Robert, Leroy, and Tina took four-wheelers ahead of us to determine if our van could get through the receding flood waters. It had been two days since the flood of the "millennium", but the Buffalo was still above its normal flow. We had to back track and come in on the ridge road, but were able to leave late in the afternoon by the river road.
Daddy and I were primarily on a mission to take in food to our neighbors who had lost everything in the flooding. Their property is close to the river and was engulfed. Thankfully, my parent's bunk house provided them safe, dry lodging. We saw the river community coming together to help each other with provisions and clean up help. It was heartwarming to witness!
Our guest cabin, though above the 100 year floodplain, was filled with twelve inches of flood water. If you were to stand at the cabin and look at the distance - both how far away and how far down the river is from there, you'd be astounded the water could possibly reach that point. We are so thankful that the flooring had been delayed! In addition, the power had been shut down, so the air-conditioning equipment got wet, but did not short out. At church I'd made many flood buckets over the years to be sent to various disaster locations. I now made one for myself, taking it along. Thankfully, the water that had gone into the Hamilton cabin left almost nothing behind. A little sweeping was not really necessary, but seemed like the least I could do!
Terry, Barry, and Smiley (aka: John) took a break from door making in order to create the cabinetry. They are building the interior box of regular new cabinet-grade birch and then facing the visible areas with a slice of barn wood. The beautiful farm sink is in place by the window. With that view, dish washing is sure to be a pleasure! They found the bottom log to be 3/8" too wide for the last cabinet on that wall. Barry borrowed Mike's chainsaw and took care of it. I was worried when he applied the blade to the logs, but Terry assured me he'd done chainsaw carvings and was a whiz with one. Sure enough, just enough of the log was removed allowing the cabinet to slide perfectly into place. 
Then there was the unveiling of a surprise they brought me...using a photo I had given them, they fabricated a hammered copper and steel vent hood cover. It is beautiful! These three are from Mississippi and knew they'd not be able to complete the installation of all the cabinets in one day so they brought camping gear and camped in the cabin. Cooking pork chops and 5# of potatoes, they ate royally and then pulled out their instruments, playing into the night on the porch. 
