Continuation of Castastrophe

Denny standing in sewing room trying to figure out what to get out of there.

Refrigerator coils got wet. Not sure if it works. Haven't plugged it back in yet.

The maintenance men trying to hook up the big huge pump to move water over the road through a big hose to the other side of creek where it will run and make its ways to White Bear Lake.

After vacuuming for a couple of hours the floor is dry. Alleluia!!!!

An attempt at drying out the Christmas ornaments. These are the ones that always went on her memory tree for years and years. I think most of them will be able to be saved. I sure am trying.

Using the driveway to try to dry out things.

7:30 pm-calling it quits for the day. We are tired, wet, dirty and aching. Note the pile of sopping carpet.

3:30 pm- we are finally able to open the back patio door and throw out a couple buckets of water. We discovered very quickly that wasn't going to work. Note the water mark on the wall.

Water soaked things drying out in driveway.

The crew (wonderful friends and neighbors) hooking up wet vacs. This worked much better.

Looking into the kitchen.

Catastrophe

Furniture floating in living room.

Denny wading across from his house to Mom's. He did not get any water in his house but it did get close.

The back of the house. The street is completely covered. There is a creek back there.

The sliding glass doors holding back the water but note the stream coming through the gaskets of the door.

Me standing in the living room--wet and dirty.

Living room.

Trying to move things up and out. Had to be careful because it was slippery.

Well it rained last night. I knew it was raining hard because I woke up to the thunder, lightening and heavy rain.

8:00 am-phone rings. It is Tim Lindorff (Mom's neighbor.) He said that the street was flooded and it looked like water was very near Mom's house and perhaps we should come check on it. We immediately went over. Got into the house and knew that there was trouble. We could hear water rushing in. Went downstairs and boy was there ever water. I was surprised and shocked. It was coming in the sliding glass doors. What to do first?? The photo albums--get them out even though the water was not as high as where they were but I was not taking any chances. Katie & Tim (neighbors) started carrying them up. We just took the ones on the lower shelves. Oh dear!! What was in the bottom of the entertainment center. Opened the doors and just started grabbing water soaked items. More shelves in the cupboard next to the entertainment center. More dripping items were recovered and bought to the garage.

Rick (Willernie maintenance guy) showed up and started assessing what the problem was. This is what happened. It seems that the culvert that takes water from the creek by Mom's house down to the wet lands had collapsed. This had happened previous to all this rain. As a matter of fact they were planning on replacing it on Monday. But because of this the water could not get through and backed up. He was making phone calls and got a big huge pump to start pumping it to the other side of culvert to be carried away. Oh!--the water that was being pumped was amazing.

Now Pudge runs off to rent some sump pumps to start pumping out the basement. I did not know where to start. Denny shows up. We started carrying more things out to the garage and driveway. I thought to myself "well this is one way to get started on cleaning out Mom's basement." Now we are dealing with wet linens, rugs, clothes. Furniture is floating around so I float it over to the door and we start hauling some of it up. More people showing up to look at the spectacle. I think nobody is quite sure what to do and that goes for me too. It started to be a community event. Lots of neighbors so some visiting is getting done.

We cannot open the sliding glass doors because of the bank of water behind them. We had to be patient until the big huge pump took care of some of the water. This took about 3 hours. 2 neighbor guys show up and wanted to help. They go to get their water vacs and they worked all afternoon with Pudge at their side along with them. Barb (mayor) showed up with another wet vacuum. Friends -- Laurel and Butch are there and chip in moving stuff, vacuuming and then pulling up all the wet carpet. Pizzas were ordered to feed the crew.

Insurance company is called. It is told to us that the city's insurance company will also be called. So how this all is going to unfold remains to be seen.

7:30 pm we started to hit the wall. Pudge's back is aching. I am dirty, wet and tired. All of the carpet is pulled out and in a big pile in driveway. Floors are wet vacuumed as much as possible. There is silt in some areas but it does not smell and it can be dealt with easily. Lots of stuff is laid out in garage to dry. There is a pile of trash of things that could not be salvaged or saved. Fans are all over the basement in an attempt to dry things out. Furniture is piled. With a deep breath we left for home. We have both taken showers. Pudge is in bed. I wanted to blog about this so I am going to publish this before something happens to it. This is my 2nd try at this blog and I am paranoid. I have more pictures so I am going to end with --to be continued.......

