Tuesday-1pm

Today I have pictures from Leah.

First of all--this is a picture of Dagan and Leah's deck with their barbecue (mound on the left--hehe!) after the last blizzard. Wow!

Leah won't be here for crafts this week because she is helping her mother sandbag over at her mom's house in north Moorhead.

Leah has pictures of the current conditions on her Picasa album about weather:

http://picasaweb.google.com/leahmcgregor/Weather?authkey=Gv1sRgCM-h_tz63_Dl3gE&feat=email#

If that doesn't work because it is too long, try this one and look in the "weather" album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/leahmcgregor

She'll be adding to the pictures this week as the water rises. She was taking pictures of all the water and the local sandbagging going on around the houses up there. Here are a few examples.

And here are a couple pictures of the fields--which look like lakes right now!

Her mother lives on some isolated land back off the main roads. There are two different driveways because of the flooding. The other one is already flooded over and this one is getting soggy! In past years when the flooding has been bad they had to use a boat to get back and forth to the house. The house is on higher ground, but with the water level maybe being higher than it ever has been before...?? They're sandbagging--and probably getting the boat ready.

Off her mom's back yard is usually this swampy area. Looks like a lake already. It is a coulee--??--for overflow, I guess. Leah has more details on her Picasa on the pictures.

These are vehicles waiting in line for bags of sand.

They said on the news last night that we'd need 2 million sandbags in the city. Volunteers are out in this awful weather bagging sand all around the clock. They were asking for more volunteers to come between 2-6am. They have let the college kids out of school to help bag--and I think some of the high schools, too? The National Guard is here now, too.

And we've just had rain and more rain. Thunderstorms last night. Blizzards to the west of us. The rain is expected to change into snow by Wednesday. What a mess!

Leah took pictures of the Sheyenne River that runs right behind their townhouse. She told me that they have diverted the river water so that the Sheyenne is NOT supposed to flood--hurray!

Notice all the snow is basically gone on their deck. All that snow melted soooo quickly up here.

So--that's the weather news from FargoMoorhead. :)

Yesterday I made a batch of split pea soup. Today will be the Flemish carrot soup--tada! Might make some other kind on Wednesday, but if I don't--no biggie. I will have plenty to get through my non-chewing days--hehe! Wednesday I plan to be washing clothes--so I'll see if I am up to another soup by then--hehe!

I have had very little sleep--in the hopes I will be to bed at a more normal time tonight. It had actually worked again last time I tried this--tada! I am hoping all that menopause insomnia craziness has passed and things can get back to what I consider normal--hehe! [I never was one for a "regular" schedule. But--I didn't stay up all night long, could sleep when I was tired, and could flip my days and nights when I needed to--hehe!]

Anyways--back to the kitchen! :):)

Monday-4pm

Ahhhhh!!!! :):)

I have all live plants in my tank. I am sure they hate to be taken out and replanted, but every couple of years it must be done. Can't clean the gravel very well with all these plants and the crud builds up--hehe! I tried to put the plants toward the back so that I can at least get to the front gravel--hehe! But those ferny looking plants you see here--well, they are all connected underneath the gravel and send off shoots. It was quite interesting just getting them out carefully in one piece--over a foot long now.
Here's my homely hunchbacked killifish. Smart fish! Just not much to look at.

The plecostomus in the ice cream pail transport! It doesn't look like much here all clamped up and upset--but it is a beautiful pleco!

My ad came out online on freecycle.org and in two hours the pleco was out the door! Love freecycle!!

All the fish survived--even the rummy nose who shocked out on me and was floating belly up for a while. Tetras generally don't like to be moved--especially the smaller ones. The pleco is going to be living in the lap of luxury in a 55 gallon tank! And will have another smaller pleco for company. Wonderful! Everybody is happy!

I had a small CashWise order delivered last night--mostly ingredients for creamed soups. That is what I am doing today--making soups. :):)

Been raining all day and the thunderstorms are supposed to be rolling in tonight and tomorrow. We have flood watch going on everywhere up here. I guess we've become national news because of expected record-breaking crests for the rivers. Not good! I am not near any water here, but Dagan and Leah have what looks like a small creek along the backyard of their new condo?? Wonder what it is like over there? I'll have to call and ask tonight.

Leah is planning on coming over tomorrow to work on a couple of wedding cards. I might still be making soups--hehe! I figure if I make one batch a day, I'll have three kinds of soup before Thursday. Today is split pea. :):)

The wish for around here--stay dry!

Sunday-11:45am

Cleaning the aquarium with Miss Karma is like having a toddler around--with teeth! I had to watch her like a hawk. All day it was--No! No! No!

Don't want holes from little teeth in my Python hose!
Karma finds the entire process utterly fascinating!

She loves to watch the water go through the hose--tries to catch the small pieces of plants and poop that go by--hehe!
She thinks the stool was put there for her to get a better view of the proceedings, of course.

I can only do a little at a time--especially with the algae scrubbing. (I only scrubbed the two sides I can see--hehe! The back is blue and the side by the TV is mostly blocked.) Karma would wait patiently for the hose magic show.

Finally finished--well, as far as I could go last night. The fish and part of the live plants were still in the buckets on the floor. Had to let the tank run overnight before I put the fish back.

The "Python" is a wonderful invention...

...that hooks right up to your faucet for cleaning the gravel/emptying and for filling the tank. Love it!!

Magic over and done with! Karma was disappointed--hehe!

