I THINK THE Worst Is Over for Us & CR, too! Yay!

Hi Friends!

I think the worst is over, finally! What a week this has been!!  It seemed like a whole year, but it was only a week.  We were okay, our son, wife and grandson in Cedar Rapids, IA were okay; but they, as our had losses and they had to stay at a motel for 4 days because they lost power.  Jack was staying with Patt's Aunt. If you saw 13 month old Jack in action, you'd know why he would not be a happy camper in a one bed small motel room!  He is 13 months and once he learned to walk, he immediately learned to run, and boy does he go!    I talked to Tim early this afternoon and they had been back home in daylight so Jack could play with his own toys, they had picked him up. Then went back to the motel & Jack was napping

(I didn't think he even did that, because the night we watched him we couldn't slow him down even by midnight, lol). That was one week ago Saturday, boy it seems like a month ago, tho with all that has happened!

They live 3 hours from Mason City.  He'd get a 2nd and then a 3rd wind. Patti & Tim came here to go to a wedding of one of Tim's friends daughters. This was our first babysitting gig!  We did A-okay, too!  He never cries, he has the best dispostion.  But, he is a mover and a go-er guy!   Tim said they had to throw out all their freezer stuff, and the refrig. freezer, and most of the refrig. as well. 

About 5 Tim called again when Dave was home to wish him a Happy Father's Day & they are HOME AGAIN with POWER restored!  Tim said 2 blocks away one way or another in that town, can be bad. Then the next block can be like "normal."  All you see on TV (& they have been showing Cedar Rapids, IA a lot) is the bad stuff. But Tim said they hardly have any more water in their basement than they get after a good hard rain.  They had NOTHING like we had, and no sewage backup at all!

Anyway, back to the point.  (Yes, I know I tend to ramble like I am a dumb female, but I assure you I am not dumb, I am a 2 time college graduate and belong to the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society.)  We are still wating to get our basement decontaminated by a professional. We don't know when that will be.  We've only had water safe to clean with since Thurs. or Fri. So, this may be a while.  Our bathroom, and luandry room especially got the sewage backup, (don't mean to gross you out people, but floods are not for those who get queasy easily.)

Just to be able to run the dishwasher, wash clothes, drink the water is Heaven.  I promised God, I will never take water for granted again!  I leave it up to you, friends, to remind me of this.  Or if I complain about petty things & I probably will, you can tell me to "remember when."  We had water restored to flush the stool & take showers like on Thursday, but we could not wash clothes in it until mid day Friday. I think....I am not senile, it's just that in the midst of a catastrophe, you lose track of what happened when.  I think our brains are still in the stress mode. 

Iowa City is near where Tim works for a Business Newspaper there, he is a Journalist. He's a news reporter & a page designer.  It's only a 20 min. commute. Patti works for a big company as a Computer Engineer in Cedar Rapids.  Iowa City has not seen the wost of the flood yet. What is worrysome is the U of Iowa Hospitals have had to partially evacuated.  Same for a lot of the U of Iowa Campus, in Iowa City.  Down the road another hour, is Davenport, IA & the "Quad cities"). *Illinois towns are part of that grouping also.  We lived in Davenport for 21 yr as a family; Dave acutally lived their all his life until we moved here; as most of you know I was born and raised in Minnesota. Davenport will have damage, when these smaller rivers empty into the big Mississippi.

I think I am writing way too much, so am going to stop.  I'll do "Part two" in the next entry. I promise not to yak on so long there. 

Check both entries out!  I love all your comments & I can't tell you how much it has meant to me to have you all leave me positive comments and several of you have also Emailed me.  You are the best.  I think I am really a part of Jland now, and that makes me  a very happy girl.

Love, Merry