On the Homefront

Continuing the trend of disaster over past four years in the "Bakerman" of the United States, floods and tornados are ravaging Iowa and Missouri. Though the worst of the flooding has passed according to news and weather forecasters, major damage continues to occur along the river towns. An already taxed FEMA must again shuffle supplies and shelter across the country to people who have been left with nothing.

My mom's family has called Iowa "home" for more than 150 years - many of my relatives live on parcels of the family's original tracts. We are farmers (though much of the land is now leased to larger productions.) My great aunts and uncles are still up there, still on their farms, and still rockin' in the free world while pushing their own century mark. It never ceases to amaze me. Nevertheless, despite the genetic hardiness and ability to withstand nature time and again, my great aunt Irene and her husband Paul had to call on Uncle Sam to help them evacuate. My 95 year old aunt and many others were carted off in a convoy of soft top National Guard hummers as the flood waters from the Cedar River encroached upon their homes. It is a funny mental image to think of them in such a domestic battalion.

My family is fortunate to have missed considerable damage, and everyone is back home. But I am sure that neighbors were not so lucky. We grow crops - corn, soybeans, etc. Heavy rains and floods are not necessarily bad things for plant nutrition. Those with livestock have a little tougher time. I heard a sad story about a drove of pigs that managed to escape their enclosures, swim the floods, and survive the storm found refuge on a makeshift levy. Their weighted movements made the dam all the more fragile; and, they were sacrificed to save the town.

Homes and lives of all creatures are in the midst of tragedy. Images of neighborhoods floating down the floods rivers and lodging en masse against railroad tressels are all too common.

After seeing Ivan, Charlie, Katrina, and Rita as well as their aftermath, my thoughts are focused on power of water and flood; and, I will be seeing it with own eyes. Lara and I are heading to the Hawkeye State with my folks this weekend. We've planned this trip since before the wedding, but it appears that we've managed to have a date with disaster on top of our mini-reunion. So, I've dusted off my PDA shirts and work gloves. My hope is that no assistance is needed due to a return to normal life. However, we've seen what can happen, and we know what we can do when nature comes knocking.