After a day of painting (four pictures!)and puttering. Sure could use a shower. Well, no power means no hot water. Kind of depressing having to throw out everything in the fridge. I hadn't made a grocery run lately. So, it wasn't too painful. We grilled all of the meat and offered it to everybody.
Tdawg left to go to Tennessee with a friend. Radio reports now say it could be another three to five days before we get power. Cletus and I started to rethink our idea to stay. Hmm...we could bail out of town too. Not likely to have to work tomorrow...a hot shower sure sounds good. And Cletus needs his CPAP to sleep at night. Yup, we are hitting the road in the morning.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Pioneer Woman: Thursday
Day 2...still no power. The radio reports are not really registering. Lots of reports about Cullman, Rainsville, Tuscaloosa being affected by the tornado. Started wondering just how many had hit. Information was spotty at best. Still no land line. Cell service was spotty. Finally leared that ALL of the TVA power customers were without power. Cletus was up super early, as usual, and drove to Fayetteville. He got gasoline and groceries. He reported that no power until you got to Tennessee. On the way back, lines (50+ cars) were lined up to get gasoline.
Strange to see the neighborhood so quiet. Saw a lot of neighbors. Everyone eager for information. Some had chainsaws. Some had generators. Lots of questions. When would we get power. Would the water still be drinkable. Did anyone know of open businesses.
We drove over to check on Cletus' parents. Harvest was a war zone. A tree had fallen and the county cut enough to make it a tree tunnel and moved on. There was a lot of debris in the road. Fields littered with pieces of pressboard, mattresses, toys, sheets...and I thought what a disgrace. Then I realized, it was dumped there...by the tornado. On the other side of the road and back...there used to be houses. I was looking at the remains of someones life. Whole line of trees sheared off. Metal twisted around trees. Cars tossed. Unbroken toilets were sitting in the middle of the road! Unbelievable!! Information is still slow...but I head it might have been an EF4 tornado.
That scene was less than five miles from my house. It makes you instantly grateful for everything you have!
Strange to see the neighborhood so quiet. Saw a lot of neighbors. Everyone eager for information. Some had chainsaws. Some had generators. Lots of questions. When would we get power. Would the water still be drinkable. Did anyone know of open businesses.
We drove over to check on Cletus' parents. Harvest was a war zone. A tree had fallen and the county cut enough to make it a tree tunnel and moved on. There was a lot of debris in the road. Fields littered with pieces of pressboard, mattresses, toys, sheets...and I thought what a disgrace. Then I realized, it was dumped there...by the tornado. On the other side of the road and back...there used to be houses. I was looking at the remains of someones life. Whole line of trees sheared off. Metal twisted around trees. Cars tossed. Unbroken toilets were sitting in the middle of the road! Unbelievable!! Information is still slow...but I head it might have been an EF4 tornado.
That scene was less than five miles from my house. It makes you instantly grateful for everything you have!
Pioneer Woman: Wednesday
What a crazy week. It started off Wednesday morning. I wasn't feeling well and decided to stay home. I had a doc appointment scheduled for that afternoon. As the week had gone on, the weather channel was predicting a bad weather day for Wednesday. I kept Buddy home. I wanted Tdawg to stay home but he said he had a test. So, he left about 9:30a for school. Before noon, the tornado sirens were blaring. Buddy and I got into the closet and we lost power. The rain, the wind, the first of four hail storms. The house shook and I could hear trees breaking and things hitting the house. But when it finally quieted down, we were ok. One of the new windows was leaking. There were limbs everywhere. And bits of leaves plastered to the house. Other than that we were truly spared.
Cletus came home soon after and then Tdawg. Tdawg had spent the majority of his time at school in a hallway. They started at 10a and were supposed to dismiss at noon. Aggravating!! The school system put all of those people in danger just to get a day of federal funding. Grrr.
