Friday, Old NFO, and a Raging River

We were beginning to think the calendar was broken. Friday wasn't going to come this week, oh my. The week is too long, we're too tired, why is this week so busy and yet so slow ... and on and on went our collective, plaintive cries.

But it's finally here, the sun is shining, and it's supposed to be in the 70s today.

Note: I'm talking about the temperature, not my age. Murphy's Law would turn it into a remark about Old NFO's age. But here's the thing: Jim and I are only a couple years apart. Rather than admit any degree of decrepitude, I choose to observe that he is quite a youthful fellow.

So there. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :)

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A building hangs over the Matanuska River east of Sutton along the Glenn Highway Thursday afternoon, July 23, 2015, minutes before it collapsed into the river. The river is carving away its northern banks due to warm weather and rain causing the Matanuska Glacier to melt.  Zaz Hollander / ADN

In local news, the Matanuska River is on its annual summer rampage, changing course and taking out homes, sheds, and other man-made structures. The most recent home to wash away had been there since 1952.

From the linked article:

SUTTON -- The surging Matanuska River has consumed a home and seven buildings at just one property near Sutton and threatens a half-dozen others along the Glenn Highway.

The last structure left on Robert Luch’s property dropped into the river around 2 p.m. Thursday. A loud pop was the only signal before the red shed collapsed into the surging gray water.

“That’s what they do when they go. No warning,” said Bill Schmidtkunz, a neighbor helping move items away from a bank losing at least 12 feet a day, and sometimes twice that.

Two more large storage sheds that had dropped into the river earlier Thursday sat about a quarter-mile down the river, perched against a gravel bar.