Arts and Crafts

I'm just writing to show you what we did this last Sunday. 

A few months ago, Kathy - my mother in law- saw a garden ornament that looked like a rusted cut-out of a blue heron. She fell in love with it and wanted the boys to make one for her. Well this weekend we did it. Laura and I did the work sketching it out on the side of an old chest freezer. Fred helped us cut the shape out with some air tools. The Laura and I went to town burning all the old glue and muck off the back that held the cooling tubes in place. We started out with a blow torch and decided that wasn't working well enough and then just decided to throw the whole thing into the fire. After the bird was well-cooked, the guys fastened the wings and welded on a couple of legs. Before long, we had our own lawn ornament!

I'm thinking of quitting my job and doing this full time! It might be a much more fulfilling career!

Here I am sketching the out-line. It kinda looks like a dinosaur doesn't it?

Here we are cutting with air-tools!

Burn baby! Burn!

The finished product...

The Nerdiest Family on the Block

Today the Hartbecke side of the family came over to help us improve the flow of rainwater on the west side of our house. Basically, the guys came over and put some drainage tile from the eaves pout around to the other side of the flower bed and away from the house. While the guys did the hard work, us girls (3 of us) ended up doing some weeding and watching of the Jaren. At a stopping point when Fred, Seth, and Jaren went to the farm to saw a concrete block in half, Laura and I decide that it would be great to draw the solar system on our driveway with Jaren's sidewalk chalk. Since Jaren always makes me draw him trucks and turtles and semis, what's the difference.

The following is our end result. As we neared the end of our pictorial description of our solar system, we got some more help adding nice touches, like Planet X and the UFO and the asteroid belt. You can't forget that!

It was so big, we spilled it into the street. Then it was too big to even take one big picture of.  So I took a video for you to enjoy our nerdiness. But unfortunately, this blog site is having trouble uploading it. I will try another day because I am tired of being frustrated at it. This is what you get for going to college and learning a bunch of information that is seldom applicable in everyday life. Thank You tax-dollars!

The best part though, is that we started getting tourists! On a few occasions the same car would pass our house, turn around and pass it again even more slowly. There was more than a few passerby that pointed and laughed. I'm glad we were able to put a few smiles on some faces but then you also know how small of a town Cascade is if this is considered entertainment!

We had a blast though!

Finally! It is Done!

I have been working on a quilt for Jaren for months now and it is now complete! Actually, I started all the way back in January cutting the diamonds out to make the hexagons that look like 3-d boxes when it is all put together. It has taken me all this time to piece it together.

I had the idea way back in October when my mother-in-law's sister came up and we visited the Amish community about an hour and a half away. There, I saw a nice blue quilt made like this, only a gazillion times better. It was made as a rocking chair runner.

This is my first quilt. And I had no patterns or guides. Although, I did get some quilting tools for Christmas that were very helpful. Even though the edges don't line up and stitches show and not one of the diamonds is perfect, I think Jaren likes it. I really hope it doesn't fall apart too fast. I will wash it on "Hand-wash" from now on!

He was very excited to be able to sleep with it when I finally finished stitching the two layers together. He almost wouldn't let me wash it!

The real goal was to make Jaren a blanket that would entirely cover him for quite some time and fit his crib/bed. So it was toatlly a custom job- no standards.

I think I should make him a small version of a Big-Kid pillow next. That should be comparably a piece of cake.

I did learn some things though:

1. When I started this project I chose this design because I thought most quilts were kind of old fashioned and ugly. I've gained a new appreciation for the craftsmanship that an intricate quilt takes, but I still don't know if it is my style. 

2. There is no way that a $50.00 quilt is handmade! I know I am a total amateur but I know I spent easily 80 or so hours on this. $50.oo barely even covers the fabric and batting I used!

Now that it has been done a few days... I almost wonder what project I'm supposed to be working on next. I feel empty without a huge project looming over my head.

I'm sure one will come sooner rather than later. They always do! 

First Crop!

I was surprised and amazed to find that beans had grown in my tiny garden. Look! I made something edible!

