Scout Camp

I loved scout camp when I was a scout but dread it every year now that I am an adult. In our troop, the dads are asked to come up at least one night and one day to provide supervision. Since I have had two boys at camp the last two years, I have spent at least two-three days at camp. Last year was miserable. I seriously dreaded this year but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I realized the reason I didn't want to go was threefold: humidity, mosquitos, and very bad food. I didn't have to deal with humidity or mosquitos in California as a scout, just bad food. But even the food I had as a scout at camp was superior to this "food". Thinking that they couldn't ruin a sealed cup of pudding, I took one with my dinner the other night only to throw it out after opening it. It looked funny and when I looked at the expiration date, I saw that it had been expired for over a year. How has somebody not died from Camp Wakonda food? On the plus side, the boys got along very well and needed very little discipline. I was very proud of our troop for the way they handled themselves. I am just glad to be home sleeping in my own bed. You really shouldn't sleep outside on the ground after the age of 35. Other than the mosquitos and the food, camp wasn't too bad this year. It didn't get hot until Wednesday and it didn't rain - until Wednesday night after I left.

Dan is working on Environmental Science, Fishing, Rifle, and First Aid. Jared is doing a program called Eagle Quest. It is designed to get the boys through their Tenderfoot, 2nd Class, and !st Class badges. Jared was already only one requirement from 2nd Class so hopefully he will be done with 1st class when he gets home tomorrow. Dan will be done with his Star badge if he finishes his merit badges. Both of them seemed to really be enjoying camp. I was a little worried about Jared being homesick like Dan was last year but he was doing great.

Seemed like a good idea

Alyssa age 8 and Scott age 6, wanted a few things from the grocery store so I thought, why waste gas, let's really "go green" and walk and we will take our own cloth grocery bags.

Thinking this would be fun and a leisurely walk I just put on my flip flops. I couldn't find my nice and really comfortable swede flip flops so I wore the plastic ones. It is a .6 mile walk to the store so there and back is 1.2 miles. Not so bad. Basically it's just up the hill, down the hill, down the street and around the corner.

While there with Alyssa and Scott we picked up a little more than a few things.

Gallon of Milk, dish washer detergent, strawberries, bunch of bananas, loaf of bread, taco seasoning, container of sour cream, box of kitchen trash bags, bite size tortilla chips and lastly a small bag of gummy worms which is mainly the reason Scott wanted to go there.

All this stuff filled 4 bags and of coarse it was just a bit heavy. Scott carried the dish detergent and Alyssa carried the bag with the bread and tortilla chips. I was left with the rest.

Now this wouldn't have been so bad if my cheap plastic flip flops hadn't worn a hole in the top of my foot. I was in so much pain by half way home that I took off one shoe and walked half barefoot.

And both Scott and I have numerous mosquito bites.

Now we are finally home and I've finished dinner. Hopefully the foot will feel better soon.

What was I thinking? Going Green is harder than I thought it would be.

So Tired

This week seems like it was so long, but yet it's already over.

I took the children to the library twice, couldn't believe it myself, but they enjoyed themselves.

I taught 7 classes this week at Core fitness, and now feel like a noodle.

Monday I taught Body Step and Zumba
Tuesday I taught Body Pump
Wednesday I taught Body Pump
Thursday I taught nothing, but did part of Jason's Body Attack class and then did 5 miles on a bike.
Friday I taught Body Pump and Zumba and today
Saturday I taught Body Pump

Tomorrow is Sunday and I love that since I don't have a workout on Sundays. Sometimes we go for a walk as a family, but no going to the gym. Such a nice feeling to have a break.

I don't have any Pampered Chef parties right now because with the flood and all everyone either cancelled their shows because their houses were ruined, or they postponed their shows in hopes to get better attendance in a month or so. I had the opportunity to make some calls yesterday and was determined to get a show or two on the books for July. I was able to book 2 shows in July. Even though they are in the last week, this will be something for that month. My goal is to book 6-8 more for that month and be able to get my business back on track.

