CO 2013 Flood, Uncategorized

Rearrangements: High Water – Reflections on Lyons 2013 Flood, Art Exhibit in Lyons

August 28, 2019 Cat Russell Leave a comment

The town of Lyons is bouncing back from Colorado’s epic flood 6 years ago and looks like a vibrant, engaged community. But The flood still remains in people’s hearts and minds. Similar to 911, there is a little spot in our psyche that relates our lives, before and after the event.

Cathy Rivers, a Lyons resident and artist, is still processing the town’s collective experience in an up and coming art exhibit here in town.

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Knowing Cathy’s exceptional artistic creativity and talent, this might be a great visit to see what she’s been up to in this exhibit should you be in the area.

Here’s an article in Lyons’ Redstone Review about the upcoming show. (Page 8)

https://issuu.com/sdcmc/docs/redstone_augsept_2019

Come on over and check it out, share your story too and marvel in how much healing can be found in shared experience, creative expression and the good old fashioned passing of time and moving forward.

Uncategorized, UWOL

UWOL 51 Guest Entry: Cille Et Let Ouiseaux

August 27, 2019 Cat Russell Leave a comment

The June, 2019 Under Water Over Land (UWOL) 51 Challenge had the theme: Man vs Nature. Spike Productions worked collaboratively with flutist Cille Lutsch in a very last minute guest entry entitled Cille Et Les Oiseaux, a play on the musical title Pan Et Les Oiseaux by Jules Mouquet, which Cille played excerpts from in this creative short.

Guest entry basically means that one has missed the sign up deadline and is not an official entrant in the challenge. We only had a few days to try an idea for the theme. Other UWOL filmmakers were kind enough to offer footage of singing birds to help us enter before the looming deadline. Shared footage is not permissible in an official UWOL entry, but this wasn’t so why not collaborate with friends!

This entry also tested filming with black screen and trying out different filters in the post processing to be able to transpose Cille perfectly into scenes.

It was a lot of fun to do and a great success. View this on the UWOL forum on Vimeo by clicking on the photo below.

Cille Et Les Oiseaux – UWOL 51

Basketful Relief Project, Uncategorized

The Basketful Relief Project is On!

August 27, 2019 Cat Russell Leave a comment

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Two Books with the Basketful Relief Project (BRP)

Spike Productions is excited to announce the launching of its Basketful Relief Project (BRP). We are collaborating with artists of all talents to write, illustrate and publish beautiful children’s stories in hardcover format, accompanied by beautifully narrated online video.

Spike Productions’ Basketful Relief Project (BRP) is a proud supporter of organizations fighting world hunger and currently has a BRP Save the Children Yemen famine relief fundraising page. Join us by clicking the link and making a direct donation today.

Why Spike Productions’ Basketful Relief Project (BRP) is a proud supporter of Save the Children Famine Relief Efforts in Yemen

Yemen in Crisis

Embroiled in civil conflict since 2011 and civil war since 2015, Yemen is experiencing the world’s worst man-made humanitarian disaster. As war continues, the UN says it is on the brink of the world’s worst famine in 100 years. Twenty-two million people are in urgent need of help, half of them children who are facing a triple threat – hunger, disease and bombs on a daily basis. Save the Children estimates more than 100 young children are dying from extreme hunger every single day.

Save the Children (STC) is on the ground in Yemen, working to help the most vulnerable access food, healthcare and education.

STC has treated over 150,000 children under five suffering from malnutrition and is supporting health facilities and mobile health and nutrition teams in some of the hardest to reach areas.
STC is supporting over 150 health facilities to provide life-saving primary healthcare, and responding to outbreaks of cholera and diphtheria.
STC is distributing food to young children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mom.

Join us by clicking the link and making a direct donation today.

BRP Save the Children Yemen famine relief fundraising page

Contact Spike Productions: cat@basketfulreliefproject.com, cat@spikeproductions.com

Uncategorized, UWOL

Winners Announced at UWOL 37 Challenge

March 9, 2016 Cat Russell Leave a comment

Yesterday, 3/8, the winners were posted for the Under Water Over Land (UWOL) – 37 International Film Challenge. My entry, “The Little Book of Why” for the theme “Why?” took first place. Click the photo below to view the 4-min entry, and review the forum results thread here.

Second place went to Mick Jenner of West Sussex, England with his entry, Why? The Answer!, that beautifully followed his quest for the Bearded Tit or Bearded Reedling and his awesome distractions along the way.

The UWOL Challenge goes way beyond posing film challenges and selecting winners. Wildlife filmmakers of any ability, from novice to expert, enter these challenges for the excellent critical feedback and supportive community atmosphere. Any are welcome, and if you love the outdoors and you seriously desire to improve your filming, production and editing skills, then this is the forum for you! Join in! Next round, UWOL 38, sign up thread opens March 15.

For more information on the UWOL Challenge forum and how to enter and participate, read more here.

Congratulations to all participants!

Uncategorized, UWOL

Winners Announced at UWOL 36 Challenge

December 8, 2015 Cat Russell Leave a comment

Today, 12/8, the winners were posted for the Under Water Over Land (UWOL) – 36 International Film Challenge. My entry, “What is it?” for the theme “Weather” took 2nd runner up. Click the photo below to view the forum results thread.

