Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Thank you to everyone who has e-mailed to check on me and my family during the floods in our area of Colorado this week. We are okay so far. There are a couple of roads washed out in our little town, but nothing compared to the devastation in Boulder a few miles west of us, Longmont, a few miles north of us and Estes Park, north of Boulder. There are also numerous smaller towns in the area that have suffered terrible damage.

This is a road that washed out early Thursday morning, just a short distance from us. It is at an intersection that I go by numerous times every week. Fortunately, all the people in these cars were rescued.

My son's neighborhood, about 20 miles north of us, was an island for a couple of days. This picture is a couple of blocks from their house. They finally could get out Friday afternoon. They went to a grocery store but found the shelves mostly empty because no deliveries had been made due to road closures. Their town is now under orders to boil any tap water they use.

There is an elementary school about a block from our house. About 75 fifth graders from the school have been stranded by the flood for several days at an outdoor lab camp (sort of an educational camping trip that all of the fifth graders here do). They had to be helicoptered out, leaving all their belongings behind. This afternoon when I drove by and saw this sign and their families waiting for them on the school lawn it brought tears to my eyes. 

When I heard the cheer that went up from the families as they saw the school bus bringing their kids home come around the curve I was sobbing right along with them.

As of this afternoon, there are still stranded people being rescued. The first responders have been heroic as they always are. The community response has been so great that shelters have had to turn away volunteers and supplies.

We have had about 24 hours of not much rain, but it is predicted that we will get some rain tonight and a lot of rain tomorrow. We have already had the amount of rain we usually get in a year fall in just a few days.

 Please join us in saying Rain, rain, go away!

Six Word Saturday

Friends forever, through thick and thin.

Bella, 7, and Addison, 9, were both diagnosed with Leukemia one day apart in April, 2010.
They have been best friends through years of chemo treatment (Bella for 2 years and Addison for 3 years). Their support for one another has been an amazing thing to see.
Addison is the son of a good friend of my daughter, Joanna.

They have both now completed treatment and are working together to raise funds to help conquer the disease they have both fought through.

Best friends forever.

To participate in 6WS click here

Wherein A Good Friendship Becomes a Little Sticky.......

I noticed recently that someone had "unfollowed" my blog. I'm sure it has happened before, but I noticed it this time because my number of followers went from a nice round even number to a not so nice odd one. It feels a little odd to be "unfollowed", but the truth is that lots of my not-so-many-anyway followers haven't been around in the blog world for a while.

It got me thinking about a face-to-face friendship that has become a little sticky lately. I have a friend who is a very kind, very sweet, and very generous woman.....until it comes to anything involving politics. She is very staunch in her political beliefs and surprises me with her vitriol toward those who don't believe as she does or toward candidates of the party opposing the one she supports. It is not that she and I necessarily disagree politically because mostly we don't. What we don't agree about is that anyone who believes differently is a liar, a cheat, an idiot....or worse. During the last presidential election we had "words" when I commented that I thought there were as many "untruths" being told from one side as the other. I admire her passion but I have a hard time accepting her intolerance of differing views.

Since then I have mostly tried to avoid any political topics, until recently when I mentioned that I wanted to see the movie The Butler. She came out with a tirade about how the movie was a bunch of lies, the casting was a slap in the face to any right thinking person and no one with any brains would pay money to see it.....not her exact words, but that is how it sounded to me. After bravely saying that I still wanted to see the movie I successfully changed the subject and we haven't talked since.

I certainly don't want to lose a friend, but I also can't be comfortable in a friendship that makes me feel like I am walking on eggshells in terms of safe topics of conversation. She is not a person with whom you can just agree to disagree. Right now I am just wishing that there was something as easy as an "unfollow" button, but face to face friendships don't work that way.

Have you ever felt the need to "unfollow" a face-to-face friend?

I've Decided To "Like" Facebook

Yes, Facebook can be very annoying with the constant changes, too many stories about who is playing what game and too many invitations to play with them, the occasional over the top political or religious rant, security issues and so forth. Even with the annoyances, I find a lot of things I "like" about Facebook.

I like that I got to see my son and grandson being goofy at a pre-season Broncos game last weekend.

