Hope Floats Quote:
"Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad, but it's what's in the middle that counts. So, when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will."I love this quote, and I love this movie:)
Monday, January 17, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Adventures as the Mayor
The past three days of storm has allowed me to fully develop as an elected official.
Thursday is when the actual adventure of the Blizzard took affect for me. At about 12:45 the power went out in Amenia. I was texting and talking with my buddy Bridget in Mapleton, who was also out of power. I was hoping it was just a short outage but had a feeling that it wasn't. After peering out the kitchen window I was pretty sure Bill needed to come home from work ASAP and we were in for a doozy of a storm. I could not see the bar across the road and I watched the thermostat drop 2 degrees in about twenty minutes. I got a hold of Bill and advised he hurry up and get home. He stopped at Hardware Hank, picked up a little propane heater and headed home. 3:00 arrived and still no power, I had a few phone calls and had called into Ottertail to see what was up. I would just like to point out that I love Ottertail and the linemen that got our power back. However, the news from Jerry was not good. She said they were working on the outage but were going to have to pull the workers because it was not safe and roads were being shut down. She said they were going to try again in the morning.
At that point I was a bit concerned but thought, hey a few years ago we were out for three days and we were fine. Then I realized that two years ago it was not as cold and no 40 mph winds. 4:00, my council people and I made a plan to call everyone in town and let everyone know what was up. Boy, the saying don't shoot the messenger holds true:) O-well! We got a few people connected with those with a generator or wood stove and Bill and I hunkered down for the night.
At about 6:00 the temp in the house was 47 degrees and I was getting cold. Bill and I headed upstairs, shut the bedroom door and hunkered down for the night.
Our bedroom stayed pretty warm, about 50 degrees and with both dogs under the covers with us we were fine. However, we were very concerned about downstairs. Oh and we were really worried about an elderly guy named Bob in town, he did not want to leave his trailer, he had to stay with his cats!
7:00 then next morning I was praying the power would be on soon and our pipes would not be frozen. The thermostat in our living room was down to 27 degrees!!!
By 9:30ish the electricity popped back on for a bit, but we knew it would take awhile to warm up so we headed to the school to shower and warm up for a bit.
The power stayed on for a few hours and then was off again for awhile. After talking to Ottertail, we were assured power would be on again late afternoon, early evening so we did not stress about it. I even made it on good old KFGO to report Ottertail was working on the situation.
I think my idea of being mayor was a little concerning because I thought it was going to be a pain in the rear. Instead it made me feel good to be able to let everyone know what was going on and do a bit of organizing for people to make sure everyone stayed safe. We stayed connected with our neighbors, and good old Bob made it through and so did his cats.
I am starting to get a bit concerned about this Spring and what my duties might include during the impending flood. As for now, we are warm and toasty and loving the quality time we have spent together.
Thursday is when the actual adventure of the Blizzard took affect for me. At about 12:45 the power went out in Amenia. I was texting and talking with my buddy Bridget in Mapleton, who was also out of power. I was hoping it was just a short outage but had a feeling that it wasn't. After peering out the kitchen window I was pretty sure Bill needed to come home from work ASAP and we were in for a doozy of a storm. I could not see the bar across the road and I watched the thermostat drop 2 degrees in about twenty minutes. I got a hold of Bill and advised he hurry up and get home. He stopped at Hardware Hank, picked up a little propane heater and headed home. 3:00 arrived and still no power, I had a few phone calls and had called into Ottertail to see what was up. I would just like to point out that I love Ottertail and the linemen that got our power back. However, the news from Jerry was not good. She said they were working on the outage but were going to have to pull the workers because it was not safe and roads were being shut down. She said they were going to try again in the morning.
At that point I was a bit concerned but thought, hey a few years ago we were out for three days and we were fine. Then I realized that two years ago it was not as cold and no 40 mph winds. 4:00, my council people and I made a plan to call everyone in town and let everyone know what was up. Boy, the saying don't shoot the messenger holds true:) O-well! We got a few people connected with those with a generator or wood stove and Bill and I hunkered down for the night.
At about 6:00 the temp in the house was 47 degrees and I was getting cold. Bill and I headed upstairs, shut the bedroom door and hunkered down for the night.
Our bedroom stayed pretty warm, about 50 degrees and with both dogs under the covers with us we were fine. However, we were very concerned about downstairs. Oh and we were really worried about an elderly guy named Bob in town, he did not want to leave his trailer, he had to stay with his cats!
7:00 then next morning I was praying the power would be on soon and our pipes would not be frozen. The thermostat in our living room was down to 27 degrees!!!
By 9:30ish the electricity popped back on for a bit, but we knew it would take awhile to warm up so we headed to the school to shower and warm up for a bit.
The power stayed on for a few hours and then was off again for awhile. After talking to Ottertail, we were assured power would be on again late afternoon, early evening so we did not stress about it. I even made it on good old KFGO to report Ottertail was working on the situation.
I think my idea of being mayor was a little concerning because I thought it was going to be a pain in the rear. Instead it made me feel good to be able to let everyone know what was going on and do a bit of organizing for people to make sure everyone stayed safe. We stayed connected with our neighbors, and good old Bob made it through and so did his cats.
I am starting to get a bit concerned about this Spring and what my duties might include during the impending flood. As for now, we are warm and toasty and loving the quality time we have spent together.
Christmas
It was fun to have three Christmas gatherings this year. My mom and dad hosted Christmas Eve with the Maasjo's, Grandma Mac had our entire family, minus my dad and Ryan, for Christmas day and we made it to Don and Cindy's to visit on Sunday.
It was a ton of fun spending time with family and catching up with everyone. It is also exciting to watch our cousins' families grow and watch as Grandma Mac gains more Great-Grandchildren. It is kind of tough sometimes but spending time with our second cousins and nephews makes us smile and understand that God has a plan and we are very blessed with an awesome family.
It was a ton of fun spending time with family and catching up with everyone. It is also exciting to watch our cousins' families grow and watch as Grandma Mac gains more Great-Grandchildren. It is kind of tough sometimes but spending time with our second cousins and nephews makes us smile and understand that God has a plan and we are very blessed with an awesome family.
Programs
Having nephews that are now older than 3 means I attend more programs. It is so much fun to watch the boys perform, sing and participate. Although I am pretty sure Brendan is not a huge fan of the stage I think Carter loves it.
The first two pictures are of Carter as a penguin during his preschool program.
Lissa was the director of the St. John's Christmas Program this year and it was awesome!
Baby Jesus was played by Brendan and Carter's cousin, Paxton. Paxton was so good! It helped that a former student of mine played Mary. She has several little brothers and sisters and was fabulous with Baby Jesus;) Carter and Brendan, along with Tate Camas made up the Shepard crew this year. Carter is no longer a little sheep, sad but he played a stellar role of Shepard #3.
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