Floods

How about that rain?

Remember 16 years ago when we had the last flood down there. I was working at the Domino's in Winona. I remember the rain came down so hard you could barely see. The street in town were flooding over the curbs as the sewer drains couldn't keep up. After work we went over to Al's place across the street because we heard the road by Stockton was flooded out. Al had a fridge with a keg in it that we used most nights after work.

After a couple of hours and a few beers we decided to take a drive and check out the flooding. Al always drove since he had the most practice. To our dismay all the roads were closed to Lewiston. Al was not detered. He found some backroad behind Stockton that we took into town. Only problem was all the mudslides across the road. Most only went part way across the road till we came to a biggun'. It went all the way across the road. Deep. Al stopped and that other guy who had the pet wolf, what was his name... said to go for it. After taking a shot from his leahter canteen thingy Al was convinced he could do it. He put ti to the floor and we hit the mudslide at about 40 per... Boom, I felt a rock hit my foot thru the floor, slowing down, slowing down, stuck. Hmm never saw that coming. We got out to check the damage. Can't see nothing. Could be the darkness, could be the beer. We decided to push it out. Three drunk guys can do anything you know. And we did. Mud up to the knees we got back in and drove down the hill to Stockton. They would not let us in town so we headed to Lewiston. Mom and Dad said it was like 4 in the morning. I thought it was getting dark. After dropping me off Al and ? headed home.

The next day we drove down to check it out. I remember the whole valley past the Arches was flooded all the way across the pasture. Stockton was still flooded, mud everywhere. What a mess. This flood sounds even worse. 7 people died in this one. Unreal. I guess we were lucky that night.

GOOD WEEKEND

On Friday after work I came home and the house was quiet. Lisa lost three of the kids. Grandma got Lexi and Zander and Nick stayed at Erics. Peace and quiet. With no kids almost, we decided to go to Mankato. First we stopped at some dumb noodle resturant. Lisa had a GC from her birthday so we/she decided we would eat there. I told her if they don't have a burger on the menu I am walking out. Guess what? No burgers, they did have tofu though!!!! yay! I order the Trifecta whooo neat name. I got a salad with some really gross dressing and some noodles with beef froma can and some red sauce. The noodle dish was good, but Zach kept eating lots of it. Lisa liked her meal, whole grainpasta stuff and some fried parmessan chicken.

After eating we went to Walmart and then Ashleys new apartment. Wow nice place. I was very impressed with the Oakley collection. Zach liked the computer chair on wheels. I liked the book collection and had to borrow a survival book. Ashley said Tyler wouldn't even notice. I watched Ghost Rider that night when we got home.

Saturday I had to go to work to pick up my big product purchase. We got on the road to the lake at 11:30. At 11:31 Anne from next door ran out and asked in Emily could go with. Apparently Lexi asked if she could come with. So 2 minutes later Emily was in the van too. It was too windy to take the boat out that night but we got it out on Sunday morning for some tubing. The kids all loved it. Nick and Emily went side by side on time and like that cuz she was dragging in the water for part of it. After the last ride we ran out of gas and had to paddle in. It was only 50 yards or so.

Some guy came and looked at the place and decided to buy it. He is going to fax us a cash offer on Tuesday. We can't wait to see what his offer is. He is plenty wealthy by the way he talked. He wants to close in September so we have 3 weeks left or so. Hopefully.

If you want to live like no one else you have to live like no one else.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA

Lisa had her birthday on Thursday and we treated the family to the new Pizza Ranch in New ULm. They opened up a couple of weeks ago and it has looked very busy. We went about 5:00 and it wasn't too bad yet. Zander and Zach didn't eat very good but Lexi and Nick did great. Nick ate 2 lettuce salads and one piece of pizza, a cup of sunflower seeds 4 slices of desert pizza and 4 glasses of pop or punch. Lexi had 3 pieces of pizza and some pudding. I thought the bacon cheeseburger was the best pizza and the fried chicked was really good. We ran into 5 people from Kraft I work with and a couple of friends, one of Nicks teammates from baseball and Lisa's brother Mike and his girls. wow.

