I feel guilty...

[SleeveTugger]

but had to vent a bit. I'm exhausted from all this cleanup and all the stories that just tear your heart out. I know I'm lucky, we didn't suffer nearly the loss so many did, but I'm still angry that it had to happen at all. I'm tired of coming home from work and working several more hours cleaning up this mess. I'm taking shortcuts just because I'm exhausted. We both know we should be tearing out all the sheetrock, pulling down the tongue and groove carsiding, but it's just such an overwhelming job.

Our friend lost his leg in this damned flood. He was in his basement and tried to escape through a window. The lacerations became infected and caused him to have an amputation of one leg. So many are affected.....and in such horrible ways.

My husband is a carpenter, so they worked today in places they probably shouldn't have been yet. People getting really sick from a minor scratch, next it'll be hepatitis. It's just so overwhelming.

Sorry for venting.

Mary

[quillabee9]

Mary,
Vent away. It will help dissipate some of the anger and frustation. We really feel for you folks. It's going to be slow, but recovery will come. The best to you.

[Teacher617]

Oh Mary, you have every right to "vent." We're all pulling for you and your neighbors. Hang in there!! :(

Tricia

[Tina_B]

We are all thinking of your hard times with the floods. My church is making flood buckets to be given out here in the damaged areas of Wisconsin. We have a 5 gallon buckets filled with things that might be helpful in cleaning up. I think our church conference will probably be doing the same for Minnesota families. I got a local business to donate the buckets for us and others are working on donations from other business in our community. Most of the items will be purchased by the church families. I will be doing the shopping this week so we can fill the buckets and get them on their way ASAP.
Good luck to you in your clean up.
Tina B

[AngelicKim]

Mary, I can only imagine what you are going through. I am so sorry to hear about your friend losing his leg and the frustration of the whole experience you and everyone affected be the floods are going through. Vent away, we are here for you.

[jo]

Mary, I didn't realize just how bad it is up there! But you are moving forward even though it's discouraging. Keep the faith!

[Wendy]

Oh Mary ...

I am so sorry to hear the news ... you must be feeling so down.

Just to let you know that I'm thinking of you ...

Hugs
Wendy

[nkeevers]

Hey, it's better to talk it out than to hold it inside. Otherwise, you'll just make yourself sick. What's happened is a tragedy (one I can't fathom since it hasn't happened here) but you just have to move on, hope for the best, help out as much as you can and pray more hardship doesn't come to anyone. So sorry to hear about your friend. He probably could have lost his life if he didn't do what he did.

[GaryK]

Mary

Vent away. What has happened is terrible.

While some are worse off, that doesn't mean you can't get upset over your situation.
Once the absolute necessary stuff is taken care of, take a bit of a break. It won't make the problem go away, but sometimes a breather works wonders.

[virgo1]

Mary,
Vent all you want. The damage tremendous all over. If it isn't flood, it's drought. We finally got enough rain last night and this morning to help put out the Sleeper Lake fire. More than 18,000 acres of the Lake Superior State Forest have been burning since early August. The burning bans up here have been strict and farmers will not get a 2nd hay harvest.
Eva

[NMarti]

Mary
We had that here in 1993 in the St. Louis area. Our basement was flooded and we had to completely gut it and have never bothered to re-finish it. Now it's just storage. We too were very fortunate compared to others who lost everyting but I do know the heartache and frustration you are feeling. Vent all you want because it's better than holding it in and letting it build up. My heart goes out to all who are experiencing this horrible flood. We are now in a severe drought so we would gladly take some of the rain.