A man on high ground! Dad soaking up some sunrays! Man, I don't even know where to start. It was crazy.
Lets see, it was Feb. 5th, 1996. The Herbary was just about 4 years in the making. We had finished laying out the formal garden, and we had the platform for the our shop built. I remember the weather was perfect for the ski bum like me! Lots of snow up on Hood. I was working at the Tualatin REI at this time, my mom Penny was still teaching and my dad was still working full time as a Teamster at Oregon Transfer. The weather was a perfect storm, tons of snow up on Hood, and then the Pineapple Express hit us.
Lets see, it was Feb. 5th, 1996. The Herbary was just about 4 years in the making. We had finished laying out the formal garden, and we had the platform for the our shop built. I remember the weather was perfect for the ski bum like me! Lots of snow up on Hood. I was working at the Tualatin REI at this time, my mom Penny was still teaching and my dad was still working full time as a Teamster at Oregon Transfer. The weather was a perfect storm, tons of snow up on Hood, and then the Pineapple Express hit us.
Look at all that snow! That was days before the pineapple express hit Portland! Look at all that snow!! I got the call at work that the dike by Jerry Ronnies broke, and that it was time to come home. The drive from Tualatin REI to the island was made in record speeds, thank god all the officers were busy with flooding issues. I remember that highway 30 was pretty flooded at the time, I wasn't too concerned until I got about 2 miles from the house. I looked over to Dairy Creek, and it was almost parallel with the road. WOAH. I flew into the driveway, and bounded indoors, wild and wide eyed as my mother recalls. We began moving everything from our day light basement to the upstairs. Mom gathered items that needed to be moved to higher safer ground. Dad and I tackled the big stuff in the basement
 The last trip, before coming back to ride out the flood. This is Dairy Creek Bridge, 1 mile before the Herbary. |  Mom and Dad waiting and watching for the flood. Everything was moved upstairs. Infact, Dad make an apple pie! |
We took the vehicles to our neighbors, the photo above is one of the last trips. I was driving the truck, and the truck ahead of me ferried me back home to wait out the flooding with my folks. We weren't going to leave - heck we had a boat. Haha. I remember the constant looking out the front window, waiting for the flood to happen. We all thought that we were going to be attacked from the front, the Columbia river was going to get us. I remember sitting down watching Jeopardy and eating a slice of home made apple pie, because gosh darn it, who doesn't make a pie while waiting to be flooded? I got up to return to the basement, grab the few final items and take a shower. I rounded the corner to head the rest of the way, and screamed. While we were enjoying ourselves and answering final Jeopardy, we had been flooded. Suddenly, everyone had to pee.
 Not the best photo, but that is Dad standing at the top of the stairs to our basement. |  Photo of the back of the house, 2 days after the flood. This photo is taken by my mother in a canoe.  That building to the right is the chicken coop roof, thankfully at the time we did not have any chickens. OH and by the way, hunting was awesome! |
So just like that, we were wet. The power stayed on upstairs, and it was an odd and eerie nights sleep. I remember waking up the next morning, and the sun was shining. Our phones were out, but we did have one cell phone at the time, and it was ringing off the hook.
 I know you must be wondering what the hell?!? I was taking the dogs on a tour of the property. Yes, only one dog is real in this photo.  The platform our shop is built on. We put random things on it to keep it weighed during the flood. I think our tractor saved it from floating away. |  Mom standing in the driveway taking photos before heading on the boat to go back to work. We stayed at the house the entire time. I left after a few days, and mom went back to work after a week.  SUPPLIES! BEER AND BACON! The first visitors, I think everyone had fun coming to our rescue! |
 The Herbary getting an extra dose of fresh flood water. Hey, all I know is that our plants grew really well that spring.  Thats Reeder Road right there. The water was only about a foot deep then. |  A view into the Herbary garden from the road. |
That's it for today, I will continue again with photos of the remodel and the aftermath, and of course the flooding part 2 in 1997!
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