Deja Vu

Have you ever heard me in a bad mood? I am pretty close to being in a bad mood now. Remember that my apartment flooded a few weeks ago and it was a week of drying and hassle but it did get situated and things back to normal. Well, this town got 5 to 6 inches rain this past Friday and the sump pump was not working with the overload of water, so guess what happened? My entire apartment flooded during the night Friday and I slept through it. When I awoke Saturday morning there was 4 inches of water in my place. Every. Corner. The. Whole. Place. Sigh.

This time I did not participate in the cleanup. This time I left. I went to my friend Vicki's place and slept on her husband's recliner for six nights. I didn't know where my stuff was, well, yes, it was all put into my garage, but I did not know how to find things, where they were. This time there is new carpet throughout the apartment and I am edgy and not relaxed here and don't want any wires on the floor or any furniture either. I am still sorting all the things that have been damaged. So far I know my electric recliner is not working; the heavy duty power strip for all the computer related wires burned out; bookcases and other furniture were soaked and are now mildew damaged that may be caused by two times getting soaked; my brand new never used twin really good air mattress has mildew and I don't know whether I will be able to get it clean enough to use at all. As days go by and I try to use things I will put aside more things to see if it will be worth putting in a claim with renters insurance.

I kept my cat in the bathroom on the linoleum floor and would come over three and four times each day to feed her and brush her and see how she was doing. The whole water on the floor thing really threw her for a loop and having the place being invaded by noise and strangers seemed to bother her as much as it did me. You see, my cat Lola is sensitive like I am and we like our peace and quiet. Smile.

Just sharing with blogger buddies the latest in the soggy saga.

As in all events, there are things to be grateful for. I will think of those in the next post.

Yes Indeed.

Hahahaha. Hope this makes you smile.

Another Life Experience

The city prepared to burn down an old house and in the process shut off water and caused a huge surge when water was turned on. I happened to be up already and heard a horrendous noise in the closet across the hall from my front door. That is where all the water pipes come together and there a huge drain in the floor there. Well, water was like a river in there. So no matter it was so early I called the landlord. Then I went to bathroom, flushed, (which turned out to be last available flush for another 6 hours), walked to sink to wash hands, and discovered there was no water now in my place. I walked back out toward the kitchen and almost slipped on the water on the floor. I called landlord back and said come quick, water is running into my apartment. It took him about 15 min to get here but by then there was a river in my entire place. He shut off water and began the arduous task of helping me remove water. He started a pump in the water room and brought his shop vac and I kept bending, soaking hand towel, wringing in big kitchen trash can, bending, soaking etc. until we got it to a level that two carpet cleaners could begin pulling up the water. I told the landlord that I intended to look on the bright side. First being that the water was clean (could have been much worse, get my drift?) and second I don't need to clean the carpets this summer as was planned, and third, well, I couldn't think of a third. The landlord piled the furniture in kitchen and living room as best he could and then set up large fans, loud enough I can fake living in a wind tunnel. Oh joy. We anticipate the fans to remain three days to ensure complete dryness. Big sigh. I was pretty tired and had not eaten so last evening when my friend Vicki texted with invitation to meet for dinner I said I couldn't, I had managed to climb over the side of my recliner and was sitting writing letters and had not showered and the place was wet. She called and told me to come over and shower at her house and stay there. So I did. 

My cat, Lola, had been enclosed in the bedroom all day and was not happy with the wet carpet and noise that invaded her space. Her schedule has become getting food when I have a moment to wreck my arm to reach around the cabinet to get another can of cat food (because of all the furniture stacked and in the way) and a quick pet as I plopped the cat food in her dirty dish. She is quite affronted that she is expected to eat from a dirty dish. 

I did think of a third thing to be thankful for: It is not cold weather and having fans blowing all over me including ceiling fans is quite acceptable. 

Hugs from Nebraska

Yard Frog

This is so cute, if I had young kids still I would want this in my back yard. No, not the front yard.

The Month Of June

Decorating the senior center is great fun. The theme this month is Fathers. We have an artificial tree that used to be only for Christmas, but when I became the official decorator at the senior center, I decided one month was not enough time to see a decorated tree. So part of what happens at our center is a change of "clothes" each month on our tree. This month the tree is clad in mens ties. All sizes and shapes. A gal pal asked me if I could use a box of mens ties last year and I snatched that box and began planning the June decorations. We also have barbecue apron and fishing gear. I even put plastic squirt bottles in the pocket of the big apron: red for ketchup, white for mayo, and yellow for mustard. We have fishing gear and golf clubs too. Any ideas come to mind for more Fathers Day decorations?

Back Home

Arrived home last night in high spirits. The time with my aunt was loving and fun. She and I browsed through all her photos from past family reunions as well as some photos she had of her childhood. She invited me to take any pictures I wanted, so I brought home a few pictures to show my brother next time we are together as well as my kids.

It is lovely in Wisconsin. Eau Claire is about the size of the next town from where I live now and the people are friendly. I wish that Eau Claire could be about 4 hours from me, but 8 hours is doable for me. My friend, Vicki did most of the driving and she planned on seeing a friend in Wisconsin but that did not work out, but she enjoyed the time with my aunt and cousin. One day we drove about 2 1/2 hours from my aunt's house to Portage, WI where we met my uncle and aunt for lunch. They live near Milwaukee so their travel time was about the same as ours. Of the original 11 brothers and sisters, my aunt and her brother are two of the remaining 5 siblings so it was special to see them together.

For most of her adult life, my aunt planted and tended a super large garden, canning and freezing what she grew. This year she has asparagus. She cut the fresh asparagus and cooked some for us and put some olive oil on it, then sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on it. Oh my. So good. I told her that one of my dearest wishes was to be in her kitchen cooking alongside her and when I realized that was what we were doing I hugged her and thanked her.

Aunt has first manicure!