Flood Update and Some Front Porch Items

Happy weekend everyone! In case you didn't hear, we had a few days this week of straight rain here in Illinois, leaving lots of standing water around here. The good news is that we've been dry for the last several hours, and today is nice and sunny! It's even supposed to warm up to the 60's this weekend. Hallelujah!

Our yard is finally looking less like a lake now, and the basement is finally dry thanks to our sump pump (which does NOT have an automatic float - I'm told the auto-float is the way to go and makes your life much easier) and Trent staying up until 3:00 in the morning Thursday night to keep an eye on the water in the basement and turn the pump off. He was not a happy camper yesterday...

Anyway, even though our casa is in now the clear, there are many areas around here that are still flooded. I took the interstate to work the last few days because some of the highways out by the cornfields here get flooded with lots of rain (as I've learned), and I didn't want to take any chances!

Here are a couple of pictures Trent took this morning of the road in front of his work. It's right by the Mississippi River.

The road is obviously under water! Don't worry though, he didn't have to take a boat to work. There were still usable back roads.

Some area businesses had to close temporarily due to the river flooding, and we heard that most of the nearby town of London Mills, Illinois had to evacuate due to a levee on the Spoon River breaking on Thursday night. Here is the story. It's pretty sad - We visited the small town on the Spoon River Scenic Drive a couple of years ago. Here are a couple of photos I took there back in 2011:

Making Kettle corn for some Scenic Drive fun

On the other side of this hill is the Spoon River, which is now leaving most of the town under water.

A gorgeous fall tree by the park in London Mills

Such a cute little town. Hopefully the water will go down soon and the residents will be able to return.

In other news - I recently got a few new items for the porch - here are a couple of them:

The Produce box planters I got from a Joss and Main sale, and I picked up the herb pot at Shop Ko in Monmouth last night! I can't wait to create my summer porch this year when it gets a little nicer out. We'll most likely be making a trip or two to Lowe's soon to pick up some flowers and plants. One of my favorite times of year! I really hope the weather gets nicer soon! One good thing about the rain - Our grass is looking much more lush and green now. ;)