Riverdog S.O.S.

I won't say much. This from the comments in my previous Rivrdog Update. It needs it's own space though.

***BREAKING RIVRDOG NEWS***

11:34 am Pacific, RIVRDOG posts an UPDATE to the comments of this post. The good news is that he's okay. Looks like a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. What a tunnel though. Read it all.

Evening update: I've got a few minutes until my next watch here. I'm in the fight of my life trying to save this place. Roof-walking in a blizzard saved the small shed, but when we finished, the two of us up on top decided we couldn't continue since we both fell several times and almost went into the 40 degree water. We unassed the roof without clearing the big shed roof, which looked ok at the time. After my dinner break, we took two refugee boats aboard the moorage that had to flee theirs which was in worse shape. In that moorage, a roof-walker fell off the roof and the captain of the boat that came to me rescued him.

Then the freezing rain started.

Now were losing the fight, because there's no way to get the ice off the roof without Capt. Jim's deicing fluid which I'm not prepared to acquire or apply. We've moved boats out from under sagging roofs, but success or failure is up to God now. Another half inch of ice will finish the boatsheds off. I moved M/V Whitewater out of my slip, which is under water now, to a big yacht slip between two towering flybridge yachts.

Whitewater is a low-slung express cruiser, and I can get out even if the roof
comes down on the boats on either side of me.

The weather is best discribed as the storm of the century. In the Gorge, the
wind is gusting over minimum hurricane force, with the temperature at 11 degrees
and snow, sleet and freezing rain falling. The interstate is closed, and even
the railroad shut down. All trains will have to be led by plows and
switch-clearing gangs.

The only boats moving were the refugee boats, one skippered by an old war buddy
of mine who personifies "unflappable".

Hell, I might be a refugee skipper myself soon...

Survived to this point, I have. Keep praying. A temperature rise of 10 degrees
is on the top of my wish list now.

Rivrdog

Y'all hustle up some prayers, quick. Or, just good vibes. Or just raise a drink to his honor, courage and dedication. No matter how you choose to send that goodwill, just DO IT, and DO IT NOW!!!

Hang in there, Cap'n Dog.

Comments

[Indigo]

Will it never end for them?
Prayers and empathy to Mr. & Mrs. Riverdog.

[Denita TwoDragons]

Keeping the prayers going strong here...

--TwoDragons

[Linda]

We've got the prayers covered. I just wish there was more I could do.

[Rivrdog]

Morning update:

This IS the worst winter storm I’ve ever experienced, and I spent 3 winters in the Upper Peninsula of MI. At the start of this log, I mentioned that this weather situation was evolving as a dominant arctic high giving way to a moist Pacific storm, with a messy transition. I made the ASSUMPTION that the transition would actually finish, in about 24 hours. It’s going on 40 hours now, and the warm air will not take over for another 24.

I’m fighting a rearguard action with Ma Nature now, having lost the small boat marina shed. The medium and big boat shed is dangerously low in the water, but still upright. There has been around 8” of snow and now ½ to 1 inch of ice on top of it, so there is huge weight on the roofs. My crew cleared the small boat shed roof of snow twice, but the ice, combined with some snow that we couldn’t clear for safety reasons. (I remembered Acidman’s statement that he would never send a crewman into a situation that he wouldn’t do himself). The downhill side of the metal roof was one of those. That snow picked up enough ice to collapse the shed on one side, and the rest of it is resting, like a pontoon bridge, on 5 boats, which should hold up for a while anyway.

The big shed is better built, and may survive. It’s bearing it’s total-storm load well, and isn’t even resting on any boats yet.

The bad news is that we will get another day of freezing rain. How much is the trick. We can probably hack another quarter inch, but we may yet lose the main shed. The rain is lighter and spotty now, a good sign. The temp is up to 24. East of here, in Troutdale at the mouth of the Gorge, they still have a full blizzard of blowing snow, sleet and whatever else in Ma Nature’s armory, with 35 mph winds gusting over 50 mph.

A few small successes: at 0130 last night, I found the keys to the Past Commodore’s new motoryacht, fired it up and got it out from under the main shed with an inch to spare. That brings the total of rescued/refugee boats to 4, including mine.

It’s all still a tossup here, but I have learned/refreshed my personal limits, and feel good about surviving. Getting back to my wife is a priority, but it won’t happen soon, because she is in the full Gorge blizzard and travel to that area is impossible.

The whole area is shut down. No flying, or driving or trains in or out of the Northwest today. In case any reader thinks that we have mastered our environment, my reply is “fuggeddabboudditt”.

Thanks for your continued prayers and good wishes.

Rivrdog

[Key]

Uggh.

Sending out positive vibes and warm hopes.

Keep up the good work, Captain.

[Yellowlegs]

Will continue to send prayers and positive thoughts your way.