#boulderflood

[elementclangen]

Moon 314-Newleaf

Dawnstar (98) has broken a tradition that has been held for longer than any cat can remember; he gave an unproven dark-cursed cat an apprentice.  Aphidpaw (11) has been given the warrior name of Aphidwhisker, in honor of her friendliness.  Almost immediately afterwards, Dawnstar gave her Scorchpaw (6) as an apprentice.  The Clan watches uneasily as the two young cats head out on patrols together.  There’s a deep sense of something wrong.  But Bluestripe (89) doesn’t think so.  She had a pretty big say in giving Aphidwhisker an apprentice early.  She remembers how frustrated she was with getting proven so much later than her siblings and how that meant she couldn’t have an apprentice.  She trusts Aphidwhisker, and trusts that she’ll do well with Scorchpaw.  Hopcurl and Greenrapid’s other kits have also been made apprentices.  Minnowpaw (6) is apprenticed to Bluestripe.  The young cat is nervous.  She wonders if she’ll be an apprentice forever.  Flailpaw (6) has been apprenticed to Hollowminnow (15).  He keeps searching the crowd during his ceremony, thinking he might spot Greenrapid.  He never knew his mother, but he still feels like she should be there.  Mistypaw (6) is apprenticed to Croucheye (25).  The warrior is a little unsure if she’s ready for an apprentice, especially one like Mistypaw who seems to think he knows the rules better than she does.  What if he’s right?  Meanwhile, Hatchswipe (59) remembers how the senior warriors took her under their wing when she was young, and decides to try and be a similar role model for Mitemask (15).  She tells her a hilarious joke, making Mitemask laugh.  The pranking continues, with Copperheart (30) deciding to team up with Sofanthiel (103) to play a prank on a clanmate.  Little does Sofanthiel know that she is that Clanmate.  She’s good-natured about it when Copperheart drops fox-dung on her head, though.  Petalfrost (26) and Peatfeather (26) are finding other cats in the Clan who like them!  Petalfrost, Longpelt (28), and Aphidwhisker are getting closer, while Peatfeather and Cavecatcher (72) find that they have a lot in common.  Not all of the cats like them, though, and Dapplepaw (11) tells jokes about Petalfrost to Scorchpaw.  While on patrol, Boulderflood (30), Nettlestripe (83), and Dapplepaw hear screams coming from a nearby lake.  They find a twoleg trying to drown a cat in a bag.  Boulderflood and Dapplepaw create a wave to wash the bag towards them while Nettlestripe starts a fire to scare off the twoleg.  The elderly Cinderblockpuddle (233) is thankful for their help and joins the Clan.  It turns out that he is weakly star-blessed.  Although this is similar to how Dawnstar proved himself, it’s not the same.  Dawnstar fought off the twoleg all on his own, whereas Dapplepaw relied heavily on her mentor.

Healer’s den: Cinderblockpuddle (head damage), Sofanthiel (sprain), Dawnstar (running nose), Copperheart (stomachache), Mistypaw (bruises)

New personalities: Aphidwhisker (charismatic, eloquent speaker, fast runner)

Note: On this moon, Spotfoot died while lost at the age of 95 moons. He was Creekstar's longest-lived and last surviving kit. I was really rooting for him to make it back to the Clan, but it was not to be.

[richccrockett]

‘Not smart’: Life-threatening #BoulderFlood? Boulder college students go tubing ; Update: Three flood-related deat… https://t.co/FTFJ5YXNOp

‘Not smart’: Life-threatening #BoulderFlood? Boulder college students go tubing ; Update: Three flood-related deat… https://t.co/FTFJ5YXNOp

— Rich Crockett (@richcrockett44) June 30, 2017

from Twitter https://twitter.com/richcrockett44 June 30, 2017 at 11:21PM

[jessicalovesessentialoils]

‘Not smart': Life-threatening #BoulderFlood? Boulder college students go tubing [video]; Update: Three flood-related deaths

‘Not smart’: Life-threatening #BoulderFlood? Boulder college students go tubing ; Update: Three flood-related deaths

http://twitter.com/#!/halves2012/status/378056579175559168 It’s a good thing college students are so smart. http://twitter.com/#!/koertbakker/status/378048591140368384 Massive flooding in the Boulder, Colorado, area has destroyed multiple structures and killed one person. This is the kind of flooding we’re talking about: http://twitter.com/#!/robertrdenton/status/378050372993966080…

[wonderfulyou]

Group prayer and love blast via @marwilliamson Dear God, Please send angels to Colorado, both human and divine, to transform its storms into gentle times. May more love flood the hearts there than water flood the land. Work miracles throughout. And so it is. Amen. #boulderflood #sendlove @waylonlewis

[friskboutique]

Just like our beautiful state of Colorado! Stay Brilliant and Strong.