After eating we went to the Brown county free fair. Zach loved the farm animals. I think he would have stayed there all night. Lexi brought her spend money with and wanted to go on a ride, but it was 4 dollars for one ride. ouch. We talked her out of it and then I bought her a box of those little white poppers. They kids were throwing them around the rest of the fair. Zach likes to stomp on them till they pop.

Next we went to the Isaak Walton League pond to see the fish. They had walleyes, bass, sunfish, gars. carp, sturgeon, catfish. It is really cool to see them so close. Zach loved that too. Fish fish fish he kept yelling. Zander likes throwing the pennies at them. Nick Lexi, and Lisa all threw change trying to get it in the cup in the middle of the pond. No one made it.

On the way out of the fair we parked in front of Kent and Stacies and talked for a while. Kyle was skateboarding and talking to girls and Kaden was throwing a rock ball around. That entertained the kids till we left. We all had GREAT NIGHT.

Tuesday

Lisa found a nice hide-a-bed on the Mankato Free Cycle a few weeks ago. The lady never got in contact till last week. She said that she was out of town but she still had the couch. Cool. We borrowed Mitch's truck and I went over to pick it up with Nick, Lexi, and Eric. First we stopped at the Salvation Army to get a bed for Zander or Zach. I found a used twin mattress for 20 bucks so we got that. I also picked up a Dannille Steele book. I had not read any of hers so I thought I would check her out. It was really good and I finished it in 4 days.

Next we went to the house in North Mankato to ge the bed. The lady had moved it to the driveway for us because she was at work till 5. We just got it loaded on the truck when she pulled in. I thanked her and we headed home.

On the way home we saw a turtle on the road. Then another and another. Hmmm. Swan lake must be drying up and they are all leaving. There were dead and live turtles every 50 yards for 5 miles. We went back after dropping off the bed and picked up 6 (live ones) to keep as pets:-)

We kept them in the pool for 3 days. Every morning when I went to work another one or two escaped.:-) The kids had all their freinds over to see them. Pretty cool when you're a kid. Or a Daddy.

I love the new couch. Eric slept on it the first night. The bed part was still wrapped in plastic. It looks brand new. The good Lord sure looks after his sheep.

Happy Birthday Lexi

August 2nd, 2007.
My special little girl turned 6 today. We had such a nice party for her tonight. Grandma, Grandpa, Mitch Tammi, Eric, Emmily, Hailey, Ashley, And Tyler were our guests. We had Papa Murphies pizzas and a DQ cake MMMM Good. Lexi got some really nice gifts. While we were outside after a while she stayed in and played with her new stuff!

Zach just loved all the balloons. He would throw them in the air and just laugh laugh laugh. Hailey tried holding one and he would come up and hit it until she dropped it and laugh. Then he picked it up and gave it right back to her, to do it again. I don't think she liked it. Later on he just walked up to her and playfully hit her over and over like 12 times, laughing the whole time like when him and Zander do it. Hailey did not find it so funny. She thought he was mean little boy.
Zander loved the balloons too. He had to help Lexi open all her presents. Lexi took turns for a while and then she did the rest herself.

Nick and Eric got in trouble with the balloons. Eric knocked a picture and our family off the wall. Nick knocked Erics pop out of his hand all over Eric. I just shampooed the carpet a couple weeks ago too. Tyler played whiffle ball with the boys later on after we fed the bass and played some pool. The game kept gaining players and lasted till dark.

Zach went to bed pretty good. We have given up on the crib. He crawls out and goes into Zanders bed all the time. We put him in there to fall asleep and move him to his bed later. Zander goes to sleep on our bed watching movies. These are our family tapes that he loves to watch. At quiet time and at bedtime. Then I carry him up to his bed. If Zach gets up first he always goes right to Zanders bed. We jump out of the bed when we hear him get out of the crib before he wakes everyone up. Lisa like getting up at 4 in the morning and 6:30.:-)

How about the bridge collapse in MPLS? unreal...