For now there is only enough beans for me... and maybe Jaren too. That's okay though because we both love vegetables. The peas look they are only a few days from producing a first crop too! I'm so excited!

My Summer Science Experiments

I'm going to take this opportunity to show off the outside projects I have this summer.

The first project is my National Weather Service Project. This last spring Seth and I went to Weather Spotter Training and the speaker said that the National Weather Service was looking for someone in Cascade to be part of their National Co-Op Observer Program. The National Weather Service provides the equipment and you would be responsible for taking daily temperature and precipitation data.

I am such a geek! I signed up right away!

Within a month the official Cascade Station was moved from the city's power plant to my backyard. Every morning at 7 am I check to see if it rained (usually I just know) and check the high, low, and current temperature and record it on the Internet.

The instrument on the forefront is the daily rain gauge I check every morning. It has a funnel on top that funnels into a tall cylinder inside the metal one you see. This is to make it easier to measure the tiny increments hundredths of a inch are. Of course, there is a special calibrated ruler that goes with this too. The second rocket-looking instrument is a cumulative rain gauge. It basically measures the weight of the rain and records the weight of water it is holding in a bin every 15 minutes by punching a specific hole sequence in some ticker tape. I send in the ticker tape every month so that they have an idea of how much rain fell and when.

The third instrument in the back that looks like a bee-hive measures temperature. It is slatted to allow the breeze through. It is wired into our house and I can read the temp from inside. This will be nice in the winter.

 

Here you can see the almost 2 inches of rain we got today. In the daily rain gauge, One tube full is exactly 2 inches of rain.

My second project for the summer is my small vegetable garden. I mean very small, even though it is crowded. I think I over-planted but please forgive me, it is my first!

We got some old doors from an old cement stave silo over at the farm and we stacked them two high and I filled them up with dirt and used them as raised beds. 

It is my little OCD garden. It is confined and neat! I have 2 tomato plants in one square, too many peas in another, too many beans in a third, and in the fourth I have an eggplant and some green and yellow peppers.

We will see how they do. I already have some tomatoes growing and I was so worried that everything would die! Next year I think I'll need more squares!

My third project is keeping my flowers alive. I've never had much practice with gardens other than mowing them. Now that I have one (it came with the house) my goal is to try to keep it going. I've planted a few flowers here and there and I'm working on learning more about what we have but mostly what is here was here. I think, however, they must have been planted just before we moved because I don't remember flowers a-blooming like they are now! Take a look!

I do a lot of weeding and I'm teaching Jaren to help. He knows all about those "Bad Thistles!"

Today's Rainbow

After 3 weeks of hardly any rain, we got about another 3 inches of rain since the beginning of the month. Almost 2 inches of that fell today. Seth said that we in Cascade had pea sized hail but just a few miles down the road, Monticello had 2 inch hail. Check out these pictures from my friend Mel's blog! The rainbow is looking east from my house between storms this evening.

Good Morning!

Jaren enjoys his morning cup of Mo!

Who's Interested?

I've never been much for politics other than I have found it very important to be informed about world and local politics and knowing who you vote for. Both of these ideals are those of which I wish I had the time to pursue more.

After the primaries and caucuses have been completed though, it would seem that the democratic process should have given us a candidate that people liked. I'm talking about both sides of the aisle. I have talked to self described Democrats and Republicans alike and no one seems happy with the choices that seem set for them in November. Because of this, I predict the record turnouts of voters during the primaries, will not be continued in the general election.  

Rush Limbaugh doesn't eve like "his" Republican candidate!

So is there a fundamental shift in the future?

Ron Paul is hosting a mini-convention at the same time as the Republican Convention in the Twin Cities at the University of Minnesota on September 2nd. I've never had a desire to go to one of these big "party" conventions before but this one, this one I definitely intend to attend. 

Who else wants to go with us? It'd be revolutionary!

There are a couple of YouTube videos on a supporters website

Can't wait to hear what you think!

A Good Birthday

The three day weekend was great. I think the Fourth of July is my favorite holiday of all. Simply because it is a nice simple few days of fun, family, and sun without all the extra hassle of being a major holiday with presents and turkey. 

Plus, I love grilling out and I love fireworks.

