For those of you that don't know, we live on a river. Now, this river generally flows at a mild to moderate speed and gets so low in the summer that our tubes get stuck on the bottom of the river when we try to float along (maybe this is because we're a bit chubby, but I have a feeling it's the water level...). With the recent rain, our slow-moving, low-level river turned into rapids and floods that overtook our road, making it near impossible to leave our yard. I was able to make it to work by wading through a shallower flooded area and turning up an old dirt, one-car road and taking it up and around the rest of Ellwood City, only to double back to go the other way to work.... unfortunately, by the time the river finished rising (while I was gone) our small escape route flooded over as well.
How did she get home (I can hear all of you wondering with nervous anticipation)?? Luckily, my husband's 4-wheel drive truck was able to make it home earlier that day, but wasn't able to make it back to pick me up at the end of our neighborhood.... so he suggests that we leave my car parked where it was and he would pick me up on the quad and take me home via the train tracks. Let me paint this picture for you a little bit more clearly. I, being a somewhat dim-witted woman at times, decided to sport holey jeans, a t-shirt, and a "sweater jacket" which kept me about as warm as an ice cube all day and did not make a great quad-riding outfit in DECEMBER! On the plus side, I had to pee like a race horse. Oh wait, that's completely NOT a plus side.
My nice man brought me a hooded jacket, scarf, and gloves for the ride home (which felt like a half hour with the wind racing against us, but only lasted about 8 minutes). I was shivering up a storm and couldn't help it when a little bit of my pee happened to sneak out in the cold... twice. That hasn't happened since high school! (I mean, Kindergarten?) All in all, we made it home and the roads were cleared by this evening for my traveling... and my underwear is in great condition, too.