Normal at last

We finished getting everything cleaned up yesterday. What a lot of work. I washed nonstop for one entire day. Fans in the basement are getting it super dry, plus we have 2 dehumidifiers going. Sunday afternoon we had 8 people from church come and help us bring ruined stuff up from the basement, and just generally clean up. I hope that never happens again.

Chris and Adam, his friend, got in Mon night at 11:30. We talked for a while, then went to bed. Rick had to leave this morning for a business trip to Europe. Chris, Adam, and I went to downtown Philly to see some sights. We ate a late lunch at Geno's, famous Philly cheesesteak place.

Chris and Adam leave Wed morning. I will miss them. Luckily, Rick and I go to Indy to spend Labor Day Weekend with Jason. It will be fun to be back, spend time with Jason, see Danville, go to church at the Brownsburg ward.

We do have damage

Sometime after 1 am, our sump pump quit working. Around 9:30 am we discovered around 5 inches of water in the basement. What a mess. Tons of boxes filled with stuff destroyed. Lots of work. Starting to get a handle on it.

All's well

Received lots of rain, our rain gauge topped out at 5 inches and I'm sure more fell but could not be measured. There is major flooding, but we are not affected by any. Tornadoes were spun off the hurricane, and Rick and I spent several hours in the basement. Still expecting more wind. The tv news reports that millions are without power, luckily we still have it. Church today is Sacrament only and we are joining with the other ward in the building. It is supposed to be quite humid this upcoming week.

Earthquake, then hurricane...will we survive?

This is the horrible damage we sustained from the earthquake. It lasted about 5 seconds here. This pic is on our deck.

The top two pics are from our deck onto the golf course. We are on the 6th tee. Philly has already been saturated with rain; I emptied our rain gage this morning - 1 inch. The hurricane should hit here Sat night or Sun morning. The weatherman said expect 4-8 inches. I hope the golf course doesn't become a lake. I'm stocking up on batteries, getting 72 hr kit ready. Not sure what else to do.

Peace Valley Park and Nature Center

This is one of the places Rick and I like to walk. It is 6 miles to walk around the lake. We usually just walk part of it, 2, 3, or 4 miles. They rent canoes, kayaks, and sailboats. Sometime when Chris is here, we want him to teach us how to sail. The lake is man-made and the name makes me think of some commune from the 60s.

Grandmother Deeny with Macy

This pic is the 1st and 4th of the 4 generations. I love it.

Cascade Springs

One of my fav places in nothern Utah would have to be Cascade Springs. My sister Kristi introduced me to this area several years ago. I really like to drive up Provo Canyon, passing Sundance and Timpanogas cave along the way. Beautiful switchback road, breathtaking scenery, until arriving at the Springs. It has trails, some with a boardwalk. Rick and I took Stella and had a lovely morning drive and walk.

Memories

Having lived in the Midwest, and now on the east coast, for about 26 years, I love going back west to Utah and Idaho. I'm fortunate in that I can return 4 or 5 a times a year, and stay 2 to 4 weeks at a time.

I'm posting some pics from the Family Reunion in Idaho. This is from the canal above our house in Richfield. We used to swim in it most every noon break and many times in the early evening. The water is icy cold. Once when Uncle Junior was up from AZ he saw us playing in the water, jumping off the bridge, swimming under the bridge, just having a great time on a hot summer day. He went back to the house, pulled on his swimming trunks, came back to the bridge, and jumped in. He immediately swam to the bank and climbed out; then with some colorful language (but no swearing) let us know that the water was "gol-danged cold!" We were so used to it we didn't even notice. Ahh, good times.

Missing my granddaughters

I guess I have pics to look at. Not quite the same as holding, talking to, and playing with them.

Remember when dinosaurs roamed the earth?

We have been scouting out different parks to take Stella and Macy to when they come. This looks like a fun one.