Last Saturday was the quilt auction at riverside. I didn't actually cook the food but I prepped the day before. I put about 3 pounds of cooked bacon in 80 pounds of baked beans, it was epic. I made one quilt for the auction,my mom made two, and the "young" quilters at St. Petri made two quilts. I bought a rug and 2 quilts, my mom bought 2 quilts. Between what we bought and made, our contribution to RLBC was about $2500. The total for the day was $41,000. Wow. It is amazing what a few pieces of fabric and some willing hearts can do.
Right after the quilt auction my family headed out for vacation. We went to the Leinenkugel's brewery in Chippewa Falls. Even though I can't drink beer it was a very interesting tour. My food scientistishness came out hard core as the tour guide talked about sugar levels and flavorings. The water in Chippewa Falls is amazing, it comes from a nearby spring, yum. We also went to a church there that had stained glass featuring important Lutherans and had a great sermon about social justice. From there it was off to the upper peninsula of Michigan. There we saw lighthouses, copper mines, and had some really good muffins made by monks. While we were in Houghton we went to two breweries. My dad tried all kinds of beer and tried to educate me about beer by describing Budweiser as an chips ahoy cookie and craft beer as a homemade chocolate chip cookie studded with pecans warm from the oven. It was wonderful.
We were really just getting started in the UP when we got a call from the Stover's that our basement was flooded. We had one foot of water in our basement. Uff da. We packed up, cut our vacation short 4 days and headed home; driving 11 hours. What greeted us was not beautiful, the water had drained but it left behind muddy sludge. Before we left for vacation we put everything on plastic boxes or on bricks, preparing for 1-3 inches of water. Turns out that the water rushed in with such force that everything was knocked over. For the next 3 days we carried our belongings out to the garage. We sorted and saved what we could and pitched the rest. My fridge, tv, printer, and microwave for school were damaged beyond repair. Lots of my mom's fabric got wet. Photos and countless keepsakes were destroyed. After mopping the floors and walls with bleach we set up dehumidifiers and fans around the basement. When everything is dried out we'll start putting stuff back.
As sad as this time was for us we are counting our blessings. People in China and Pakistan are facing much worse. The citizens of Colfax have basements and whole homes filled to the brim with water. The people of Ames have to boil their water before they drink it. All in all we did not have it that bad.
