Getting Back to Normal

Things are slowly getting back to normal around here, as the flood waters recede and we begin a massive cleanup campaign. And I do mean massive. Think 5.5 million sandbags, and something like 70 miles of temporary earthen dikes. There were times when I wondered if we'd gone dike crazy, but the determination to save our communities was pheonomenal! As the dikes are torn down, a layer of slippery mud is left behind. It's a mess. But the river continues to drop, and we are looking forward to the day when the bike trails are clear and we are able to enjoy our parks again.

My sandbags were picked up yesterday .... my grass is turning green ... and my tulips have pushed up through the soil. They should be quite pretty in a week or two if the rabbits don't get them. Speaking of rabbits: enter Princess and Dee Dee. Especially Dee Dee. She is obsessed with rabbits!!! There is often a nest beneath my deck and she is fixated on that whenever she goes outside. I mentioned that during the flood, I kept the girls with me - not wanting to get separated from them. I decided to tease Dee Dee one day. I went to YouTube and pulled up a picture of a rabbit ... and then a squirrel .... and then lifted Dee Dee up on my lap so she could see them. It drove her crazy!! She could see them, but she couldn't smell them. She jumped up on my desk, determined to find them!! Surely they must be behind that monitor!!

The Red River Valley Flood of 2009

I’m not a mathematician, but after experiencing my second 500 year flood in 12 years, the formula of probabilities seems skewed to me. The past three weeks have been a blur, as we’ve experienced a blizzard, an epic flood, another major snowstorm and now await the second crest of the Red River. It’s not often that we pray for cool weather in April, but right now that is what we need, as it allows the river to drop before the next big run-off, which is currently forecast to begin next week.

Compared to other kinds of natural disasters, a couple of things stand out about a flood. One is the fact that floodwater is not covered on a regular homeowner’s insurance policy. Flood insurance is available through FEMA, but it is very expensive and it only covers the structure of your home; none of your furnishings or belongings. The other thing about a flood … at least about this kind of flood, is that you have time to prepare. That is both a blessing and a curse. It is nice to have the opportunity to move things to higher ground and build sandbag levees around your home, but the exhaustion that comes with that – especially when it drags on for weeks – is unimaginable. The fatigue and the stress, added together, really start to take a toll.

This flood, also, has had the added dimension of being historic. No one has lived through a crest of the Red River above 40 feet before. We are at the bottom of a huge, giant bowl (the prehistoric Lake Aggasiz) and when you get this much water trying to drain at the same time, it does some quirky things.

I live 2 blocks from the river on relatively high ground (keeping in mind that no ground in the Red River Valley is very high!) During the Flood of 1997, I focused on helping friends and the community at large – something I have done again this year – but with the added concern of how it was going to affect me. In 1997 I was never in any real danger. This year I was. I worked several nights (10 p.m. to 2 a.m.) at the Flood Call Center (a centralized dispatch center for the community), helped build sandbag levees in my neighborhood and baked quite a few Papa Murphy’s pizzas for those whose bodies held out longer than mine did on the sandbag line! I placed sandbags around my basement window wells and back door. I moved as much of my basement up to the main floor as I could, and shook ice out of my sump pump hose every three hours around the clock. Travel in and between the cities of Fargo and Moorhead has been extremely challenging, to say the least! All but two of our bridges are out of commission, and the entrance ramp that I normally take to get on the Interstate has an earthen dike across it. My normal 12-15 minute commute has turned into a 45-70 minute trip, and there was one day that it took me 2 hours and 40 minutes to get home! We’re not used to that in this part of the world!

Some of the poignant memories that will never be forgotten include parking my car (facing forward) at the edge of the driveway in case I needed to make a quick escape, having my dogs leashed 24 hours a day so that I could quickly grab them if we needed to leave, getting a Reverse 911 call at 6:30 in the morning advising us to evacuate, the sound of Blackhawk helicopters dropping 1-ton sand baskets on a school campus that had a major breach, and the sound of emergency vehicles screaming as they raced to patch a leaky dike. (The coordination of emergency, military and law enforcement personnel - as well as disaster relief services – has been stellar!)

I have been very blessed. I never lost electricity, and other than some seepage caused by an ice jam in my downspout, did not take on any water. With basement drains plugged to prevent sewer backup, I never felt in any imminent danger. But with a river flood, it’s pretty much an ‘all or nothing’ deal, and I’m well aware that one major breach of the dike protecting my neighborhood, and we would all find our homes filling with water, as happened in Grand Forks/East Grand Forks in 1997. Because of that, the city has built a number of contingency dikes behind the primary structures. Unfortunately, one of those contingency dikes is being built right down my street, and I’m on the wrong side of it. It’s tough to think of your home as a possible sacrifice to save the rest of the city. Things are looking good right now, and I have confidence that we’re going to be just fine.

