My New Car!

Sadly - my Explorer did not survive the fire.  I'm STILL bummed about that!  I planned to drive that thing until the doors fell off.  They burned off, does that count? 

For weeks I have wondered why I was so bummed about losing that Explorer.  I mean, it was JUST a vehicle.  A mode of transportation.  A tool.  A gas guzzler.  But I think I've figured out why I am so sad about the loss.  Our cars don't define us - but what we do with them does. 

1.  It was paid for. 'nuff said!
2.  It was the first new vehicle that Mike and I bought together.

3.  We brought both of our babies home from the hospital in that Explorer.

4.  We spent a stormy night of camping in it with Chad and Jodi.  We played cards in the back and we still laugh about that night.
5.  It has taken on us on many adventures - from biking to hiking to boating.
6.  It still looked new despite being a 2004 our despite our bad luck!

7.  There are a few funny stories too - like the time I threw it into park, turned it off and ran into daycare  with the keys still in it.  Turns out, it wasn't quite in park and rolled out of the driveway an in to a parked car!  In my defense, there was a malfunction in the steering column that made me think it was in park when it really wasn't! 

8.  Or the time Mike was backing up a really small trailer.  The trailer jackknifed, but he couldn't see it to know it had until he crunched in the rear quarter panel!
9.  Or the not so fun time - when golf ball and baseball sized hail hit Rochester about two and a half years ago.  Madison and I sat in the Explorer along Highway 14 and cried as our beloved truck was pelted with the hail.  We were afraid the windows would break, but the glass held and we were safe.
10.  Mike called it the Canyonero.  *Simpson's fans will get this one!

So - it almost feels like this is closing one chapter on our life and starting another when we weren't quite ready to say goodbye. We made a lot of memories with that SUV and I will be very sad on the day they pull it out of our burned out garage and haul it away.  You can bet I will be there to bid it a final goodbye.

But, like Kid Rock says, you have to Roll On, Roll On Roller coaster.  So, we had to move on to new things!  I really did not want another car - its tough going back after driving an SUV!  The threat of $5 per gallon gas forced me to be a little more fuel conscious with my car purchase.  I give you: 

The 2010 Ford Fusion SE in Sterling Gray.  It's not brand new, but almost!

What I like:
1. The gas mileage!  On my first trip to the cabin we got 30 MPG!
2.  The pretty blue dash lights.  Seriously mesmerizing.
3.  The V6 - It's a pretty fun to drive family sedan.  I bet I would get better gas mileage if I didn't enjoy that V6 quite so much.
4.  The Color. 
5.  I no longer need a telescoping snow brush to clean off the windshield.
6.  It's still pretty much paid for - or at least it will be once all the insurance stuff gets settled in the next few months. 

I'm not crazy about the fact that it does not have automatic lights or a thermometer -- but I'm getting used to that!  So far I really do like the car and we have not noticed the lack of a large place in back to haul stuff. 

Dec. 29, 2010 continued

Much of the rest of the day of the fire was a blur.


When you see a part of your home burning, the first thing that goes through your mind is “What stupid thing did we do???” You blame yourself and wonder what you left on or plugged in that you shouldn’t have. I immediately thought of the simple light switch timers that we had installed the week before. We put two of them in, one for each of the block heaters on our trucks. The heaters help the vehicle start better in the cold and they warm up faster but they only need to be on for a few hours before you start the car. So, we put the timers in to save money on electricity. The “manual” for the timers was still sitting on my kitchen counter on the morning of the fire. I immediately started to beat myself up for the choice of those timers. Why did we put those in? To save a few bucks? Look what it saved us, I thought!

By the time the fire was out, I could see that our new neighbors shed had partially burned. The siding was gone and some of the roof was scorched. The neighbor behind us lost his siding too. It is just a melted mess.  The fire marshal told me they call vinyl siding “plastic gasoline for fires.” It melts and just adds fuel to them.

We each had to give separate statements to the police. They told us the arson investigator was on his way.

WHAT? ARSON?

When you hear that, you again beat yourself up. Arson? Do they think we started the fire? Why would we? Did we do something to make them think this is arson? You immediately feel guilt even though you know you didn’t do anything

The first question the police officer asked me was “Does anybody not like you?”