First place went to Bryce Comer of Rossland, British Columbia with his entry, Weathering the Change, that beautifully showed how climate changes were affecting food sources for Caribou.

Second place went to Kevin Railsback of Cedar Rapids, Iowa with his entry, Fire and Ice. If you are looking for stunning cinematography of wildlife in Montana, this 4-min video entry will not disappoint.

The UWOL Challenge goes way beyond posing film challenges and selecting winners. Wildlife filmmakers of any ability, from novice to expert, enter these challenges for the excellent critical feedback and supportive community atmosphere. Any are welcome, and if you seriously desire to improve your filming, production and editing skills, then this forum is for you! Join in! Next round, UWOL 37, starts February 1st. This means that the sign up thread opens mid-January and closes February 1st.

For more information on the UWOL Challenge forum and how to enter and participate, read more here.

Congratulations to all participants! It was a very competitive and fun round!

CO 2013 Flood, Uncategorized

Estimated Damages from the 2013 Flood

December 1, 2015 Cat Russell Leave a comment

Lyons

The aftermath of this historic flood had Lyons divided into six separate islands, over 200 homes damaged or destroyed, no water, waste water, electric, gas or communication lines, and an initial cost-estimate of over $50 million in damages.

Statewide

Authorities evacuated more than 18,000 people, the largest evacuation effort since Hurricane Katrina. Over 28,000 homes and commercial buildings were damaged with more than 1,800 destroyed. It is estimated the flooding damaged or destroyed almost 485 miles of roads, 150 mi of railroad tracks, 27 state dams and over 50 bridges.

Twenty-four counties were affected by the flood, 18 being declared a presidential disaster area within a few days of the event. The State’s initial assessment put flood-related damages at over $3.3 billion, including impacts to housing, infrastructure and economic sectors like agriculture and tourism.

Nine people lost their lives.

Sobering statistics, indeed.

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Uncategorized, UWOL

UWOL 36 Is Here

December 1, 2015 Cat Russell Leave a comment

The Under Water Over Land (UWOL) International film challenge #36 is open for review, starting today (12/1). The challenge topic this round is: Weather. There are 12 entries this round without one participant in the Shark Tank (the rather uncomfortable place one winds up if they failed to submit a video to the challenge by the November 30th midnight deadline). Just a few reminder of the rules: the videos can’t be longer than 4 minutes in length, a month (November) was allotted to create and produce the videos and winners are selected by both technical skill and addressing the theme in their contributions. All participants are judges and will submit their votes for the top 3 videos and winners will be announced in February. UWOL is a fun community of friends from around the world who have an interest in filming the great outdoors. All are welcome and is a great platform to hone your skills, whether holding a camera for the first time in your life or esteemed as a seasoned filmmaker. The most important rule is #11: HAVE FUN!

Constructive comments are always welcome.

To view all the entries: Go Here.

My entry: What Is It?

CO 2013 Flood

How did the weather forecast models do?

November 2, 2015 Cat Russell Leave a comment

Concerning timing, location and magnitude of heavy rainfall, the weather forecast models varied widely in their predictions and missed the mark. Encouragingly, the Short Range Ensemble Forecast or SREF model predicted up to 8 inches of rain, but it’s timing was early. Even so, the models identified an impending wetter than normal weather pattern more than a week in advance, allowing forecasters to take action that likely saved many lives.

CO 2013 Flood

The Meteorology behind the Flood

October 23, 2015 Cat Russell Leave a comment

The rains that occurred during the week of September 9th through the 16th, 2013 were different than what we typically see in Colorado. The event was caused by a block in the jet stream that held a low-pressure cell over the Great Basin and a highpressure cell over the Midwest stationary over the course of a week. These stationary circulations drew up moist, tropical air from both the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, dumping rain over New Mexico and Colorado for days. This type of rain event is rare for Colorado, with an estimated 1,000-year recurrence interval measured in the Northern Front Range.

CO 2013 Flood

The Flood

October 16, 2015 Cat Russell Leave a comment

Unusual characteristics associated with the rain event that caused the 2013 flood triggered the rivers to behave differently than what is typically observed in Colorado floods, leading to massive erosion that reshaped and redirected stream channels and also catastrophic failure of debris dams that exacerbated peak discharges. Unlike previous known flash floods in Colorado where a river peak-stage depth can rise over a matter of minutes as in the Big Thompson Canyon flood in 1976, the 2013 flood caused creeks to rise more slowly, simultaneously and stay at peak levels for several hours. This behavior caused massive debris transport and damage, but also allowed for emergency responders to get people up and out of the way and save many lives. Although the rain event was rare, the flood event along the Saint Vrain River, though significant, was not as uncommon, with about a 500-year recurrence interval measured in Lyons. The peak flow of the Saint Vrain River in Lyons during the flood has been estimated at over 23,000 cfs (cubic feet per second): a flow-rate nearly 100 times its average of 250 cfs at this time of year (September).