Sunday, June 15, 2008

Sing....Sing A Song.....

Somebody made me sing today. I can't sing. I REALLY can't sing. A lot.

I was the only live, in house, DJ for the first 90 minutes. It went pretty well. Another Peace Radio person had pre-recorded a 30minute interview so that helped.
And I had my Uncle Pat Sperry as a phone interview about the price of oil. It was pretty cool.
Then Miriam Kent came in and did about 25 minutes of stuff for kids. She made me sing. I was mortified but I had to support my fellow Peace Radio person! Angela...I'm so so sorry (Angela has forbidden me to ever ever sing. She lifted the ban once and I broke into song and the ban was immediately reinstated).


Right now I'm on the phone getting the flood update from my family. My brother got a loaner or rental trailer for the folks to stay in. It's a 5th wheel and they seem quite pleased. The neighbors have power and will run an electric line to the camper for them. The toilets at Fred and Sher's house work and they can have showers at the neighbors' or my sister's house. Same with laundry.

They are very grateful for all the help. People even showed up with chicken and biscuits and fed the crew. (It was made from one of Fred and Sher's chickens that was in someone else's freezer for safe keeping.)

My sister said they don't need anything right now, but later they will be buying supplies to repaint and plaster and redo floors so I'm thinking gift certificates to Menards and other home improvement shops might be in their future. Maybe I can turn them onto low VOC paint at last!!

Anyway, the crew today tore up the bathroom floor (vinyl had to come up or the subfloor won't dry or get bleached for poo/mold kill), took out ALL the woodwork (mopboards, quarter round, sides of door frames) to allow the plaster to dry and to get the woodwork bleached and refinished, and drilled holes in the toe-kick thingies under the kitchen cabinets to try to get that area to dry. They may have to pull the cabinets to get that area under there bleached too. Don't want the poo reactivating on hot muggy days. A cousin has a furniture refinishing shop so she is redoing all the woodwork. She also said if they can keep the floor from warping too much, she may be able to save the oak part as it is 3/4 inches thick. They are trying to get it to dry slowly and evenly which is hard with water still in the basement steaming the underside. But they are giving it a shot.

A friend of a friend had a 5th wheel camper they were only using as the kids'/grandkids' video game facility so my brother got that towed down today and they are already in it.

There are stories of people whose families won't help them! One guy came into the quickie-mart owned by a cousin of mine and asked her (the cousin) to do his laundry because his ADULT kids with homes that hadn't been flooded wouldn't do it! Jesus! The guy is trying to clean up after a flood with no water to his house and the kids won't do his wash?! I hope there is more to the story but even if he beat them, you'd think they could suck it up to do the laundry. My cousin did it.

Anyway, doesn't sound like the world's worst father's day since so many people were there for the folks.

Yvonne...if you're reading, I've been worried for all parts south of Iowa on the Mississippi. Sounds like you people in Louisiana can see the water coming this time. We'll all keep thinking of you and perhaps we could call our government types to focus a bit of attention on areas that can still be helped BEFORE it's a disaster.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE being mentioned by name in your blog, though I do come off as a control freak. I generally don't outright ban other people's behaviors (freedom of choice and all that), but I do believe I did ban you from singing, Jill. However, there was one loophole: I only banned you from singing IN PUBLIC. You're free to do what you want in the privacy of your own home as long as I don't have to hear (about) it. And to my great shame, you are right: I did temporarily lift the ban after years and years thinking, perhaps, that the years had been kind to your vocal chords. The ban was reinstated immediately, as you said.

As much as we both love to grumble about our damaged pedigrees and crazy relatives, it sounds like yours have really rallied around your parents in a lovely way. I know your visit home, when you get there, will do the same for your parents as well as your sister and brother. Angela

Yvonne said...

Thanks for thinking of me Jill! I think Louisiana will be okay for now as far as the rivers go. But of course, hurricane season started the 1st....

Fly Right said...

It seems we Iowans are linked together in many ways, one of which is the flood situation. My friend Ken came by the store tonight and it's all we talked about. He's from Fairfield, and said his folks are dry but a town nearby is gone. Like completely. Maybe the Maharishis (sp?!) are keeping it afloat with their levitation techniques.