Memorial Day - 2011

The morning started out cloudy and threatening of rain. Didn't matter. I still attended the very fun, patriotic and neat parade right here in the villages of Mahtomedi and Willernie. It starts out with American Legion carrying the flags. Then the Mahtomedi fire trucks (which turned out to be about 5) and the ambulance. Of course, the girls scouts and boy scouts are there in all their glory proudly wearing their uniforms and passing out flags and candy. There is the yellow ribbon group which is quite impressive. The Mahtomedi High School band playing all the patriotic songs. The Auxiliary ladies selling poppies. There is more that I fail to mention because I cannot remember. I really like this small home town parade. It makes one proud. It is fun seeing neighbors and friends and people you have not seen for awhile.

Then everybody gathers around the flag pole. Pledge of Allegiance is recited. A welcome by Commander of Legion post Ken Lohr (some of you may remember that he was married to our dear friend Judy) Star Spangled banner is played and the flag is raised and then lowered to half mast. None other than our famous Gemma Barry decked out in her Legion Axillary hat with all her buttons and metals gave the invocation. She did a heck of a job. The man behind me said "she has a bit of brogue." A Memorial Day address by a colonel. It was moving and touching. America the Beautiful is played. Mayor of Mahtomedi-Jud Marshall says a few words. Band plays the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Then they start a medley of all the military songs while the girl scouts place flags on the crosses in front of all the local men & women who have served and are now deceased. Silent prayer. My Country Tis of Thee is played. Benediction by the famous Gemma Barry. 21 gun salute and then Taps which is echoed from a distance. It was wonderful.

When I was young almost every Memorial Day we would go to Lake Crystal, MN and plant flowers at my maternal grandparents grave and then go for a picnic with the cousins and aunts & uncles. I also remember going with my dad to get flowers and we would go to his sister's grave to plant. The flowers were always very unpretentious. Just something simple. Dad would usually always pick pansies and we would try to find the prettiest one. I always liked Memorial Day (and I do remember when it was called Decoration Day.)

Every Memorial Day it was always important for Mom to get to the cemetery to plant on Dad's, Wayne's and baby Alex grave. She would go buy the plants and then we would go out there. I would plant and she would tell me exactly what to do. Now I have to sadly take over. I don't mind. I really find it very comforting to plant the simple flowers. Pansies for dad. I did not get any pictures of Wayne's or baby Alex but we also planted there.
Watering the flowers that were just planted on Mom's grave.

Job done. It took some work because Pudge & I had to dig it all out and we only had the little hand shovels. After the head stone gets put in we will fix it like Dad's. There is a white geranium, pink impatiens, white alyssum and a few pansies.

Dad's grave. He got the yellow pansies and some red impatiens and white geranium.

Watering the flowers on Dad's. Mom's little garden is on my left.

This is the sign with all the names of the local military who are deceased. I zeroed in on Wayne's name.
Gemma Barry giving the invocation. She did an excellent job. Made us all proud.
The start of the parade--down Mahtomedi Avenue and around the corner to the triangle.
Gemma with her 2 granddaughters--Amaya and Gabbie.
The crosses in front of the sign with the flags.

Tribute to Mom

Tribute to Mom

Elizabeth Jane Reed. Some of you called her “Grandma.” Some of you called her “GG.” One of you called her “your sister.” Others called her “Aunt.” And many of you called her “friend.” I was the only one privileged enough to call her “Mom.”

I not only loved my mom – I liked my mom. It may have seemed like I was mad at her at times because I would always be hollering at her. But that was only so she could hear me. Of course, we would irritate each other at times but get really mad at each other and have ugly, cross words did not happen.

So what did I like about my mom.
· She was fun. She could turn something and anything into an adventure.
· She could make things happen and she could do it on very little money. Money was never an issue with her.
· She was happy and comfortable with her simple life. Things were not important to her. She did love her rocking chair, down comforter and books. The woman read like a maniac. You would often see her in her beloved rocking chair reading a book.
· Her laid back attitude. She never fretted or worried. She would often say about a problem, “It will always work itself out.”
· She very seldom got mad. Even when I tipped her over in her walker on the busy sidewalks of Seattle she didn’t get mad at me. The only thing she said as the two of us were sprawled out—me on top of her—was “well that didn’t work.”
· Her sense of humor and ability to laugh. The incident I just talked about—all of us that were on that trip laughed so much about it. And she laughed right along with us. She was even proud of it because several years later I found myself back in Seattle with Pudge, Jim & Gloria. I called her and she said “be sure to show Jim & Gloria where you tipped me over on the sidewalk.”
· Her passion about things she felt strongly about.
--The union and the local she belonged to. She would defend unions with a vengeance. She was very active having held offices throughout the years and attending many conventions.
---The Democratic party. Oh yes—she had strong feelings about issues. I got to meet Geraldine Ferraro when I was with her. I remember standing in line to file past Hubert Humphrey’s coffin. She was very proud of the picture of her and Humphrey when he was vice president. Many times we would go to the Democratic election headquarters to watch the results come in and celebrate or cry (whatever the case was) with other Democrats. Oh! it was such an adventure and so much fun.
----The Boy Scouts. Who would have thought that my mother would have become a boy scout in her 50’s and loved it. She took her developmentally delayed troop on many camp outs and even took them to Ireland. She fell off a horse while at boy scout camp and broke her arm. And did she ever love telling people about that story. She received many distinguished awards because of her involvement with the Scouts.

