MichaelandChrissy.com

Despite the flooding last weekend, Aiden and I tried to drive over to Target to visit the pharmacy.  We couldn’t take the normal way, since Main street was closed between Kennedy Avenue and Indianapolis Blvd due to flooding.  The second normal way was closed too, since 45th Street was also closed due to high water.  We went to the next intersection north, Hart Road, and crossed over to Indianapolis Blvd there, then turned back south towards Target.

Once we got there, we saw that the entire parking lot was under water.  We drove towards the stores, but had to turn back because there was literally nowhere to go but into the lake that had formed in the lot.  The road was dry along the mall itself, but I couldn’t get over there.  The water between me and the stores was at least two feet deep (you could tell from the half-submerged car).  I wasn’t going to chance it.

On the way home, we took some pictures of the flooding at Main Street and on 45th Avenue.  The flooding on 45th wasn’t evident from Kennedy Avenue, but you could plainly see it from Indianapolis.  There were work crews out with pumps and portable pipes to try to drain the water.  It was all pretty crazy.  Aiden watched it all from the copilot seat.  We made it home safe and sound though.  Maybe we’ll try again tomorrow.

The remnants of Hurricane Ike came up through the Midwest from Texas and hit Northwest Indiana hard. It rained for several days straight, causing all of the local rivers to flood.  The Little Calumet river crested and flooded many Northwest Indiana towns along its banks.  Nobody seems to notice the Little Cal until it rains too much, but no one could have expected the nine to ten inches of rainfall that we received last weekend.

The news is showing aerial footage of Calumet Avenue in Munster where the Target and all surrounding roads are under water.  Lake George has gone all wonky in Hobart (where I grew up) and washed away the Third Street bridge.  In Highland, the Highland Plaza parking lot was completely under water.  The Lake County Board of Commissioners declared a state of emergency Monday morning in the wake of last weekend’s record rainfall.

The heavy flooding is causing road closures all over the place. The Borman (80/94), which runs parallel to the Little Calumet, was closed from 394 in the west to Cline Avenue in the east. The Bishop Ford was closed completely. The onramps to the Borman were under water at Calumet Avenue and Kennedy Avenue.  Cline Avenue was closed as well, but I’m not sure how bad the flooding was there.  Since I live south of the Borman, I couldn’t get to work at all this morning!

Last weekend, Chrissy and I decided to get out of the house for a bit and take Aiden to the Lake County Fair in Crown Point. We left Gavin at Grandma’s house, since this outing would have been a little much for him, being so tiny yet. The Lake County Fair is an annual event, so maybe he’ll make an appearance next year. Unfortunately, it rained a bit while we were there, but it stopped quickly. We took shelter in the “Arts & Crafts” building in the meantime.

Aiden really enjoyed the Fair. We brought our single-occupancy stroller and wheeled him around the grounds. We started with the farm animals: horses, cows, pigs and lambs. Aiden touched a pig that was laying close to the fence, but he couldn’t catch the lambs. They even had a small pen with rabbits in it, and an odd guinea pig to keep them company.

We put Aiden on some rides after that. He was kind of ambivalent about the rides until Chrissy took him on the Carousel.  I think he just liked having Mommy on the ride with him.  Aiden loves the “duck game“, and he played at two different booths this year. It’s really simple: just reach in, grab a duck, and pick a prize.  We finished up with a slightly wet trip on the “Fun Slide“. Chrissy hates giant slides, so I went with him.

Aiden was about a year old the first time we brought him to the County Fair, so we’ll have to bring Gavin next year. It will be strange to see Aiden riding bigger and bigger rides every year, or Gavin starting to ride kiddie rides in the somewhat-near future.  We’re looking forward to it though, as we’ll probably live in Lake County for the foreseeable future.

I don’t like getting wet, let alone being rained on. Normally, I won’t even leave the house if it looks like it’s going to rain outside. But the weather has been very strange lately. I seem to have gained the uncanny ability to induce precipitation on a beautiful day simply by getting into my car. Furthermore, the brutality of the rain is inversely proportional to the length of my drive. I can control the weather! Don’t believe me? I’ll explain.

On Saturday, Aiden and I drove to Meijers to get some groceries. It’s not very far to go, and it was only a little cloudy when we got there. As we were about to check out, rain started to come down in sheets, and driving wind was pushing the torrent horizontally. I didn’t want to go out in that. Then someone got on the intercom and announced a Tornado Warning. A tornado had been spotted only a mile away! About a hundred customers were herded into the “Tornado Safety Area”, which was basically the stock room. It was a huge concrete bunker with steel roofing joists, so we were pretty safe there. They let us out about fifteen minutes later, and the rain had completely stopped by then.

I thought this was just a fluke, but we got a near repeat on Sunday. I had just put together a sandbox for Aiden, so Chrissy sent me to Lowes for play sand. Again, it was cloudy when I got there, but no rain yet. When I tried to check out, the downpour started. It was coming down so fast that water was pouring over the sides of building. After waiting inside for fifteen minutes for the deluge to stop, I decided to make a run for the car. I was soaked to the bone before I even got my keys out. And once again, the rain had stopped when I got home. The drive to Lowes was a little longer than the drive to Meijer, so logically there was no tornado this time.

Yesterday, I produced a moderate amount of rain on my way home from work. It had been a nice day, and I had even gone for a walk across campus that morning. The first drops of rain fell as soon as I got into the car to go home. People tend to forget how to drive when the road gets a little wet, so traffic snarled up a bit. That made my commute a little longer, about a hour, so the rain wasn’t that bad (remember, the shorter the trip, the worse it gets). So it would seem that my suspicions are justified. I would hate to see what would happen if I drove across the street. The heavens might open up and unleash an F5-level twister on us!