[elementclangen]

Moon 306-Leaf-fall

Creekstar (160) is shaken.  Something happened this moon that took her straight back to when she was a kit, almost out of the nursery: a badger attack.  Badgers raid the camp and, when Creekstar sees them, she freezes.  All she can see is Songkit’s broken body falling to the ground.  That leaves the rest of her Clan to jump into battle without her guidance.  Downgaze (87) protects his mother and gets her to safety before leaping back into the fray only to find. . .Sweet Marmalade (91) and Alderflight (62) lying dead in a pool of blood.  Brightmouse (81) is a fury of fire in the center of camp, fighting back against the badgers trying to get into the nursery and at Bluestripe (81).  She manages to take down the badgers attacking her, but not before one deals her a fatal blow.  With this being their first battle, the young warriors are shocked, but are able to rally under Hatchswipe’s (51) instruction to drive back the attack.  Although neither of them are as powerful as a star-blessed cat, Echoarch (24) and Embershell (24) work together to drive the badgers back into Burdockbeam (22) and Boulderflood’s (22) trap.  The two of them collapse a hunk of earth on top of the remaining badgers and kill them.  The battle is won, but at the cost of three lives.  Downgaze is especially shaken.  He just can’t get the image of Sweet Marmalade’s and Alderflight’s bodies out of his mind.  He never even had a chance to confess his love to Alderflight.  And he can’t imagine life without Sweet Marmalade by his side.  They’ve been together for so long, and through so much loss.  He struggles-no, refuses-to accept their deaths.  Sweet Marmalade’s kits huddle together and take comfort in each other.  Echoarch comforts Hatchswipe and reassures her that she’ll see her father again in StarClan.  He cared about her, even if she didn't always feel like it.  Kestrelcreek (95) lies next to Brightmouse’s singed body as the Clan sits vigil for her.  Her world has ended with Brightmouse.  She can’t help her bitterness and rage as Brightmouse’s life is recalled at the vigil and she coldly turns away from Almondback (77) when he offers comfort.  She and Brightmouse had so little time together.  They should have had more.  And Brightmouse should have had more time with their kits, who are only apprentices.  Mitepaw (7) and Hollowpaw (7) are a little less energetic with the loss of their mom.  Hollowpaw can’t even think of any pranks to pull.  And then there’s Bluestripe.  When she sees Brightmouse’s body and realizes that she died protecting her, she screams at the sky, cursing the stars who took her sisters too soon.  Before the senior warriors can bury Brightmouse, Bluestripe lights her sister’s body aflame, giving her a pyre worthy of the greatest heroes.  With the new losses in the Clan, Creekstar is feeling a bit ill.  But, in some much needed good news, Hopcurl (24) has announced that she’s expecting kits.  It looks like Creekstar will have even more great-grandkits.  Downgaze appreciates his kits and grandkits.  He’s also glad that Burdockbeam has toned down her pranking during this time of grief and appreciates how nice she’s being to him.  Greenrapid (62) did not get the memo and still hasn’t grown up.  She complains that Copperheart (22) never does anything helpful and should be more like her sisters.  Because that’s not hurtful at all.  Bumble (83) thinks that pregnancy suits Hopcurl and is jealous of how shiny her pelt looks.  Aphidkit (3) decides to be a pain and asks Bluestripe where kits are from.  She makes up a story about eagles dropping them out of the sky.  It’s a way to get her mind off of Brightmouse, at least.  But the Clan is not done with loss yet.  In another blow to Kestrelcreek, Creekstar and Almondback run into a gang of rogues on patrol.  The two fight bravely but are badly outnumbered, and the rogues had dark-cursed cats with them.  They kill Almondback and take a life from Creekstar, leaving before she is revived.  She now has six lives left.

Healer’s den: Bluestripe (recovering from birth, infected), Petalfrost (claw-wound), Nettlestripe (mangled tail), Hopcurl (pregnant), Kestrelcreek (grief stricken), Downgaze (shock, grief stricken), Hatchswipe (sore), Hollowpaw (stomachache)

New personalities: Skymoon (thoughtful, keen eye, and a fast runner)

[pixleydust]

Flood Prep Advice from Hurricane Country

Here is some flood preparedness advice from my friend Amber who has experienced hurricanes, tied in with my own recent experience of having to evacuate our home quickly.  I hope this is helpful for anyone who is in a flood situation:

1. As soon as you hear that you are at risk for flooding, start packing:

- pack your bags as if you were going on a week long vacation. Take clothes, toiletries, medicine, etc.

- If you have pets, get their carriers and necessities out and ready to go.  

- Put together important paperwork like social security cards, passports, etc. and put it in your bag.

- Pack up your laptops, hard-drives, cameras, important photo albums and priceless valuables.  (If you don't have room, put these up in a high, safe spot, or follow tip # 2)

- Try to stay calm, take deep breaths and think positive thoughts.

2. If you have time to pack up, and you happen to have a boat or inflatable pool, put the inflatable in the middle of a room and load it with anything that you want to save but don't have room to take with you. (Amber told me a story of a family who loaded a small boat in their living room with photo albums before they left for shelter.  As the water flooded into the room, the boat rose, and their photo albums were kept safe.)

