Passing the Time....

We have been house bound for some time now. With a nearly 2 year old and a 5 1/2 year old, it is exhausting trying to find things for them to do. We've been going to the park in freezing cold temps, reading a lot and watching movies.

While Sara was home, she and Ethan did this craft project together. She had evacuated several toy lizards, turtles and frogs from the basement and they put together a habitat for them with a shoe box. This has given Ethan several hours of entertainment. -RL

More Flood Pics....

The Lien's were evacuated last night and are now staying with us. Chris, Sara and Dennis went back to check on things today. We did hear some good news that the river has now crested at over 40 feet. Cross your fingers that that news is accurate! It is an "up" in a roller coaster of a week. -RL

Here is a bird that was trapped in between plastic used for the dike.

Chris, Sara and Dennis added "bird rescuers" to their resumes today.

4 inches of water in the basement--but could be worse!

Evacuated folks needs to post where they are so they can be found.

A White Wedding at the White House

This is the White House in Kragnes. Chris and I were married here almost 7 years ago. This is a very sad picture for me to look at. We drive by this on our anniversary every year and I hope it is still there this July 26. -RL

Flood Pics '09 part 1

This is the mark the flood is supposed to reach. If it goes over this, the dike will be breached.

As of this posting, the neighborhood was going to build up another foot of sandbags on top of this. All that white, is snow and ice built up along the encroaching river. We had over 7 inches of snow yesterday.

Getting closer every hour....

This is a view of the river from my parents' deck. It comes up about 1o feet onto the trunks of the trees.

This is a part of the deck that had to be ripped out to accomodate more sandbags.

A view from the safe side of the barricade. You can see the water right up next to the sandbags.

This is a portion of the vast wall of sandbags protecting my parents' house.

Mud Puddles

We went to Brainerd last week to see Grammy and Boppa Dale. While Chris looked on wincing, I allowed my boys to jump in the mud puddles and get completely soaked and muddy. I can't believe this picture I got of Elliot. I was just snapping randomly and quickly. So happy I caught this face of Elliot's. It's one of my favorites.

These boys are a great team. They really play well together and look out for one another. When waking up in the morning or after a nap, Elliot immediately starts saying, "Eeetee! Eeetee!" which is Ethan to him. Not mama, dada....nope, he needs his Eeetee. -RL

The 2009 Flood

We are in the midst of a possibly historic flood here in the FM area. I'm on my 4th day of sandbagging and my arms, wrists and back have never been more sore. These pictures cannot even begin to display what is going on up here, but hopefully, I'll post some more pictures as we near the crest date. This first picture is what it looks like behind Bobbie and Dennis' house. You can see the water behind the hay bales, but that water is only from rain and melting snow. The river has not come through yet. If anyone can come and help, there is plenty of work to be done. It's hard work, but so rewarding to see people come together. We need all the help we can get! -RL

This mud is nasty to walk through. And it's everywhere. It used to be grass before Bobcats, forklifts and many volunteers came through.

Sara came home today to help with the massive effort of protecting Brentwood.

Ethan is not too little to realize the importance of helping others. The sandbags are heavy, but he doesn't quit!

He is rewarded with wheelbarrow rides through the mud. He's a good comic relief for everyone.

This was day 2 of sandbagging. We're behind Bobbie and Dennis' house and had just finished the sandbags you can see behind us.

At this point, we are not so dirty. An hour after this picture was taken, we were mostly covered in mud.