Finally, we've converted.

Well, mostly. I finished copying all of the flood posts from Jill's blog to here. I did get a bit lazy at then end and just grabbed the flood stuff and left her travel and other stuff out.
Anyway, it's all here that's gonna be.

Today, Sher did her errands as expected and also finished washing the duct work in the basement. Fred went for drywall and also got some sort of contraption that keeps you from putting the screws in too far. (I'm sure there's a dirty joke in there somewhere, feel free to add it by clicking 'comments' at the end of this post.)

Rob went over to help unload the drywall. He didn't stay for lunch as he felt that the manual labor had earned him a Big Mac. After he left, Fred decided to remove the last of the sand bags from the spot between the garage and the shed/crap pile. He said he didn't have Rob help because it was moldy and gross and Rob was wheezing a bit. I guess it made more sense to have a 67 year old with a cardiac history move heavy, moldy sand bags than a somewhat large 33 year old with mild asthma.
I wouldn't have touched those sand bags with a hazmat suit. Not because of the flood poo, but because that's where everybody peed after the water was turned off. For some reason I'm more repulsed by the pee that I know than the poop that I don't.

Which brings us to food:
Fred was grilling 'tater wedges and pork steaks when I stopped after work. It smelled pretty good even though I'm not a fan of the pig products.

In other pig news, I ate 2 pork products over the holiday weekend. Keith cooked bacon, eggs, and pancakes and it was spectacular. The bacon was from the Edgewood Locker. They have great stuff. The other pork was at Stan's fireworks event. His neighbor Gerald, of lifting fame during the flood, roasted some hog parts with some sort of spicy rub stuff on it. Also, really fabulous.

I seem to be off on a non-flood tangent so I'll close here for today. No pictures again, I suck. I'll make sure I have some of the drywalling events of the coming weekend.

One other quick tangent: This woman reminds me, in the best possible ways, of all of the women in the greater Wagner family...

Updates and Updates

I have been working on getting the flood related posts from the 'other blog' moved over here for historical purposes as I'm sure we'll win a Peabody or something.
I have a good chunk of them moved, but the pictures are a pain.

Anyway, today's flood update. (Floopdate?)

Sher's college friends Carol and Alice came up today and helped finish the scrubbing of studs (not as titillating as it sounds) and paint them with Kilz. They nearly finished the painting, just a few spots that Sher can finish up.

Not sure what Fred did today either beyond fixing the ice maker water thingy that started to leak. Oh wait, he cut a hole in the bottom of the vanity in the small bathroom and worked on cleaning that out. He also got the air exchanger for the AC out of the basement and one of the curmudgeons (how is that spelled??) came over just in time to help haul it out. I guess it was a pretty big day.

I also heard that Brian, Shelly, and their son Karl are coming up up this weekend to do some drywalling. Brian you know from the demolition adventures. Carl (I'm spelling it each way so at least one will be right) does drywalling which is great. It will be interesting to see who gets to be in charge between him, Brian, and Fred.

Sher's planning on doing some errands tomorrow for paper work type things. Fred's going to pick up drywall and whatever else catches his eye at Menard's. (He comparison shopped the Sunday ads for the best price.)

Sorry- no pictures today. I'll try to grab a few tomorrow and throw them in.

And now I must go to bed as it is 1:30am and I have to work tomorrow.

Oh- today's food:
Lunch: I'm not sure what Fred, Sher, and helper's had today, but I had Pablo's- a local burrito joint. Very good. (I know the point is to let people know that Fred and Sher are eating, but I was really excited about my veggie quesadilla.)

Supper: 2 meats- Meatloaf from Gram- good. Pot Roast that Rob made- good. Veggies that I nuked- ok.

Welcome to the new location!

This is the new location of the Wagner Flood Blog! If you want to continue reading about Jill's escapades with not washing her hair, simplicityandfrugality.blogspot.com is still up and running. This blog is so that Jill and I (Pam) can both work on keeping everyone up to date on the progress at Fred and Sher's, while keeping our person lives (e.g. blogs) separate.

I'm not sure which pictures Jill put up so far, so I apologize if there's a bit of repeating here.

Fred and Sher took a much needed break over the weekend to go to Elkader and relax.


This is Sara with part of her mother load of trout. All the trout hatcheries in NE Iowa were flooded out so there are about 100,000 extra trout floating around and apparently willing to bite on any cast. Even Slugs caught some! ;)



This is Sher back at work on Sunday- scrubbing 2x4's with bleach.


This is one of the big dehumidifiers that were running for part of last week.


This is my hand pinching off the the little hose thingy that goes into the ice maker in the fridge. It survived many things in that past months, but not Fred cutting off the tiny bit of plywood that he had painstakingly cut out around it to save it. I had to crimp it off while he ran to the basement to shut off the feed. Only a minor mishap, but a bit of a pain because of some sort of oddly complicated arrangement that connects the hose to the fridge. It's fixed now and they are back to self-sufficiency as far as ice goes.