Another anomaly of the Red River is that the crazy thing runs north into Canada, eventually emptying into Lake Winnipeg. That creates another interesting set of problems in the spring when the southern valley typically thaws before the northern valley, resulting in ice jams along the river. It’s also why, when we had over a foot of heavy, wet snow a couple of days after the first crest, we were even more concerned about the fact that areas to our south had two feet!

Princess and Dee Dee are great stress relievers and they’re always happy for snow, no matter what the date! Since I live on one side of the river, and work on the other, I have not wanted to get separated from my girls. I have kept them with me throughout the flood and have been very grateful for a boss who not only has understood that need, but actually enjoys having them around. I’m sure that they have picked up on my stress at times, and they haven’t been getting as much exercise as they normally do. Frankly, there aren’t a lot of places to walk right now! The sidewalks and streets are an icy mess, and almost all of our parks are along the river. In addition to that, since my neighborhood was officially an evacuated area, security was pretty tight. Sunday, March 29 was the day the river crested, and I decided to celebrate by taking the girls for a long walk. We were not more than 2 blocks from home when I was stopped and asked to show identification. Fortunately, I had stuck my driver’s license in my pocket before we left the house, and there was no problem – but one does have the feeling, at times, of being in a war zone. There was such an eerie quiet that afternoon as we walked up the street …. no cars, no one out in their yard … just the sound of pumps running, helicopters overhead and emergency vehicles off in the distance.

With Easter weekend upon us, I am reminded of God’s many gifts. The gift of life and the gift of community are particularly meaningful to me right now. Many passages of scripture have encouraged me over the past few weeks, but this one – Isaiah 43:2 – stands out among them.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

A Ten Year Old Princess

My sweet Princess is 10 years old today! The years are flying by much too fast. We are going to go play in the snow today (LOTS to play in ... but it is starting to melt ...) and then will go to the Moorhead DQ for a treat. Our DQ is one of the oldest in the nation and still the kind where you walk up to an outdoor window and order. They open March 1st of every year, and it doesn't matter how cold it is, there are always people in line! (One year there were literally people standing there ... ordering a blizzard ... in the middle of a blizzard!) We are hearty folk; that's for sure! Either that, or crazy. Probably a little of both!

Princess is still able to jump up on my bed quite well, but when she's really tired, she will stand by the foot of the bed and make a little sound (soft but audible to me) that lets me know she wants me to lift her up there. The girls go to work with me on Fridays (a special treat that they love), but they are always quite tired that night as they don't get their usual long naps in. For some reason, they were especially tired last night. So I put Princess up on the bed about 8:30 and she was 'gone'. A couple hours later, I pulled back the covers to get in and it aroused her slightly; just enough to make her stretch ... and then 'thump' ... she rolled right off the foot of the bed! I jumped up to see if she was alright and she was on the floor, snoring. She never even woke up! She seems none the worse for wear this morning.

Saturday mornings are our grooming time; the girls get brushed, nails trimmed, a mini bath, teeth brushed ... and then at the end, they get a Greenie (their favorite treat and too expensive to give more than once a week ....) The only part of the grooming that they really hate is having their nails cut. Dee Dee still fights me terribly ... (often ending up in a muzzle) ... but Princess has gotten quite tolerant of it. This morning, however, she just didn't want them cut. After all, it's her birthday! She does something that I find absolutely fascinating, when I'm calling her to 'come' but she doesn't want to 'come'. She knows that what I'm calling her for is something she doesn't like. She also knows that if she doesn't come, she will get a spanking. And she also knows that my lap is a safe place ... the place she goes to when she's been naughty, or when she's hurt, tired or otherwise needs comforting. So, when I call her for something that she doesn't like, she will slowly approach me, and then when she gets just about to the spot where she doesn't want to go, she will jump into my lap. It's like she thinks if she can just get onto my lap, then she'll be safe and I won't cut her nails. Once I realized what she was doing and how important it was for her to have my lap as a safe place, I made sure that if I needed to do anything unpleasant to her, I did it off my lap and then she could come up there to be comforted afterwards. I want my lap to always be a safe place for her.

March Blizzard

March is my least favorite month for several reasons; the main one being that by this time every year I'm just plain tired of winter. This winter has been quite brutal and we're getting hit with another big storm (to be followed by arctic temperatures). Tomorrow will likely be a snow day as the roads are just too treacherous to get out to the radio station, and I plan to work on some stamping projects. We have a lot of family birthdays in March and so I need to replenish my supply of cards.

