Rain

When you get 4 inches of rain over a 2-day period (see January 10th & 11th on the calendar below), 

the river, that is usually a bit of a walk from the house, can be seen out the back windows.

(the above picture is taken from the beginning of the path at our back yard)

In the 6 1/2 years we've lived here, the river will usually rise to the top of the bank during the winter, but only once before has it come so close to the back yard.

 Robert couldn't even go across the "path" because the water got deep within a few feet.

  We're grateful the path drops quickly from the back yard into the woods, the river would need to rise quite a bit more to come up to the back yard and even more to get into our house. The supposed 100 year flood plane is the edge of the woods in the back yard so we feel pretty confident we wouldn't need to sandbag any time soon - keeping that in mind, it is always really cool to see the river come up so close.

The kids always wish we had some raft or a small flat bottom boat they could go out in and explore the flooded woods. Maybe next time.