The Red River on a Rampage 2009

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Okay, I think I can write about this now

I intended to sit down and write an entry yesterday, but I just couldn't. This has been so emotionally draining and so stressful you just can't imagine. Some of you will understand where I'm coming from, but many of you won't. Having gone through this twice before (1975 and 1997) I have found that I can handle the situation during the event, but following have a tendency to fall apart. I still have a very difficult time to watch the video and look at the pictures that were taken back in 1997 and not break down. Unless you've been through it you have no idea what the stress level can be.

It's over for Ole and me - the water is down - not completely back in the banks by a long shot, but a livable situation. We're safe and we skated by - again. We lost our well - it was submerged and we'll have to have it sanitized before we can drink from it. Minor detail. We came close to losing our sewer system, but we didn't. Minor detail. Our driveway is washed out and will need repair. Minor detail. Our outbuildings got water in them - the storage building was under three feet and Ole's shop had a foot in it. Everything was lifted up so no damage other than a layer of stinky, slimy river silt over everything. Minor detail. Lovely Daughter's mobile home had water way up on the skirting but didn't get water on the main level. Her propane tank rolled over but didn't breakaway or start on fire. Ole had the foresight to tie all three propane tanks down that are on the property. Lovely Daughter and Hubby bought a house in Fargo and moved in there about a month ago. So her mobile home is empty at this point, but no damage from the flood.

The BIG detail is that our house stayed dry and we didn't even have any seepage. Granted, our sump pump has been running heavy duty, but it's still running, and that's important. Ole is smart and has three backup pumps, so if one goes out he can quickly connect another.

So for all of you who have been concerned and are wondering where we're at in all of this - we're safe and dry.

Many of you are hearing all kinds of things and seeing pictures of the Red River of the North on the national news. I need to explain one thing. Ole and I live along the banks of the Buffalo River, which is a tributary of the Red River. So what's happening on the Red isn't happening here at this immediate moment. We had and usually have our issues about a week before the Red River develops its fury. But don't let that make you think that the water wasn't an issue in our rural area because it definitely was. Our property is approximately 7 miles as the crow flies from the Red River, and in years past (1997 and 1975) has been known to come across country to within a mile of our house.

Our rural area is going to have its problems when this is all over. We have a lot of roads and bridges that have washed out, let alone all the personal property that was lost in the rural areas. There were a number of homes inundated, along with a small town downstream from here (Georgetown) that is located where the Buffalo River joins the Red River. Georgetown was diked completely around the town to a level that should have kept the water out, but the dike didn't hold and the entire town went under yesterday. Helicopters had to come in and pick people off their roofs because the highway was washed out and the water was too deep so rescue vehicles couldn't get there overland.

The cities of Fargo and Moorhead are fighting for their lives. There have been numerous areas of the two cities that have been evacuated because of weakened dikes; to this point there have been 8 breaches, all of which have been able to be repaired - this time. The officials feel the river may be cresting at this point, but they expect the river will stay at this level for from 5 to 7 days. That's a long time to be holding all that water back. The highest crest prior to this one was 39.5 feet. The Red at this point is just shy of 42 feet, which breaks all records. And at this point we have another storm moving in by Monday which will possibly bring blizzard conditions.

One of the critical points is an area called Oakport. The entire development was diked and people had put up personal sandbag dikes in addition to the large earthen dike. They lost the fight and the development went under on Thursday. Someone's propane tank rolled over and exploded causing the house to start on fire. Of course, the fire department couldn't get there so the house burned. It was one of the few homes that hadn't been inundated.

All nursing homes have been evacuated, along with all three hospitals, many of them moving their patients to Bismarck, St. Cloud or Alexandria. Last night the sheriff's office and the jails were evacuated and the courthouse moved everything out of the basement. And as I said previously there are many neighborhoods that have been evacuated in both cities. There is a travel ban in the two cities - no travel unless you are associated with the flood fight in some way. Both mayors have asked all businesses to be closed unless they are selling things related to the flood fight. Interstate 29 is closed going both north and south and there are plans to close I-94 going east and west should it become necessary. And then there are the ice jams to deal with. Can you imagine trying to deal with all of this in temperatures in the single digits with snow on the ground?

I've pulled a couple of pictures from our local newpaper to give you an idea of what things look like.:

This is looking north over the Red toward downtown Fargo.



This is the Woodlawn Park area. There's a number of homes with water up to the roofline.


