Blogging With the Mac's

And I just said the other day that I needed to get ready to post a 1 year anniversary of the progress on the Labor Day Flood.....This is NOT the progress that I wanted to be reporting!!

"We’re flooded: 9,000 lose power, many evacuated"
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
ROCKFORD — Heavy rains have caused widespread problems: power outages, flooded roads and wet basements.The area near Charles and 20th streets, which was hit so hard during last year's Labor Day flooding, has flooded again. Standing water about 6 inches deep on Charles Street between 14th and 20th streets has made the road difficult to pass and lanes have been blocked off. A vehicle was stranded at 18th Street and Charles just before 6 a.m. Traffic lights are out at many intersections near Charles and Broadway. People in the area are being evacuated to Lincoln Middle School. Homes on Mikes Place in Cherry Valley were submerged or partially submerged. While water is receding, firefighters were working in waist-high water. There is a mandatory evacuation of that area. According to the National Weather Service Web site, at least 1.5 inches of rain fell at Chicago/Rockford International Airport within an hour’s time.The rainfall from 1 to 3:30 a.m. was 4.75 inches, said Dave Lindberg, operations and facilities supervisor at the airport. “There’s a lot of angry people on this street right now,” Maureen Ferguson said. “What can we do, we can’t sell our houses, we’re stuck. ... We may have to walk away from it."

Hit again!: Rockford evacuates southeast flooding victims:
Torrential rains flooded a wide swath of southeast Rockford overnight, prompting officials to evacuate homes while keeping a vigilant eye on the Alpine Dam. Rockford police were using reverse 911 in English and Spanish, going door to door and deploying boats to evacuate an area bound by Woodruff Avenue on the south, Second Avenue to the north, Ninth Street to the west and a few blocks of Fairview Avenue to the east.

We got the phone call at 4:08 a.m. from our tennant, Selma, who reported to us that there was standing water in the basement. It appears we came out better this time than last time though...crossing fingers still. We are hoping by seeing pictures that our friend Tania took that it appears the damage is nothing near Labor Day's damage. We are currently estimating about 4-6 inches of water in the basement. All water is under the power outlets and duct work, so that is a plus in our direction!! We are hoping to be able to cut off about the bottom 12 inches of the drywall and insulation and replace those and call it quits. After the Labor Day Flood and the loan through FEMA, we were required to get flood insurance, so this BETTER BE COVERED!!

Front of 2130/2132 Arizona Ave and "big Red" at 6:30 in the morning. As you can see, Monday night we put out our garbage and the trash was already out for the garbage man when early Tuesday morning, 07 Aug 2007, the rains came in. Two of our neighbors, Katie and Helen, started picking up some of our trash for us!!

Poor Jim is waiting for the day to see pixs of us with a HD. I told him we would have to enjoy everybody elses pixs for the time being...I think they are much nicer to look at and listen to stories rather than to sit on currently!!

Maybe someday we can look like this couple...but for now...I reckon we will stick to the vehicles that have 4 wheels, a roof, and a seatbelt!

Here a week after moving from the city and already turn into the Beverly Hillbillies, the McIntyre Homestead, AKA Clampett homestead, our friends, Juan and Tania and their kids came down for the weekend. Needless to say, I don't think they realized that they were coming down to the Clampetts this weekend (thanks Phillip, ha ha)!!

*Yes, please start now singing "The Ballad of Jed Clampett."**
Is the mood set yet???

Apparently, Juan got up early this morning to take their dog out and was walking by the pool and realized that we had some fish in our pool. Unbeknownst to us, apparently we have been aiding and embedding koi fish....a family of at least 4, all over 10 inches in length, along with some minnows too and quite a few of those it seems. So...as our friends have a large fish tank, they decided that they really needed these koi fish for their tanks. They asked if we cared....obviously, we did not care, so we said, "If you can get'em, take'em!!"

Needless to say......with the pictures below, I don't think I need to take this story any further. However, we are still in complete confusion as to how these koi fish got in the pool. I am sure someday we will find out how. I would not think that these could have been here for too terribly long. If and when we get these fish out...we will give part 2 of the Clampetts for you. **Notice the tripod off to the side, we will be trying to attach some YouTube footage for you if we can be smart enough to figure it out!

Mrs. Margaret Drysdale and Bradyn getting ready to enjoy the show!

We seem to have a new member on the farm...a hawk. Jim went out to let our dog Pluto out and seen that Pluto could be hawk bait. We have been watching for him to come back, but hopefully it was just a resting point and not a regular occurence that this hawk will be coming here or else Pluto could be din-din for this big guy.

Go Cubs Go!! Go Cubs Go!! Hey Chicago what do you say...the Chicago Cubs are gonna win today!!! Happy Birthday to my father who took the family to the annual Cubs game for his birthday. It was hot, hot, hot, but not near as hot as last year. We got the 70's game, so Kaye brought the 'fro wig for us all to get to enjoy, however, the wig got laid to rest when the lady sitting behind us asked if dad would take it off so she could see. What a 70's night birthday game spoiler is she!! Ha Ha! Despite the heat, we had a wonderful time. Jim and I took dad and Kaye to Mullen's for an early dinner for his birthday and to thank them for helping us with our move and with the kiddos. It was a great place to eat if you get the chance, right next to Wrigley Field. We shared the long drive home, but we eventually made it...tired as all can get out at about 1:30 in the morning, I believe. We were hoping for Milwaukee to lose so the Cubs could take over 1st place, but unfortunately that did not happen and they both won. Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Boy were the men brave again! Apparently they did not get enough of the togetherness with the kids from the Air Fest and wanted to have another father-daughter outing (with the exception of poor little Ebin who is the only boy present for the event outside of the adults). A camp out with a fire, however, the girls wanted to also fish, but that was not possible, but the smores hopefully made up for that!

Jim's brother Norv and brother-in-law Jim setting up the tent

Daddy helping with the fire....if that is what you call a bonfire??