Flood Update

It has stopped raining, but the streams are still flowing into the Whiteface faster than the river can take it away.  On Friday we wanted to spend some more time at the cabin, but were there only long enough to drop off some stuff and pick up a few things.  The lake level is higher as shown here

Those ducks just walked off the end, they didn't have to jump down at all.

The access road to the point is officially closed to protect a small wooden bridge and water is flowing across the road.  The fire hydrant (in the shady area on the right) is just off to the side of a bypass road that is under water:

Here is the bridge that we need to take the motorhome across in a few weeks:

I hope the water is down by the time we need to use it.

Storm of the Century

It has been raining a lot here in northern Minnesota the past week, so the ground has been pretty well saturated.  We were in Duluth for the day last Tuesday and left to return to the cabin at about 5:00 PM.  The sky looked really black and the evening weather program showed radar images where the storm cells were NOT moving.  It rained all night and into the morning.  Many weather records were broken before the skies cleared.  We didn’t get as much rain as they did back in Duluth but here is an indicator:

Here is a typical view of our beach and dock:

And here is a similar view, taken Thursday morning:

For those who like to play with numbers, the state considers this reservoir to cover 5600 acres.  How much water does it take to raise the surface by about 4 feet?

Wednesday many roads in and around Duluth were closed due to washouts and debris.  Thursday we came back to town and saw a lot of damage.  More information can be found at the local newspaper:

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/photogallery/id/2245/

 Joyce had a little setback this week.  On Monday night she took a tumble at home.  By Tuesday morning she was bruised and in pain so went to the hospital by ambulance.  We met her there and stayed with her at the hospital while she had multiple X-rays and exams.  Bottom line:  she didn’t break anything (sigh of relief!) but will be using the walker again until the soreness subsides.  She came home today and we’ll get her settled in before we return to the cabin tomorrow.

Time Flys When Having FUN

And what a lot of fun (work) we’ve had!

We should explain our lack of recent blogs.  Most of our family-followers already know this, but maybe not our non-family readers.  We have been spending most of our springtime at the family cabin, north of Duluth.  It is peaceful and quiet here most of the time.  It is a good way to get “away from it all”, but this also means being away from cell towers.  We post blogs quite often when traveling, but we usually have a good cell signal on the road and we have been using our own Mi-Fi system for almost a year.  The trouble is that our cabin is located in one of Verizon’s few “can’t hear us now” zones.  Their towers are at least 20 air-miles away: south – ½ way to Duluth, or NW on the Iron Range.  As a result, we are in a hole in their coverage, and well behind our usual blog reading as well as blog writing.

Some things we have completed:

- got the dock into the lake
- stained a new window frame (with many more left to do)
- painted the sauna and garage
- trimmed some branches
- did a little electrical work and
- mowed the grass (after we obtained a replacement lawn mower).

All of this has taken place between rainstorms.  Although this area had a mild winter and early spring, and the lake's level was very low when we arrived, we have had a lot of rain, seems like about 3 days per week.  The lake has come up, to about its highest level ever, about 2 weeks ago, but is now back down to a near normal level. 

For Memorial Day weekend we had both sons and all 4 granddaughters here with us.  Since then, we also had a whirlwind trip to Minneapolis early in June.  We attended a couple of family gatherings on that trip: a dinner and a couple of graduations.  It was Paige’s mother’s first trip to Minneapolis since Easter of 2011.  Joyce was concerned about whether she could navigate well enough with her cane but she did great.  She was glad that she made the trip!  She met her Great-Granddaughter, Leah, for the first time; here are all 4 generations:         

We were also able to attend Valentina’s graduation ceremony from middle school.  She’s now a full-fledged high schooler!!

On Friday, we will return to Duluth to meet up with Brett and a couple of the granddaughters.  He will be running in Grandma’s Marathon on Saturday and will come up to the lake for part of Saturday and Sunday.

More Catching Up

Sorry for the gap in posts!  It's not that we've been very busy; just not a lot of excitement in our life.  Not that this is a bad thing! 

We've been spending time at the cabin with frequent visits to Duluth to check in on Paige's mom.  She continues to make progress and is mostly using a cane now.  Yesterday she took her car out for a drive without any problems so this will allow her more freedom now.  She's going to drive up to the cabin for visits now.

Mid-May we also spent a few days in Minneapolis.  We packed a lot into that trip:  dinner with Brett's family, celebration of Pam's birthday at Ty and Jen's with the opportunity to see Leah again (how she's grown!), visit to our church where we got to visit with our minister who is moving to a different church in early June, lunch with David prior to going to Valentina's dance recital.  Wow!  We sure appreciate staying at Pam's so we can do all these things!