Just a sample of a dike in someone's back yard. And it wasn't high enough so they had to put sandbags on top of it. Note the hoses and the pumps in the picture. People are having a terrible time pumping out the seepage because of the cold temperatures. Everything freezes up. And if you've ever handled a frozen sandbag, you know they don't work very well. They're just like bricks.

Here's a shot of the house fire at Oakport.

Hope this gives you an idea of the mayhem - it's awful. I just hope the Fargo and Moorhead can hold their own and not lose the battle.

Love Lena

I've Got the Sump Pump Watch

It's 5 o'clock in the morning and I think my brain is fuzzy. I've been up since 2:30 a.m. for the second night in a row. Ole took the first watch so I could get some sleep as one of us needs to be up to make sure the sump pump doesn't quit until this water goes down a bit more.

All together now, one, two, three - Hip, hip, hooray!! The river has dropped a good six inches!! I'm here with my cheer leading skirt (uffda, that's an ugly thought) and my pompoms leading this cheer. I can't HEAR you - louder, okay? Just maybe, by Sunday, if the current rate of drop continues, we just might be able to drive a vehicle out of here.

And just think - Ole and I have been cooped up together under extremely stressful conditions since last Sunday (I think because I can hardly remember what day it is) and we haven't even yelled at each other. Now I think that's quite an accomplishment, don't you?

We actually had company yesterday!! Actually saw another human being!! Remember I told you in my last post that the Coast Guard had come into the area with air boats. You know, those things they drive around the Everglades to look at the alligators. Well, Ole and I were sitting in the living room drinking coffee and watching the white caps on our now lake front property when we heard this really loud engine. Neither of us could believe that there was actually a big truck going by on the highway as the water was just too deep and besides the road was closed. We went to the kitchen, looked out the window and just outside of our tree line we could make out a couple of guys dressed in orange coasting along over the ice and water. They rounded the north side of our tree line and proceeded on. I said to Ole, "Ole, go get dressed because I bet they're coming in our yard to check on us!" (Neither Ole nor I were dressed yet, still in our jammies figuring we had no place to go.) Sure enough, they rounded the bend and came right up to our house. They scooted that baby right up onto the ice in our front yard, climbed off that puppy and came up to talk to Ole. (By this time he was out in the front yard waiting for them.)

They were Coast Guard folks and were assigned to run the complete length of the river connecting with everyone that was surrounded by water to make sure they were okay or to offer them evacuation if need be. We still had water, electricity and sewer so they said we could stay because by this time the water had started to recede. But there were folks where evacuation was mandatory because they didn't want to have to come back at night to take them out. That's one problem - Ole and I both know from experience. Everything seems kind of hunky-dory, or as hunky-dory as it can be in this situation, during the daylight hours. But when it's dark out there and you can't see what's going on, it can get pretty scary. I know - I've spent the last two nights up watching and waiting. And believe me, when that daylight begins to creep up in the eastern sky, well, it's pretty darn welcome.

They scooted right up onto the ice and they were SO handsome, even if I didn't have a clue what they really looked like under all those clothes.

Well, things have gotten pretty hairy around here. As I said previously, we live along the banks of the Buffalo River, which is a tributary of the Red River, which is probably the one ya'll are hearing about in the national news. Yesterday, in an area just a few miles south of Fargo, the air boats rescued 11 families whose homes had gone under when their dikes broke. Believe me, it's no fun being in this water as it's only 35 degrees - barely above freezing. And even if you have rubber boots on to keep your feet dry it doesn't take long for the cold to penetrate.

The city is in a panic due to the fact that the crest prediction has been raised again. They're laying out city-wide evacuation plans "just in case." In 1997 the mighty Red crested at 39.5 feet, which is an awful lot of water. This year's prediction is 41 feet on Saturday and then holding there for about 5 days. That's a long time to hold all that water back. People are getting really tired and worn out and the worst is yet to come.

The rural areas have really been compromised. Roads and bridges washed out, etc., entire small towns infrastructures have failed and have had to be evacuated. It's going to cost a ton of money to fix all of this when the water goes down. The North Dakota side has already been declared a disaster area by Obama, so FEMA will be coming in to help out, but apparently he doesn't think the Minnesota side is as bad. Unfortunately it is, you just don't hear about it much because Fargo is the BIG city where the population center is. Us little "peons" on the Minnesota side will just have to fend for ourselves I guess. Our senators are too concerned about whatever happens to be going on in Minneapolis/St. Paul to give a rat's you-know-what about the outlying areas. Gov. Pawlenty finally managed to visit Moorhead a few days ago so he could get a photo-op and after a half hour visit flew off again. Oh well, so goes politics on all levels I guess.