Iowa City is on the mend, the water is receeding and a dirty film of sticky mud and poo is left over. Finally Hwy. 6 in Iowa City opened up in both directions to ease traffic a bit. However Hwy. 6 in Coralville remains closed since there is still a bunch a water there and tons of cleanup to do. I can't imagine the business owners going back to their places to see the destruction. I feel so blessed to have a house on a hill and to have had no interruption in electricity or water this past week. I seriously don't see ourselves ever living near a river in the future after this, so many have lost everything. I'm glad we chose our house where we did.

Thank you to Adam and Amy who helped us pick this house.

Iowa City Public Library

It all started 6 years ago. I had 6 children under age 9 and I tried to take them to a reading story time for children.

A couple of my boys started acting horribly and I had to take them out of the reading time. Picture this, a baby under 3 months in a stroller with his sister age 3 in the stroller also being pushed in one hand and then me pulling out the 5 and 6 year old boys with the other hand because of rowdiness.

I'm out in the foyer/waiting area and I'm trying to calm Brenden and Jared down. Meanwhile my 8 year old comes out of reading time wondering where I'm at. Then an adult from reading time comes out soon after with Daniel age 7 wondering why I left him in there without an adult. I explained that I was taking out my 5 and 6 year old boys because they were acting badly and had to be talked to. She didn't like that I left Daniel inside alone and she verbally let me have it.

Meanwhile, either sensing that I was upset by this talking to that I received from the library employee or something Alyssa, age 3 began to cry. Then Scott age 3 months because to cry as well.

So I'm in the open area right by check out with two crying children, two sassy children not minding and two older children asking to go back inside the story time and I can't let them go in because I'm the only adult. I make a bottle for Scott, get Alyssa a drink and snack, get Brenden and Jared calmed down and begin to go back to story time.

As I'm going inside the room, another adult that works at the library stops me and says, "We really don't want strollers of this size in here unless you can be in the back. But picture this, the back was full of children. So really there was no where for me to go but up front.

I quietly made my way to the front of the room off to the side as not to distract the rest of the room.

Brenden and Jared started to fight. Enough to the point where I had to once again leave with all 4 children. Shortly followed by Caleb wondering where I was and then Daniel worried again being brought out by yet another employee who has the gall to say to me, "If you can't keep them quiet you will have to leave." I then at this point asked for help. All I needed was Scott to be held so that I could talk to Brenden and Jared again. She wouldn't help me. Then the front desk person seeing that I was making way too much commotion asked me if we needed any books. I told her we didn't have library cards and we had just come for story time, but were basically just kicked out and couldn't go in there because my boys wouldn't stay quiet.

She then said, "Well come over here and I'll get you some cards." We waited in line and all the children just lost it, it was too long to wait and I was told by several employees to keep the kids quiet.

I got fed up with the lack of help which I had asked for several times and in tears I left with all of them and went to the van. I told the children we would NEVER go back.

Never say NEVER.

6 years later after being begged summer after summer to go back I finally attempted it again. Only this time only brought 5 children and they of coarse are all much older and a lot better at minding.

Last week was that first time. They all acted appropriately and apparently quiet enough for their staff to not have a fit that I was back.

I went back again on Tuesday (yesterday) Wow twice in a week to the place that kicked me out 6 years ago. I should get a medal.

Here's what happened:
I was getting Brenden his library card. He wasn't with me last week, he was at scout camp so yesterday he went and got a card, while filling out the papers for the card the front desk lady said, "Do you have something with your current address on it?" I had my license, but it has our old address (yes I need to get that renewed, something I just keep putting off)


Anyway so I was digging in my purse for something with a current address, she was getting huffy and said, "Well do you have anything?" I told her I was looking and I had just gotten library cards for two other children the week before so I'm in the system.