Here is how the weekend started.

Thursday night we went to the river to go see the Air-show and Dubuque's Fireworks. It is so much fun now because of Jaren. He brings the youthfulness and fun of life out again. A Chinook helicopter flew overhead and Jaren was so amazed at it that his finger couldn't even track it as he followed it across the sky. There were loud planes and fast planes. He got to play with other boys along the banks and discovered turtles. At one point I found myself watching four little boys ages 5 to 2. Brendan kept on going into the "tall grass" (the boundary I set so the boys couldn't fall into the Mississippi) so I kept on pulling the brute out of the grass and plopping him on the correct side. It was a lot of fun. Brendan made it a game.

With all the friends and snacks and running, Jaren just wanted to sleep by the time the Fireworks started. We stayed and watched most of the show so see if he would perk up. The best he did was watch them sedately through the fingers covering his eyes.

Friday morning had me freaking out about my house. It wasn't clean! Do you know why? Because. I let myself go have a good time at the river last night!

After a mad dash to clean the house and do 6 loads of laundry and make 2 cakes. We left to go to the farm around noon. I am so glad Seth is around to de-crazify me. Otherwise I think I would have gone mad long ago from my OCD tendencies.

So we had a nice grill out at the farm. The got a cookie for my birthday. It was so nice!

I cut it and ate it and I got a huge headache from the sugar! Yum! Then we went for a walk in the pasture. Jaren of course demanded a tractor ride because that is obviously what you do on a farm. On our walk we stopped by the creek that runs through the farm. Its topography has changed much due to the rains this year. There is now a nice little set of falls cut out of the limestone. Laura, Travis, Jaren, and I decided to walk the creek looking for skipping rocks and sticks to race down the creek. 

 

Then we found the mud and I'm sorry to say, Jaren got caught in the crossfire but he enjoyed it too. At first Laura and I gained up on Travis and then Laura and Travis gained up on ME! Nevertheless we all got quite muddy. I think Travis lost. 

We needed showers by time we were back at the house, I wasn't even clean enough to get in the truck!

 

Mud therapy is the best therapy. I was much calmer and ready to have people over to my place for the Cascade fireworks that evening.

There was a lot of food again and I of course over ate. I rationalized it though. I had fresh organic lettuce from a friend's garden on my brat patty and the cake I made (well one of them) was chock full of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries!

It was so nice to have everyone over, friends and family both! Thank you for the gifts of course but most of all thank you for your love and your time. We are so blessed to have family like you all.

This time, Jaren stayed awake for the fireworks. He enjoyed them tremendously. It wasn't the best view in the world but it sure was fun!

The rest of the weekend was winding down, with one more cookout. One of my best friends from childhood was back from Colorado. Alex's family has a party for him in Earlville and we got to spend a few more precious hours with him before he left to take the trek back the next day. I sure miss that guy! Why doesn't he move back?!

We recuperated on Sunday. Still exhausted today, but I don't regret it. How could you?

We Are Still Here

It is hard not to get too nervous about the weather here. My mom just called to let us know that the City of Cascade has issued a voluntary evacuation notice for some of the lower parts of town. Seth and I have  been driving around checking the flooding scene since I got home from work tonight. 

If I could review the Weather we have had so far this year...

This Winter we had record snowfalls throughout Iowa and Wisconsin. And we wouldn't just get snow. It would almost always be an event where there was freezing rain that would turn the roads into ice rinks and then pile with several inches to feet of wet sticky snow. Then it would get blustery cold and freeze the entire mixture to a glacier. As a result, many towns and municipalities actually ran out of sand and salt and many streets were ice covered for most of the winter. I believe that we actually had snow on the ground through a good part of May. My mother in law would always be commenting, "As long as there is snow in the ditches, there is more snow to come."

I started recording daily temperature and rainfall for the National Weather Service at the end of April of this year. I recall that at the beginning of May, we were still hovering around the 40's for highs some days. I think most of May was 53 degrees all the time. There were some late frosts this year and it was hard for the plants to get blooming. The leaves on my trees even curled up from frost! How often does that happen?