Since Ole and I can't get out of here to take any pictures other than our own yard, I've pulled a couple from our local newspaper just to give you an idea of what's going on. This one came from just outside a small town about 6 miles from where we live. That's the highway that goes by our house. As of this morning - or during the night some time a section of it has been washed away.

The one below is from the development where 11 families were evacuated last night. Sad, isn't it.

Here's a little video I took yesterday when the Coast Guard came to visit. I didn't have my camera quite ready to video their arrival, so had to capture their departure instead. Aren't they handsome?????

Well, this is Lena, signing off from the Land of Sky Blue Waters (yeah, right). I have to go do something else to keep myself from falling asleep. Maybe I'll bake some cookies.

Talk to you next time!

You Know you Live in Hell When - - -

The river seemed to stabilize last night about 9 p.m. just tenths of an inch from the forecast crest. Between 9 p.m. last night and 9 a.m. this morning it didn't move. Then it dropped about an inch in the last hour, easily told by the ice hanging in the trees.

Yes, I said ice. Not only do we have all this high water, but it started to snow last night about 11:30, continued through the night and is forecast to fall throughout the day today. At this point we have about 5 inches on the ground.

The Coast Guard arrived (Coast Guard in MN/ND???) in the area last night with air boats and has already been called to rescue 17 families south of Fargo on the banks of the Wild Rice River. There's bound to be more as the Red River is currently at 35 feet and is forecast to go to 42 feet (record high - 2 feet higher than 1997). Flood stage is considered 17 feet, so that's a lot of water flowing downstream into a river that flows north and floods on the beginning of the channel before the whole river is thawed and open. God did that one backwards I think.

SO FAR we're holding our own. Our well head went under several days ago, but I had the foresight to fill containers so we would have drinking water. We'll have to have the well chlorinated when the water level goes down. As of last night we were within a couple of inches of losing our septic system, but we lucked out there with the drop of an inch this morning. That gives us just a bit more breathing room. And we didn't get the freezing rain that was forecast so to this point we haven't lost our power, although our sump pump is running every three minutes to empty a 35 gallon sump hole.

A neighbor to the south of us called me yesterday wondering how we were doing. They had lost their place that morning. There was no water on the main floor, but they had no power, no water and no sewer system.

Just heard on the radio that another house was lost in the Oxbow area and the family had to be ferried out by the Coast Guard. I'm afraid that's going to be happening more and more as the water moves north.

Oh, and by the way, we've collected ANOTHER 55 gallon oil drum!!!

Love Lena

How High's the Water, Mama?

It's 18.5 feet and rising - along with all the latest accumulation of junk that's floated in.

Here's a shot taken from the east side of our house.



And another from the backyard looking west.



And from the side of the garage looking south. My little log cabin garden shed has a couple of feet of water in it.

This is from our front yard looking east toward the highway. As far as I can tell the highway isn't under water yet. That's one of our trailers with a boat tied up to it. Ole has since moved the boat in closer to the house.

From our front yard looking toward Lovely Daughter's house.

A closer look at her front step.

And we are now "proud owners" of three more 55-gallon oil drums and a couple of tires that have floated in from somewhere.

Looking back toward our little island. Note all the trash in the water that we're going to have to clean up when this is done.

The rate of rise has slowed considerably. In past days the water has risen from an inch to an inch and a half per hour. It seems to have slowed down to about a half inch an hour this morning - so this is good! That usually indicates that it's about ready to crest. According to the weather bureau we're supposed to crest tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. But this flood has acted so strange that who knows what's going to happen. We also have a forecast for an inch or two of snow starting tonight. But at least that will need time to melt and not just run directly into the river.

I was reading on the county web page this morning that there are 120 roads in the county that are either under water or completely washed out. The county just to the south of us has 80% of their roads either under water or washed out.

So anyway, in a nutshell, the water is still rising but the rate of rise has slowed down. So MAYBE we'll escape again this time.

Love Lena

It's Been a Long Day

We're in the midst of a heavy duty thunderstorm right now with quite a lightening show. We've also got a tornado watch going. I wonder what we ever did to deserve all this. All at one time.

Here's the latest batch of pictures taken about 5:30 tonight. This is looking down our driveway toward the highway. Yesterday I moved my car out of the yard and onto the shoulder of the road. This morning we had to move it to even higher ground as I think by tomorrow morning the water will be going over the highway.


Not only does the water create a mess but all the trash that floats in with is has to be cleaned up afterwards. Today someone's fuel oil barrel (you can see it by the edge of the trees) and an old oil barrel came floating in. And of course there's a residue of oil in both of them that's floating on top of the water.