She said, well this is a different day and I need some proof now. I pulled out a credit card paper with my current address. She didn't like that since it didn't have the date it was mailed to me.

So I pulled out our student loan bill. It said on it due 5-9-08 she didn't like that because it wasn't within 30 days, she said, "You should have kept the outside envelope to that." I told her I never do that since that is trash, she then in a very rude tone said, "Well you should have kept it for this." I told her I didn't plan on coming here or I would have brought something else and last week I did have a current power bill to bring in, but now it's paid and gone out of my purse so the receipt is at home.

She was just a real WITCH I couldn't run fast enough to get out of there. They need to fire a bunch of people or something. Couldn't believe it. But I will seriously take action this time by going this Thursday taking down her name, filling out a comment card and turning it in to someone of management. Unbelievable and I'm sick of it.

I never want to go back, but I'm doing it for the children. They love the Library.

Good news!

The flood waters are starting to recede. The river crested a full day and a half early and a foot and a half short of the forecast. Thank heavens for small favors. I can tell from my office window that the water is starting to go down, barely down but down never the less. The university got hit pretty hard. 2 million square feet in 16 buildings were flooded, including Hancher Auditorium with its 36 grand pianos. Although some of the pianos made it to higher ground, the majority didn't make it. It is going to take a while before everything returns to normal.

Roads are starting to open once again. I-80 and I-380 just reopened this morning and people are being allowed back into their businesses and homes in Cedar Rapids. The water is still too high for anyone to even think about returning here in Iowa City, though. We have a curfew in effect each night in an effort to keep people away from the river when it gets dark.

Flood of 2008

The Coralville Strip. The Coast Guard and the National Guard have taken over sandbagging operations in some areas.

I can't believe how deep the water is over the road.

There is a car in the reflection of the store front. I hope he had insurance.

The red boats are Coast Guard boats. I wonder where the nearest Coast Guard station is?

Looking east toward the Hwy 6 bridge. It is obviously closed. The truck is an Iowa DOT truck checking the integrity of the bridge.

The Village Inn has been done inn. This whole corner is being closed down so that Staples can build a superstore. I guess this will hurry the process up a bit.

The Burlington Street bridge. The building on the opposite side of the river is the University power plant. There is normally a drop of about 10 feet here. This picture was taken yesterday (6-13-08) and it has been reported that this bridge will be closed tomorrow.

This is the new Art Building.

This picture was also taken yesterday (6-13) and the bridge I crossed to get to this point is now closed. This is Iowa Avenue, the main road between my area of the campus and the east side of the university.

More to pictures to come.

It's wet!!

It has been another wet day. The rain isn't helping the flooding. Cedar Rapids is experiencing the biggest flood in its history. A large portion of the down town area is under a significant amount of water. Water is inundating what they call the 500 year flood plain. Several railroad bridges have gone down and I-80 is being closed tomorrow afternoon where it crosses the Cedar river. The Iowa River is expected to crest on Tueday but in the meantime it is expected to cause a lot of damage here in Iowa City. Several major roads have been closed already and traffic is beginning to get pretty bad. By tomorrow, the Army Corps of Engineers is going to increase the flow of water out of the Coralville dam to 40,000 cfs (cubic feet per second). When I was in scouts, we used to raft the American river at 3000 cfs and thought we were hitting it big when the flow was up to 3500 cfs. Even at that relatively low flow, there were a number of class 3 rapids. Can you imagine what the river would be doing at over 10 times that flow?

We are fortunate to live at a high spot in Iowa City but so many people in Eastern Iowa have had so much taken from them. Our prayers are with them.

Waiting on pins and needles

It has been a beautiful day. No rain - yet. As far as I know, the res hasn't topped the spillway yet but it is forcasted to do so within the next 12 hours. Several areas to the north and west got up to 11 inches of rain on Sunday and we are just waiting for all the run off to hit us. This flood is being forecast as the worst in our history. We are set to break records set in the 1920s.

