Perrier and Pedialyte

So all of this thunderstorming has finally caught up with us.  Ames is flooded; we can’t leave our neighborhood, as all the streets are now rivers and lakes.

At about 3:45 this afternoon, Giuseppe called me from the vet hospital with the news that our water has been contaminated.  Completely un-drinkable; we must boil any tap water we use to wash dishes.  So I rushed to the only grocer in my neighborhood to buy some bottled water for us. This was, of course, in the middle of Paolo’s nap.

Have I mentioned the heat index has hovered at about 105 degrees this week?  And no, it really hasn’t cooled off much at night.

Off I went to the market.  As I approached the Hyvee (yes, that is the name of the local grocery store chain, more on that later), it looked like a battle zone.  I have never seen so many cars at once in Iowa.  Once we finally made it to the parking lot and found a parking place, Paolo was fast sleep and overheated.  (Even with the car’s AC blasting, he was still hot from the walk from the house to the car.)  I couldn’t get him to wake up, so a shopping cart was out of the question. I loaded him into his stroller.

We finally made into the market and it was a mad house.  By the time we made it to the beverage section, all of the water was gone. The shelves were empty.  There were some nasty sweet teas and unknown sports drinks.  But no water.  I eventually found some six packs of Perrier, which I snatched up.  (I do love some Perrier!)  As that is not suitable for a baby, I decided to pick up a few bottles of Pedialyte for him.

Since I was pushing the stroller and not a shopping cart, I had to carry the Perrier and Pedialyte. It really was surprising how many people were not embarrassed to shamelessly bump into me and try to cut in front of me at the check-out.  Don’t even get me started on the aggressive driving in the parking lot.

So, the Great Flood of Ames 2010 will forever be remembered by the Dell’Anna Family as the days of Perrier and Pedialyte.