Minot has begun the recovery process but we have a LONG way to go, especially before winter sets in. The river is down to 1549 feet from 1561.

Residence are slowing getting into their homes for the first time. Once the shock sets in, the interior demelition begins. The streets/curbs looks worse than a war zone. I just don't have words for it. Totally unbelievable. I refuse to take picture because I don't want to look back on what was. The memories will be enough.

I had the opportunity to experience the entrance into a home yesterday and visited with my quilting friend. I pulled up in front of her house, and when I got out of my vehicle the stench was unbelievable! Debris in the yard piled against the fence...stuff that was not hers. Then it was off to the house. The stench continued. Total cahos in the garage, water still in the basement, things left behind littered throughout the house. (she had about 4 1/2 feet of water in the house--to the bottom of the upper kitchen cabinets). Everything covered with a layer of sludge, mold forming on every surface. I DO NOT have words for what I saw. EVERYTHING will have to be removed from her home...sheetrock to the ceiling, insulation, etc. Then she will need to bring in a professional company to clean and sanitize the framing of the home, have the structure inspected and then rebuild.

On a high note, there are several organizations that have come to town like the LDS church that are here for the sole purpose of helping people gut their homes. We also have teams from the Air Force base that are helping with pumping water out of basements and gutting homes.

There are still ALOT of unanswered questions, housing is a major issue in a community that already had a housing shortage, and they are saying that FEMA trailers may not be here until October. Please keep in mind that these FEMA trailers are not like the ones they had in New Orleans. We have to have housing that can sustain -40 degree weather with additional wind chills.

Now for the quilting story to lift your spirits that our guild won't let a little water take use down. When I was the president of the guild, I was known for issuing "challenges" to the members. One of the challenges I issued was "how many yards of fabric do you have in your stash." I told ladies I didn't care how they figured their yardage...they could actually measure every piece of fabric, do the nose to end of finger tip measure, whatever. So at the next meeting I asked ladies to admit how much fabric was in their stash. Most had less than 100 yards. We did have one member stand up and confess that she had a "stash addiction." (this didn't surprise any of us.) She said that she STOPPED counting at 3,000 yards! Well, I heard last night that ALL the fabric was saved from the flood. She started clearing out her mobile home, the second day (just hours before the sirens sounded) her sons arrived in town, torn the skirting from her mobile home, disconnected power, water and electricity, hooked the mobile home up to the truck and said "let's get the heck out of here...remaining fabric and all." EVERYTHING was SAVED!

I pray that none of you ever have to experience a flood like this!

Lynn