I went up to mom's Friday morning...it was really foggy and smoggy. The air quality here this past week has been really bad. Can't burn a fire and it's sooooo cold! I think what makes it worse is knowing that the sun is shining up there somewhere, but all we see is a sick brown haze. Hope a storm comes in soon to clear this out!

I was jealous of Brenda as I drove up the canyon. The higher I got, the sunnier it was and when I went by Brenda's house, it was clear blue skies!

But then I drove down into Cache Valley and right back into the inversion. I think theirs was even worse than we have down here.

Driving into the valley was like going into some kind of frozen twilight zone. Because of the fog, the trees and bushes and houses and everything were frosted. And it was soooo cold!
The kind of cold that makes your lungs hurt if you breath in too deep. My car temperature just said "ice"

It was quite beautiful though. We talked today in Sunday school about the amazing beauty of our world. This was definitely an evidence of God's love for us... even in the dead of winter, breathtaking beauty! Mom has had quite the week. The home health care lady had done a batch of laundry in the evening and the next morning she found that the floor was flooded. But it was the floor in the bathroom, not by the washer that was wet! The water was coming up the shower drain and overflowing into the bathroom. The whole floor flooded clear out by the freezer. So Brenda called a plumber and a restoration company and they came out to see what was going on. The restoration guy brought some big fans to try to dry the floor up but the carper was in pretty bad shape. The first plumber guys that came out looked at it and couldn't figure out what to do, so they called their boss and he came out. He said the washer, shower and sink back there were all piped into the old septic system. Only the toilet was going into the sewer system. We were wondering why it had worked out alright all of these years, then suddenly it flooded. The plumber said the septic tank must be full so it couldn't take anymore. Mom leaves her hoses running a little bit through the winter so the pipes don't freeze up and he said that might have filled it up too much.

Wow I didn't even know that thing was still even hooked up to any pipes at the house. We changed over to the sewer system back in the early 70's. I didn't really know any different at the time, but remember daddy always telling us to not let the water run and to be real careful not to waste water cause it would fill up the septic tank. Ya, Ya, Ya, We were just silly girls that liked to take long baths with the tub filled clear to the top. Then I remember one time when it did get full. The grass east of the kitchen was all soggy and smelled real bad! We had to have this big pump truck come out and empty it out. Sorry Daddy! If I was you I would have smacked me up side of the head.

So anyway, we were all happy when the city put in a sewer system close enough to our house so we could hook up to that! Why was I talking about the sewer? Oh yeah, the flood.

Anyway, the plumber took apart the floor in the bathroom and found that the pipes all needed to be re-routed into the sewer system. We didn't really know what else to do, mom has to use the shower back there, so Brenda told them to go ahead and fix it.

So they were there all day Friday, hammering, sawing, clanking, and banging. While they were working, I took down all of moms Christmas stuff and put her tree away. Mom sat in the living room with me and told me about all the different decorations as I wrapped them up and put them in the boxes. I think it kind of kept her mind off the noise in the back room. She was uneasy about the guys doing the work. She kept saying they were just teenage boys and didn't know what they were doing. I kept reassuring her that "the boys" boss was the one back there working and he would do a good job!

Well, when they were all done, they tried running everything to make sure it worked OK. All the plumbing worked fine, but he noticed there was water under the washer. He pulled it out and looked at it and said it was leaking from the inside. " How old is this washer?" " Hmmmmmmmmmm I remember when we got it, I was about 13. (Oh man I remember when we got that washer and dryer we were so excited! Our Saturday's in the creepy basement were over! No more scary wringer...I always had nightmaraes about my arm going through that thing, No more hauling baskets of wet laundry up the steep stairs and out to the clothes line...no more scratchy, stiff as a board towels. When I look back on it now though, that time, doing laundry with my mom and my sisters was actually pretty fun. Mom had taught us little songs and rounds to sing (The horn, the horn...it sounds so forlorn) and we would sing and laugh until the job was done.

Anyway, when I figured it out, that would make the washer and dryer 37 years old! I guess it has done it's duty...and then some.

So we decided to try to find her a new one (or used one) They certainly don't make them like they used to. We went to a few stores, hoping to find something pretty inexpensive, but most were around 400 or more. We went into Home Depot, and they had one that seemed pretty reasonable and decided to go ahead and get it. They said they would deliver, set it up, and take away the old one for free so that was a big plus.

We also went to this place called "Cash and Carry" and found a nice piece of carpet to put in her bathroom. They are going to install that next week for her. My mom and sisters sure do spoil me! They had made a nice birthday lunch and we had a fun little party. It was great to be able to just sit and visit and catch up on each other's lives. They all gave me lovely presents and sweet cards. Sure do love them!

What a lucky girl I am to have been born into this loving family. I often wish we lived closer so we could enjoy more wonderful days like this one together.