Little did we know that was just the beginning of the fun. It turned out that the whole neighborhood had lost power, so I didn't have my doc appointment. Cletus reported seeing whole trees (big oaks) in our neighboorhood pulled up by the roots and laying on houses. It was crazy!
Tdawg, Buddy and I left to go pick up Tdawg's tux for prom. We were at Gander Mountain when Round 2 hit. We could see the swirling clouds and the seafoam green cloud. Very spooky. That was the one that hit the Harvest area. We left right after and got home just in time for Round 3. Round 4 was about 6p.
It was scary. No power. No idea what was going on. No cell service. No land line service. Even the radio dial was unusually quiet. We learned later that a lot of the radio stations had lost power, their transmitter or both.
We stayed put through the dark night. Thank goodness for solar yard lights. They make awesome candles! It wasn't until late that night that we started to learn just what all had happened.
Cletus came home soon after and then Tdawg. Tdawg had spent the majority of his time at school in a hallway. They started at 10a and were supposed to dismiss at noon. Aggravating!! The school system put all of those people in danger just to get a day of federal funding. Grrr.
Little did we know that was just the beginning of the fun. It turned out that the whole neighborhood had lost power, so I didn't have my doc appointment. Cletus reported seeing whole trees (big oaks) in our neighboorhood pulled up by the roots and laying on houses. It was crazy!
Tdawg, Buddy and I left to go pick up Tdawg's tux for prom. We were at Gander Mountain when Round 2 hit. We could see the swirling clouds and the seafoam green cloud. Very spooky. That was the one that hit the Harvest area. We left right after and got home just in time for Round 3. Round 4 was about 6p.
It was scary. No power. No idea what was going on. No cell service. No land line service. Even the radio dial was unusually quiet. We learned later that a lot of the radio stations had lost power, their transmitter or both.
We stayed put through the dark night. Thank goodness for solar yard lights. They make awesome candles! It wasn't until late that night that we started to learn just what all had happened.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Cruisin...Day 3
Thanks to our driver, we ended up in Progeso only eleven minutes late. Whew that is some fancy driving! Progreso is in the Yucatan Peninsula just about straight south of Mobile.
Progreso looks very old Mexico. There was an interesting market square. The shop owners stand out front and try to drag you into the store...literally! Lots of clothes and jewelry. They have no sense of "political correctness"...so you will find some interesting sayings on their t-shirts. Cletus found a Harley Davidson t-shirt. Tdawg found a pair of sunglasses.
It wasn't long before we boarded the bus to the beach resort. Progreso is fairly new to tourism. The market place was pretty nice and not too scary. But as soon as we left the parking lot and passed the heavily armed guard shack, it was a different world. We rode about twenty minutes. The area is obviously very economically depressed. Hurricane Gilbert had left his mark and significantly changed the landscape. There was a new salt water bay where all of the vegetaion had died. The buildings were haphazardly built but still had the typical bright paint colors. A strong military/police presence was evident in the area we passed through.
Our tour guide was something else; he told us that he learned english by watching the tv show "Friends". So he would mimick Joey's "How yous doin'?" He seemed to think that he was the Mexican Brad Pitt. Very funny!!
Once at the beach, it was nice but not as pretty as Florida. We had a nice lunch buffet (pronounced boo-fey).
Tdawg and I got a one-person kayak each and I taught him how to paddle and steer. It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast. Later I got at two-person kayak and had Buddy sit up front. I taught him how to paddle and I did most of the steering. He loved it! Then we just played in the water the rest of the day.
While Tdawg and I were paddling, Buddy and Cletus were relaxing in the shade. Well, Buddy was relaxing. Cletus fell out of the hammock and hurt his back. He ended up at the ship's doctor for an inflammation shot and some pain killers!
It was a long day! After I got Cletus set up in the room with and ice bag and pain killers, Buddy and I went out. We finally got dinner, watched karoke, played a trivia game. I had one of the drink specials. It was the Blue Margarita: Blue Curacao, Tequila and lime juice. Just tasted like six shots of tequila and some blue food coloring! Yow it was strong!