Now, I consider myself a pretty likeable person but I am quite certain I have ticked off my fair share of people in my time. Have I ticked them off enough to burn down my garage? I don’t think so. I sure hope not.

We were both asked a lot of questions about what was plugged in, where things were in the garage. We both told them to the best of our recollection.

The fire investigators spent a lot of time looking around in the garage and at our electrical box in the house and they quickly zeroed in on Mike’s brand new Ford F-150 pickup truck. We have had the truck for about 6 months and it only had about 6,000 miles on it. It still had the new car smell. It was a pretty truck.

Before long we saw them cover the engine compartments of both trucks with big blue tarps. The investigator came in side.

I was nervous, remember, I had just heard the word "arson" in the minutes before.  He told us that it looked like the fire originated in the engine compartment of Mike’s truck and that experts from our insurance company and Ford will have to look at it. He told us to stay out of the garage because the structure was not safe and the one remaining wall could fall down.

Then he said “there is nothing in there that you can save, it is all gone.”

I started to cry.

Then he said “this is all just stuff, you can replace it. Rest assured, you did nothing wrong and you did not cause this in any way, arson is also no longer a concern.”

I started to cry more. Finally, someone was telling us that this wasn’t our fault. That it just happened and was going to happen regardless of the precautions we took or how careful we were. We didn’t do anything wrong. I suppose my tears were much like a sigh of relief.

After the investigators left, there was a steady stream of visitors. Mike’s Grandma heard about the fire and came by. She brought donuts. There is something about food that just makes you feel better! Mike’s parents were there a couple of times. The last time was to drop of a van for us to drive until we bought new cars. Mike’s boss. Our insurance agent. The claims rep. More TV stations. The phone rang constantly. My Mom and Dad. Jodi. The claims rep for the cars. I cried with each familiar voice that I heard. 

The kids were scheduled to be in the backup daycare that day. They love backup daycare. I couldn’t get them there because we didn’t have car seats for the borrowed van.

In the few quiet moments of the day, we couldn’t do much. I am a roll-up-your-sleeves kind of girl and I couldn’t touch a thing. If it were up to me, there would have been a flatbed there that day to take away the burned out trucks. A roll-off would have been there and that garage would have been coming down. We couldn’t do much more than sit at the kitchen table and stare at the mess. And stare at it was exactly what we did. We are still staring at it.

December 29, 2010

So, the blog has been quiet for awhile.
I had plans to blog about our Christmas celebrations, New Year’s Celebrations and resolutions. Instead, right between Christmas and New Year’s our world was rocked and we have been in recovery mode ever since.

If you don’t follow me on Facebook or in real life – this will be new news. For the rest of you, my posts over the next few weeks will be an account of what exactly happened four weeks ago and where we are now.

Wednesday December 29, 2010

5:00 am My alarm went off but I was too tired to work out. Reset for 6:00.
5:18 am Windsor jumped up on the bed and needed to go out
5:19 am Hanging out on the deck while Windsor pee’s. I noticed that it was really cold and that Madison had left toys in the yard the night before. I thought to myself “we have more snow coming, Madison better get those picked up tonight.”
5:20 am Back to bed
5:25 am Windsor had to go out again **GROAN** I should have just got up and got on the dang treadmill!
5:27 am Back to bed
5:27-5:40 Windsor is wildly chewing on a bone and keeping me awake. Seriously! I just wanted another hour of sleep!
5:40 am Take Windsor to his kennel and lock him up, without his bone. Look out the patio door again, everything seems just fine.

Quite honestly, the only unusual thing about this morning is that Windsor had to go out at 5:18 and again just a few minutes later. He can normally make it to 6:30 or 7:00 before he needs to go out at all. Aside from this, he did not act strange or alert us in any way that something was wrong. I’m not sure if this makes him a stupid dog or if things just happened that quickly!

6:12 am Rollover and groan – I really MUST get up for work! Just a few more minutes…

6:12 plus a few more seconds: Frantic pounding on our front door.

Mike bolts out of bed and shouts “Someone is trying to get in the house!”

We run to the living room and look out the window. There is a woman on the sidewalk on a cell phone. She is jumping up and down and waving to us through the window. There are two more people on our front step and still pounding on the door.

