Muddy Mud Mud

This post is somewhat of a follow up to yesterday's prayer request. The headline in the paper this morning is that the tornadoes that ripped through here over the weekend were classified as an F-5. I remember watching the movie Twister and someone asked what an F-5 was like and they answered "the finger of God." I think that is a very apt description. I look at picture after picture of the damage and it's completely devastating. There were a total of 7 deaths and 350 homes were lost in the town that was hit the hardest (with another 100 homes receiving "extensive" damage). In the town I work in, 240 of 280 homes received damage of some sort.

Closer to home, went in to work yesterday to discover our warehouse had flooded. From the watermarks on the door it looks like we got between 2 and 3 foot of water inside. A lot of our stuff is palletized but of course pallets only sit 6-8" high. Most of it floated around inside until the water receded then landed. My co-worker and I spent all day yeseterday cleaning. We basically had to open each case of toys, inspect them, remove the damaged cardboard, relabel the foam enclosures, then sort them into clean and dirty piles. Then they got hauled to a storage facility. It was VERY slow going. (Total side note - I am AMAZED at how well those styrofoam enclosures kept out the mud and water!)

Another co-worker, and a good friend, lost everything in her basement...deep freezer, washer, dryer, furnace, water heater, personal items, etc. Even her car in her garage is totaled. And of course, very few people have flood insurance. Ironically, this particular area was just rezoned as a flood zone last week thereby making people even eligible to get flood insurance. (Another side note - THANK the Red Cross. They are an amazing group of people!)

Here's a few pictures of our clean-up efforts at work:

Mud and my co-worker standing in it.

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One corner of the warehouse. This was where we started.

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Storage shelves. You can see the mud caked on the shelving.
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Going towards the back room. The boxes along the side are pedal tractors.
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Pile of trash from inside. Mostly cardboard boxes.

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More of the trash pile.

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And a few more links:

F-5 Status

Photos

Today's Headline Article

Prayer Request

We had some terrible storms go through our area last night. We were very fortunate in that we had no damage, however many people in our area were not so lucky. Our school is closed tomorrow because there are so many families that have storm damage.

Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers!


Articles relating to the storms:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/05/26/severe.weather/index.html

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080526/NEWS/792288293/1001/NEWS

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080525/NEWS/326681311/0/DEATHNOTICES

Finally Done!

Another KAL done - finally! As I've said, this one was a doozy for me. Funny thing is, once I got the kinks worked out, it was actually a fun, easy cloth to make. It's one I tagged as "favorite" in my pattern book so I will definitely be making it again!



Here's the Ballband cloth I did during our trip to my cousin's graduation. 3.5 hours, one way. Plenty of knitting time! :)

The Truth Revealed

Well I finally saw a picture of what this month's KAL is supposed to look like. I have the basic concept down but apparently I got off a row somewhere at the beginning. My little inside out ridge at the very bottom would be incorrect. I started a new cloth last night and hope to have it completed tonight. This was a VERY interesting KAL! I learned a new technique - reverse yarn over - and I also learned how many different ways directions can be interpreted. :)

ARGH!

This month's Knit Along is absolutely kicking my rear! First time around, I was doing the yarn overs wrong so the pattern didn't look at ALL like it was supposed too. Now that I have THAT figured out, I seem to have a continuing problem with purling through the back loops. Seems like about every fourth row or so, I miss one and I wind up with one goofy stitch in the middle of the row. I think this is rapidly turning into my most frogged project ever!

Mistake in the top row.

Results from the wrong yarn over.

Correct way (I think!) front side.

Correct way (I think!) back side.

Gardening!

I finally got some pictures of my flower gardens uploaded. We've had a LOT of rain and then finally got some sun. Everything is really starting to "pop". Of course I can now really see how much we need to paint the foundation of the house. Oh well! Maybe the daylilies will grow tall enough to hide it! :)

We are slowly in the process of creating all perennial beds with just some accent baskets of annuals here and there. We started our flower beds over 10 years ago at our old house and transplanted everything when we moved. Each year we split off a few more things and move plants around as our tastes change. New this year is the "Bachtell Bed" (complete with a name sign my parents got me for my birthday last year!) Slowly but surely we are getting it just like we like it!

Front Bed - Week 1

Front Bed - Week 2

What a difference some rain and sunshine make!

Bachtell Bed - Week 1

Bachtell Bed - Week 2

Side Bed - Week 1

Side Bed - Week 2

Close up of my Bleeding Heart

Mini Roses in an old bucket.

Close up of one of the hostas and sedum in the front bed.

Petunia bed. I always plant petunias because they remind me of my Grandma.

Another Placemat

Finished the mainly green placemat this morning and I have to say I am LOVING how these look! Makes me anxious to get the other two done. :)

Completely Caught Up!

I FINALLY am completely caught up on the Monthly Knit Dishcloth knit alongs! With the time I had to knit over the weekend and a few nights this week with nothing going on, I finally got all of my back knitting done. What an awesome feeling! :)

I am going to try to take another picture tomorrow morning. Orange does NOT photograph well. Related to that - my light box bit the dust over the weekend. Full house, two kids, big dog, rammy husband and precious little storage space meant the light box went on top of the piano. Unfortunately, there were also some books on top of the piano that went through the side of the light box. I was a little bummed but not terribly so. I wasn't haven't great luck taking pictures with it, just good luck. Maybe I'll try again another day. :)

Here's a slightly less orange'y orange. I think it shows the detail MUCH better than the other picture. Plus you don't need sunglasses to look at it!

Playing Catch-Up

Had some lovely time to knit this weekend - finally! Emily helped pick up the house Saturday so I had most of the afternoon and evening free to just play around. I decided to try to catch up on the KAL's that started before I joined the Monthly Dishcloth Group. I am trying to complete the challenge (making all 24 cloths for the year) and had two to finish. I completed the Diamonds on Lace cloth this morning. It's a very pretty cloth with a cool pattern.






Funny thing is, I joined the group the first part of February and I remember looking back at that cloth and the directions and thinking "I'll NEVER be able to make that!!!" I'm thrilled with how many new things I have learned in the last few months. I'm forever grateful to the members and owners of the various groups I belong to. :)

Mother's Day 2008 - Hunter and I went yesterday and bought some flowers for the front porch. That was my present. The kids and I went to Sunday School and church this morning and Toby made us brunch (Belgian waffles - yum!) Played a round of Garbage with Hunter and have been reading and knitting. No complaints here!

Ribbit, Ribbit

I have had the worst luck with my knitting lately! Seems I have been frogging more than I have been completing. I started a Dragonfly cloth a few nights ago and somewhere I got off a line. It took me several lines to realize my image was now reveresed (the "ins" were "outs" and vice versa). I was so frustrated I wound up frogging the whole thing and putting the yarn away!

Maybe I'll just stick to Tribbles for a few days...

Another KAL Done!

Just finished the May KAL for the Monthly KAL group. I thought this was a very pretty cloth! (And just a few days after my wedding anniversary).

Also did another slip stich cloth - this time in Hawkeye/Starmont colors. Was a fun cloth to do but I might try adding a border of some sort next time. Either that or it's finally time to learn to crochet borders. :)