So, that is why I ended up on this stage at the Mikado (with fifteen other saps) learning 70's disco dancing. At first there were about eleven people watching us...but by the time we got done, the whole place was packed. It seats about 1300 people. They were actually waiting for the bingo game that was coming up next.
Lucky me. But that's ok. I'll never see any of these people in five days. Except, the one person I knew on the ship (Jana from work) spotted me as she was walking by the doors.
Progreso looks very old Mexico. There was an interesting market square. The shop owners stand out front and try to drag you into the store...literally! Lots of clothes and jewelry. They have no sense of "political correctness"...so you will find some interesting sayings on their t-shirts. Cletus found a Harley Davidson t-shirt. Tdawg found a pair of sunglasses.
It wasn't long before we boarded the bus to the beach resort. Progreso is fairly new to tourism. The market place was pretty nice and not too scary. But as soon as we left the parking lot and passed the heavily armed guard shack, it was a different world. We rode about twenty minutes. The area is obviously very economically depressed. Hurricane Gilbert had left his mark and significantly changed the landscape. There was a new salt water bay where all of the vegetaion had died. The buildings were haphazardly built but still had the typical bright paint colors. A strong military/police presence was evident in the area we passed through.
Our tour guide was something else; he told us that he learned english by watching the tv show "Friends". So he would mimick Joey's "How yous doin'?" He seemed to think that he was the Mexican Brad Pitt. Very funny!!
Once at the beach, it was nice but not as pretty as Florida. We had a nice lunch buffet (pronounced boo-fey).
Tdawg and I got a one-person kayak each and I taught him how to paddle and steer. It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast. Later I got at two-person kayak and had Buddy sit up front. I taught him how to paddle and I did most of the steering. He loved it! Then we just played in the water the rest of the day.
While Tdawg and I were paddling, Buddy and Cletus were relaxing in the shade. Well, Buddy was relaxing. Cletus fell out of the hammock and hurt his back. He ended up at the ship's doctor for an inflammation shot and some pain killers!
It was a long day! After I got Cletus set up in the room with and ice bag and pain killers, Buddy and I went out. We finally got dinner, watched karoke, played a trivia game. I had one of the drink specials. It was the Blue Margarita: Blue Curacao, Tequila and lime juice. Just tasted like six shots of tequila and some blue food coloring! Yow it was strong!
So, that is why I ended up on this stage at the Mikado (with fifteen other saps) learning 70's disco dancing. At first there were about eleven people watching us...but by the time we got done, the whole place was packed. It seats about 1300 people. They were actually waiting for the bingo game that was coming up next.
Lucky me. But that's ok. I'll never see any of these people in five days. Except, the one person I knew on the ship (Jana from work) spotted me as she was walking by the doors.
Cruise...Day Two
Tdawg was most impressed by the room and the robe. He was feeling quite James Bond. I know what he is getting for Christmas!
I loved the towel art. I went to towel folding class. Too cute!
So, since we got a late start leaving Mobile...our NASCAR boat driver flew across the Gulf of Mexico. We were going 24 knots or about 27 mph. We were haulin'! And it was extremely breezy. No problem. Buddy and I stayed at the pool most of the day. I love days when I can stay in my swimsuit until bedtime!
Of course, a "Goombay Smash" helps the afternoon float away (literally)...Bacardi spiced rum, Bacardi light rum, Apricot Brandy, Coconut creame and Pineapple juice.
I loved the towel art. I went to towel folding class. Too cute!
So, since we got a late start leaving Mobile...our NASCAR boat driver flew across the Gulf of Mexico. We were going 24 knots or about 27 mph. We were haulin'! And it was extremely breezy. No problem. Buddy and I stayed at the pool most of the day. I love days when I can stay in my swimsuit until bedtime!
