April 28, 2011

River Watch 2011

Thank you to everyone who has called, emailed and texted in regards to the ever-increasing level of the Mississippi River. 

Living downtown in Harbor Town, we are very close to the river, and so we are on watch. 

This is the river today. Depth is difficult to understand in these photos, but keep your eye on the line of trees furthest to the right in this photo. Can you see that the water and debris line is past it? 



I think I've made up the word "debris line," but it is so fitting with this flood because the huge amount of water is carrying large pieces of debris, such as this entire tree.



Here's another look from the same spot as the first photo. See the debris line past the furthest right tree?


This is still today, and this is further down the park, away from the I40 bridge and closer to where the Wolf River empties into the river.



Between the grass area, which is the just below the street level, and the tree line is usually a grassy park complete with a walking trail.



These are huge trees, and you can see here that you can't see the bark. Keep in mind that the foot of this tree should be on dry land.


This was the river level yesterday, and this photo was taken around the same time of day from the very same spot as the first photo. It mostly looks the same, unless you look at the tree furthest to the right. Can you tell that there is no water or debris around the foot of the tree? 



These next photos were taken March 13, 2011, when the river flooded. This photo was taken standing in the lower part of the park on the walking trail. You can easily see the two tree lines. The trees on the left are on the same tree line as the marker tree from the first photos.




This is from the same time period, when the water increased to the second tree line. Note that you can still see the barks of the trees.


Compare all of that to this photo. It's the park the way it should be if the river were at a normal level. You can easily see the width of the park in between the tree lines. 


To give some scale, this photo was taken earlier in the year, while standing in the lower park on the walking trail. That tree now is flooded up to the branches.



Now to the numbers. I take photos and Chris makes spreadsheets. It's the whole yin and yang thing. 

Here's his sheet. Note that the date are historical dates, and the river projection for May 10, 2011, was based on the projections as of April 26. Also, the "feet" from house is in elevation. Not like six walking feet from our house. You may not have thought that....I might have.

(I know these graphics bleed the column on the blog. It was the only way to read them.)


Here is a list of flood heights, and what that would mean in relation to our neighborhood and area. 



So that's the story. We will be fine, but we do expect some flooding to impact the area. For example, we have two entrances to the island. One is the main one down the river walk, and the other is what I call the "ugly end". 

This is the ugly end today. It's difficult to see from this photo, but there is water covering the road. The reflection of the trees make it difficult to tell that it's water. 


But don't worry, friends. We've got a canoe, if needed, and Grace knows her place in it. 




April 25, 2011

Egg-Cellent

This Easter, I decided to make a centerpiece for my family's lunch. I was inspired by several blogs, and I decided I would combine some ideas to create my own craft project. 

Ideas:
1. Easter egg wreath
2. Cake pops
3. Egg shaped cake pops


Here are my supplies:



Plastic eggs, pink grass (they were totally out of green), Peeps


Two styrofoam circle, sprinkles, candy melts


Hot glue and bamboo skewers


First, I glued the smaller circle in the center of the larger circle. This gave me some height to work with.


Then, I glued the grass around it. It was a little tricky because the grass was difficult to glue, but I would just press a handful of grass onto the hot glue and then fill in the holes. 


I began to add the eggs then. 


After I made a circle around the bottom layer, 


 I began to glue eggs onto other eggs. 


I wasn't as clean with my hot glue, but everything stayed together, so I was happy. 


Working around the base, I then build layers of eggs to hide the edges of the styrofoam. 


After the edges were covered, I worked my way into the center. 


And I was done!


Remember the outer layers of my strawberry and chocolate cakes that fell apart? I saved them in the refrigerator, and I crumbled them up together. 




The cake and icing got mixed together to form a paste. 



Once I arrived in Little Rock, I then began putting everything together. 


I formed the cake balls into egg shapes....kind of. And dipped the ends of the bamboo skewers into some of the melted candy to secure them in the cake ball (eggs). They had to sit in the refrigerator for a while then. 


Once they had hardened a bit, I melted all the white candy melts, dipped the now egg pops in the melted candy and decorated them with my sprinkles. 


I stuck the skewers into egg crates to hold them upright while the candy dried. 


I split a few of the Peeps in half, and placed the halves on each side of the eggs. It looked like he was pecking his way out!


My Easter egg pops collection. 


The mess of sprinkles and Peeps parts in the sink. 


I was happy with my collection. 


 Except for this hot mess. His candy coating was lumpy, and he had pink sprinkles on him. He didn't make the cut sadly. What cut, you ask?


The cut to be placed in the center of my egg centerpiece!


I placed the egg pops all around the centerpiece. 



This was the finished project, and I used some of the whole leftover Peeps around the eggs too. 




It made for a cute and silly centerpiece. I think Easter is the best time to do cute crafts like this. All the eggs and Peeps and grass just lend themselves to a fun project. And this made for a cute pile of eggs in the center of our table.


I was also happy to use the leftover cake and icing instead of just throwing it away...or eating it all myself!


Hope you had a good Easter!

April 23, 2011

My first review with BlogHer

Are you looking for a book to read? 

 
I'm a member of their book club, and I hope to be reviewing many books for them in the future. 

April 20, 2011

Spa Shower

So after my cake story, let's focus on the fun event that I made the cake in honor of. This is Nicole. She's my neighbor. She's engaged to Shawn! They are getting married in May, and I thought it would be fun to get the group of girls together for an evening of manicures, pedicures, food, drinks and cake ;) We rented the Nail Bar on the Island for the evening. 




I brought in a spread of chicken pineapple skewers, veggies and a herb cheese dip, Captain Rodney's Cheese Bake with Ritz crackers and "the cake." 





Here's the bride enjoying her pedicure. I also brought some rose champagne to fulfill the girlie atmosphere. 



This is Amy with Nicole. Amy is also a neighbor. We are so lucky to have such awesome neighbors!



Hey, Jenny! How's that shellac treating you?


Kendra, we're so glad you brought your smiling face!


Laura came too!


 We did cut into the cake...



And, I think the bride-to-be was pleased. 




But, Kendra has something to say about it...No just kidding. She had something to say for sure, but not about the cake. 




I think everyone had a good time, and it was a  good excuse to be pampered with the girls on a Monday night. 



Nothing tops having good girl friends!



 {Lauren, Amy, Meghan, Allison, Nicole, Jenny, Laura, Kendra}



Happy Spa Shower, Nicole!




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