I was so fortunate to have my mom for 65 years and we lived close enough where we could see each other often and have a great relationship. I would go visit with her frequently. After every trip I took she would want to know everything that happened. She would love it when I would tell her about some of the conversations Jim & I would have and all of his goofy Republican viewpoints. It didn’t take long for the two of us to conclude that he really did not know what he was talking about.

I was also fortunate in that Pudge loved my mother and was so very good to her. The two of them would have conversations that I was not privy to. Their relationship was great. I know he is going to miss seeing her every day and their chats. He went above and beyond showing her the ultimate of kindness and patience. I can only hope that my son-in-law would do the same for me.

· The people she loved.
-Mary Beth—how she enjoyed your Sunday afternoon visits, trips to the casino, the cruises.
-Denny---she always got such a kick out of it when you would drag one of your recent purchases of a rusty fender, a bent up hubcap, a dirty head light over to her house. She really could have cared less about that stuff but she did love seeing how excited you would get when you would tell her about it and what you were going to do with it.
-Gemma. She would chuckle to herself when you would come in the door and shout “yoohoo.” I know how very near and dear she was to you and how much you are going to miss her. Somebody else is going to have to scold you about your scatter rugs and the way you take your medicine.
-David, Linda, Diane & John. Your fondness & love for Mom came across loud and clear. She loved getting together with all of you. She enjoyed each and every one of you. You were the greatest nieces and nephews anyone could ever wish for.
-Donna, Jerry, Janet-it was no secret how much she loved you and how very special you were to her. We all know how she stepped up to the plate when your mom died. She never minded and I know she enjoyed being very much a part of your lives. Thank you all for everything you have done. Now which one of you is going to make the plum pudding at Christmas?
-Aunt Ginny. You lost your only surviving sister. You two were very different but that didn’t seem to bother either one of you. You accepted her for who she was. I have never heard either one of you say a cross word to one another or about one another.
If you ever want to see the definition of unconditional love in action you would only have to observe Mom with her grandchildren.
--Jeff. Her firstborn grandson. How very pleased she was when you would spontaneously show up to see her.
--Kimmy. You would make her laugh with your no nonsense approach to things.
--Kari. You spent lots of time at Grandma’s. She was so very proud of you. Your thoughtfulness was so appreciated when you & Charlie and the kids would show up and take her to lunch.
--Bryan. Her eyes would sparkle when you would come through the door and shout, “Hi, Grandma.” There are no words to express the gratitude and comfort that you were to her and I that week in Arizona.
--Shannon. The last of her grandchildren but not the least. No matter what boyfriend you bought over Grandma would accept them because they were connected to you and you, Shannon Noel Reed, mattered to her.

All of you should have nothing but the fondest of memories of your grandmother. The trips, the holidays, her love of fun and the list goes on and on. She left you a legacy just by being her. My hope is that even though she is gone you will continue to remember her and what a good role model she was to all of you.

Then the great grandchildren came along-- Matt, Trevor, Abby, Anna, Travis and Jamie. Everything you did and just by being you gave GG so much joy and happiness.

My memories of my Mom are so many but I know I will always cherish the ones of the last few months she spent in Arizona with us. Her daily walks down the back of the condos and the neighbors cheering her on; her on the porch watching the humming birds and the golfers. She even got to where she could see the golf balls land and was so proud that she had to announce it when it happened; her daily schedule; our lunches & dinners together; bopping around the village on the golf cart; her attending my dance recital so she could see that all the money she sunk into me for dance lessons as a child paid off; all of the appointments and tests which she so cheerfully went along with.

Then she had the surgery. I was there and planned to be no matter how long of a haul it would have been. I wanted so badly for her to turn the corner and start to recover. I invented a song while I did range of motion exercises with her.

