5.6

When we moved to Oklahoma in 1993, we knew that bad weather was part of the deal.  But we never expected earthquakes!

In November of 2011, there were a few small ones and then one very big one that hit in the middle of the night.  It was interesting, to say the least.  At the time, it was the highest on record for this area.

Until yesterday morning, that is.  We were sitting on the couch enjoying coffee and discussing out plans for the day at about 7:00.  Maggie Moo was acting really weird.  She's an affectionate little fluff most of the time and likes to be with us.  But she was acting like she wanted to glue herself to me, she was leaning on my leg and acted like she was surgically attached to me.  We also noticed at about the same time that the morning bird chorus was suddenly silenced.  At 7:03, we heard a very strange sound almost like a sander or grinder and it was coming from the direction of the outer kitchen wall which is the west side of the house.  We looked at each other, Bill said "what is that?"  Then the couch started shaking and the floor rippled - we figured out that it was an earthquake at that point, obviously.  We got up and went very quickly to the door frame and Maggie Moo went right with us - I called her name but she was going anyway.  We had the tv on and I must have turned it to one of the local stations because the channel changed and the weatherman was on.  He was in the midst of a forecast when he suddenly started saying things along the line of "OK folks, we seem to be having an earthquake."  It seemed to last for a long time, the hardest part of the shaking was probably about a minute but the actual quake was a few minutes long in duration and we felt most of it.  Once we could tell that it was over, the tv was still moving slightly and we could hear what was probably everything in the china cabinet vibrating still.

It took a little while, but the strength was revealed to be a 5.6 which is a pretty big quake.  It was centered in Pawnee, which is about 50 miles west/northwest of Tulsa.  It was shallow, just a few miles deep, which is why we could feel it so strongly.  It was huge and was felt as far as Memphis, Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, parts of north TEXAS.  There was quite a bit of damage at the epicenter, no deaths but one injury and at least one fire caused by either the gas lines being ruptured or the electric lines.

There have been several aftershocks, although we haven't felt any.  According to the news this morning, there were at least ten.  It also appears that it was a previously unknown fault.

Maggie Moo was a goosey girl for a while, but she got back to normal after a couple of hours.  The birds did start singing again, but we didn't hear them for several hours.  There was a weather radar picture released that was taken at the time of the earthquake hit - all the birds took off and there were so many of them and so fast that it appeared on radar!

We didn't have a lot planned for this weekend, I got my flu shot Friday afternoon and I can never tell how much of a reaction I will have.  Otter went with me, we decided to get them at the same time.  She got hers first and then I got mine.  It was 5:39 when I got mine.  About 3 minutes later, I felt cold - not like a severe chill but definitely cold.  By the time we got to the front of the store and got cokes out of the fridge section, I was feeling warm. Not hot flash warm, but warmer than normal.  I dropped her and J off (he was visiting and went along with us) and headed on home.  I felt ok then, but in the 15-ish minutes it took us us to get home I started to crater.  We had Digorno's pizza for dinner, I had a drink and went to bed early. I felt like I had a low grade fever and was slightly achy, I didn't sleep too well and woke up with a headache yesterday morning.  I didn't feel as bad as the night before but I did not feel too good.  Bill had a couple of errands and I decided to ride along with him.  Obviously, that was after the shaky start to the morning!  But mostly I spent the day parked on the couch, with a crochet hook in my hand part of the day and the tv remote as well. I didn't actually nap, but I did rest and stayed on the couch.  I went to bed somewhat early last night and slept better.  I woke up this morning with a slight headache and didn't feel 100% but I was still better.  I've been taking it easy for the most part today, although I did ride along when Bill went to the booth.  It's been a much lighter reaction this year than last year.  I am not complaining at all about that!

OK, Froggy. I blogged.  I told you I would, and I did!  :)

Close. Way Too Close.

Last night, Tuesday, April 26, 2016, we unexpectedly had to play this.  We got over 15 spaces!

Including the one about circulation - and it sprouted right over our house.

It was an ugly night.

But let me start at the beginning.

We knew a few days ago that the conditions were going to be right for bad stuff on Tuesday afternoon, evening and night.  The forecast kept changing and by Tuesday morning, it looked like we would probably not have the bad stuff but still could get thunderstorms, hail and wind with a much slighter chance of bad stuff.  We had a thunderstorm with hail midday.  Then the sun came out and that is actually bad, because warm air was not a good thing to have.