Mike shouts “Just a minute!” as he starts down the stairs to the door. I throw a bathrobe at him. I’m pretty sure he had his oldest and most holey boxers on.

Mike opens the door to a bald guy with a long goatee. He looked like he just stepped out of a biker bar.

“Dude,” he says. “Your garage is on fire! We have already called the fire department.”

“WHAT???” We both say.

He says it again. “Your garage is on fire.”

I run to the patio and see thick black smoke billowing out of creases in the garage door.

My exact words were “Holy Shit, he’s right!”

I fumbled around for my cell phone (not really sure why!), grabbed a sweatshirt and threw on boots and was outside within a minute’s time. By the time I got out there, the entire garage was completely engulfed in flames.

I remember saying “what is taking so long, why aren’t they here yet???”

I could hear sirens.

I knew that we couldn’t save anything and that it was too risky to even try. I just stood there in the driveway watching it burn.

A lady that lives on the street behind us flagged the police and fire trucks down our street. She offered me a warm place to stay if we needed it.

The firemen arrive and run hoses from a tanker truck and get them on the garage. Three more trucks arrive and I point a fireman in the direction of the nearest fire hydrant. Thank Goodness our new neighbor had plowed the snow away from it!

My neighbor, Jess, from across the street put on her coat and stood with me while we watched it burn. I didn’t know what to say to her. I asked her if she had a booster seat we could borrow for Madison, since our’s was burning. I’m not sure what car I thought I was going to put it in.

A fireman asked me if there were vehicles in the garage. I say “Yes, an SUV and a full sized truck and both have full gas tanks!”

I remember thinking “Crap, that’s like 60 gallons of gas in those trucks at $3.00 a gallon!”

The fire fighters quickly realized that they could not save the garage. They quickly moved into protection mode – they started getting water on our next door neighbor’s shed and on the house that is behind us. A firefighter asked for a shovel to clear snow from a fence gate so he could get stuff out of the neighbor’s shed before it burned. I laughed and told him the shovel was in the garage.

I notice a nicely dressed man on the sidewalk taking a flip video. Probably the press, I thought. Sure enough, video and copy were on the Rochester Post Bulletin’s website before the fire was even put out. The local news station, KTTC, arrived and started taking video as well.

At some point, after standing outside for a long time in my jammies and sweatshirt, I realized I was cold. I ran in to get a coat and my camera. I took pictures of the garage as it burned.

Some of them would be cool if it weren’t our garage. Our trucks. Our belongings. Our sense of security.

We called family. Mike’s parents came over and were there to watch it burn too. Mike mostly stayed inside. The firemen told him to get the kids ready to evacuate the house, in case the fire spread. I looked up and saw Madison in the driveway, watching the garage burn. I didn’t know how she got out there. I didn’t want her to see it. Cameron was more interested in the fire trucks and never saw the fire.

The firemen realized the roof was going to collapse and had to retreat for a bit. At one point I saw them use a long tool to pull the garage door down. The blackened garage door is still sitting in the snow in our backyard.

My Mom and Dad felt helpless all the way in Cushing. They didn’t know if they should come down or what.

I texted Jodi and said “the day isn’t starting out too great, our garage is burning down.”

Jodi called and was in disbelief. I cried as I told her it was true.

Through the closed patio door in the dining room, you could feel the intense heat of the fire, even as the flames were subsiding. We are shocked that the siding on the back of the house didn’t melt.

It took about an hour to get the fire put out. Mike’s truck burned for hours afterwards. The firemen had to stay and keep water on it until it burned itself out. KTTC interviewed one of the firemen. They totally staged the placement of the trucks for the interview. I remember thinking that was really funny.

To be continued.....

Christmas Letter

2010 has been another amazing year!  The kids and I took a mid-winter trip to the cabin on Fish Trap Lake.  The kids were so amazed to walk on the frozen lake!  Madison and I enjoyed some time to build a snow fisherman and Madison enjoyed breakfast on the patio with her Grandpa!