It went like this:
I don’t know but I’ve been told
Getting out of this hospital is the way to go
It will take some time and energy
But we can do it—you and me.
Sound off 1, 2-----------

I smothered her sweet face with kisses saying this one is from Sinead, One from Naomi, One from Denny, Mary Beth, Gemma, Kari, Bryan, Jeff, Kimmy, Travis, Jamie, Matt, Trevor, Shannon, Abby & Anna, Donna, Janet.

I wanted her to sit up. I wanted the tubes out. I so very desperately wanted her to get well. Dear, sensible Gloria, in her very soft, gentle voice said to me, “Now Patty, she has just had a major surgery. You need to give her time. Then while stroking Mom’s arms she would say “It’s Ok, Liz. You need to rest to get well.”

Well, it didn’t happen. She didn’t get well.

I say this to Pudge: “We gave it our best shot.”

So now family and friends, we have some choices to make:
We can shed tears that she is gone; or we can smile because she has lived. We can close your eyes and pray that she will come back; or we can open our eyes and see all that she has left. Our hearts can be empty because we can’t see her; or we can be full of love that we shared. We can remember her and only that she is gone; or we can cherish her memory and let it live on. We can cry and close our minds, be empty and turn our backs. Or we can do what she would want. Open our eyes, love and go on.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 5:15 in the afternoon, Mom took her last breath and her heart stopped beating. Pudge was on one side of her and I was on the other. We were holding her in our arms. Then the chimes came over the loud speaker playing Brahms Lullaby indicating that a baby had just been born. Pudge looked over at me and said, “I hope it is a girl. And I hope they name her Elizabeth.

Good bye, Mom.

Tribute to Mom

Life in Arizona

Some random pictures of part of my life here in Arizona.

Mom, Denny, Pudge and I at Starbucks in Scottsdale. This was after we had a wonderful drive through the hills looking at the beautiful homes and scenery. We were stalling for time here waiting to go pick up Gemma at the airport.

Shannon, Gloria, & Darcy at the Arabian horse show in Scottsdale. This show is awesome. I am not even into horses but I sure do enjoy it. I would recommend this to anyone.

We are preparing the stage for our big 2011 dance review. The theme was Broadway Lights and Boogie Nights. Many of us showed up to do this. Some were hanging back drops and curtains. We are covering outlets with tape. It turned out well and it was fun to do.

Mom & I at Ms. Thomas Tea House for tea. Shannon, Gloria, & Darcy were with us. This blog only allows me to put on 5 pictures at a time. I would put a lot more pictures on here if it allowed me.

Mom & I out for her walk one morning. I had the camera and was taking pictures of Mom when my very nice neighbor asked if I wanted one of the two of us. Of course, I did so this is it. This time we were walking on the road in front of the condos.

The Master Bedroom

Master bedroom before. It seemed dated and dull to me. Cream walls, light furniture with brass handles, picture above bed was intriguing but it was not me. It was mostly pink and I do not like pink for decorating especially in a master bedroom. Duvet cover was creamy yellow and bed skirt was bought at Goodwill and it did match the duvet cover pretty well. Now I could live with all of this but I really wanted to update it. What you cannot see is a microwave cart that held our printer. Very functional but it was that laminated wood and not appealing.

Bougher bedroom after. Walls were painted a somewhat deep sagey green. That is the microwave cart that I painted black and added new handles and it is hard to see but a basket is on the shelf right below printer to hide paper for printer. The mirror was very reasonable. Shelf on wall and white urns were from Goodwill.

All the light colored furniture was stripped of varnish and stained a very nice, rich dark walnut which I am like very much. Handles were spray pained a brushed nickel and that really made a difference as far as giving it a more updated look. Billowy white sheers hang from a silver decorator rod and we got new vertical blinds. Not real crazy about the vertical blinds but they are functional and easy to keep clean vs. the horizontal that would collect dust. And I am all about low maintenance.

Love the picture above the bed!!!! There was somewhat of a dilemma with this but I am so very pleased. It is the focal point of the room and so very peaceful and pretty. The frame and matting are done so nicely. I have fallen in love with this painter--DeGrazia. The dust ruffle, duvet, and shams were a splurge but I am not sorry about it. They are a very crispy, fresh white with some embroidery trim which is the same sagey green as the walls. The lamp was from a garage sale but I painted some of the raised spots the same color green as the walls. I would like to find another one like it or similar for the other side. It does need a few more pictures but it is a good start.