Even though the water is icy cold the doggers don't hesitate to get wet.

Here's our poor little mail box out by the highway. I had to have our mail held because I knew we wouldn't be able to get to it for several days.

See all the trash floating in with the water? This is taken looking back towards our house from the water on the driveway. Our front yard is full of equipment - a lawnmower, Ole's little Ford tractor, a car trailer, Ole's white truck, the old 4-wheel drive truck and a boat tied up - just in case.

We made a trip out about noon today in the old truck and I think that might be our last until this is over unless there's an emergency of some sort because the water over the driveway gets pretty deep out by the highway.

Here's Ole and the doggers going around to the back yard to check things out. Ole had just tied our propane tank to a tree so that it won't float away. Lots of things to think about that you don't ordinarily think about.

Here's the other corner of the house. See all the water between the house and the shop? It now goes over the top of Ole's boots. He's got to get his hip waders out!!

Glub, glub, glub.

Love Lena

Pictures

The water has come up several feet more over the last day. Fortunately we worked hard and got everything in our out buildings lifted off the floor as yesterday afternoon the water went into the storage building. It doesn't have far to go to get into Ole's shop. And our forecast is for heavy rain Sunday night through Tuesday. Is this Armageddon?

This is a shot of our driveway looking out toward the highway. We have to drive through 25 feet of water that's anywhere from 8 to 12 inches deep. I don't dare take my car through it so Ole brought our old 4-wheel drive truck that sits real high up to the house - you know - the kind you need a step ladder to get into - and we decided to go for a ride around the countryside to see what was happening both downstream and upstream.



This is called overland flooding and is what is currently surrounding the river basin. You drive for miles and this is what you see. All this still has to run into the main stream of the river yet.

This is our neighbor to the east. Her road is underwater for about a half mile. The bridge is in the middle of that half mile and is submerged.

Here's a closeup of her house. She sits on a little island. That's the way our house is set up also - we have our own private little mountain that we sit atop of. It's tough on basements though, and you better have a good sump pump and not lose power like some folks did yesterday.

Here's more overland flooding from a different direction. That's our little village in the background, but that sits up high enough so there's no water threatening anybody.

More neighbors to the east. Stony Creek runs by their house - and flushes into the main river. This is currently Stony Creek.

This is the neighbor to the south. He's got a real mess. He sits quite a bit lower than we do. Back in the spring of 1997 when we had a horrible, terrible winter and record floods in the spring, he took it upon himself to build his own dike.

In the state of Minnesota you have to have all kinds of permits and licenses to build a dike on your own property. The state wouldn't grant him the permits so he just did it on his own. The dike is 12 feet high. The heavy equipment was running night and day working in rising water to complete this dike and save his house. Somebody from the state got ahold of the information that he was building anyway and came out with the sheriff to stop him. The dike was almost done when they stopped him. He was short 2 inches of dirt on top of the dike and he lost his house. He got three feet of water on his main floor. Then after the flood was over the state was going to force him to take it down. He got lawyers involved and won his case and was even allowed to finish the dike.

That may be what we end up doing. More politics you know - - - but fortunately we don't need a dike 12 feet high - only about 4.

Here's another shot of the river over by his house. It's really ugly and is starting to form an ice jam under the bridge I was standing on.

Here's the railroad bridge right by our house. The water is touching the beams when it's normally about 15 feet below the beams. This is another impediment when it gets this high. During 1997 the water flowed over the rails. See the ice starting to accumulate on the upstream side of the bridge? That causes it to back up even more and the flooding gets deeper.

Here's the highway bridge that's right next to the railroad bridge - practically in our backyard. When the water gets deep enough it flows right over the highway.

Another shot taken from the highway bridge.

Say your prayers for me, Friends, so that we don't have to empty out our basement in preparation for water to come rolling in. The forecast is for a bit of a reprieve and a drop of a few inches before the rain hits. If we get as much rain as we are forecast we may as well hop in our boat and sail away because we'll be under water big time. When water gets this close to your home and you don't know when it's going to stop rising, it's extremely stressful.

Love Lena

Okay Folks, Here's the Scoop

Yes, we're home and up to our elbows in water.

We arrived home last Tuesday about 4 o'clock to a driveway that had water rushing over the top of it and washing out the gravel. Ole determined that it was still hard enough to get the monster motorhome up the driveway and to the house. The water over the driveway at that time was due to a culvert that was still frozen so the water rushing from the field down to the river backed up and took the path of least resistance - over our driveway. By 6 o'clock it had opened up and all was well in that area at least.

