SMR

I know that many of you will be appalled after reading this post, but of course that’s part of the reason I’m sharing it.

Last night, as all Twins fans know, was a very important game for the Twins. I enjoy the Twins, mainly listening to them on the radio or seeing bits and pieces of games on TV. I’m not really a nine inning gal or even a entire baseball season gal. My interest gets peaked about September. Part of that is because I don’t usually get any of their games on TV and the other is that the season is sooooo daaaannngggg long. It’s like a really painful Scrabble or Monopoly game to me.

Anyway, I was excited for them and wanted to listen to the game. I didn’t get home until the game had started because we had Open House. When I got home I turned on my surround sound tuner but, of course, it wasn’t getting a signal last night. I then proceeded to my second choice of the Access Channel on my TV, which has KDIO as a background. Well, that didn’t pan out either because the Ort City Council Meeting was on. Yuck

Therefore, I decided to carry my work down to Nana’s and watch it on her TV. I arrived in time to watch the fourth inning debacle. After finishing my work I realized how tired I was and how filthy I felt after my marathon day. So I retraced my steps back home, took a shower, turned on the radio in my bedroom and listened to the game for awhile. Miles I’m still using your old, high quality boom box with the busted tape player. Though, I must admit it does the job.

We were two runs behind and I could hardly keep my eyes open, so I turned it off and went to bed. Then I heard a voice. It was Nana. She had called to tell me they had tied up the game. I cannot hear the phone in my bedroom, but I can hear the answering machine. I then dragged myself out of bed because I cannot, however, tell who is calling or what they are saying. Typically I’m up later, so I decided I had better check it out in case it was something important. Of course, it wasn’t. I know some of you are saying, “What!” But then again, some of you said that already earlier when I mentioned I left Nana’s. And then again when I turned off the radio to go to bed early. Well, I felt compelled then to turn the radio back on to see what would happen. I’m sure you’re thinking this already, yes, I fell asleep and didn’t hear the end anyway.

Because I so willingly went to bed early, my body decided it had its usual rest and was ready to get up at 5AM. I tried unsuccessfully to get back to sleep, so I decided to look online to see who won. “Woohoo, yeah Twins!” Obviously sleep is more important to me, but I’m happy they one nonetheless.

I’m pretty tired right now, but I’m not doing the 5AM thing again tomorrow. I hope everyone who wanted to see the game was able to and I’ll keep sleeping through game endings if they keep winning.

Our first week of stability balls proved to be successful. Hopefully I can stay on top of the inflation. Now I can truly supply a well rounded education for my students. Ha.

Well, it’s no secret that one of my hobbies is scrapbooking and I enjoy doing it with my friend, Julie. This time we decided to take a few days and work at her cabin. We have done this before with great success, and so we were both pumped. We left BSC Wednesday and arrived at the cabin around noon. By one we were on our way, by five I began prepping supper. At the cabin this is a shared responsibility because otherwise only one party benefits from getting away. We compared notes at this time and sadly she had completed double of what I had. I was having a case of scrapbooking block. Following supper we resumed our work and before dark took a walk. Then we were back at is until midnight. I then decided it was time for some sleep, and shortly afterward we were sawing logs. Ha, ha….you’ll get that in a little bit.