The girls love the snow and never seem to tire of it. (Of course they're playing with the neighbor dog while I'm blowing out the driveway!) They are both very jealous of the other, but they show it in opposite ways. If I'm loving on Princess, Dee Dee will just come over and push her way onto my lap. But when Dee Dee is the one getting the attention, Princess will plop down, facing the wall, with one leg stuck out behind, and sulk. It cracks me up.

Tonight I was petting Dee Dee while Princess was lying in her bed, sort of half asleep. I was saying, "I just love my Dee Dee" over and over ... watching Princess out of the corner of my eye. Then, in my middle of my chant, I said, "And I just love my Princess too ..." and saw Princess' little stub of a tail start wagging back and forth, without her even raising her head. It was so cute. She doesn't want anyone (especially me) to know that she needs love but sometimes her body language gives her away. She will be 10 years old next week ... and she is ALL princess.

Happy Groundhog Day!

I can't believe we haven't posted since Christmas Eve! We've been hibernating! It's been so cold!! Many days we never got above zero. (Come to think of it, we haven't gotten above zero today either.) Actually, January was a busy month with a visit from my brother Dan, and several stamping events. When the girls were younger I was very committed to exercising them every day, no matter how cold it was. I must admit, I've been more complacent about that this year. We go for a short walk in the morning, but the longer evening walk has been replaced with a few minutes of playing in the yard. I have a nice, long run in the basement and corgis have such short legs, that they can get fairly tired just chasing the ball down there. We have a very deep layer of snow this year, and the girls get sore if they run in it very long. Dee Dee seems to be having more of a problem with that this year than Princess. Princess has recently become much more spry and doing things that she hasn't done for several years ... like jumping up on the bed. I'm not sure why. She's about two pounds lighter than she was a few years ago, and maybe that is the difference. She's going to be 10 years old in a few weeks ... so I'm thrilled to see her so agile at this age.

Backing up to Christmas Day for a minute .... it was kind of a long day as we were alone, but about mid-afternoon I decided to dress the girls up in their reindeer antlers and walk up to the nursing home a few blocks away to spread some Christmas cheer. I had stamped little treat bags and filled them with some healthy snacks and we handed those out to the residents who were around. They loved the girls ... and the girls loved the attention. I got this picture of them there ... they hate those antlers and always look like they are so heavy that they can barely hold their heads up. Makes me laugh!

Merry Christmas!

While other families read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve, at our house, we read "A Corgiville Christmas" by Tasha Tudor. Such a fun nostalgic tale about parties and merriment in the little town of Corgiville. And after the girls have gone to bed, I enjoy watching the video "Take Joy" .... also by Tasha Tudor and one of my all time favorites.

With lower gas prices and my brother Dan home from China, it was tempting to drive to Michigan to be with my family this Christmas. But the weather is always a big unknown, and there is nothing more stressful than driving around Chicago in a snowstorm (unless it's being stranded at O'hara Airport in a snowstorm!) I am sooo glad now that we stayed home - even though it's a bit lonely, we are warm, and safe and the girls provide great companionship. I light lots of candles (way too many candles, according to my Dad), sleep on the couch in the living room in front of the Christmas tree with the girls snuggled up beside me, and enjoy watching many of the concerts on PBS. That has become our little tradition. Tomorrow I will make a ham dinner and we'll go to the park. This morning I took my snowshoes and there was hardly anyone there. The snow is a little deep for the girls right now though, and I had to pull Princess up out of a snowbank a couple of times. Tim goes cross country skiing with Elvis, but when I've tried it with the girls, it seems like there is just too much equipment (poles, long skis) and I'm always running into them.

We wish all of our friends - corgi and human - a very Merry Christmas!

Blizzard Bloggings

With weather forecasting being what it is these days, we sure weren't caught off guard by the first big snowstorm of the season. We'd been hearing about it for a week! Sometimes the reality doesn't live up to the hype, but this time it did. We got a triple dose of snow (11 inches and counting), wind (35-50 mph for the past 18 hours) and bitter cold (-11 and dropping). So it was a good day to snuggle up with the girls inside. When they were younger, nothing could dampen their enthusiasm for snow, but today they were quite content to just hunker down and sleep away the day while I worked on my Christmas cards (a Tasha Tudor stamped image that I must say I've gotten quite tired of coloring X 100). The girls went outside to go potty a couple of times and weren't quite sure how to get around that giant drift at the bottom of the deck, but where there's a will, there's a way.

Tomorrow I will dig out and make them a little path through the back yard. They love to make tracks and chase Sadie - our black lab neighbor - through the snow.