The river had begun to rise, but we got the RV unpacked and in the midst of all that heard the latest flood forecast. The river rose almost 4 feet overnight and was in our backyard the next morning. We heard the flood forecast and went into full "flood mode." Lovely Daughter and Lars came out that day and helped us get cars started (all Ole's restored cars and street rods) and moved to higher ground - in other people's garages in our little village. Motorcycles also. We took the motorhome back out and parked it in the church parking lot. Then we lifted everything else that was left in the storage building and in the shop up 4 feet off the ground so that it wouldn't get wet. Believe me, we were all really whipped puppies by the end of the day. Now it's a matter of watching and waiting to see what the river actually does.

The weather bureau has been changing the river forecast several times a day, so that goes to show they really don't know what's going to happen either. We have a forecast for heavy rain by the beginning of next week - so I hope they don't know what they're talking about there either. Hopefully they're wrong. If we get heavy rain at this point we might as well just float a boat and leave this place.

There are numerous reasons why we flood so bad now - we never used to. They're all political and I won't go into them right now because I'll get so angry I may burst a blood vessel. Maybe I can talk about them in a couple of days if the river starts to go down.

Anyway, I pulled this video off one of our local tv channels. The video was taken in my neighborhood - very close by.

http://www.valleynewslive-ondemand.com/video/html/video6.shtml

Watch it and you'll see what we're up against.

More later -

Lena GWBMT (growing webs between my toes)

Going Home

We got a call from Lovely Daughter on Saturday telling us that her mother-in-law had passed away. MIL had multiple sclerosis and has been in a nursing home for about 5 or 6 years. Needless to say she was quite upset and just wanted us to come home. I told her it would take about two and a half days to get home and that was if we traveled fast and hard. She seemed satisfied with that as there really was no other alternative.

So we took care of last minute things and were able to get out of Albuquerque by noon on Sunday. We traveled 400 miles and ended up in Liberal, Kansas in a Walmart parking lot on Sunday night. Thank you Walmart for your generousness to RVers and offering them your parking lot for free parking. When we're in transit we usually end up in one of their parking lots - we can do that because we're self-contained, manufacturing our own electricity, etc. We never put our jacks down because we don't want to leave indentations from the weight of our rig, and we're always out of the lot early in the morning before they get busy.

It was time for us to head for home anyway due to the rapidly melting snow and the rising of the river that's in our back yard. Lovely Daughter informed me that there is water over our driveway today, but it's due to a plugged (still frozen) culvert, and once that thaws, things will flow the way they should. We are expecting high water this year, which is a real downer to face after spending such a lovely winter. According to our friend, Bob, (of Bob and Carol in past entries) who is the local weather connection for our area, high water should be next week sometime according to the temperatures that are forecast for the week. Not only do we suffer through extreme winters, but spring seems to come with a vengence these last few years.

We have a beautiful piece of property - 5 acres of green grass with gorgeous evergreens making a thick windbreak all around our property. When we bought this property in 1972 it had never been under water. But as time goes by and the farmers laser level their fields and cut drainage ditches so the snow water will run off faster the river has flooded more severely. We have been working with the local Watershed Board for the last three years trying to have a ring dike built around our property. The federal government, state government and the local watershed board are involved in a program to assist property owners who deal with high water on a regular basis to assist them in funding a ring dike to protect their property. Last summer there were all kinds of tests completed, soil borings, surveyors, all those kinds of things. Everyone told us that things were certainly a go and even though there was grant money available for something like this, it still would have cost us $20,000 out of OUR pocket. In January we got a letter from the watershed board telling us that it wasn't feasible to built a dike due to our proximity to the river. (What the h-ll did that mean?) The next day I read in the local paper that the watershed board had spent all its allot ed money to dike a large UNDEVELOPED piece of property about 10 miles north of us. Now it seems to me that the State of Minnesota had passed a law a number of years ago that made it illegal to grant building permits to anyone who wanted to build in a flood plain. Obviously, someone had more political connections than we did in order to get this UNDEVELOPED piece of property diked when we have a long-established homestead that didn't flood out when we purchased it, but does now. Can you tell I'm angry about this? Can you hear me growl? That's another reason we're heading home while there's still snow on the ground and cold temperatures back home. Gaaaa!!

Anyway, we're parked in a Walmart parking lot for the night. Ole has run the doggers, fed them their supper and they are currently parked, one on each end of the davenport, sound asleep. Ole has poured each of us a nice "toddy" to help us "settle" after the long drive and we'll soon turn in. We need to be up early and out of here as we hope to make Sioux Falls, SD by tomorrow night - that's only 600 miles plus. Should be about 12 hours.