Today was more scrubbing for Sherry. I'm not sure what Fred did for most of the day, but he was planting the veggies that Julie gave him when I stopped in after work. I didn't stay long as they were going out to eat and there was a storm blowing up.

That's all for today. Hopefully one of us will get a post up every day or two to keep every one up to date.

July 5 Update

But first, the flood update:

The house is fully dehydrated. I am sending anonymous flooring samples to Sher.

There are some great deals online and I think if she puts the sample in a high traffic area and abuses it, she can tell if it will hold up to usual wear and tear.

Sara Jane and Slugs were at Elkader with Fred and Sher for fireworks. Sara J. and Fred went trout fishing. Sara proclaimed it the best goddamned trout fishing of her life.

Floods must be good for both bullhead AND trout fishing.

This concludes the flood report.

July 3 Update

So, the only flood report I have is that Stan was there yesterday and opened up the basement stairs. This is very good. Pam thinks he may get a bug up his butt and take the whole flight out and replace them on another trip. I had a bug up my butt because they are wood, there had to be poowater under there and that was the most likely place left that could get rot (that and the porch walls...but we'll deal with that another day).
OH! Pam also said that Sher managed to clear out the second floor so they can live up there and on the 3 season porch for a while! This will amaze anyone who has been there because that room was packed with their stuff. I mean packed. So was the closet. So was the attic. The bathroom had a bit of clear room but only in the tub. With a bed and potty right by they will be happier. (Fred has been peeing out the back door of the camper. Gross.) I don't know if they've moved in and I REALLY don't know what Sher has done with the stuff that was up there. She has this knack for consolidating things into smaller and smaller spaces. Sort of like when Bugs Bunny would fold a whole house up into a tiny packet the size of a matchbox.

I have NO idea what they ate today. Sorry.
Here are a few funny moment from flood clean up that haven't made the blog yet:
Brian and Fred going fishing for about 2 hours. Brian coming back and repeatedly announcing in the way that only Brian can that this was, "The best goddamn bullhead fishing of my life."

Shelly pointing out that Brian had grown up to be Fred. (and it is kinda true)

Pam wearing her doo-rag all the time...it's really a dishcloth tied around her head.

Sara Jane coming back after seeing her REO truck photo on this blog and saying "I look like a guy"...yes, Sara, you do in THAT photo. Actually, I thought you looked like Grampa Wagner and Shelly thought you looked like Grampa Hawbaker.

The lawn mower races were even funnier than they look in the photo but I can't really describe how or why.

Sher playing Wii Fit is HYSTERICAL and when Sher wasn't there Pam and I were playing and Sher's "mii" (pronounced "me", it is the little cartoon of yourself that you create in the game to represent you) starting doing things Sher actually does. It was a little creepy but mostly funny. Also, Sher just playing this video game is hysterical. Perhaps moreso because she had a nice glass of wine before she played.

That's enough for one entry. I'm sure there will be other funny moments that occur to me.

Happy 4th of July to you all.

July 2 Update

I haven't gotten the flood update this evening. At noonish the house was still drying, the stairs were still not opened up, but Stan had come to get his giant generator and move some stuff out of the neighbor's yard back into Sher's yard (some piece of equipment). Sher had pulled nails out of wall studs until the house got too hot from the dehumidifiers. She's going to find out how long before she can paint those with Killz and get the wallboard back up.

Sher is also researching floors to replace the hardwood. She is thinking cork for the kitchen.

Here is some back story that didn't make it in earlier blogs.

Fred said that for the next flood he has that 10 sand bag system (just block the holes in the foundation rather than trying to build a levee).

Pam suggested a 2 bullet system instead. One for Fred to shoot himself. And one for Sher to make sure he's dead... (we're not a nice people...but we DO show up if you actually survive the disaster. And if you don't survive the disaster we make sure there is plenty of jell-o salad at the funeral. It's the least we can do.)

Fred and Sher will be going to Elkader for a day over the 4th which is nice. A little break will do them good. There isn't that much left that can be done by them personally until it's time to paint and paper. I wonder if Sher can contract herself to do the work...then use a Small Business Administration loan to pay herself. If Cheney/Haliburton can do it, why not Sher?(sorry...politics just snuck in there)

OH MY GOD!!! I forgot to ask what they ate today!! Damn.

July 1 Update

Here is the flood update as far as I know:The dehumidifiers are running apace. Fred has not opened up the basement stairs yet and Pam tells me that we're not talking about it. There is an unreachable spot under the basement stairs that could probably use drying. Sher will have to handle that one on her own.

Sher dealt with FEMA, Small Business Admin, and Red Cross paperwork and funding issues today. Sounds like fun.

Billie visited! They had lunch and she brought 3 tomato plants to get the garden going again (even though you should not eat veg grown in poowaterground). Keith had also said he found a bunch of Fred's worms up in Elkader but I don't know if those got sent down.

Fred power washed a lot of things today. I don't think they can go in the house much due to the dehumidifiers making it hot and not wanting to have the doors open (why pay to dehumidify the planet).