I was thinking of cubits this afternoon... Yesterday Susan and I were out touring the various redwood groves along Avenue of the Giants when we came to an exhibit that displayed the high water mark for the 1000 year flood of 64, it was way up in the air, like about 30 feet or so, way creepy. The campground we're in is off the Avenue, and the Avenue follows the flood plain of the Eel River, so at the bottom of a rather deep valley with ridges on either side, great for collecting water. It's been raining cats and dogs all day, and so I start thinking about this high water mark from 64... They have a very nice visitor center here at the campground run by the Friends of the Redwoods League the same folks that saved large tracts of virgin old growth forest at the beginning of the last century. So I'm in there today buying a park pin for Dewey's galley, I'm a little spooked what with all the rain and remembering that high water mark and all so I ask is our trailer in danger of being swept away. Well, they got a good chuckle over that, turns out the person I asked was a local who remembers the 64 flood. He said that the area got 33 inches of rain in 5 days which melted the record snow pack in the mountains which resulted in the millennium flood and that the inch a day forcast we had was nothing to worry about. Whew, so glad I asked, now I can sleep comfortable tonight...what's a cubit indeed!
PS Sarah, "What's a cubit" is a punch line from a Bill Cosby record about God instructing Noah to build an Ark for the impending flood, that record was hugely popular in the 60s, a lot of boomers know it by heart, ask your folks about it or just say "What's a cubit" they'll remember. Thanks for the 126 info, that's reassuring.
Michael