About four thirty in the morning I woke up to the wind outside. I could tell it was very windy. Not your average very windy, but I was in a strange place and thought perhaps I just hear it more in that house. So, I lay awake trying to figure out how windy it really was without actually looking outside. Probably five minutes later Julie walks in and says, “Sue, I think we should go to the basement, it sounds like a train outside to me.” Train sounds are never good when it’s windy. Therefore, we began our walk to the basement. Finding a flashlight, we proceeded to look for the weather radio. All of a sudden loud banging started to occur. It had begun to hail. We skipped the radio and went straight to the basement. Sitting in the dark with lightening flashing in a basement window and one flashlight was interesting. For one, I had never been in the basement at the cabin before; two, I have never heard a storm in the basement like I did this one; three, I was waiting for the upstairs to be picked up as we listened to the sounds. The sounds reminded us of when you pull a nail out of wood. At this point we aren’t saying a thing, just lying there. Then there seemed to be a lull in the storm, so Julie went up to continue the search for the weather radio. See when you scrapbook at the cabin, you lose touch with what’s going on in the outside world. For example, weather forecasts. Taking our only flashlight upstairs, I was left in the pitch black basement. I decided to follow to help look, but I quickly changed my mind when I realized that I couldn’t see where I was walking and I couldn’t remember where the staircase was exactly. Therefore, I sat and waited and she soon returned without the radio, but just stood looking at me and wide-eyed said, “Sue.” Which said in this manner is not good. I’m like, “What?” She adds, “What did you say you liked about our cabin?” I replied, “The view because it reminds me of Mom’s tree that hangs over the big yard, only close up.” She then continued by saying she had noticed their paddle boat floating in the lake, it had been sitting up in their yard. While she was observing that, a flash of lightening lit up the sky and she then realized the said tree had fallen crashing onto her dad’s boat, boat lift, and their dock. Of course this I had to see fore myself. By this time the wind was still blowing but had changed direction. So in flashes we observe the dock and boat situation and watched as the paddle boat drifted down the lake. They live on a slough, so hopefully it wouldn’t go too far. Now it was about six and so we decided to go back to bed. When we arose a few hours later we could actually observe all the damage. We had lost electricity about five and it still had not returned. Being alert we assessed the damage. The boat-dock situation did not look any better in daylight. There were branches littering the ground everywhere, another of their trees had lost three limbs. Two still dangling in the tree. Their paddle boat had gotten hung up in Honey Cove down the shoreline, they had one broken window, their vinyl siding on their shed was totally punctured all over, and her dad’s truck had hail damage. I was very fortunate because I had parked my car in their garage. To find out what was going on we hopped in my car and listened to the radio because we never did find the weather radio or radio that worked for that matter. I had 4 C batteries for my car lantern but none of the radios took C batteries. We heard on the radio the destruction was worse in Webster, so of course, we drove there to see for ourselves (ten minute drive). That town looked like it had been spun in a washer. I don’t think there was a yard that didn’t have a tree down. There were pontoons flipped, roofs off, buildings in parts, metal wrapped around things it shouldn’t be, and huge power lines down. It made us really stop and realize that what happened at the cabin wasn’t so bad compared to what could have. We spent the day cleaning up. Ryan and Greg freed the dock, boat, and lift.  The dock is in sad shape, but the boat and lift were in good shape.  The boat engine had to be taken to town, I guess being submerged for nine hours might have something to do with that.   They didn’t have electricity yet when we left in the evening. We were going to stay overnight again, but without electricity the water pump wasn’t working either. We weren’t thrilled about the no water situation. The scrapbook adventure was fun for the first sixteen hours. Later, on our way home, there wasn’t one corn field that was standing as it should. It was quite shocking. I cannot remember a time that I have seen such a long and wide line of destruction. I’m feeling for farmers as well.  It sounds like the storm left a trail of damage.

When I got home, I walked down to Gma’s to see that her tree was still hanging over the lawn, which it was. Sigh.

Well, I’ve been busy this summer doing the usual RBs work, going to classes, funerals, reunions, and to come yet a wedding.  I will have to say though that last week was one of my best of the summer!    First, I stayed with Miles and Holli!  Second, I only had to drive 2 hrs. to reach my destination. Third, I wasn’t responsible for anyone or anything but myself.  Finally, I really enjoyed all four days of my class.  The rest of the summer just won’t measure up, but I’m glad I had a week that I felt like I truly had a vacation.  Thanks again, Miles and Holli!

Well, Sunday I received a generous gift of rhubarb from Jules, so I cut it up and found it to be four times as much as what I personally needed. Therefore, today I decided to bake a few gluten filled pies and some gluten-free rhubarb pudding for myself. Now I can bestow rhubarb pie on someone’s doorstep. I haven’t decided who will get it, but I know they must have a palate for the good stuff. If you’ve never heard the jingle for Bebopareebop Rhubarb Pie or heard the Garrison Keeler skit, I’ve attached a link. It’s worth a chuckle. You can read it or listen to it there.

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/20000101/bebopareebop.html