Prom Night 2013

April 18 2013; Deluge and Night at the Museum

The storm seemed like a typical spring soaker.  But the rain kept coming.  In the end about 10 inches fell in 48 hours.  The last bit was a real soaker.  The water started to rise.  By 8am, we were an Island.

Pretty surrounded by water, but none in the basement really.

Only the ducks seemed to be happy with all the water.

With the water rising in the back we were getting a bit anxious.  A couple more inches and water might start to spill into the basement through the window wells.

Diane noticed that the village had dumped some sand and sandbags in the area.  We wanted to protect the vulnerable window well area.  We couldn't drive through the water to get to the sand.  Luckily we had a plan B. The small john boat in the backyard.

Using the boat we were able to get 16 sandbags set in front of the window wells.  The rain was letting up.  We were starting to feel like we were in good shape.

The Boys took advantage of the situation and started paddling the boat around the neighborhood.  

They were able to range into the nearby forest preserve.  They had a blast.  They were also able to provide boat rides to some of the neighborhood kids.  They really had a great time.

The rain had stopped and the water was starting to recede rapidly.  After the water level fell below our driveway (no more Hope Falls) a whirlpool formed by the drain from our property.

It was quite impressive.  At time it was 4-5 inches wide.

The danger had passes.  Everything was moving in the right direction.  Now we could focus on Members Night at the Field Museum.  There was only one problem.  Part of the road was covered with 18-20 inches of water.  Thats the bridge from the park in the foreground of this picture. Luckily it was down to about a foot deep when we had to leave.  The jeep drove right through and we were on our way.

The museum was a delightful contrast with the flood related excitement during the day.  In the insect exhibit you got to hold a tarantula.

Patrick joined in the fun.

I went for the head shot.

So did Alex.

Even Sue, the Tyranosaurus Rex came this night.

Alex is now clearly taller than Lucy.

I love this cave bear.  The fossil is pretty cool too!

We have taken many pictures with this bone over the years.  See http://hopefamily61.blogspot.com/2010/03/mammoths-and-mastodons.html.  In the end it was a quite memorable day.  A near miss flood followed by family fun.  Wonderful!

Sao Paulo

I gave a talk at the HIV Pathogenesis course at the University of Sao Paulo.  Over the weekend we "went to the beach" along the atlantic coast.  I stayed in a beautiful villa in the coastal rainforest.  Got to see wild toucans from the deck.

This is a picture of the deck.  It rained most of Saturday.  I guess thats why they call it a rainforest.

The view from the deck.

On Saturday, during a break in the rain, we took a lovely walk along the beach and swam in the ocean.

On Sunday we took a hike in the rainforest.

Even with the ominous clouds, the beaches were beautiful.

So dense and green.  This is our host Jorge.  

Nice falls along the hike.

Also had a couple of nice cigars.  Jorge's smile says it all.

It an unexpected treat, I was able to attend a laproscopic surgery for endometriosis.  Fascinating and educational.