I wish I didn't have to end my travels under this kind of stress - death and possible flooding. Not a good way to end travels.

Love you all,

Lena

Anybody want Chicken for Supper?

Damn chickens!! I think the rooster got confused when daylight savings time went into force last Saturday. He starts crowing at 4:30 a.m.! And then he crows non-stop for the day until it gets dark again in the evening. Wouldn't you think he'd get hoarse? I'm about ready to yank his little vocal cords out with my bare hands.

As I said in my previous entry, we're in a little town called Bosque Farms, about 20 miles south of Albuquerque. Bosque Farms is a rural community that kind of grew into a small town without any zoning rules. So things are pretty intermixed - beautiful homes intermixed with hobby farms that are intermixed with businesses.

We're parked on a friend's acre beside her beautiful home. Beside her property on the west is a business, on her east is another home where the guy has a mini junk yard and behind her is a residence that not only has chickens and horses, but goats also. So it's quite an interesting mix. But the folks that live behind her with the chickens have a rooster than may just get his neck in a noose before I leave here. He starts crowing at 4:30 a.m. and doesn't quit ALL DAY LONG. I thought roosters just crowed in the morning to wake everybody up to start the day and then just strutted around for the rest of the day pecking at bugs on the ground or something. But not THIS rooster - he's a bantum, so I think he suffers from the Napoleon Syndrome and is trying to prove his "manliness" or some such thing. All day long - urrr-ur-ur-ur-urrrrrr!! Jeez! Go fertilize an egg or something but quit that confounded crowing. We KNOW you're there.

And then there are the goats. They don't cause any problems - but this big billy goat doesn't smell of the sweetest perfume either. I think he's the patriarch of the group and has a lot of self-confidence. Doesn't seem to have to prove his manliness like the damn rooster.

Urrrr-ur-ur-ur-urrrrr!

Love Lena (as she spits feathers from her mouth!)

On the Road Again

I've got so much to tell you I don't know where to start - I suppose the logical place is the beginning, okay?

Last time I talked to you we had just arrived in Tombstone - I think that was last Friday. You know when you're retired you lose track of what day it is, so don't hold me to it, okay. It's a good thing we have one of those atomic clocks hanging on the wall in the RV. Not only does it tell you what time it is, it gives you the month, date and year. Folks like Ole and I depend on that.

Anyway - Saturday morning we started our tour of Tombstone - we decided to be smart and instead of walking all over we took a trolley tour with a tour guide that explained all the high points of the area. Save a lot on the knees and the shoe leather as it lasted an hour and a half. I think we truly got our money's worth.

Tombstone has a lot of interesting places -one of the more interesting to me at least was The World's Biggest Rose Bush/Tree. Of course Ole and Big Brother weren't real interested, but I paid my five bucks and toured the museum and saw the tree. It was phenomenal. It came from a cutting from Scotland in 1885 and has never been pruned - thus the humongous size. The main trunk is gnarled and twisted and the branches are spread so far that there has to be supports throughout the courtyard to hold the branches up. It was just beginning to bloom - white blossoms that aren't more than an inch in diameter. The fragrance was beautiful.

Of course there was the famous Birdcage Theater, but we didn't tour that during the day. They offered a nightly ghost tour so we opted to go back for that in the evening. This was not only a theater with dancing girls, etc., but also a house of ill repute. It was called the birdcage because a number of the cribs were suspended from the ceiling. They were seven on each side if I remember correctly, and very small. Small enough that it made you wonder how any business could be accomplished in them, (if you know what I mean - snicker). There were also larger crib rooms in the basement - still holding all the original furnishings. Beds, clothing, carpets, etc. Not placed there by the museum curators - but left just as they were when the people left the building. It was quite the place. You'll see the pictures in the montage attached. By the way, we didn't see any ghosts that evening.

We went into Big Nose Kate's to have a drink and get some supper, but it was so full and so loud we opted to go elsewhere. Also tried the Crystal Palace, but that was the same. I guess they were the two most famous places in Tombstone, other than the Birdcage.

The next day we drove down to Bisbee, about 25 miles. Bisbee is an old copper mining town, famous for the Queen copper mine. It's also the home to a lot of leftover hippies from the 60s and 70s who have never managed to come into the 21st century. As Ole says, it was a pretty artsy-fartsy town and very difficult to get around in. It's built into the side of a mountain with streets layed out like a pile of spaghetti that are two lane but barely wide enough for one car, let alone meeting a car. If you meet a car you have to back up to a wide spot in the road and pass that way.

