Happy Hour Chatter

like we've been working? Do you notice who has the beer in her hand?? ~LOL~ Guess she deserved the beer - she really DID do some work. Here's me and my Blainer! This is a picture of Terry's home as you would be walking in the front door: We accomplished a lot yesterday, but there is still tons to do. He's really gotten a good jump by getting the sheet rock off, insulation out, and professional cleaners in to get rid of the river muck. He is talking about trying to take the sandbags down next weekend. Guess he'll have to find out what the Corps says in their meeting on Thursday night. The river is coming down from around his house and headed back to it's banks, but it's still a little scary to look at how much water there still is. They say that the river levels will be sustained for at least 3 weeks - assuming we don't get any more precipitation. We are all choosing to stay on the positive side. We had our moments of despair, now it's all about gett...

I hate being sick...absolutely HATE it! My get all nasaly, my eyes look like I'm squinting all the time, and my voice sounds like a bullfrog in heat. (Ok, I really don't know what that sounds like, but I bet it isn't the prettiest sound in the world.) I started coming down with this stuff on Thursday night. I had to apologize to my soccer athletes as my voice kept cutting out during class, which wasn't what I wanted to happen for my last class with them. They were super nice though and understood. I hated to say goodbye to them at the end of class. I thanked them all for the enjoyable journey they allowed me to take with them and wished them all a safe and relaxing summer. A great bunch of men and women! Friday was a day of being in the right place at the right time. Although I didn't feel worth a hoot, I still went to work and taught my CPR class to co-workers. As it was my 1/2 day and the class went 4 hours, I got to cut out of there at noon. Rock on! Here ...

Well, I went to the new gym last night and it went very well.  I did 30min on the treadmill (interval training) and another 20 minutes on the elliptical machine.  I was dying! (ha)  It felt good though.  I sweat more than the average bear however, so I was very conscious of that fact as I didn't have a towel with me.  (They don't provide them either).  So, I made sure that my gym bag was packed with one for next time.   I did some weights, but I am unsure of the proper use of the machines, so I guess I'll just have to wait for the scheduled appointment with my personal trainer Levi.   The regional manager walked by me at one point and said very loudly "you go girl...looks like you are getting a good workout."  That made me feel good.  I figure if I'm spending my time and money, why just go through the motions of working out.  I'm going to work out hard so that I know that I did something.     I...

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood folks!  The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and we are 1/2 way through the week.  Yeah!   Members of my family spent all day Sunday helping my brother Terry with some cleanup efforts at his home.  We moved some remaining items from 1st floor up to 2nd floor, swept the river muck out of 1st floor, removed sandbags from the inside of the garage and placed them outside the garage, removed the river muck (as much as we could) from the garage, righted a tipped gas tank (to stop leakage), tore down a sandbag dike at Kathy's home (right off Beaver Creek) put them on pallets and transported them to Adrian (to have on hand in case they are needed)  and had lots of beers while doing it.    I made a scrumptious hot dish of sauerkraut, knephfla and hamburger to help fuel our cleanup efforts, Peggy made delicious scotcheroos, Marna made sandwiches, chips and pickles.  Did...

around here. Yesterday, VCity ordered all non-essential businesses to close and strongly urged people to leave town as the high Sheyenne River put unbelievable stress on it's sanitation system and it collapsed. Projected date for repairs? 30-days. So, my VCity cousins - call me and let me know where you end up staying so that I know you are alright. They (Army Corps of Engineers) are frantically building a dike/levee system - hopefully to be completed by Sunday, just in time for the dams to reach their overflow capacity. They keep saying that even if it does go through the spillways/overflow, that it won't be a bad thing. I don't know how they can say that, as the water then becomes an "uncontrollable release." Hubster called me and told me which road I could come home on, then proceeded to tell me that the north bridge over the Pipestem was under water. (The night before the water was on the deck of the bridge). Quite a fast rise, I'd say? I thought he was jo...

Just as I was leaving the house this morning, hubster comes rushing in to the house and says, “you can get through the “slough”, but drive slow. The water line broke at the ranch house and flooded everything. Call Peggy and see if it is covered on our home-owners policy.” Great! Just freakin Great! Like he doesn’t have enough to worry about with the cattle, now he’s got to try and get the water out of the house (and all that entails!) Does anyone have any valium?(Large quantities would be great!) The water over the road made for less than desirable driving conditions this morning; I was saying more than a few prayers. I was trying to speak with Peggy about the insurance on the water damage and had to say “gotta go – need both hands” not once, but twice. I drove around & through “road closed” blocks in three different spots. (I don’t think I’ll be going home that way). I'm going to call and make reservations at Peggy's Bed & Breakfast! My brother’s house is on ...