2010 also brough the addition of Windsor to our family.  We adopted our sweet dog from small dog rescue of MN, although they warned us that they thought he had lab in him and would be more like a 60 lb dog.  That proved not to be the case as Windsor is only about 35 pounds and does not stand knee high!  He has short stubby legs, some wirey hair, and a tail that wags constantly!  Cameron seems to be the dog lover in the family and loves to cuddle with Windsor.  After a few ups and downs (house training, endless shedding, etc!), Windsor is an important part of our family and we would be lost without him. 

The summer brought lots of trips to the camper in Richmond, MN.  We added a deck this year and spent a lot of time getting the campsite just right only to have it taken out by softball sized hail.  It was devastating!  Thankfully, the insurance company totalled out the camper and then let us keep it without requiring a salvage payment!  We patched it up and are hoping that the roof holds through the winter.  The kids love the time at the camper - we spend most of our time on the boat.  They both became quite skilled at swimming in the middle of the lake and tubing behind the boat!  Madison caught one of the largest fish in a kid's fishing contest and learned to ride her bike without training wheels!  We also enjoy morning walks through the campground, the meat raffle in the bar, and nightly campfires.

Cameron has developed quite a vocabulary and is talking constantly.  He has become quite the little parrot!  He enjoys building with blocks, coloring, and playing with Playdoh.  He also likes to play with cars and look at books.

Madison is getting ready for kindergarten.  We recently toured Byron Elementary school and assuming we can work out transportation concerns, she will be attending Byron schools.  She is very excited for kindergarten and has been diligently working on her reading.  She is currently undergoing treatment for a lazy eye.  We were very shocked with the diagnosis, as we did not notice any outward physical signs of her condition.  The wonderful people doing her pre-k screening caught a small issue with her right eye and recommended that we see an eye doctor.  We are very lucky that we caught it this early!  We are hoping that glasses do the trick, but we will be learning more about patching her good eye in January. 

Mike is still working for Heartman Insurance as a systems administrator.  It is a job that he enjoys and continues to challenge him.  He also stays busy at night and on weekends with many of his old customers from his days at Venture.  He is still an avid Packers fan and says the Packer vs. Vikings game at Lambeau Field in October was the most fun he has ever had at Lambeau Field.  I agree as we had an absolute blast at that game! 

I am still with Mayo Clinic, working in research finance.  Over the summer I moved latteraly from my fiscal invoicing position to a compliance position.  This has allowed me to learn more about government research grants and keeps me busier!  I am still pursuing my MBA and will finish up my last two classes in early 2011.  I still love to scrapbook whenever I can find the time and recently spent a weekend at the Fish Trap Lake cabin scrapbooking with my Mom, aunt and cousins.

The end of 2010 brought the first ever Tigue Family Christmas Trip to Wisconsin Dells.  We just returned from a weekend at Kalahari, enjoying the tropical waterpark!  All of us enjoyed every minute of it!  It was a great way to spend time with the family and I hope we continue to make the trip for future Christmas celebrations!

We have some big events coming up in 2011 that we are looking forward to.  Mike and I will be taking a Caribbean cruise with our dear friends, the Dobbelaeres, in March.  We will be celebrating our ten year anniversary and the completion of my MBA program.  Before we know it, we will be opening up the camper and getting ready for another summer on the lake! 

2010 has brought many blessings for which we are grateful.  We pray that all of our friends and family are blessed as well as we look forward to all that 2011 has to offer. 

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Today, Cameron turns two.  I cannot believe how quickly time is flying - my babies are growing up too fast!

Some things about Cameron -
1.  He LOVES Elmo.  Which is why he is getting an Elmo birthday cake!
2.  He recently fell in love with Toy Story 3 - its one of the few movies he will sit still for!
3.  Cameron is a big football fan!  He sleeps with a packer football and says "Go Ack Go!"
4.  Cameron is talking up a storm lately!  He is saying just about everything now and even starting to string a few words together.  He even FINALLY said his sister's name this past weekend. 
5.  His favorite word these days is NO!  (Gee, I wonder where he heard that one???)
6.  He loves to sit at the table and play with blocks.
7.  He loves to color and play with playdoh too!
8.  He is very close to his sister.  They fight like siblings do, but he is very quick to come to her aid or look for her comfort when he is scared.  I'm quite certain that Madison feels the same way!
9.  Cameron learned to climb out of his crib about a month ago - and bedtime is a two hour ordeal.  He often falls asleep at his bedroom door because he can't always get it open when he gets out of bed.  He has been smacked in the head by that door numerous times!  He also plans ahead when he makes his great escape from his crib.  I usually find him crashed on the floor, with his pillow, stuffed animals and blankets. 
10.  Cameron will move in to his own room SOON!  It's been a work in progress for a few months and I hope to finish it up after Christmas.
11.  Cameron is learning his colors - but all colors are blue in his world. 
12.  He gives the best hugs and kisses -and his I yuv you will melt your heart! 