The main reason we went to Bisbee was to tour the Queen copper mine. Ole's interested in things like that, you know. We rode a little train 900 feet into the mountain and listened to the tour guide. I must admit it was kind of interesting, but a bit on the chilly side down there. I thought our tour guide was even more interesting than the mine itself. He was a little Mexican, born and raised in Bisbee on the next mountain over. He went to work in the Queen mine when he was 20 in 1948. He's now 81 years old and giving tours as the mine hasn't been operational since the 30s when it became so expensive to do the mining. I couldn't believe he was 81 - he looked more like he was 60. He attributed his spryness to all the rice and beans that he eats. And a little splash of tequila now and then.

We left Tombstone on Monday morning and spent last night at a place called Lake Caballo, headed for Albuquerque. Ole took the doggers for a long walk this morning - about a mile - down to the beach on the lake and let them go for a swim. They loved it and chased sticks as long as Ole would throw them. And it got some of the dust and sand washed out of their fur. You can sure tell they haven't had their usual amount of exercise this winter as Daisy has kind of plumped up. Isn't that just the way it is for us women - always the first to put on the pounds. Beau on the other hand, looks good as we normally have trouble keeping weight on him.

Well, I'm not going to bore you anymore. I'll attach the montage I put together so you can see some pictures. Enjoy.

I'll write more when we land in Albuquerque.

Love Lena

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

NO, I haven't learned Chinese Yet

I've decided that some of you who read my entries just aren't very nice people. And because of that I have decided to remove the previous entry entitled "Have you Learned Chinese Yet." Yes, I asked for comments because I'm always interested in other people's ideas and thoughts, but I didn't ask for personal attacks. In the short period of time that post was up I received exactly 17 private emails attacking me personally, and I just don't need that. Thank you to those of you who did comment on the article in a matter of fact way, whether you agreed with it or not. At least you commented on the ARTICLE and not on me.

Please, if you don't like me or what I write - quit reading. It's as simple as that. I don't quite understand what kind of enjoyment you must get out of calling people derogatory names who don't agree with your ideas. Isn't everyone entitled to their own opinion?

So, to those of you who feel the need to get nasty - you really need to get a life.

Lena

Uffda Minnesota

Just had to share this with you. Just remember to go way to the bottom of the page and turn off the music on my little jukebox first or you'll have a little conflict going on.

I'm so glad I'm not there!!

Love Lena

Land of the O.K. Corral

Gosh, I can't even remember where we were last time I posted. Guess I better go dig back in the ole' memory banks and refresh the brain cells.

Oh, yes, we had arrived in Quartzsite after leaving Insane City (Las Vegas) and after spending a few days with friends in Lake Havasu City.

Quartzsite didn't yield much excitement - just a lot of relaxation that we both needed. We've been so surrounded with people since we left home back in January that there just hasn't been much down time. So Ole and I thoroughly enjoyed the couple of days that we had alone - just the two of us and all our livestock - in the desert doing a lot of nothing. Just sitting in the warm sunshine and doing a lot of reading. It was wonderful.

Big Brother finally caught up with us after spending extra days in Las Vegas. Our mail caught up with us too, so then we were ready to leave. We headed down the road and made it to Gila Bend, AZ the next night, where we parked in the Elks parking lot and spent the night. The Elks in Gila Bend welcomes all RVers that want to spend the night as long as you are able to boondock. And it was a good place for all the doggers because they could run free and snoop without having to be on a leash.

Our destination the next day was Tombstone, and after battling heavy cross winds and almost being blown off the road a time or two - we landed. We're in an RV park for the first time since we left home in January, and the doggers definitely don't like it. They have to be on a leash. Although Ole found a gate in the fence that surrounds the park, so he went through it and let the doggers run out in the desert. These big dogs really need their exercise. If they've had to ride in the coach all day they're really anxious by the time we stop.

They need to run, and they certainly do. Beau will find an object to run around - like a big bush or a cactus - and then entice Daisy to chase him. She does, and bites him in the butt when she can get ahold of him. After a half a dozen rounds going that way they switch - Beau chases Daisy and bites her in the butt when he can get ahold of her - which is far more frequently than the opposite. Beau is fast for short spurts - Daisy isn't fast but she can run forever at a slower pace.

