Too close for comfort!

Scary - we were this close to a tornado last night when the storms rolled through... do you see the cemetery? This picture was taken at 1910 North Jefferson by someone up at the Highway Dept!
The only damage we had was a broken tree branch off of our big ash tree that dad planted... and I had to climb up on the roof to cut it the best I could to make sure it did not hit the roof of our house anymore. (It was hanging down over the gutter on the corner by the front door) We had a ton of branches and leaves in our yard also. It rained and hailed so hard we could not even see across the street. There was a tornado between Courtland and Nicollet. Scary - and more storms are forecast for tonight. You can see more pictures at the NU Journal web site and CU.

Devin showing off his flexibility!

He loves to throw balls under his legs. He was playing catch with Derek in this picture by throwing balls under himself.

I thought I should give a bit of an up-date from Devin's last Spina Bifida clinic and getting his casts off.

The doctor's were pleased with the healing of Devin's legs so they did take the casts off at 6 weeks. Currently, Devin's right leg seems to be slightly under corrected while his left leg seems to be a bit more over corrected. As you look at him his feet seem to point to the right. When he is standing he plays with the position of his legs. His left leg does tend to bend a bit, at the knee, inward. The PT at Mayo suggested that we may need to go back to the KAFOs with Twister Straps in order for Devin to build the proper muscles but the Orthopedic and Physical Medicine doctor decided that it was a bit premature to do something like that so soon after surgery so they have ordered that he get PT 2-3 times a week. The PT part has been difficult to get as his regular PT's last day for the summer was the day he got his casts off! While the timing of Devin's surgery was good for Devin because it would not interrupt his schooling in the fall and he would not have casts on all summer, apparently it was not good timing for the support system we have come to rely on.

Devin was able to go in and visit the Preschool he will attend in the fall before the last day of school. While he was initially very shy, he did not want to leave when the day was done.

Day #1 - Jefferson Street Road Construction!

In case you want to know what the bird looked like that got into the house - here is a picture of it - not sure if it was the same one, but it looked just like this one! Today in the first day of Jefferson Street Road Construction they did Water Main Repair, and the water was shut off from 11-2:30... And you can see the big equipment parked on our street - and an excavator parked right out side of our windows! Exciting! Stay tuned for more updates... This equipment by the way does make the ground and floor shake in our house! That is kind of scary! Parking in the alley and coming in the basement is not that fun though. I hope they get done fast! Also, it is really strange not to have traffic go up and down our street!