Happy Birthday Sweet Cameron!  Mommy and Daddy love you to the moon and back! 

Milestones

It has been a week of milestones in our house.  Actually, most of them occurred on Monday. 

Milestone 1.  Madison got glasses!  There is a little story behind them - at her pre-k screening last spring, they noticed a small problem with her right eye.  I honestly thought she was just bored and being stubborn - but at her 5 year well child visit, I asked them to check and we definetely noticed a problem.  It turns out she has something pretty similar to lazy eye, without the noticable wandering eye.  It was a very lucky catch!  Madison now has bright pink glasses with bling on the sides - so typical of her style!  They are very cute on her and definetely highlight her sweetness. 



2.  Madison is ready to graduate to a booster seat!  She has been trying to gain two pounds since the beginning of summer - to no avail.  She started the summer weighing 38 pounds and even weighed in at 38 pounds two weeks ago at the doctor.  She thought it was hopeless!  She even started pointing out kids that weigh less that get to ride in booster seats.  (I'm the meanest mom on the planet!)  Just after getting her new glasses, Madison decided to jump on the scale and it said 41 pounds!  A three pound gain!  So, we agreed that if she stil weighs 40 or more pounds this weekend, we will switch her from a carseat to a booster seat.  She responded to our agreement by saying "I'm going to need a bedtime snack every night to keep my weight up!"  STINKER. 

Now, she is OBSESSED with the scale!  She is constantly checking to make sure she is still over 40 lbs.

3.  Cameron has learned to escape his crib.  He decided to show us his new trick over and over again on Monday night.  He is extremely proud of himself.  Me - well, not so much!  We have been preparing because we knew it was coming.  We had bought a bed, but not a matress or bedding.  We have been getting his new room ready for his transition to a big boy bed.  I just didn't think it would happen before he turned two! 

It has gotten better since Monday night - he is escaping less.  Tuesday he got out 3-4 times and tonight he didn't try to climb out at all.  I'm knocking on all the wood that I can find as I type this!!  I am not quite ready to no longer have any babies in a crib, so I'm hoping to prolong it just a little bit longer. 

Indeed, it has been a week of milestones - little steps in this great big life. 

Look who is FIVE!

It's almost a month overdue, but I thought I'd share my thoughts on Madison at five years old.

1.  Madison does things when she is darn good and ready to - and she does it on her own.  For instance, we tried for over a year to potty train her without success.  So we gave up.  Then when she turned three, she decided she was done with diapers.  All summer, we tried to teach her to ride a bike, but she didn't want to.  Then she decided one day that she was ready - and she went and learned without us even knowing!  She also recently learned to tie her shoelaces.  I had tried to teach her without success and one day she asked me to show her.  I showed her one time and then she practiced and practiced until she got it. 

2.  Madison is learning how to pray.  I often pray with her - I pray and she repeats it.  I have tried to get her to pray what is in her heart, but she never wanted to.  Last night she told me that she wanted to say a prayer and that I should repeat after her.  She had me repeat one word at a time:
We.
Pray.
To.
Jeez.
Is.
I laughed so hard, I couldn't repeat her prayer.  It was almost as good as the Glee Grilled Cheesuz. 

3.  Madison loves to sing and dance.  She is watching the CMA's with me and pretending to be Taylor Swift.  Taylor doesn't hold a candle to my Madison.

4.  Madison is learning how to read.  She amazes me with her ability to absorb information.  She is one sharp little cookie.  Look out Kindergarten!!!

5.  I love Miss Madison's smile.  It lights up a room - and melts my heart.  Every.Single.Time.