Sandbagging efforts are continuing and are largely successful although there have been a couple of breachs in the lowest areas. I'll keep you posted.

The Ox is in the mire

I am tired. I got a phone call this morning about an hour before church from our Elder's quorum president asking if I would be willing to help sandbag. Caleb, me, and about 40 men from our ward spent the day sandbagging. Thankfully, the rain has held off for the most part but the river is still rising. It is not expected to peak until next weekend. As such, I am not sure we have done enough. There were well over 100 people there helping out including the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. One of the people in the neighborhood brought his grill out and grilled up hotdogs for the 20-30 of us in our section. I don't know how many sandbags we filled but I know we went through 5 dump truck loads in the first 3 hours in our section alone. I really feel for the people who are being affected by this event but they seem to be taking it with a smile. One of the city engineers said that as soon as the res tops the spillway, our work will probably be washed away. Let's hope not.

Somebody send us an ark

It has officially been dubbed the Flood of 2008. In the 8 years we have lived here, I have never seen the river so high. Michelle, Caleb, and I went out to the resevior last night only to find access to the area below the dam completely under water. We went to the top of the spillway and saw that the water was only about 6 inches from the top. There hasn't been water over the spillway since the flood of 1993. During that flood, there was so much water that a gorge of sorts was dug out by the water about 200 yards downstream of the spillway. The flood exposed all kinds of fossils from the Devonian period. The area is now called the Devonian fossil gorge and is a popular field trip destination for elementary school children. I can't help but wonder what is going to happen to the gorge when the water comes through the spillway again. I talked to a park ranger last night and he said that unless the rain stops, the water will top the spillway by next weekend. With the forecast as it is, it will probably happen sooner. We actually didn't have any rain here in Iowa City yesterday but a lot of rain fell to the north. We are getting poured on right now though. I am glad that I live on a hill.

The boy is in trouble

It is 11:20 at night and Caleb still isn't home. Michelle let him go to an end of the year (today was the last day of school) party and he promised to be home sometime between 10 and 11. I have to get to work early tomorrow morning and I don't appreciate having to wait up. We have another storm moving in tonight and he is on his bike. I don't have a phone number for him so I am stuck waiting for him to either call or get home. He is so busted. If I find out he has been with his "girlfriend" he might as well just put on an electronic ankle bracelet. Oh, Oh, Oh. He just got home. He was at Rebecca's. She is not his girlfriend but I am sure she was there. He feeds me this crap about having to take the long way home. Little does he realize that I was the king of breaking curfew. I know all the excuses. Perhaps this is my just dessert.

Well, I am off to bed. It is humid and quite warm here. I have thus far managed to resist the temptation to turn on the air conditioner but if I have another lousy night's sleep, you can bet that it will be on tomorrow night.

Family Picture 2008

Here is our most recent family picture taken April of 2008. I can't believe they all smiled. Thank you Dad Clark for scanning the picture and sending it to me so I could post it online.

Grocery Store Deal!

With grocery store prices rising you'd think a deal is hard to find. You have to know the right people. A local grocery store likes me a lot. The man who stocks the perishables in meat and cheese will give me a box once in a while with lots of stuff that is either expiring in the next day or so, or is expired or ripped open, etc. Then I have to pay a small amount for the entire box.

Today I received:
6 packages of Smoked Sausage
2 packages of shredded cheese
9 packages of String Cheese (the children love these)
1 43 ounce bag of Chicken Nuggets
5 bags of sliced cheese all different varieties
1 package of Flour Tortillas
1 block of hot pepper cheese
1 package of bacon
1 juice drink (someone had separated this from a snack pack)

All this for $3.00

I feel very blessed and I'm so thankful for this opportunity to get such a deal so my children get fed well for yet another week!

More rain!

We are getting the snot pounded out of us right now. It is raining so hard that you can't see your hand in front of your face. There is a lot of localized flooding as the storm drains try to keep up. It is kind of cool. We really need to dry out around here.