When we got to Duluth in May, there was a deficit of rain.  Things sure have changed!  It's been raining for a week or so now and there is no more deficit!  Usually we have about 12 feet of beach from the grass to the water at the cabin.  Not so now!  The water is right up to the grass.  We also have what we call the "Riewe Reservoir" - a huge puddly, mucky area in the middle of the yard whick we need to walk around. 

Last week we rented a log splitter on Tuesday (the last dry day we've had coincidentally!) so that we could clean up all the logs laying around.  We ended up with a big pile of wood that needed to be piled.  With the kids all coming up Memorial Day weekend, we were banking on some people-power to do that work.

We had a great time with everyone in spite of the dreary, rainy weather.  We played games, watched movies, rode the golf cart, and ate a lot!  So good to see those granddaughters!

Today we're in Duluth getting a bunch of errands done.  The weather forecast indicates that the rain will be leaving and some sun will peak out now.  Hopefully the yard will dry out and we can get some of our projects done.

Back from Disney!

Paige’s mother, Joyce, was released from her rehab center on Sunday, April 22.  It was her first tine since early January to be home.  We helped out around the house in Duluth until mid-week before moving to her sister Pam’s place in the Twin Cities, while Pam took our place in Duluth for a few days – we waved to each other across the median as we met along the interstate. 

Our last posting was entered early that weekend, just before Paige took her 4 granddaughters to a live performance of “Mama Mia”. They had a great bonding time. 

Sunday the 29^th we spent most of the day at the University of Minnesota, site of the state-wide History Competition.  Valentina and 2 teammates put together an exhibit that won their Middle school-level, and the regional-level competition and were now competing at the state level.  They were very happy to have made it to Sunday’s opening rounds, and were happier yet to be finished.  Their parents and grandparents are proud of them all.

What has really kept us busy since then was our taking our youngest granddaughter, Olivia, to Disney World for a week. For those readers who are not aware of it, we have taken each of the granddaughters there at about 4 to 5 years old. The weather was hot and humid but Olivia had a great time – thank goodness for the swimming pool! Just look at these smiles:

 

We have been back in Duluth now for a couple of days. Mom is doing well on her recovery and can manage being at home alone now. We intend to stay close in May and June. Once our mail comes, maybe tomorrow, we will be headed north to the family cabin.

Where Did the Time Go?

It has been almost 2 weeks since our last post (seems like 2 days).  Spring still hadn’t come to Duluth by the time we left on Thursday, but it has come to the Minneapolis area.  The leaves are out and the flowering trees are looking great.  There is even a good looking crop of dandelions growing.

Paige’s mother is now back in her house, with therapy specialists providing home visits and 2 other daughters helping out while we get more granddaughter-time.  She’s doing very well and we’re looking forward to having her at the cabin in a month or so.

Later today Paige is taking all 4 granddaughters to a live performance of “Mamma Mia”, as one of their Christmas presents then out for a pizza supper.  Yesterday we went to an Art Show at the school where Brett’s girls go.  Sophie was in a vocal performance there.

Tomorrow we will attend an event at the University of Minnesota where Valentina is presenting a history project with 2 other students.  They have been in competition starting at their school then the region.  They have made it to the state level and awards will be presented tomorrow at the end of a 9 hour event.  We’re cheering for Valentina and her team!!

On Tuesday we’re leaving for Disney World with Olivia.  This is our fourth and last trip with the granddaughters.  We always enjoy their excitement!  We will post an update on this trip when we return home in a week or so.

Where is Spring?

It is now Sunday evening and things are quieting down.  We brought 3 granddaughters with us to Duluth on Friday evening.  David and Valentina met us here a little later, so we had all of our granddaughters with us for the weekend.  Physical rehabilitation for Paige’s mother has been going very well, and she might be able to go home later this week.  She has been able to get out and about by calling for a special van but yesterday was her first ride in a car since mid-January.  We came for the weekend, and brought all the girls, so they could attend a Tea Party with their Great Grandmother.  Here is the whole gang (less the guys):

Last year at this time we were just starting to head back here from eastern Tennessee and had spring-like weather most of the way.  This year we beat Spring here.  Although the snow is gone, and the grass is greening up, the leaves have not yet come out.  Yesterday was quite pleasant, but today is cold, wet, and windy.  There is some snow in the forecast for tonight (hopefully not much).

At least we don't have the storms seen in OK, KS and NE (where we were last week).

We will be spending the next week and a half here in Duluth, getting her house ready for Joyce’s return home.  We will keep busy doing whatever needs to be done.