3. Place valuable objects up as high as you can, inside sealed plastic containers if possible.

4. Amber suggested sealing off doors with duct tape, and piling bags of rice along the bottoms.  The rice will absorb a lot of water and slow it down.  

5. Do a crawl check.  Crawl around your home and observe what's down there.  Unplug things from electrical outlets and place important items up as high as you can.  Use plastic bags to tie up the bottoms of tables and chairs.

6. Stay out of the water.  In California everyone knows you don't surf or swim after a big storm, or you risk bouts of chronic bronchitis and other nasty infections.  Flood water is full of run-off toxins like pesticides, gas, oil and sewage.  Yuck!  Not only that, but if a dam bursts suddenly upstream you could suddenly be caught up in a wall of water.  Don't be a soggy naked corpse found downstream.  Be smart. 

7. Stay aware of road closures and where the flooding is so that you can get to safety.  We chose to leave early and were lucky to get out before roads flooded and collapsed, but not everyone was so lucky.  There is always a lot of misinformation during major disasters, get your information from as official of a source as you can - local news stations and official government sites usually have fairly accurate information.  Random guy on twitter may or may not.

8.  If you are told to leave, get your loved ones and get out.  Your life is more important than your stuff.

9. As you leave, turn off your lights and shut down your breakers if you can.  Water hitting electricity can cause sparks which can lead to fires.  

10.  Head to high ground, find a safe place and wait it out.  

Hope this is helpful, I managed to forget to pack any pants, so am stuck with the pair that I was wearing until it's safe to go back home, so I know how hard it is to keep a cool head in a hectic situation.  Good luck to all of you out there dealing with high water!

[jaytoddmartin-blog]

A passenger in a plane took this photo of the torrential rainfall in Colorado.

[breckweddings]

From Colorado artist Scott Brooks. // #Boulderflood #COflood #colorado (at Breckenridge, CO)

[stayoutofmynamastespace]

"I feel like the universe is against me; and I want to talk to you about desserts."

- white woman, in Boulder

[elementclangen]

Moon 298-Leaf-bare

ElementClan welcomes two new warriors!  Longpaw (12) is named Longpelt for her honor and Skypaw (10), despite feeling like an outsider, has been given her warrior name of Skymoon early, honoring her tenderness.  It feels nice to be seen by Creekstar (152).  With the amount of pranksters in the Clan now, it’s amazing that more cats haven’t been getting hurt.  Still, Rimepaw (9) falls victim to a prank and finds a thorn in her bedding.  Crouchpaw (9) is still stressed over her visions, and Creekstar suspects that there’s something going on with her.  She doesn’t know what, though, and that makes her testy in general.  She hisses at Crouchpaw over a small mistake.  Downgaze (79) seems to be taking out some of his mixed feelings over Auburnpaw’s death on Echoarch (16) and gets in a fight with his son over who should get a pretty feather.  The feather ends up getting destroyed.  Bluestripe (73) has been spending time with Pebbletuft (31) lately.  The two enjoy each other’s company.  And it’s a nice break for Bluestripe from Tanglechirp (45).  Burdockbeam (14) has been keeping a close eye on Tanglechirp lately.  He’s a little nervous that she's planning on making him the victim of her next prank.  Copperheart (14), despite warnings from senior warriors, is planning her next prank.  If she pulls it off, she’ll blame it on the apprentices.  Boulderflood (14) is rethinking her life choices.  What made her think being close with her sisters was a good idea?

Healer’s den: Sweet Marmalade (bite wound), Cavecatcher (dislocated joint, join pain), Kestrelcreek (pregnant), Rimepaw (small cut)

New personalities: Skymoon (loving, keen eye, and a fast runner), Petalpaw (troublesome, splashes in puddles, and quick to help)

[sweetenedbysunshine]

#boulder #boulderflood #bouldercreek

[enduranceconspiracy]

EC x Friends for Boulder & Colo. Front Range Relief. #COFlood #boulderflood All proceeds to charity - buy at http://enduranceconspiracy.com

[itsinthestars]

As some of you may know, I live in Boulder which has experienced a 100-year-flood this weekend. 

The city's twitter account tweeted out to report if anyone saw any damaged sewage lines or broken water pipes, and I charmingly replied saying "The tap water sure sounds safe to drink!"

They tweeted me back saying that the tap water was safe to drink "at this time," and I could pretty much hear the condemnation in their virtual voices for even mentioning such a thing. 

This is a plea that if I die from e.coli from drinking the tap water that is safe to drink "at this time," that someone please superimpose the city of Boulder's reply to me onto my tombstone.

All I ask. 

[stayoutofmynamastespace]

"Yeah, that's what happens, all the gold comes down form the mountains in the water."

- white woman, in Boulder, looking at the overflowing Boulder Creek

[peachykeehn-blog1]

Welcome to Colorado, where if you don't like the weather, just wait five minutes. ... ... Okay this has been a really long five minutes, guys, when is this gonna let up?