the goose, before and after the flood

 You may be wondering why it was called the Goose. This is why, though I did not name it nor did I paint the picture on it. In its time, the Goose had been a gas station, the post office, a cafe, a gift shop and a home.

 The Goose was at its finest last summer after I painted the floor pink.
In the middle of the night on Saturday April 29-30, a 7 plus foot wall of water swept through Thomasville, Mo. Fortunately I wasn’t there or I would have been one of the 70 people being rescued by boat. The state declared it a disaster area, but whether the feds do depends on Trump. A vacation home gets nothing from FEMA anyway. I have no insurance. Nor do most people there. My neighbors, who had lost their houses—and moreover homes—pitched in to help clear out. Pix from the West Plains Daily Quill, Frank's longtime newspaper, here. Neighbors very kindly gave me the number for Christian Aid Ministries, which is power washing out houses. The answering message says, "Thanks for calling, and may god bless you."
   I am waiting to see if anyone else in town is rebuilding, but I doubt I will, having lost kitchen, bathroom, living room, antiques, art, furnace, air conditioner, doors, windows, hot water heater, dishwasher, well, pump, septic system and entire town. And the old Marlboro signs Danny gave me.

 Once the bridge was open, Dianne and Frank Martin very kindly went over to Thomasville to take pictures of the damage for me.

 This (above) is the back door. Kinda jammed up.

Whoopsie.

 This is the cafe across the highway from my house last summer. The hummingbirds will be missing us.

 The cafe used to be called The River's Edge Cafe, which was certainly true, never more so than on the night of April 29. It's name was changed to the Eleven Point cafe, named for the river that did it in. But all the people who had been in town forever called it The Store. Back in Thomasville's heyday, it was a general store and the bank building.

And this picture from the Quill shows what happened.
 I think that's my friend Bill's shed.