So after a long wet winter, we were all ready for a nice summer. Then the rains came, and came, and came. It is actually raining again right now. The water table is as full as it will ever get by now. It has been saturated completely. Now whatever rain that falls, has to find its way downstream. Now the streams are filling up and thus, so are the rivers they flow in to. I think tonight is perhaps the fourth time this year that that Riverview Road pictured in the previous post was under water. There is a huge sand-bag dike holding in the water from the rest of that south part of town. On the North part of town, the engineers think they have found evidence that there is starting to be sings of seepage through the levee. The residents in those parts of town are being encouraged to play it safe and evacuate. 

This is being mimicked all over Iowa, in fact Cascade has it relatively easy. As of now, there are only one or two houses with water. Towns like Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Waverly, Decorah, Vinton, Iowa City, Dyersville, Manchester, Des Moines, and the list goes on just have blocks of water and more water is on the way.

Let me show you some pictures from around here. This first video is a creek that runs north of Cascade. Normally, the creek is literally a step across. You can see here that the "creek" has swollen to quite the river. It is only a few feet from topping the bridge we are standing on and it hasn't crested yet.

Here is an idea of how high the water was over at Seth's parents farm earlier today. You can see how the waters scoured new rock out of the bank.

We walked out to the pasture about a half a mile or so to survey the scene. New banks were scoured and entire trees were uprooted and thrown aside. There were entire limbs of trees in the corn fields. This water moves fast, but this is only the source of the big floods that are hitting places like Cedar Rapids. There are a lot of little creeks like these that are swelling the bigger rivers.

Cedar Rapids sits on the Cedar River and is the big news now. They are experiencing a 500 year flood. The Cedar River is expected to crest on Friday an entire 12 feet ABOVE the previous record crest set in 1993. This is well over 20 feet above the normal flood stage. Already a railroad bridge is out and one of the levees broke. The city is in a state of emergency and there are mandatory evacuations. I even just heard that one of the hospitals in town are no longer accepting patients, because they are getting water too.  One of the sub-burbs of Cedar Rapids is a little town named Palo. Palo is the home of a nuclear reactor. The entire town of Palo is underwater, except the reactor. The reactor sets a good 5 feet or so above the projected crest. It will be able to stay on-line as long as the telephone company doesn't go under. If that happens, the reactor has to scram.

But you know what is cool? No one is loosing their heads. Sure people are scared and devastated that they are loosing everything they own, but they are able to get themselves out of harms way. There are no reports of people on their roofs waiting for someone to save them. There are no riots. In fact there is alot of neighbors helping neighbors all over the state. Busses are driving through towns recruiting sandbaggers. People are going to Sam's to buys as many snacks as they are allowed to, to give to those helping and to those displaced. It is truly amazing. I'm proud that there is still some common sense around. I know there will be a need for Federal Aid, but I have a feeling it won't be the demand and outrage that we have had in the past with some other certain cities being flooded.

Take a look at the area where I went to college near Waterloo and Cedar Falls

It give a good picture of the magnitude of the flooding that most of Iowa is experiencing.

Now on top of the flooding, we have had a few tornado incidents as well. I'm sure everyone has heard about the EF-5 tornado that hit Parkersburg (also just north of Waterloo and Cedar Falls, we are talking mere miles here). There was also a tornado in western Iowa that hit a boy scout camp and killed 4 boys there. I am astounded by the power of mother nature today.

Check out this video that an ATM camera captured of a house being simply dematerialized by the Parkersburg tornado.

I'll leave you with another amazing story about that same tornado. What if you didn't have a place to go? What if you were in your car when a tornado came your way?

Like I said, it really is hard to not get nervous about the weather around here. The National Weather Service is predicting rain for most of the weekend and next week as well. Sometime this summer we still need to grow some crops too!

Help your neighbors when you can! For now, Michelle out.

Beautiful Sunset

As you may or may not be aware, we have been getting quite a bit of rain recently. It is getting to be on the scale of the much media-cized Floods of 1993. The water tables are plum full. Though more rain was forecasted for tonight, the storms seemed to dissolve as they headed toward us from the South. As a result, we had a spectacular sunset and several rainbows.

