Cow pasture flooded

I got a call from the snohomish county sheriff that my cows were out, and I was a little amazed.  I had just checked on them last night, around 8pm, and the fence was secure, electric fence working and charged, and the cows were contentedly eating 6 bales of hay that I'd brought them.  All was good on the cow front, or so I thought. 

 The cows apparently got out of the fence because the pasture that they're in flooded after my check last night.  It looks like the water got 4' deep (the 4th rail on the corral shows water marks, so pretty darned deep) and pretty fast, too.  In a few hours.  I shouldn't have been surprised; the stilliguamish river hit record flood levels yesterday, and apparently a dike failed, prompting the brief closure of I5 and highway 530, near where I took the pictures in yesterdays blog entry. 

The cows probably just walked over the fence when the electric fence charger went under water, or the wires shorted.  Either way, I'm glad that they self-rescued, and it gave me the chance to meet more of the neighbors and hand out my card.   Since the pasture is pretty much underwater, I'm moving the cows to my ebey island property now. 

I've marked on the fence posts the height that the water reached -- which provides me with a level for future building projects.  Figure if this is an all-time record-setting flood, that if I build a foot above the actual levels I'll be good.