Another Year

Well as with a lot of blogs I've read I have a blind spot in mine als from either a super busy schedule or just plain lazyness, you figure it out. It has been a long year but I will try to give you a brief overview.

Went to Mayo Clinic in March I think. I had a terrible winter with my asthma and Sherrie finally got upset and got me an appointment in Rochster. Seems I was on the wrong meds. It said on the lable "Do not give to anyone with adverse pulmonary symptoms as it may cause death." That is the label they cover up with the prescriptio label. Anyway Mayo said they were suprized I even made it there and recognized the problem immediately. I recovered.

Next was the horrendous flood in Minot and surrounding area. 12000 people evacuated and 4000 homes (and business) inundated. I worked in the Flood Recovery Control Center for about three months untill the plaster dust and mold spores took thier toll on my asthma. Our town was literally cut in two and for months there was just on street across town. It was a 2 hour trip for a 20 block trip from north to south or back. I was amazed at how courteous drivers became. And you can still see the effects of it today when you drive across town. Almost everyone I know had evacuees living with them and you could hardly find a parking place on the street in the residential area (that wasn't flooded) because all the garages were full of evacuated furniture.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Humanitarian Dept was here in place immediately when the first homes were free of receeding water. The church Cultural Hall and Relief Society Room was turned into Tool Room Central for the work crews and the RS Room as the Control Center. Food and water was brought in by the truck loads and distributed. The church yard was covered with tents of volunteers that came from all over the country and Canada to help in the recovery efforts. The "Helping Hand" yellow shirts of the church were instrumental in gutting out nearly 700 houses between Memorial Day and Labor Day. We had nearly 300 out of town volunteers over Labor Day weekend. Since that time FEMA has been setting up trailers (about 2500 so far) and getting them winterized. So we are beginning to get back to some semblance of normal.

This winter is rediculas, however probably a blessing for thos who are displaced from thier homes. We have had literally no snow this year (maybe a couple of inches) with none on the ground at the present time and temps have been between 20 and 50 degrees. So much for the terrible ND winters. Read my blog this time last year.

The holidays are past and everyone is back to work or school and the year goes on. INcidently my computer crashed and I lost all my flood photos.