May 22, 2015--Baby Bunny

I'm home in Grand Island for the holiday weekend, and I was quickly informed that my parents had a small, furry, garden-destroyer in their backyard.  My golden retriever is furious every time this little guy scampers across the porch when she's locked inside.

He set up camp in my mom's makeshift greenhouse and likes to nibble on her verbenas.  We do what we can to protect the little guy, but I worry that one day we'll let the dog out and it'll get ugly...

May 19, 2015 More Ducks

The duck family featured in my last post is continuing to flourish.  The flood waters have receded, but the waterways are still full enough to support a lot of duck life.  Here are a few shots I got of the ducks hanging out:

I saw them a couple days ago (without a camera) and all of the ducklings looked drastically different.  In the two days since I took these pictures, they apparently changed colors.  It was bizarre...

May 7, 2015 Lincoln Flooding (Part II)

I ventured my way towards south Lincoln following the trails.  I stumbled upon lots of other areas where the trails were blocked, where there were basically rapids (due to fast flowing water), and plenty of areas of standing water.  I took a few pictures at Holmes Lake as seen below. The baseball field, parking lots, bridges, roads, and several other areas within the park were totally flooded.  No tree in this area are going to need watered for a very long time...

Also, as a side story, my sister and I found an adorable family of ducks yesterday before the rain started.  When I started seeing tweets showing major flooding in the trails close to campus, I worried that the duck family may have gotten washed away.  I drove over to the area in search of the ducklings, and was relieved to find them a little downstream of where they had been previously.  The mother duck clearly knows what she's doing.  All 12 ducklings were seemed safe, healthy, and happy as ever...

Additionally, it appears that ducks have taken over the city of Lincoln.  They're in every puddle and seem thrilled with the new lake-like conditions all over town.  Geese seem equally pleased...

May 7, 2015 Lincoln Flooding Aftermath

Well, yesterday was eventful for several reasons.  I passed my final evaluation for student teaching, which means I am 100% done and can move into the final phase of my graduate program.  I have to complete my final project (essentially a mini thesis), present it to a small faculty panel, and take one more summer class.  We're getting there.... It's been a whirlwind 12 months....

The other eventful part of the day was the incessant storming that started around 8 p.m. and didn't stop until perhaps 4 a.m.  There were numerous warnings, including tornado warnings at some point.  Several times, I debated whether or not it was safe to go to bed since new warnings were constantly being issued.  However, it seems that Lincoln avoided tornadic activity, as well as high winds and giant hail.  Instead, there was just a hell of a lot of rain.  I think the ballpark figure was 7 inches overnight.  As a result, there is tons of flooding throughout the city.  I'm fortunate enough to live close to the Antelope Valley trails, which was essentially designed to prevent flooding.  The trails are completely flooded, but it seemed like the surrounding neighborhoods were relatively dry for the most part.

Below are several pictures of the abnormally high water levels at various points along the trails.  For a little perspective, the water is generally a tiny ditch with a trickle of water in it.  It's surrounded by tons of grass/weeds and trails and rarely comes even close to overflowing.  Today, it looks like the Loup River....

Looking south from the playground on P Street.

I'm sure the people in these neighborhoods were nervous last night.

Looking south towards campus.  I was positioned close to HSS.

I would be nervous if I were that train conductor....

I have to wonder if this pedestrian sidewalk was underwater last night.

Some of the worst flooding looked as if it was in the Devaney area for now. 

Looking north from Devaney.  This was so incredibly wide.  This definitely looks reminiscent of the Loup River.

People continuing to think their tiny car is capable of getting through deep water.  The girl watching on the right kept telling drivers, "Don't try it!"  as they approached.  She managed to convince a couple people to turn around.

The closest I've ever seen the water to the bottom of the bridge.

This one is actually the Salt Creek.  I relocated to 27th Street for a couple pictures.

I'm debating on going for a walk down to the south part of Lincoln.  I hear it's worse down there, and I may be able to get a few more shots of what other areas of Lincoln look like.  However, I typically take the trails, so that may be a poor idea.  We'll see and I'll post any new photos if I do decide to venture that direction.