Happy blog birthday!

Today is my blog's 2nd birthday. 

Just for fun, here's a list of a few facts about my blog. 

Since May 18, 2009, my blog has had:

7,156 unique visitors

12,247 pageviews

86 visitors so far today

Several popular posts, including The Ghost Chili Vodka experiment with 269 pageviews and River Watch 2011: Island Life with 143 pageviews

These numbers of visitors from 

United States

10,574

Canada 131

Russia 127

Germany 68

South Korea 54

United Kingdom 49

Japan 40

France 29

Slovenia 24

Netherlands 23

Thanks to everyone for reading The Muddy Truth! 

Y'all come on back now, ya here?

The Swarm

"What cha' looking at, Porter?"

Oh yeah. Our continual swarm of hummingbirds!

Sometimes they will sit together and eat.

But, then they all jump and scatter.

Porter finds all of this intriguing.

I count eight in this photo.

Ever since the cold weather broke a few weeks ago, we've seen a constant swarm of hummers.

They look like bees swarming a hive!

They are drinking us out of sugar, but I love watching them fly around, fight with each other and generally be cute. So they can swarm us all they want!

I see nine in this photo.

They've even found funny places to perch to await their turn. You can see one on the fence in the above photo, and this one is seated on Chris' tomato cage.

 Happy Hummingbird Season!

Back to napping

With all this flooding past us, have you missed this face?

 Do you know what he's been doing during all this flooding?

Sleeping. More specifically, sleeping on this sweater. A few weeks ago, I was moving clothes around in my closet, and this sweater fell of its hanger. I had my hands full, so I walked away to finish my task before hanging it back up. No sooner had I returned than Porter found his new favorite nap spot. 

Some days he sits on it. And naps. 

Some days he rests his head on it. And naps. 

And, some days he stretches out on it. And naps. 

I just don't have the heart to pick the sweater back up. It might break his heart!

River Watch 2011: The Crest

We survived the river's crest!

Hopefully, we can put all of this flood behind us soon; although, the water is projected to remain at this high level until June. 

Here are the last flood photos I hope to post for a very long time. 

This is not safe. That water is moving incredibly fast, and it's nasty.

Another smart pair.

This is an eye-level shot of the road build up. The car is not driving on the build-up, as it appears. We're still down to one lane each way.

That's the bike stand that I stood in front of for my shots for so many days. 

We've had LOTS of helicopter activity. News, police, just people with helicopters seeing the sights.

We watched this one land on the other side of the roundabout! 

Proof that surveyors did their jobs and plotted our safety with the river's rise.

Another kayaker in the water!

And, I'll leave you with the view. It's a good day on the island.

River Watch 2011, The Trashy Side

Ever thrown something out of your car? 

Ever missed your shot into the park trash can and walked away? 

Ever had your trash bag tear on your way outside and not picked up the debris? 

We got it. 

 All the water that our area is receiving is congested with trash. The trash will be the aftermath of the flood.

And, for the people who live on the waterfront of our island and are bracing for water in their homes, they are actually facing trash inside their homes.

Is it worse that the water is 12-feet above flood stage, or is it worse that the trash is 12-feet above flood stage?