Sandbags Galore

Due to all of the massive flooding around the state, we decided to give our time to those in need by helping fill sandbags this past Thursday evening.  We spent an hour helping different groups stack bags and load them into skidloaders for them to haul them off to the Birdland levee, only for the levee to unfortunately fail on Saturday morning.  Friday afternoon I again went out for another two hours with my sister-in-law and actually filled, tied and stack bags in the wind and sun.  I came home with sand in places that no person should have sand.  Thankfully, overnight last night the rivers have been coming down and the Raccoon and DesMoines Rivers dropped almost 6 inches.  While we are in the clear, we haven't forgotten those in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Waterloo who continue to deal with the devastation and hope you will all give your part in helping to clean up the aftermath.  You can sign up to volunteer through the United Way in your area by going to unitedway.org  Please help those struck by this terrible disaster!

Autism Walk, HOT and Sweaty

Went on the Autism walk this morning with a family I work with that deals with Autism on a regular basis in their three children.  Also joining us were some of the workers from The Respite Connection.  While it finally wasn't raining for once, it was hot and definitely sweaty.  The kids had fun on the 2 mile walk, especially because it ended up in them playing in the fountain at city hall in West Des Moines.  Luckily we weren't given a ticket but then again, our kids were just wading, while others were fully submerged and swimming in the strange smelling water.  We finally finished up and headed home, only to discover the extremely red, almost purple looking shoulders, chest and neck after looking in the mirror.  I now plan on spending the next two days in the house after making a quick run to get some aloe.  If only we had cable to keep myself entertained while I "recover."

In other news, Coda seems to be doing better.  I only say seems because he is still not able to go downstairs to check out his "spot."  However, he has not peed anywhere else in the house since he has been restricted and has been using the litter box.  He still tries to sneak "good food" from Ziggy but is still on his special diet.  Next week entails contacting the vet and hopefully one last urine sample to be sure that his struvite crystals are gone.  Gotta love the money we shell out on the pets!