Of course, a "Goombay Smash" helps the afternoon float away (literally)...Bacardi spiced rum, Bacardi light rum, Apricot Brandy, Coconut creame and Pineapple juice.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Cruise Day One
Day one of the cruise did not go as planned...we were supposed to get on the boat at 11a. We were there but the boat was not. So we got a police escort to a secured parking facility. From there, we were bused to the convention center. And held captive until about 5p. We amused ourselves as best we could.
The lunch they served was sorry. I found a dance competition in another hall and they had a concession stand open. I know the cashier thought I was nuts. "Do you have hot dogs? Oh, thank the Lord!" Can't say that I didn't have a grateful heart! I was just happy to have something that Buddy would eat!
Afterwards, we amused ourselves as best we could. They showed movies and we watched the tugboats and sat in the sunshine.
Then our ship finally came in (literally!).
There were varying reports: fog, medical emergency for the delay. We were so tired by the time we boarded. We look so thrilled (and sunburned already) in the picture at 7pm...
The lunch they served was sorry. I found a dance competition in another hall and they had a concession stand open. I know the cashier thought I was nuts. "Do you have hot dogs? Oh, thank the Lord!" Can't say that I didn't have a grateful heart! I was just happy to have something that Buddy would eat!
Afterwards, we amused ourselves as best we could. They showed movies and we watched the tugboats and sat in the sunshine.
Then our ship finally came in (literally!).
There were varying reports: fog, medical emergency for the delay. We were so tired by the time we boarded. We look so thrilled (and sunburned already) in the picture at 7pm...
Pain with Gain?
Week 3 of Boot Camp! I missed Week 2, due to the cruise. But I'm back at it. Thankfully, last week I did not gain any weight. This week was tough though. Monday we ran...a lot! I did not do very well running. I consulted with Tdawg. I talked him into watching me and he corrected my form. So running on my own Tuesday was not as bad. Wednesday we were in the gym with free weights. I can only do 5 pounds, per hand. My shoulder screams too much with 8 right now. But I'm working my way up. I am in pain, so I'm hoping there is some gain to it. It is Thursday...I'm think I will just walk and stretch today. Whew!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Military Bound?
Smarty Pants and I have a reunion in thirteen weeks. I noticed on her FB post she had: 22 pounds in 13 weeks...gotta get a personal trainer. Well, I don't have a personal trainer but we do have a makeshift gym at work. It is definitely not fancy...located in a corner of the warehouse. But we do have professional instructors. I love the kick boxing class. Very stress relieving. Yesterday, they started an eight week boot camp. I survived the first night. I did over 100 pushups and I am so sore! Ugh. The instructor took our weight, BMI and % of fat. Those are some numbers I could do without knowing! I don't think that I'll be joining the military anytime soon. But maybe by the end of the eight weeks, I will be alive, feeling better and looking better.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Opening day at Patriot Park
A great day for baseball. The kids had a great time and the weather was beautiful. Very nice of Patriot Park to include us in their opening day! Saturday, April 2, 2011
The Right Choice?
Lately, I have been feeling totally overwhelmed and nearly inable to make a decision. I think the problem is too many choices. I can't process all of it. So I become unwilling to decide. Then I become more and more anxious. My dad's favorite: "when in doubt, don't!" doesn't work for me. I read the other day that you should allow the selection be to from two or three choices. Then choose quickly and move on. Most decisions are not irrevocable. Chances are you can change your mind later on. Quit fussing trying to make the "perfect" decision and get on with your life. A co-worker of Cletus' came from USSR. When this guy went to the grocery store in Russia, he would be fortunate to find a loaf of bread...there certainly were not fifteen different kinds of bread. So when he went to an American grocery store, he was paralyzed by the number of the choices. I can totally relate. I am a people pleaser. I'm tough on myself; a bit of a perfectionist. I over plan. So, trying to consciously make choices and move on is not easy for me. But I'm trying...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)