She's all swole up, y'all!

… and Remembrances of Floods Past …

“Gotcha wadin’ boots on?” Tricycle Man asked me the minute I stepped onto the Riverwalk this morning. “Yep!” I lied – ‘cause of course I was sportin’ my trusty Asics Gels. It occurred to me as I wrote that sentence that I never give Tricycle Man a straight answer. But that’s okay, ‘cause he neither wants nor expects one.

But back to The River. She’s over the Riverwalk north of Dillingham Street Bridge, to the Eagle and Phenix Powerhouse – and I don’t know where else. Fred took some photos yesterday afternoon:



Many thanks to my very sweet (and very smart!) niece, who shall remain nameless here, and who works at TSYS, and who yesterday afternoon sent me this note:

Hi, Aunt Cathy--

TSYS issued a warning to us today to avoid the Riverwalk near the downtown TSYS campus -- apparently, the water levels are high and officials with Georgia Power will be opening additional locks on dams this afternoon. I just wanted to share with you and tell you to be safe and careful if you take any walks over the next couple of days!

Have a good Tuesday.

C.

Thanks much, C. I really do appreciate the information – and I appreciate your reading my blog!

Tricycle Man and I spent a few minutes reminiscing about floods past, and he recalled one time back about ’93 when “the water came all the way up to about halfway up that statue down there,” as he pointed to the Christopher Columbus sculpture. And most of us who’ve been paying much attention to the Riverwalk over the years remember that parts of it have been underwater several times since it opened in 1992 – and that’s okay – ‘cause it’s designed to withstand flooding.

I remember once about, well, it must have been about ’86 or so ‘cause Jake was born in ’81 and he was five or six years old, when the River came all the way up onto the seats at the Promenade Amphitheatre.

And I also remember once when I was a little kid – uh, that would have been in the 50s – when the River actually came out of her banks and flooded some streets in downtown Columbus. My family didn’t live in Columbus, but from our perch on a hill in nearby Marion County we saw pictures on television and in the newspaper.

My totally uninformed opinion is that the River is not going to flood anywhere near that much this time around, but ya never know, so I’m thinkin’ about followin’ Tricycle Man’s advice and investin’ in some wadin’ boots.