Made the Sunday Paper

My family local fame this Halloween!

Winter Storm Alfred

Weather lately has been very crazy.. From Hurricane Irene to Winter Storm Alfred within a couple of months we have been very busy. The state that is usually quite of natural disasters since the flood of 1955 before even my parent’s time is making me feel like the fictional book by Sydney Sheldon “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” may have some truth to it. Most live here during the summer because of the nice weather and leave in November because of the sometimes rough winters. This year the snowbirds got a good taste of what they are missing and us permanent residents fear for a winter worse than last year’s which had storm after storm and record snow piles. This is round two of long term power outages in a state that already pays a lot more than others needing AC in the summer, or oil/gas/electric in the winter for heat. Our taxes are some of the highest and just now today 5 days after the governor called a state of emergency does he announce that he will ask the National Guard to help… We also have a ton of unemployed people many contractors because of the housing slump… Why not set up ready to hire locations and assign these people some work? I wonder how many people have been laid-off from cl-p since 2008 let’s get them some work. Instead (and I am grateful) people from out of sate companies are coming to our aid.

I’d like to point out that the still standing trees by power-lines and houses have been weakened by this storm. Let’s be proactive and think about what happens if we get as much snow as last year or worse ice storms like the year before. Underground power?

People around the world are feeling the effects of mother nature, mudslides, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanos, winter storms, wildfires, where is the safest place to live? How do we prepare for these happenings? Are they more common now or is media just making it seem that way?

Is a generator for your home the next self preservation tactic like an IRA or LTC insurance?

Waterfalls, rapids, lakes, rivers, and other flooded areas after Hurricane Irene

My videos made it into very respectable waterfall blog! http://www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com/blog/2011/08/29/hurricane-irene-makes-for-spectacular-waterfalls/

Our family Sunday drive took us on a scouting adventure in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut from Farmington to Winsted through Goshen, Kent and Brookfield. What a great way to spend with two young boys! They learned a lot too. Especially my 3 and a half year old, Hunter. We started our travels with the Naugatuck River in Torrington which was pretty impressive class 5 or more rapids. The water levels were up about 8 feet and after 2 hours recessed about 3 feet. Luckily, for safety’s sake Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a Tropical Storm for us and not much damage done in our area. Locally there was some power outages and lots of flooding. The worst I heard that happened locally was some crazies decided to go kayaking and tubing and went missing. This comes as no surprise as the water was flowing more than 20mph and you will see by my photos and video trying to maneuver the water was suicide.

Next destination was the Farmington River which was definitely swollen. This river has a nice walkway so we took a little cruise to a mini damn which normally has a 20 foot waterfall but with the water levels it was only about 4 feet. Taking this walk was like a journey into Thoreau’s Waldon Pond. I even stopped Hunter to teach him a lesson in observing the beauty of what’s around you. Storms like this don’t come around very often and the slight damage that was done made you feel like you were in a Dahli painting. The forest looked like it grew up in the roaring waters and the path was like walking on the tree top canopies in Costa Rica. The ground was a lush intricately woven green carpet of different sized and shaped leaves. Some shagged and bushy little branches and other just random two dimensional leaves. The trees here are exceptionally skinny, skyscraper tall, dark and perfectly straight with no branches until the tops creating a tunnel effect. After our stroll and driving to our next random destination we came to the Collinsville Bridge which had major overflow and flooding and many many people stopping to take pictures. It seemed that as we drove on our Sunday drive that at each stop the area of water got more and more ridiculous.

We drove from here through New Hartford and Satan’s Kingdom to Winsted before heading West through Goshen where the winds started picking up on our way to Kent falls which was magnificent! Hunter said it was like Paradise Falls from the movie Up especially with all the barking dogs. He wanted to look for Bigfoot so we hiked to the top getting soaked by the spray like being on the Maiden of the Mist at Niagara Falls, Canada. The river rose high enough to wash out the covered bridge which was evident by debris some of which stuck on picnic tables and a second walk bridge being destroyed.

Driving down Route 7 to Brookfield we had to take several detours which landed us at Bulls Bridge and although not as tall as Kent Falls equally if not more impressive with the volumes of water and the roaring sounds echoing through the area. I will say seeing all of these powerful bodies of water created by mother nature and natural occurrences does provide a thrill and adrenaline rush. There was so much power and a slight level of danger and risk being so close to it. Our family definitely was having an exciting day. Leaving we were again detoured due to flooding on Route 7 in New Milford.

Federal Road in Brookfield/Danbury also had some closures and surprisingly we were able to get to Route 25 via Grey’s Bridge Rd where we saw major flooding especially at the mulch, gravel, and sand company. Nearby is a cemetery and that was also very flooded lucky not near the burial plots!

This was no flood of 1955 thank god for our modern technology and architectural advances but we still have some repairs to make. I am so glad I got to see the roaring waters of CT in a rare sighting and capture it for all to see and my kids to remember!

Photos and video on facebook, flickr, Foursquare, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. Search for envykarma or Michelle Tolmoff

Thanks for reading!

Too long since last post

In the car with the boys and hubby is driving. The sun is beating down only on my right side which will make for a great conversation starter later! I have been dying to write but have had no opportunity to do so. Since I last updated the world we’ve decided to put the house on the market. Which has meant lots of research in order to do it the right way because like everyone else’s home ours is underwater. It is down $40(k) which is a huge hit for us a young professional family. There is a program called HAFA from the government’s program Making Homes Affordable. We know it’s the right choice and are still working out the next steps. Do we rent closer to work or stay with relatives for a little bit? Thanks for reading pictures to follow as well more insight on the next steps!