Flozzard

I heard someone coin this phrase today regarding our blizzard and flood - sounds pretty apt to me!

Well, the winter storm they had warned us about certainly came roaring in last night. We have had several inches of snow already and it's falling pretty steadily again along with 20 mph winds. Our office was open for a few hours and they sent us home at 11 a.m. So many roads are closed for us and now with the blizzard, we only have one way out of our development and it's compacted with snow. The scary part is that this side road has ditches full of water that if you should happen to slide off the road you run the risk of going under. Not good ... I took it nice and slow on my way home.

So far, the snow and the wind hasn't caused much damage at all to the dikes. I listened to the daily press conference by city officials and they seem pleased with how the levees and dikes are handling the stress of the recent storm weather.

I'm settling in with the kids today (they are back now that the river has receded some) and just put a chicken in a stockpot to cook all afternoon long (chicken noodle soup or knoephla soup - such decisions!) We'll pop in a DVD, I'll read a flew blogs and we'll spend the day inside safe and warm.

Flood Fight

As many of you are probably aware through national and local news, Fargo is in a desperate fight against the Red River of the North. The last few days have been surreal with the overwhelming effort of the community to sandbag and volunteer. I am in awe of the unselfish nature of others to help their fellow man.

My neighborhood borders the river and we have been frantically making sandbag dikes at the end of our street and two streets north of us. My husband, son and I have been volunteering - in fact, I haven't seen our son very much in the last two days - school is let out for high schoolers and college kids to help and he's been in all parts of Fargo - doing his part. And it's hard work! Some of those sandbags can weigh up to 30 lbs! It's a human assembly line to get them laid down to protect these homes.

So far, we are safe and dry and city engineers came out to our site and we are confident our dikes will hold - others in different parts of Fargo-Moorhead have a tougher fight. As a write this, I hear they are evacuating people in south Fargo already. It's very disconcerting. I hope and pray that we can hold off the floodwaters and Fargo-Moorhead suffers minimal damage.

In the past 48 hours we've dealt with rain, thunder, lightning, rising waters and now a winter storm with 4-8 inches of more snow. It's a good thing we are resilient.

Here is a link that shows photos of what is happening on my street. http://www.flickr.com/photos/36626034@N07/

If you want to find out more - please visit http://www.inforum.com/. Other areas of the state are dealing with flooding and evacuations too.

Please keep the people of Fargo - and all of North Dakota in your prayers!

Wild and Windy Night

What is with the weather lately? Tornadoes, floods, excessive heat ....

Here in North Dakota, we've been able to escape the wrath of Mother Nature but we got a dose of her fury last night.

I was alone with all the kids when signs flashed across the TV about tornado warnings. I've been fascinated with thunderstorms and ominous weather since I was kid and my curiosity got the best of me. I grabbed my oldest daughter ("Annaboo") and we walked outside to see the impending storm.

The sky was a combination of blue, black and gray with swirling clouds abound. We were in awe - but only for a minute as within seconds the wind blew and trees were bent. We ran back home only to realize we had left Sasha outside on her chain and Mommy's little helper was playing in the yard with friends. I was terrified that a tornado was within minutes of touching down.

The momma bear in me kicked in.

"Grab Sasha and get in the basement with your brother," I yelled. I grabbed Mommy's little helper from outside and Annaboo, by this time, had Sasha in her arms and was wrestling with the screen door to get in the house.

Envision Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz sans the flying cows and witches flying around on broomsticks.

The lights flickered and the wind howled as we waited out the storm in the basement. My teenage son was home (atypical for a Saturday night) and I was relieved that I had all my children in the house. The neighbors were gone and had called to tell us that their two young children were alone with a frightened babysitter. They asked us if we could bring them over to our house for safety. Through gale-force winds, my son volunteered to get them and he brought them to our house where we sat around and listened to the radio and ate Goldfish. I was very proud of him and his initiative to be the "man in the house" last night. I think the kids were more calm than me!

The storm blew past Fargo and we were fortunate that no funnel clouds touched down near us.

I took a tour of the house and garden and noticed little damage despite reports of 50-60 mph winds. The basketball hoop - a heavy beast to begin with - was moved about 10 feet and one of our flood lights on the house was blown out and dangling by a thread. And the gardens .... they were unscathed except for lots of branches and leaves mixed in with foliage and blooms.

I hope others were as lucky as us.