Saturday the 19th our family went out to do some volunteer flood clean-up out at Whitewater. If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time whatsoever you know I have a small love affair with Whitewater State Park. We all have such wonderful family memories of our time there and we all decided it would be nice to help clean up what the devasting flood waters ripped apart last August. All bridges were washed away save one, hundreds of trees were uprooted and killed and continue to die as erosion takes its toll, animals were killed and campsites destroyed. Jon was on call so he couldn't join us but I took the girls and Pete. We were a little late getting there but it wasn't long before we had shovels in hand and a job to do.
Right when I found the place on the trail I wanted to start, this blond chick starts asking me all kinds of questions. The first few were fine but I was quickly beginning to get annoyed. I was very close to handing her a shovel and saying "dig in sweetheart". I thought better of it when I saw that she was taking notes. I decided she was probably a college student doing a report so I just let her talk for awhile. It wasn't long before she let me know that she was actually with the Winona Daily News. She was doing an article and wanted permission to quote me. Whatever. I was out digging around in rocks and mud in the cold of early morning so I wasn't very eloquent but hey, I'm famous! ;) The girls got a kick out of it anyway! We had already hiked on the trail the previous weekend so we knew how horrible the damage was. I have pictures on my flicker but it sure is true that there is nothing like being there and seeing it up close.Not much else is going on here. We had a nice birthday for Rachel and Pete (his is the 10th and hers is the 23rd), Rhi had her last Honors Choir concert of the season this past Sunday and is digging in to soccer season, I am still losing weight (sitting at 130 right now), Jon is moonlighting like crazy to pay taxes, our very old dog is still alive, barely and our friends the Maldonados are in Vietnam. Don't even ask...I am sick and so is Rhi. I think I will stay home tomorrow and rest. Tracy and I have our Teacher Leave Day on Friday and we plan on having a fun filled day at the Mall of America. We were snowed out last time. If that happens again I give up! Must go to bed, must sleep. I feel horrible. Posted by Michelle at April 29, 2008 07:50 PM