Garden update

The view from my upstairs bedroom - I pulled out the screen just for the occasion of taking pics from up here!  Note the wetlands in the far left...

A zoomed-in shot:

Even zoomier... along the top fence, you can see beets, and some kale and carrots (which are taking soooo painfully long to get big!)... then in the bushy rows, I have double-rows of beans (each "row" has one row of green beans and one row of yellow beans), and then third bushy row has two rows of spinach and one row of romaine lettuce.  At the bottom end of the middle row, I've got some fuzzy dill!  For perspective, these rows are all around 8' long.

Cukes in the middle, potatoes on the top, kale & carrots top right, turnips bottom left, and tomato plants under the cucumbers. 

Some of my flowers... not the greatest picture.  You can see some of my strawberries in the top right.

The view (zoomed) of the bridge in our wetlands, from our bedroom window.  A few days ago, the water was much, MUCH higher!

This was taken at the peak of the flooding.  you can see where the normal shoreline is, and then how much farther the water has spread beyond that.  You can barely see the bridge - it's in the distance.  It's a fairly large area!

Here's one end of the bridge, along with a tree that really should not have been in the water...

Same bridge, other end... wait a second, why isn't the end of it on dry land?  I think the water level had risen around 18" during the storms.

This is the other end of the wetlands - and there is a whole lot more connecting these two spots.  Notice how close the water has gotten to the yards of some of the homes... 

I'll be glad when my basement stops leaking, we can get the weeping tile and foundation guys in here, and get our basement re-renovated.  Looks like we've got some deconstruction to do.  :(

I'm not mad.

Interesting.

Our basement started flooding yesterday morning, even though the rain stopped 2 days ago.

We have ripped back the carpets and underlay.  I'd sucked out about 40-50 gallons of water from the carpet before we decided we need to peel it all back...

We've got about 30 towels on the 'go' - layered and stacked near the points of entry as the water continues to seep in... down here every 1-2 hours to "change" towels, throw those 15 in the washer to spin at 1200 rpm and then toss into the dryer to dry a bit more before subbing in for the other 15 huge towels...

Sleep?  Yeah, not sure what that really is.

A newer home... such issues... water table is high... wetlands have gone beyond flooding, and bridges are under water... it doesn't sound like insurance or new home warranty will cover any of it...

Meaghan was up twice last night, also - apparently she read my blog post about missing her snuggles, so she graciously obliged.

As miserable as this is...

I'm not mad.

Just tired.  And maybe a little frustrated.  But not mad.  Just plugging along.

Last night, I realized that this is almost like having a newborn in the house again, having to be up so often, only newborns are much sweeter and much more *worth it*.

We do what we have to do, don't we?

Last night, I was e-mailing back and forth with some of our friends, late at night... he said, "We know you guys like coming over to use our hot tub, but really, did you have to one-up us and get a pool in your basement?"

Heh heh.

I'm gonna grab a quick shower before changing towels again.  :)

SNOW!!

So.

Living at the very back of a cul-de-sac is great... except when you've got over a foot of snow (even more in the drifted spots) and can't get out and there is nobody else to pack a path for you.

Graeme has inventory count (and a bunch of Rexall big-wigs) at the store this morning to prep for the business transaction on Monday. He had to be there at 7:30, but didn't even get out of our cul-de-sac until about 7:35... we're thankful for helpful neighbors! Then, he called me about 10 minutes later to let me know he was stuck on the main road and that 3 guys pushing him couldn't budge the van. :(

This is going to be an interrrrresting day. I am certainly not interested in trying to go out to our Christmas party tonight in these conditions!

A wee bit late, but still worth noting...

On April 17th, I walked to the church for Bible study. Had the kids in their stroller. Walked. Beautiful day. Was so hot on the way home that I had to take off my sweater. I had only a tank-top and capris on. Still sweaty by the time I got home.

Two days later, a blizzard came. Here are a couple of pictures as I was driving to pick up Dustin from Gramma & Grampa's house (after I took Joshua to gymnastics)...

Can you believe it? Actually, I'm sure you can - Calgary apparently got dumped on quite handily, too. And for longer, I think.

But the irony of shorts & tank-top weather, followed closely by "break out the winter gear" weather... Good grief!

FOOD - finally!

So, it's 4:05 as I start this post.

As of 21 minutes ago, I hadn't had anything to eat today. Sorry, let me correct that. As I made muffins with Joshua this morning, I licked the spatula. And I had a bite of his sandwich for lunch. And...umm....a couple glasses of water.

And I'm still in my jammies.

Today has been one of "those" days. Dustin is sick with a cold, and is proving to not be the same "happy sick" kid that Joshua is. Dustin was up a LOT last night, and cried for an hour and a half straight this morning. Then both kids were up before 7:00 this morning. I pathetically laid on the couch this morning while Joshua watched Treehouse, I was so tired. I paid for it later, too - little Mr. Disobedient emerged in the form of tantrums and such. He's better now, but yeah, I've definitely found that his disobedience directly corresponds to the amount of TV I let him watch!

So I spent the rest of the morning trying to keep the kids happy - J and I made chocolate-chocolate-chip cupcakes for Daddy. I made pears for Dustin. I made "granana" bars (J's word for granola" for the family. I made paper airplanes with Joshua. I played Candyland with Joshua. I bounced Dustin. And bounced him more. And bounced him some more. And nursed him. And nursed him again and again in efforts to unstuff his stuffy messy little nose.

Graeme called me mid-morning and informed me that he'd be closing the store (as well as opening), because the other pharmacist lives out in the country and the roads are bad. No problem - I totally am all for letting someone drive home safely while it's still daylight! He came home around 2:15 and stayed till around 3:45, just to break up his day a bit. Graeme also has a meeting tonight, so he'll be out until around 9:30 or so.

I suspect this is how the rest of my evening will play out: The kids will go to bed around 7:30 or so. I will get dressed and go out and shovel the several inches of wind-packed snow we've received (and are still receiving) off of our driveway and sidewalk. Oh, if I'm really lucky I'll get to change when I put Dustin down for his next nap. Yeah, I like that idea. I will then get to shower after snow-shovelling before changing into a fresh set of jammies.

It's been a long time since I've been so busy I haven't even been able to eat or change out of my jammies! Yikes!!

My "breakfast" consisted of a bowl of rice krispies, one of the granana bars I made, and a sampling of the cupcakes J and I made this morning.

What a day!!!!

(And I still can't post pictures - ARGH!!!! I have SUCH a cute one of Dustin to post, too!)