dannydmc

Its been a few months since I last updated this blog, and I'm afraid that this next entry is going to be rather short to boot. Its a late night, I've got to get up at a decent hour tomorrow (noon ) and things are a foot in this fair town of mine; as a result, I doubt that I'll be able to manage the effort required for a major post tonight. I apologize to all of my loving readers in advance; I'm sure you will be so dissapointed!

So, anyway, it looks as if Fargo, my current home, and a place which has grown very dear to my heart (despite the utter inanity which I see while driving every day. As much as I love the North Dakotan people, and the folk of this city in particular, they could not drive a car if their lives depended upon it. I sometimes believe a mass of drunken 8 year olds could operate a car better than most of the people I see in the road every day. But, I digress.) currently looks as if it is going to flood.
And, I should add that when I say the word 'flood' I am not refering to the closing of a street or two, or several citizens having their front lawns converted into swimming pools. No, my friends, when I say 'flood', I ask you simply to conjure up images of Noah and his Ark. Yes, THAT kind of flood.
Currently, they are predicting the Red River, which flows by the city and forms the eastern boundry between North Dakota and Minnesota, to crest at around 40 feet above its banks. This is several feet higher than the great flood of 1997 which, until recently, was considered the worst flood in modern history (and second only to the flood of 1897, a hundred years prior). Now, since the major wettening of the town, twelve years before, one has to assume that many of the city fathers have learnt their lessons and put a great deal of money into pervention. I am operating on that very assumption, and have convinced myself that this might not be all that terrible.
But, then again, it very well may be.

Making matters worse, it seems as if several of the other rivers in the are have flooded, effectively cutting off any routes of escape that I may have used, should I have chosen to abandon ship. Water has already managed to flood I-94 to the East of here, which makes me a bit nervous to even attempt to flee at the moment. Besides, I still want to get down and help with the sand bagging efforts in the next day or two, and my gut feeling is that, by the time I would finish my shift there, any chance of leaving would have evaporated.
And so, to sum it all up, I am stuck a here 6 or 7 blocks from a river which is currently threatening to erupt from its banks and drown the town.
The weird part, is that I am not scared. Nervous? Yes. Fascinated? Certainly! But scared? Not really. IF anything I'm rather excited at the prospect; it would be, after all, a huge adventure; albeit a long, possibly boring, and dirty one. But an adventure is an adventure, and if I managed to get through Alaska, I feel certain I will survive this as well.
A friend and I have been stocking up on essentials, to help wait any flood out. Even in the best of situations, I feel fairly certain we will lose either water or electricity, if not both. And so, always thinking ahead, the two of us pitched in and bought two six gallon water tanks which we spent the night filling, as well as a small propane stove we will be able to use to boil water for cooking. We also plan on stocking up on beer (which, I assure you, is ONLY for hydration purposes! It will not be used in order to make our days locked in an apartment with no electricity or running water somewhat exciting!), grabbing some produce such as potatos and some fruit in the next day or two. Even better, we spent the night baking fresh bread.
Pretty much, I think we'll be prepared in case the worse case scenerio falls upon us. My goal is to have enough food and water to last a week, if need be.

This should be FUN I always DID say I wanted to live in the Dark Ages. Well, here's my chance!