Saturday we drove to Johnson's Shut Ins. "Shut Ins" are places where the river is squeezed in on both sides. Erosion can't do much here so the river quickens, making little water slides and pools. We swam and walked through the river - perfect on a hot day! Later we went to Elephant Rock Park to explore. There aren't any rocks shaped exactly like an elephant, but there are some huge ones here that are actually larger than any elephant.
Monday - We took Fried Rice to a pool party at Denny Adams' house. The party guests included Jim and Jeanne Barzee, Donnie and Christal Millers, Don Jackson and Wally Ottwell. If you don't have a pool, have friends with a pool.
July 4 Monday - We are working to help a local family who don't have much. Today we worked with Mike and Edy to move a bed and table and chairs to their house. And our neighbors the Leady's gave them a fan.
July 6 Wednesday - We found a good refrigerator at Alton Refrigeration for $100. Alpha Chapel paid for it and we delivered it to the local family.
July 14 - Jimmy came over for dinner (spaghetti and fruit cups) and worked on our computer.
July 16 Saturday - Rick came over to help side the top half of the front of the garage. We were supposed to go to the Enterprise Event tonight but were too tired.
7/22 Rich and Debbie came over for dinner. We had Chinese ribs, salad, dirty rice and maple cream pie.
7/29 Friday - The Metro Link just opened and Randy wanted to take a ride on it. So we gathered up Mike and Edy Heinrichs for the fun. We drove to the Clayton Metro station and rode the Metro Link to Union Station, where we had dinner at Casa Guiardos before taking the Metro back. We hope this is a start of increased mass transit in the area.
7/30 Saturday - Went to the reception for Dave Albertson's wedding.
7/31 Sunday - Pastor Brown from Jamaica spoke at Alpha Chapel today. After church we went to the Heinrichs' to hook up their computer system and try their new bread machine.
8/06 Saturday - We sided the back of our Taj Garage. Later we went to the movies with the Heinrichs and saw "Getting Even with Dad". Can't recommend the movie to anyone, but it's always nice to get together with friends.
8/13 Saturday - We joined the Millers and drove to Rutledge. It was a long trip and Randy hit about 5 birds on the way. He's a careful driver and he felt bad about it, but they just wouldn't move and there was too much traffic to stop in the middle of the road! We were at Rutledge because it is home to a huge flea market. They sell everything, including (at the edge of the woods) guns and hunting dogs. We didn't get any of those but we did find a few miscellaneous items we liked.
8/26 Our church put on an all-night Ladies' night. It was supposed to be a lock-in but around 4 in the morning Toni and I made a chocolate run to Schnucks, and later I colored my hair. You do strange things at a lock-in!
9/02 Randy and I attended the Carmen concert. It was a great concert, with an excellent singer and a great crowd.
1993 Summer Flood
We moved away from the Peoria river to avoid floods, and it's worked pretty good so far because now we live on a hill. But when there's a big flood in town, it affects everyone. Our water is shut off because Alton's water treatment plant has been breached by river water. We are buying bottled water to drink and collecting the water from our air conditioner for bathing and flushing, so we'll be OK. At least our house isn't threatened by the river, for which we are very thankful. But much of downtown Alton is along the river, so we joined other volunteers to spend hours in the sun, sand-bagging. We met up with Henry and Shirley Vassar there. There wasn't much time to visit, but Shirley brought her camera to capture the moment.
Unfortunately on August 1st, Alton lost the battle. The river crested at 42.7 feet (21.7 feet above flood stage). Nearby Grafton went under also, at 38.2 feet, which is 20.2 feet above their flood stage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)