The 3 Rs
Here are a few pictures regarding the three Rs: Rain, Rivers, and Run-off. We enjoy watching the Winooski River in all seasons with several waterfalls near us. We live about 3/4 of a mile from Hubbells Falls, upriver from those pictured below and we pass by them on the way to and from church and the doctor’s office so even Elizabeth can anticipate the coming of the “waterfall waterfall!” in the car. It’s very exciting to see it freeze and thaw, flow more and less either with snow melt or after it rains or when there’s a dry spell. It is part of a fiarly significant hydroelectric generation system as well.
The Winooski Falls pictured below are the biggest and where the main generation plant is. They are right near where Steve works and he’ll often visit them at lunch; we have joined him often in the past, though not in the last couple years. Still, he takes the kids there on outings to look at the falls and play by the river at the bottom of the cliffs when they can (which is much if not most of the time). You’ll see here pictures from two separate outings. The “ordinary” pictures are from April 2nd with Matthew playing by the river, throwing rocks etc. Very ordinary levels of water. The others are the “exceptional” ones. Even I have never seen it this high in person (only in these photos). It must have been particularly awesome. They were taken May 20th around noon, when the Winooski was at its highest level after all the rains that have fallen here in the north east (and mind you we didn’t have any of the flooding southern NE had). Steve timed his visit to enjoy that high point (he can track these things with all his weather links). The rain had stopped, for a time, and it had absolutely poured Thursday night and all day Friday. What are usually high cliffs were all but level with the water as you can see, and the high falls were short and stubby (and thundering along VERY fast). Matthew and Elizabeth (the two who accompanied him on this particular foray) were duly impressed. More can be seen in our photo albums in April and May (use the link on the right bar). Hope you can get a sense of how awesome this was and of God’s power. Imagine being able to “turn the water on and off” - or simply designing a system to work in this way, with no model or example or instructions to follow. Incredible wonder, creativity, and imagination. And beautiful. Very (frighteningly!) beautiful.