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My brother's home became victim to the flood waters. Three weeks of sandbagging and praying just couldn't keep the flood waters at bay. Although the water did not go over the sandbags, there was seepage that resulted in 6-8 inches of water on his main level. Fortunately, during round 1 of the flood fight in March, we had moved all of his furniture, clothes, etc up to the 2nd floor. Appliances and cabinets, of course, remained on 1st. I'm sure will need to be replaced. Here are some pictures of his house taken 04/14/09 in the a.m. Amazing and heartbreaking. We were feeling fairly confident in our sandbagging efforts on Friday even though the river was rising at a rate of 1" per hour. Sunday & Monday however, things turned for the worse in a helluva hurry. I am told that Terry learned - from the Corps - that Adrian was hit with between 8,000 and 10,000cfs of water. A friend of mine who works for the USDA clarified what this meant. 600cfs released from a dam ...

Greetings and Salutations everyone......I wish to you a Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a great, relaxing day filled with lots of food and family. I had a lazy day myself...didn't really kick it in to high gear at all since I was only cooking for T and my mother-in-law Ella (such a sweet lady). I had all the usual holiday fare - baked ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and pistachio pudding desert. (Yum, if I do say so myself). Today is also my oldest brother's (Ron) birthday. He turns 65 today (if my math is correct!). I need to call him yet and wish him a Happy Birthday. My family doesn't do the birthday card thingy - we just all call each other on holidays and birthdays. That's cool - it's always good to hear their voice and catch up on what is going on in their lives. Tomorrow is back to work (yuck). I'm beginning to not like my job as much as I used to...I cannot tell why though. Atmosphere? Attitudes? Both? Perhaps I'm just in a funk because of...

Well, if you are following this blog at all, you know that my brother is in a fight against the water, and I'm doing all that I can to help him in that fight. I helped lay sandbags in Adrian allllllllll day yesterday. I'm glad that I went to help shore up my brother's home, but I'm paying the price for it today. I ache in places I had forgotten! ~L~ We had perhaps 20 people helping to place sandbags - but as the day wore on, and we had to wait for sandbags, those numbers dwindled one by one. That's alright; I understand that it was Good Friday and the start to a long weekend for a lot of people. We were grateful for the help that we did get! We finished up around 7pm last night after raising the level of sandbags on the west, north, and east side of the house. We also layed fresh bags around his garage this time - something we didn't do the first time as we didn't have enough sandbags (which is why he got water in his garage). We did the ole 'chain gang...

Today is Good Friday and a holiday for me. I have tons of stuff to do today and I'm torn in which direction to go. I'm having my coffee and trying to decide: 1) Do a "lick and a promise" on the house cleaning front 2) Screw the housework and head down to sandbag in Adrian 3) Cancel all of my appointments this afternoon so I can stay in Adrian 4) Go to Tahiti Option 4 is out of the question, I know (rats!) Looks like 1, 2, AND 3 are my safest bet! Brother needs help and I'm gonna be there for him. If'n you all have nothing better to do this weekend, head to Adrian to lay sandbags down. Expected crest is Monday - 2 ft higher than "d-day" in March Oh, and Happy Easter everyone!

I just received an email from my brother showing the rise in the river. Say a prayer for him that the predicted levels of water will not happen. I anticipate sandbagging again this weekend!

Once in a while, a song comes along and really catches my attention. Although I'm not much in to the teen music scene, the song (& it's video) "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus has my attention; specifically, the lyrics. It's about forging ahead during tough times - making "the climb" - and not knowing what you'll find on the other side. (Something we All know about). Enjoy the lyrics. The video is playing on CMT if you'd like to watch it. Let me know what you think. I can almost see it That dream I'm dreaming but There's a voice inside my head sayin, You'll never reach it, Every step I'm taking, Every move I make feels Lost with no direction My faith is shaking but I Got to keep trying Got to keep my head held high There's always going to be another mountain I'm always going to want to make it move Always going to be an uphill battle, Sometimes I'm gonna to have to lose, Ain't about how fast I get there, Ain...

Someone posted this comment on an article about the Fargo flooding at the Boston Globe website http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/red_river_flooding.html Just a personal observation...as I watched the news coverage of the massive flooding in the Midwest with the levee's about to break in Fargo, ND, what amazed me is not what we saw, but what we didn't see... 1. We don't see looting. 2. We don't see street violence. 3. We don't see people sitting on their rooftops waiting for the government to come and save them. 4. We don't see people waiting on the government to do anything. 5. We don't see Hollywood organizing benefits to raise money for people to rebuild. 6. We don't see people blaming President Obama. (Except for Don Marchant, post #30) 7. We don't see people ignoring evacuation orders. 8. We don't see people blaming a government conspiracy to blow up the levees as the reason some have not held. 9. We don't see the US Senators or th...