Riverview Road in south Cascade flooded again. I wonder if the crop planted in the fields alongside the road are going to stand back up again like last time. The waters are actually receding at the time this picture was taken. You can tell how high the water was by the waterline on the telephone pole.

A Two Year Old's Birthday

Today was Jaren's Birthday.

It went much better than last year. In fact it was a wonderful day! Last year Jaren was injected with 8 different diseases in the form of 4 vaccination shots the day before he turned one.

Note to future parents... not a good idea. You end up with a very cranky baby.

But today, it was wonderful. We had a nice stormy morning that lulled the boy to slumber until almost 9 in the morning. Mommy and Daddy got to sleep in too. When Jaren finally did awaken, all he wanted to do was sit in front of the window and watch the "windy!" and the "raining!" as well as the "thunder!" and the "lightning!"

We had family over for dinner and cake. Both of Jaren's Grandparents and all of his Aunts and Uncles were able to come. I LOVE having family so close.

Because Jaren has a thing for Thomas the Tank, Seth and I decided to splurge on the boy and buy him a TON of Thomas the Tank. Before today, he only had one train.... now he is set for life. 
Well I'll bet we will getting more track.

Jaren found the unwrapped gifts in our closet on two different occasions. And on two different occasions we had to drag the kid screaming "My Thomas! My Big Thomas!" out of the closet. 

Now they really are his, I hope he sleeps better tonight. 

The best part was how Melody and all the boys got together to try to figure out how to put all the pieces of the track together 


They got themselves quite a track. It is 10 pm now and Jaren is still playing with his new trains. They are all called "Thomas" as of now.

Jaren also got a 3 dimensional "Thomas Cake" It has been so warm and humid in Iowa recently, Thomas kinda melted a bit on the drive home on Saturday. It didn't bother Jaren at all! He loved it! He also yelled "NOOO!" when I cut Thomas in half so we could eat him. I was afraid he would be traumatized for cutting his best friend in half. He quickly found that Thomas was very yummy!

I'm glad that Jaren's Birthday turned out so well. I feel bad that the other non-Thomas presents got over-looked by the two year old. Seth and I sure appreciate the tokens of love. Thank you all.

I'm going to be stepping on trains for the next three weeks! I guess I'll have to open my eyes when I wake up in the morning from now on. 

Track Meet

Last night was a perfectly beautiful night for a track meet. After a long winter....

From the National Weather Service: 

On March 27, a record seasonal maximum snowfall set at Dubuque. A record snowfall of 76.2 inches was set at Dubuque this season. This breaks the old record of 75.7 inches in the winter of 1961-1962.

We have had a bit more snow since.

And lots of rain.

But amazingly, even though it ha

s recently got up to the 70's and we have managed to not have snow for almost three weeks now, there is still snow in some ditches up near Farley. Just 15 miles or so away! And I hear that there are still large drifts back in the limestone bluffs up at Seth's parent's farm. Honestly, it is almost May! I have never seen snow last this long!

There is nothing like a nice record snowfall year the first year in your house!

That saying, last night and tonight were gorgeous evenings. Last night after work I took Jaren to his first junior high Track Meet to see his "cousin" Laura run. She ran the open 200 and the 4 by 200. She placed third in both. Jaren enjoyed seeing the girls run "fasss" and was very excited when the starting gun went off. He clapped for the girls when they finished their races. But most of all, he wanted to go out and run with the girls on the track.

Tonight we went for a walk. Well, Seth and I went for a walk, Jaren ran the whole time. He would find a crack in the road and stop, sit there for a few seconds and then take off running. You could just see it in his little head "Ready, Set, GO!"

I love Spring! It brings out the best spirits in everyone.

Bumps and Bruises

I've been waiting for weeks to tell my story about Jaren "Crash" Hartbecke. Many of you may know that Jaren has had a rough week or so recently and is starting to recover. There is only one band-aid left and hair is starting to grow back. Good luck to Rhonda to fix that next hair cutting time!

A couple of Sunday's ago, the Jones side of the family went to Manchester to get family pictures. It had been raining all day and in the afternoon it paused for a bit. After a light dinner, Seth, his parents, Jaren and I decided to go for a walk around the block. It looked like it was going to start raining again.

