http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/235848/ Parenting Perspectives: Stay or go: A mother’s perspective on Valley flooding By: Roxane B. Salonen, INFORUM This past Friday morning the kids and I threw a couple of days’ worth of clothes into the minivan and fled our beloved but flood-ravished community. I’d grappled all week with whether we should stay or go. What [...]
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Mar 31
Mar 30
fargo flood 09: a view from the outside 5 (update from the trenches)
Today, the snow started coming down lightly here in Baxter, and the air temperature dropped a few degrees. The snow has stopped for now, and the kids are outside playing on the tire swing out back. We’re planning on night two of grilling with Mary’s new grill. But by tomorrow, an outdoor cooking session is [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 29
fargo flood 09: a view from the outside 4 (flood tails)
Shortly after arriving in Baxter Friday afternoon, Mary pulled me over to her computer. "Take a look at these photos," she said. They were pictures sent through email by her sister of her family’s farmstead, located about halfway between Fargo and Grand Forks on the Minnesota side. I’ve now received permission to post those photos, [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 29
fargo flood 09: a view from the outside 3
Yesterday, Mary, Beth, Nick and I ventured out of the house to walk to a nearby park. Though the grounds were still snow-covered, the jaunt gave us a chance to meet up with this T-rex, which was just the right size for the kids. Last night, the kids (seven here, two gone) had a [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 29
fargo flood 09: a way to help from afar
I just received this notice in my inbox from fargostuff.com due to my affiliation with them through my books: The Flood Effort Continues in Fargo To all the helping hands who continue to assist any way possible, thank you. You are all heroes. The effort continues in full force. We are a strong community and [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 28
fargo flood 09: a view from the outside 2
I just heard from a friend who is still in the flood battle zone. With permission from her, and with names and numbers and a few lines deleted, I will post her email message below. Though I am on the outside now, she has a very heartfelt inside view of the flooding effort, and describes [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 28
fargo flood 09: a view from the outside
What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, we were on the run, fleeing the rising river. Today, we are rested, well-fed, and much-relieved. That’s not to say we’ve forgotten what we just left; not by a longshot. But we’ve at least removed one bundle of stress from the Fargo-Moorhead area. I don’t regret our departure. [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 26
flood: a view from the inside 6 (heavy-hearted)
This will be my last installment of "flood: a view from the inside." My next post, if all goes as planned, will be written from the outside. The kids and I will leave tomorrow morning with the intent of making it to a friend’s home in Minnesota a couple hours away. Having experienced the Grand [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 26
flood: a view from the inside 5
This isn’t the first time I’ve posted photos of our deck in "spring," the table, grill and railing heaped with snow. But it’s the first time I’ve posted them while a river rages a couple miles in the background. So many scenes in the past couple days have been surreal, incongruent: a flood and blizzard [...]
Read the rest of this entry »Mar 25
birth of a sandbag
This morning, we awoke to snow-covered ground and school cancellations. Even our big West Acres Mall, last I heard, had been closed. You know it’s bad when the mall closes. In other parts of the state, my sister and half her family are stranded in Bismarck; the other half remain at home an hour away [...]
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