I wound it up and put it away--barely had closed the cabinet door...

...and Karma had collapsed from the exhaustion of not getting in her 20 hours of sleep with all that excitement all day--hehe!

What a life, eh?

I put the plecostomus up on freecycle.org last night, but I see this morning my ad hasn't even gone through the moderator and been posted yet. I am hoping to find somebody to take him--soon! He is still in one of the blue buckets for now, but I can't keep him in there forever! I'll have to keep checking my emails. I have an ice cream pail ready for transportation--hehe! :)

If he doesn't go by tomorrow, I might have to drive up to the pet shop in north Moorhead and see if they will take him. (Better chance to give a fish away to a privately owned shop than the chains like Petco and PetSmart.) Anyways, feels wonderful to have the tank cleaned and the primary pooper out of there--hehe! :)

Another dark day up here. Sadly--they have rain predicted off and on for days and we don't need any more rain right now. There are 800 truckloads of sand coming tomorrow and they're asking for more volunteer baggers. Sounds like they expect the flooding to be really bad this year. :( No surprise with all the snow we've had.

Well, that's the latest from the North Country! R&R day for sure today. :):)

Saturday-3:30pm

Karma snoozing in her chair at 4am.

She never wonders why. :)

Friday-4:30pm

My computer buddy!

I've been sleeping my way around the clock again--up later and sleeping later. Going to bed near dawn, actually--but sleeping well. :) My big project for the weekend is to clean the fish tank--long overdue. I am hoping to give away the plecostomus on freecycle.com. Wish me luck! :):)

Thursday-2:30pm

Leah sanded on the boards and we gabbed and gabbed! :):) Had a wondeeful, wonderful time!

Here they are--in place--tada!

Later in the summer we can stain them. Leah could even cut off the little bit wider that they are I suppose, but it doesn't really matter.

Okay--I know you'll laugh. This is so Leah and I--hehe! I bought the multi-colored sequins (bottom left) and Leah, naturally, started to separate them.
And last night--I couldn't leave them alone, either--hehe! I sat and separated all the rest of them. :)

What did Karma think of the tedious process that kept her barred from my lap most of the evening?

Got a lot chillier today--only 26 degrees right now. Not a windows-wide-open day, that's for sure. Supposed to rain tomorrow maybe, but we might hit 50 degrees on Saturday!!! It finally feels like spring is here. Even if we do get snow after this, it would be melted away in no time. :)

Today is definitely going to be a quiet day for me. One week from today and I will have the surgery and know more what is going on with my jaw. :) Until then--I try not to think about it.

My little sister offered to take off work and come up from Minneapolis to help me out when I have surgery! Thanks so much, Renee!! That means a lot to me. :):) But Leah will be here during and after--overnight. Dagan and Leah are ten minutes away and will be looking out for me.

In fact, I was working on a small order for CashWise yesterday. I plan to make up some creamed soups ahead of time--tada! One of them will be this Flemish Carrot Soup recipe I got from Mom umpteen years ago. Not diet food--hehe! Really yummy! So, I'll be fine. Well, not fine--hehe! I may not be blogging for a few days. I'll have to wait and see how I feel. But I'll be sure and post here after the surgery to let everybody know how it went--even if I have to have Leah post something for me--hehe!

In the meantime, today is definitely an R&R day. Netflix--here I come--hehe!

Wednesday-6:45pm

Very late posting today. These are the pictures from yesterday. Hard to tell but the windows are wide open! Maybe made 50 degrees yesterday? (Chillier today, tho.)

First time I had the screen door opened wide, too!
A contented cat, eh?

In just a couple of days everything is melting away! Flooding of the Red River can't be too far behind, but it is glorious!! You can see where they pushed all the snow under my side of the building from by the front door. :)

I started working on the next set of birthday cards yesterday. Made a couple of videos, too, for YouTube. Started experimenting on the ink pad/roller step--didn't work at all like I had wanted it to. I'll be making a video--even tho they aren't the best--hehe! That's just how it goes sometimes, eh? They'll have to do. :)

Oh--and Caroline came and cleaned yesterday, too.

Today Leah came over. She worked all afternoon on sanding the pieces of the board for our shelves--and we gabbed and gabbed and laughed a lot! :):) Great day!! And we now have the additional shelves up in the bookcases! I'll post a picture tomorrow. Right now--I am off to veg-out for the rest of the evening--happy and content! :):)

Tuesday-11:15am

This was how much had melted by yesterday afternoon!

The snowpiles take longer, of course.
But it has melted so rapidly that we have street flooding now.

This morning I have the windows and porch door open to the sounds of the geese. Caroline will be here pretty soon, so this will be quick. I thought I'd post pictures of the final organization result. Not that it looks much different--but I just love gazing at it all--ROFL!!

Hall bookcase--(Karma's near-death tub way on the top).

Every label is attached with poster tack now! We plan to add three shelves: second and third from the top on the left one and second from the top on the right one.

See--we have room for more shelves so that things aren't stacked and stacked. :)

Ahhhh!!!

Yesterday Leah took me over to renew my driver's license. Done! Then we went over to Lowe's and found a piece of board that we can use for the three shelves and had them cut it for us. We can sand the cut edges now and worry about staining them dark later this summer. We were running late, so Leah will bring the wood over next time she comes--but we have the wood and the little metal shelf braces--tada! Gorgeous day! And again today!! :):)

Have a good one!!