I like that I got to see pictures from my friend Betty's vacation, even though she lives over 5000 miles away in Paraguay.

I like that I got to hear about my friend, June, who I haven't seen in nearly 30 years, having a home-made ice cream get-together with her kids and grandkids. 

I like that I got to see one of my granddaughters going in for her first day of kindergarten moments after it happened.

I like that I got to see my friend Patty "enjoying" her Disney World vacation.

I like that I got to see two of my grandsons on their vacation to Colorado National Monument as it was happening.

I didn't like seeing this picture of my not quite 3 year old grandson, Beck, with his newly broken foot. It is currently in a splint, waiting for a cast when the swelling goes down.

I did like seeing that even a broken foot that he can't walk on hasn't slowed him down a bit.

Compared to most people I don't have very many Facebook friends.  I don't put much on there myself.....I guess I would be considered a lurker, but I like the friends I have and getting to see these kinds of things that I like make a few annoying things not seem so bad.

Going To Middle School or Gone Hollywood

My 11 year old granddaughter, Hope, woke up for her first day of middle school today with one eye swollen and sore from a big stye that had developed overnight. She has been chomping at the bit to start middle school for weeks, so fortunately this little mishap didn't slow her down. A warm compress helped with the pain and swelling, so after adding a big pair of sunglasses off she went.

Ready to go.

The traditional first day of school pic with her siblings.

Lots of parents have watched this scene with mixed feelings this week.

I don't remember having any first day of school mishaps, other than having to start 10th grade on crutches because of a foot surgery that didn't heal as fast as expected.

Do you recall any first day of school mishaps that happened to you or your children?

No Excuses

I have no excuses for ignoring my blog for the last couple of weeks, other than the fact that I have been working full time and not doing much else. Thus, this will be just a little catch-up post of mostly family fragments.

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Who knew there was a national Middle Child Day? It turns out that my middle child, my oldest daughter Jill, knew and thought it was a day worth celebrating with her niece and the only other middle child in our family, my 5 year old granddaughter EJ. I think it may have been an "any excuse to get ice cream" thing.

A "selfie" of Jill and EJ celebrating national Middle Child Day.

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Everything seems to be all about back-to-school with my family right now. Two of my grandkids started last week, two start tomorrow and two later this week. (As an aside, I can't believe the amount of supplies that kids going to middle school are required to have.) Anyway, I did get to have a back-to-school picnic with some of my grandkids last week.

Just a few more days of summer freedom for most of these kids. 

Hope, 11, with her Aunt Jill here, is the only one that is really eager for school to start.

Beck has another year before he starts pre-school, so he is happy to just keep playing baseball.

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My five year old granddaughter, Anna, woke her mom up at 4:30 one morning recently saying "Mom, my heart's not beating." Fresh off of a CPR/First Aid/AED class, my DIL, Leah, fortunately knew that this was impossible.

Anna, with a fully beating heart and full of sassiness.

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I saw this recently on my friend Betty's Facebook page.

I'm sure it has been all over the internet, but I love the succinct way it puts things in perspective.

I Beg Your Pardon..... It's Almost Time For Kindergarten

Even though it seems like summer has only just begun school clothes and school supplies are front and center in nearly every store you go to. Six of my seven grandkids will be starting a new school year in a few weeks, but it is an especially big start for my two youngest granddaughters, E.J. and Anna, both 5, who will soon be trading in their swim suits for school clothes and starting kindergarten.

E.J. and Anna

They have both had a couple of fun years in preschool and they will both be going to schools they are familiar with from having an older sibling at the school. Even so, their attitudes about this big change in their lives could not be much different. Anna is excited, ready to go and pretty much thinks she will be running the show within a few days. E.J., who is a girl who resists any big change in her life, DOES NOT want to go to kindergarten and has been lobbying for home schooling. The good news is that her mom, my daughter Joanna, taught kindergarten for six years and has seen and dealt many times with all kinds of first day of school angst. E.J.'s history suggests that after a couple of days of high drama at the beginning she will love kindergarten, though it will take her a while longer to actually admit that she likes it. 

Do you deal well with changes in your life or are you resistant?

Do you have any memories of starting kindergarten?

 To participate in the Grand Social visit Lisa here.