So we pulled in here late yesterday afternoon, and after checking in and receiving a verbal tour of the town from the desk clerk we set up camp. The lady desk clerk was quite a gal. Don't get me wrong - she was a wealth of information and very friendly. VERY friendly to Big Brother. She was a gal about the same age as Big Brother, very attractive, and made it plain that she was single and available. When she was done giving us the verbal tour and showing us the map of the city, she told Big Brother that he had the most beautiful ice blue eyes she had ever seen!! And then, as we were going out the door, she said, and I quote word for word, "You are really a very hot number!!" After we got out the door he just chuckled and said, "E. B. keeps asking me if I'm wearing my sign!" E.B. is his lady friend back home and is referring to the sign that he should be wearing stating, "This man is taken!!"

Big Brother is 67 years old - and yes, he is still a pretty hot number, even if I do say so myself. His downfall is that he used to be an electrical engineer. And you've heard the old joke about what engineers use for birth control, haven't you? The answer is: Their personality!! Now that's supposed to be a joke, Folks. In a way, it's kind of true because engineers are noted to be extremely methodical about everything, but also very absent minded. And he is both of the above. I guess you have to know an engineer in order to find that funny. Oh, well.

Anyway, the Plan of the Day is to tour Tombstone and take in as many of the fun-sounding things as possible. We also want to get to Bisbee, an old copper mining town about 20 miles south of here. There are some other things in the area too, so we'll have to see how far we get in the next couple of days.

Unfortunately, I took a good look at the calendar the other day. We don't have much longer until we have to head home. What a crappy thought.

By the way, take note of the pictures over on the side - the desert is just beginning to bloom and it's beautiful. Wish we were going to be here when the cactus start to bloom. They are so very fragrant.

2 a.m. Excitement

This is Daisy again. Thanks for all the nice comments from you other doggers that own bloggers.



You won't believe what happened last night about 2 o'clock in the morning. I was sleeping so good all sprawled out on my rug when all of a sudden this really loud beeping started. Poor Grandma flew out of bed in a panic thinking it was the smoke detector but it wasn't. She finally got Grandpa awake because when he takes his hearing aides out he doesn't hear much of anything, so he couldn't hear the beeping.



Beau, who always sleeps on the floor right at the foot of the bed, just lifted his head and watched Grandma trying to hunt down the source of the loud beeping. She finally determined that it was the carbon monoxide detector - but all the windows were open so where was it coming from?



Well, there's a detector on the wall in the bedroom, one under the cupboards in the kitchen, and for some reason, one of the bed frame down by the floor - you guessed it - right where Beau was sleeping. And Beau, of course, didn't move.



When Grandma finally got to the source of things she discovered that Beau had farted and caused the detector to sound off!! Once he moved everything cleared out and the beeper went off.



Leave it to Beau. He's truly a boy dog, isn't he?



Love, Daisy.

Daisy's Humiliating Day

Hi Everyone. Daisy here. I just have to tell you about my most humiliating day ever.

Can you imagine - having to have a bath outside in the desert? Out where everyone can see what I look like when I get wet? How absolutely humiliating, you know? Grandma decided I was starting to smell kind of "doggy" the other day. Personally I think she's far too persnickety, you know what I mean? What am I supposed to smell like after 6 weeks in the desert, running through all the sand and cacti that are around, rolling in the dust when I want. After all, I don't have any snow to roll in so I gotta do the next best thing.

Anyway, Grandma ran to town this morning and brought home some of that awful dog shampoo and Grandpa took us out behind the motor home where he has an outside shower. He soaked us down and Grandma scrubbed us both good. I must admit that it felt really good when she scratched us with her long fingernails - but don't tell her, okay? It didn't seem to bother Beau - but nothing ever bothers Beau. Me? I found it very embarrassing - after all, what's a lady to do anyway.


But having a bath did have its rewards. At home Grandpa blows us off with the air hose out in the shop after we've had a bath. Then Grandma rubs us all over with a big towel. But here we got to run and shake and shake and run out in the desert. And the air temperature was almost 90 degrees, so it really felt kind of good to be wet and cool.


One of the things that I found so embarrassing was that Lucy, that cat that thinks she's such a princess, watched the whole episode through the window. She thinks she's pretty smart because she doesn't have to have a bath.

And then after we were both dry, Beau got to hop up on the davenport and pat Grandpa on the back for the good job that he did. That Beau - he always gets to get up on the couch first. He's SO spoiled.

Talking about spoiled pets - look at this picture of Lucy. She doesn't even have to drink from a water bowl on the floor like Beau and I do. She gets her own plastic cup up on the counter!! She thinks she's too good to drink with us.

I just want all these other pets to go away so I can have Grandpa all to myself.

Oh, well, tomorrow will be a better day.

Love Daisy