Lake At Historic Levels on Mother's Day

ED AND HERMINE 1950'S

BETTS AND FRANK IN HAWAII, 1969

Two pictures of our parents, especially a remembrance of our Mom's.

The lake continues to be at record levels, as April saw it rain 27 days, and the first 8 days in May certainly saw rain almost every other day.  The lake reached a level of 1309.5 this past week, a threshold established by the National Weather Service as a flood stage.  Last year, it was a foot lower at its height, 1308. 3, which seems to be normal.  The Warner Dam in Jamestown, which regulates the height of the lake, is fully open and peaked last week at 1470 cubic feet per second, the highest measured recently, and this is the highest the lake has been since 1990.  Normal discharge for the lake through the dam is 900 cubic feet per second, in the summer it gets as low as 60, to keep the lake level at its summer ideal. between 1306 and 1308.  In 1976, the record discharge was around 2000cfs and the lake level exceeded 1311, supposedly a once in 500 year event.  This past week is a once in 50 year event.  We will have to wait and see if this holds true.

We didn't do much yesterday, both of us were tired, the ennui that settles in as you get readjusted to life at home after a vacation.  We worked out at the gym, had Slovenian sausages for dinner, watched the finals of the NCAA Men's Volleyball championship, which Ohio State won, a first and an exciting game.  We went to bed early, before 10:00, a good but lazy day.

Today, we are walking at the CI this morning; I am getting a chicken ready to put a rub on, let it sit until I put it on the grill, Beer Can Style, later this afternoon, in my never ending attempt to make the perfect roast chicken.

We walked the CI, a beautiful day for a walk.  In Bestor Square, they had four pods of tulips, all in their prime, the only major colors of our walk, other than the lime green of the starting to bud trees, and an occasional Bradford Pear or Redbud, a couple of azaleas.  We are that far behind other areas.  The sun today is delicious, however, and I am getting our some of our lounge chairs, so we can sit in the yard and read.  We talked with Tom briefly, as he was at Marlena's soccer game; it's warm in KC, and they are expecting a high of 85.  I put the rub on the chicken, it's in the fridge till 4:00 when I put it in the grill.  It may take up to two hours as it's a five pounder.