. but it's the rest of the stuff we get all year long that makes it worth it.
?do you guys flood?
what do you think?
?does it get in your house?
no. our house is a raised ranch (see pic), so it gets in the garage not the house. for it to get in the house, it would have to be the "flood of the century". and that could happen, but not to us...yet!
?you can still live in your house?
yep! everthing is raised up so we don't have issues with electrical or water. it's like any other day but with water added.
?what do you do with all your stuff?
we have huge shelving units in the garage and work benches that we've built so we put everything up on those. in a lot of ways, a flood is better than a yard sale cuz it forces us to get rid of stuff you don't want to try and save. you have limited space and time when preparing and we don't want to use that space and time for crap we don't need. it's amazing how instantly you can decide you really don't need those golf clubs after all!
?how bad does it get?
depends. each year is different and we may have a year where we don't flood. i don't remember that year yet though. sometimes it's in Spring, sometimes in Winter. this time Fall. in Winter, all that water turns to ice, so we have some pretty awesome ice skating and hockey get togethers! lemons into lemonade people.
?can you still drive in?
depends. some years it doesn't make it over the berm and into the yard. others (like now) we'll be an island unto ourselves. when that happens, we kayak in and out each day.
?what about the Monsters?
well, that gets a little tricky. but we kayak them in and out twice a day or more for bathroom breaks. Cookie was 8 months old when we had our first flood so she's used to it. this will be Butters first flood, but we spent lots of time this summer working on his kayaking skills and doing swim lessons, so he'll be okay. and we do actually make them wear life vests just in case - Cookie finds it humiliating!
?do you have a lot of cleanup when it's all done?
yes. you'd be surprised the things that come down the river. one year we had a awesome brown velvet waterbed that landed in our yard. another year we got a Garmin GPS that actually worked after we dried it out. remember the lemons to lemonade thing?
"I couldn't do it. I don't know how you do."
IT IS NOT FOR EVERYONE and we don't pretend it is. but it's the rest of the stuff we get all year long that makes it worth it.
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