After the Derecho

The cleanup after the derecho seemed like it would take years and the piles of tree debris kept growing by the day. Some streets had tree debris piles so large you could hardly see the houses. It also made intersections really dangerous.

Our neighborhood was lucky because we were among the first to have tree debris removed. I think that improved everyone's spirits to see the piles disappearing. All you heard all day every day was the chorus of chainsaws from one end of the street to the other and the rumble of tree debris trucks hauling the piles away.

I had some pictures of tree debris trucks, but I must've deleted them. Instead, here are pics of the growing debris piles along our street:

A completely different skyline stands in stark contrast to the once tree-lined street. We get a lot more sunshine these days:

Then there was the exciting day that Alliant finally removed the old broken utility poles so that Imon could come out and reconnect our internet. We lived off of a hotspot from my phone until then (which actually did a decent job, surprisingly). Aha! I knew I still had a picture somewhere of a tree debris truck:

The Imon guys came along a couple days later. They got out and looked at our dropped line, then started to drive away! I had to run out and yell at them to stop. They said they weren't sure if our line was for Imon or Mediacom. I guess making a phone call or knocking on a door were out of the question. But they got us hooked up again.

Another storm blowing through CR:

Then the tree guys showed up and took down the remaining stuff:

The neighbor's tree took out part of our fence, which worked out OK since it created an opening large enough for the tree guys to get their trucks and equipment into the backyard:

Lily does not care for all the racket outside:

They cut the trunks into 6-foot lengths to make sure the wood could be picked up. since The maximum length the tree debris trucks will pick up is 10 feet, but if the diameter of the wood is too great they can't pick it up. Better to err on the side of caution. 

Grinding out the stumps and the network of roots across the yard:

The only thing scarier than the derecho:

One night Emily and Rose decided to fix up our hair:

Pretty sure you're not supposed to flat iron a beard. Also, it doesn't feel great:

Cynthia and I went on the Tiki Tour through NewBo and Czech Village. That was pretty fun:

Back to school already! It came up fast even though school was delayed by a month due to the derecho. Since the pandemic is still going on they were distance learning, using their Chromebooks to take their classes online.

Maypril

Sometimes people steal my phone when I'm not looking and fill it up with selfies. I take revenge by texting them every single selfie that ends up on my phone. It's never difficult to identify the suspects:

We went to the Conrad's for Easter and the girls went on the annual Easter egg hunt:

Think they'll notice the egg next to the windshield wiper? The eggs seem so obvious when you're the one who hid them:

Found it! In the end we still had to point out a few remaining eggs to them.

We go for a couple of bike rides each week and it's exciting to see that the city is starting to transform our favorite lake into a Gray's Lake sorta thing. It will probably take a couple of summers to complete and they've only just started putting in the pilings:

All the rain we've had has brought the river up close to the trails in spots:

In April we had a 7-foot tall cedar privacy fence installed around the backyard. I took one last picture of the yard before the fence enclosed it:

It's weird how something like this can completely transform the yard. The fence looks so nice out there. I keep looking just to see if it's still there:

The ladies made their own tie dye shirts to kick off the summer:

Voila! Far out, man.

Emily decided to paint her bedroom door a different color, so she went and picked out some color swatches and this is what she chose:

It turned out pretty well!

Rose is driving now. The streets of Cedar Rapids will never be the same. Fortunately, she's a good driver and is figuring it all out quickly. We started off driving around several different parking lots and after enough practice she'll be driving on the streets.

Rose also had her spring choral concert at Franklin. They were joined by a live band, which was cool:

Cynthia's birthday! We went to her parents', then to R Place, then we celebrated it again at home, then once more at my parents'.

Each year we go to Masonville and the fish is so good there. She opened her gifts while we waited for the food:

Album cover pose!

Opening gifts at home:

Rose and Emily made the cake out of fruit, cuz it's healthy:

Happy Birthday, Cynthia!

Playin' with nifty phone filters. Rose looks really creepy in the second picture:

The weather was warm enough to go out to our favorite pier on date night after Lion Bridge:

Team #SoClose almost nailed it this time... we played The Collector escape room and got every single clue, but ran out of time as we were trying to sort out the last code to unlock the safe and retrieve the amulet. Missed it by that much:

So I was installing new basement windows and when I tore out the old windows I discovered that the workers had used sections of old newspaper to seal the gaps around the original window frames. Not really on par with construction standards of today, but it was interesting to piece together a Cedar Rapids Gazette from late 1947. It's interesting that readers could submit this poll simply by clipping it out and pasting it to a penny:

With the new windows and carpet, we have been spending a lot of time enjoying the sunroom: