The weather has definitely been the hot topic in our area the last couple of weeks. After over three inches of rain the previous week, the clouds really opened up this past weekend and delivered an additional downpour. Light rain fell on Friday but, fortunately, it wasn't enough to cause cancellation of grandson Matthew's fishing trip to Crystal Lake. He borrowed grandpa Jim's tackle box and reported he enjoyed the outing with his schoolmates even though he didn't catch anything -- the big news seemed to be the turtle one of the fellows caught.
Accompanied by spectacular lightning storms, the rain continued most of the day Saturday, causing area creeks and rivers to rise and prompting widespread flash flooding. The rainy weather caused cancellation of the egg drop planned for the "Saturday Scientists" session at the Gravette Public Library, but I ventured out and took some photos of youngsters enjoying the alternate activity, learning about the phases of the moon. The session was made more interesting when the participants got to use Oreo cookies, with all or part of the filling scraped off, to represent the moon's phases. Then they happily ate their Oreos when the activity was over.
I drove past the farmers' market after I left the library but chose not to stop because we were experiencing a real deluge of rain about that time. I saw that a couple of vendors were set up there, but I still had a few green onions from my previous visit and I decided they had nothing I needed bad enough to warrant getting soaked. I got plenty wet just making a brief stop at the drugstore to buy a couple of greeting cards and then stopping by the postoffice.
When I returned home, Jim said I'd had a call from Aunt Mary in Kansas City. Since we'd received a note from her just a few days earlier saying Uncle Holland was not doing well and had been placed in hospice care, we suspected she might have bad news. When I returned her call a short time later, we learned that was indeed the case. She told me Holland had died. They had just celebrated their 73rd anniversary on the 26th. She called back later in the day to say his funeral was planned for Tuesday.
Shortly after I talked with my aunt, we heard a loud clap of thunder and suddenly our lights and TV went off. I'd heard at the drugstore that morning that electric power was off in Sulphur Springs, and apparently a lightning strike had just taken our service out too. Jim couldn't watch his golf tournament and he didn't want to sit in the dark very long, so we decided to drive up and check on friends who live right on the banks of the Elk River south of Noel.
As we drove north up Highway 59, we saw lots of water, overflowing from ponds, rushing down ditches and, in some cases, crossing the road. I was reminded of the old rhyme from grade school, "Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day."
Just south of Sulphur Springs, we were stopped by a roadblock where a heavier stream of water was crossing the road. We were forced to turn around, go back to Gravette, then west to Beaty Road and on to our destination.
When we arrived, we found our friends were having some anxious moments as the water was lapping at their bottom step; but the rain had grown lighter and, as we visited, the water level began to go down. We soon returned to Gravette, stopping at the Sulphur Springs park so I could photograph the water flowing over the dam at Lake LaBalladine. When we got home, we found the power was back on. I had phone conversations with both my sisters and learned from Mary Alice that most of Anderson was under water. Nancy reported she'd had difficulty getting up the hill north of Gravette because their road was washed out.
We had a bit more rain during the evening, but the wettest day was over. Sunday was much drier. The chilly wind was not very pleasant but, at least, it helped dry things out. Jim cooked a pot of lentils and smoked sausage Saturday evening, and the leftovers hit the spot for Sunday dinner on such a blustery day. Nancy visited on Sunday evening and provided the finishing touch when she brought generous servings of cherry cheesecake her husband Marlin had just prepared.
Susan Holland is a longtime resident of Benton County and a reporter for the Westside Eagle Observer. She can be reached by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 05/03/2017