Jaren pushed his digger most of the way around the block. He drove like a madman. I don't know how many times he fell because he was going to fast for himself. But he always got back up and started running again. 

After a while, about three-quarters of the way home, Jaren decided he wanted to be pushed. Because I was the shortest, I decided to push Jaren the rest of the way home. In fact, I pushed him all the way up the driveway and almost to the front door. 

I turned around to speak to the parents and to Seth. That is when Jaren decided that 

he had a really Great idea. He decided to push his digger to the top of the driveway and ride the darn thing down the hill.

Of course, I could see that this was not nearly the good idea he thought it was. I moved to intercept the child and the digger. I intercepted the digger about halfway down the driveway but for all my efforts, the child's momentum was not completely absorbed and his head crashed into the driveway.

I scooped him up and took him inside to the kitchen for some damage assessment. This time I was certain we needed to go to the ER. The first time, almost a year ago, I wasn't so sure, but this time it was obvious, the kid was going to need stitches.

We took Jaren to Dyersville because it was closer. Within 15 to 20 minutes he was checked into the ER and the nurses were asking their normal questions. By that time Jaren had already calmed down and the cut was hardly bleeding at all.

When the doctor came in, we expected similar treatment. The nurses warned us that the doctor was "abrasive." That was an understatement. 

We described to the doctor what had happened. After we said out piece, the doctor looked at us sternly and said something along the lines of, "In most states, laws require that children be w

earing helmets if the wheels are bigger than 10 inches (or something)"

Excuse me?!

Please let me show you the offending "Digger" Jaren got it for his first birthday last June. It was the first time that he had ever tried to ride down a hill on it.

 

It looks pretty harmless to me.

However, I guess the doctor was right. The toy did come with a helmet. 

It sure would have done a world of good.

All sarcasm aside, I'm glad I do not remember the doctor's name because I do not have one good thing to say about him. After insulting us as parents, he demanded that all of us, myself, Seth, and Seth's parents leave the room. He made us all wait in the hall listening to Jaren scream and cry for Mommy and Daddy for twenty minutes while we paced and cried and pulled out out hair listening to that while they cleaned and stitched the wound.

Jaren fought so hard that they weren't able to stitch it cleanly. To this day a few weeks later, his wound splits open just a bit when he rams his head into things. This happens often and he is going to have quite a scar. In any case, we will not be going back to that hospital and we won't allow that doctor to touch our children.

We all were able to go home that night. Jaren was especially cuddly and we all watched Monsters Inc. together on the bed until we fell asleep.

Unfortunately, this isn't then end of the story. Jaren quickly returned to his normal habits. Just two days later on Tuesday, Jaren had another accident. Tuesday afternoon Jaren got a tad bit too excited while watching Thomas the Tank. He must have started jumping up and down on the wooden folding chair he was sitting on, lost his balance, and hit his head on the window sill on the way down. 

I was on my way home from work when I got the call from Seth. We hooked up together at the Farm and took Jaren into the Dubuque Acute Care facility. There the doctor was much kinder, "Oh my Jaren, looks like you are having a rough week" We stayed and helped the nurse hold Jaren down while the doctor stitched up the back of Jaren's head. 

The very next day, Jaren fell and scraped the other side of his forehead at Daycare. I think at that point, Seth wanted to lock Jaren in a plushly padded room until he turned six!

It has been a couple of weeks now. All the stitches have been removed. I'm not convinced Jaren actually learned anything from the experience other than that Doctors are AWFUL and that he never wants the door closed in the examining room. After two fairly harmless stitch removal sessions, I hope that Jaren's fear and distrust of doctors will subside. 

How does a Seth and a Michelle make a Daredevil?

But hey, chicks dig scars, right? :)

Starting Over

I decided to start my blog over. I really don't have a good excuse to explain to you why I haven't posted in quite some time. I could tell you I have been busy and that would be an understatement.

Perhaps a new venue might make me more apt to post something.

I wish I didn't feel like I had to say so much. I am too wordy most times!

Wish me luck!