Storm clouds at sunset over the Mississippi River

On the same day as the rainbow, I got some beautiful cloud pictures at sunset:

You can tell it was a flood day, although not at crest.  The river is over the bank and the gangway is pointed upwards.

White pelicans on the Mississippi River

The white pelicans migrate through here, but sometimes it seesm they get quite comfortable and do not leave.  (This happens to many folks in the Quad Cities, who thought they were just passing thru, just ask Kim).  I did not take these pictures since I was at work and it was the middle of the day, but [...]

Up river in Dubuque again

I got this picture going over the highway 61 bridge in Dubuque last week.  The crest was well past, but if you look very carefully in the distance, you will see a barge that has run up against the highway 20 bridge downriver.  There is a railroad bridge first, and then the silver spans of [...]

Bubba the great blue heron

Right after the rainbow, I finally spotted a great blue heron fishing off of Spike’s flooded dock.  I carefully crept up, but it did not move.  Then cars drove by, but it did not move.  It also did not catch any fish, in flood waters….we decided this was not the fastest or brightest heron.

Rainbow over the river

Before the crest, but right after one of those ever present rainfalls, I caught some rainbows, even hints of a double rainbow, to the south towards the Illinois side.

Do you think this was Mother Nature laughing at us?

Flooded Iowa fields

We headed to Cedar Rapids to check out some new puppies.  Not too smart, almost at flood crest.  They were closing major highways behind us as the Cedar River came up over them.  You saw the pictures I took earlier of Cedar Rapids.  But what really stuck us were the flooded Iowa farm fields, and [...]

Mississippi flood, Leclaire Iowa, June 20, 2008

The front yard is a bit of a mess.  I guess it is our fault for not moving the lawn furniture, but we were so tired.   Should clean up fairly easily.   Notice the dock gangway is now pointing down again.

River yuck…fertile soil…..

River is down in Leclaire

I went to Chicago for business for a couple of days, so I got a bit behind.  The river is comfortably back in its banks, but it has left behind a muddy film on everything.  And there are a lot of dead earthworms on the ground, they drowned when the river came up.  So here [...]

Iowa floods versus Katrina

We Iowans have learned and benefited from the disasters of 9-11 and Katrina.  One of the important lessons was how important the first responders are, and those are the local officials.  FEMA is for picking up after the mess.
A recent story in our local newspaper described how the Iowa National Guard is coordinating responses from [...]

Not our river clothes

We went out to dinner at one of the two nice restaurants in Leclaire, so we decided to take some photos.
Here is Kim:

Next is me, with our two show dogs, Cardigan Welsh Corgis, Russ and Music, on leash.