About 7:30 or so, it was a little rainy and it was windy but not bad.  About 9:00, it was obvious that we were probably going to get some storms out of the system that was rapidly moving in from the west.  There had been a few rotating areas, but the one spot that could possibly cause us concern was going to far north to bother us at home or Otter at her apartment although we expected that she could get a harder storm because the southern edge of the storm track was going to be pretty close to her.  Shortly before 10:00, I texted her with that information since I had the tv on and was watching it.

Almost immediately, we heard the worst sound possible:  the sirens going off.  We went to the laundry room (our safe spot) and I called Otter.  I told her to head down to their basement immediately.  She said the sirens in her area were not sounding but she got her shoes on, grabbed her purse and her radio, locked her door and started heading down.  She texted me as soon as she got downstairs and said that their sirens had started almost as soon as she had locked her door.

From then until 10:30, we texted back and forth with updates and the reports kept getting worse and worse.  The storm in her area was tracking north enough that it looked like her area would be safe.  She stayed in the basement with most of the other residents in her building until it was safely past them.  But by then, another "pop up" had happened and it was heading our direction.  It had produced at least one small tornado but it didn't stay.  However, the track was still coming towards us and we were waiting to run back to the laundry room if we needed to.  We weren't sure if we were going to get hit or not.  The wind was pretty strong at that point.  But it suddenly increased and it sounded odd - somewhat like the train sound associated with tornados but not exactly.  At that point, I commented to Bill that I did not like the sound of the wind and at that time the reporters started calling out street names and they were right where we live.  We hotfooted it back to the laundry room - and Maggie went right along with us.  We had taken her back every time we went to the laundry room, but animals frequently seem to sense things like that - maybe they hear them.  When she started heading to the laundry room pretty much ahead of us and on her own, we knew that something bad was happening.  The sound of the wind increased and it was very loud.  That was probably when it was sprouting.  It blew past us in a matter of a few minutes; it did actually develop into a tornado and it touched down probably less than a mile from our house.  I had been texting with Otter because she had heard the same reports we did and she knew we were in the firing line at that point.  When it passed us, I let her know that we were safe.  It was around 11:00 p.m. then.

Otter stayed in their basement for a while, there were a few dogs that were also their with their owners and they did what they always do - she's a magnet for them.  She was playing with a chihuahua that lives in the 1-bedroom that was originally her apartment before she and former roommate moved to the 2-bedroom unit.  Let's just say that she is very much my father's granddaughter!  She went back upstairs after a little while and let me know.

We were both exhausted by that point, but also Thankful.  It was after 11:30 before I managed to get to bed.  Bill was up for a couple more hours, he knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep.  I was awake until well after midnight.  It was so hard to get up at 6:15 this morning when my alarm went off.

Otter had her 3rd of 4 dental appointments today, otherwise I think I would have just turned the alarm off and gone back to sleep.

But we are safe and their were no injuries associated with any of the storms.  There were several small tornados, in Tulsa as well as assorted surrounding areas.

2/28/1993

However, this will always be true:

Saturday

Today I have managed to get the laundry done and put away, one load was from today and the other two or three were done yesterday.  The laundry is pretty much all I got done yesterday, since Otter shared the bug with me that had her down mid-week.  It seems to be a short-lived illness and it's apparently made it's way through her workplace now.

Yesterday morning, I felt cruddy so I called in and stayed home.  I wasn't feeling too good Thursday afternoon but there were a lot of grass fires around Tulsa and the air was pretty toxic.  So I thought at first that the headache and asthma-ish symptoms were related to that. But then I woke up feeling bad yesterday morning and realized that I had the same symptoms Otter had so I think I have been fighting the same thing.  The smoky, icky air didn't help at all!

I also managed to get to Hobby Lobby this morning since I was feeling better and needed to get something.  Otter wanted to go with me so I picked her up at her apartment and then she wanted to go to a thrift store but we didn't find anything.  I made one stop after I took her home - I saw a Girl Scout troop set up in front of the grocery store when I drove past so of course I turned around and bought cookies!

But all of my running only took a couple of hours.  Mostly, I've just been hanging around the house today.

We had a very windy week, it's been warm and Thursday was really bad because of extremely strong winds.  There were grass fires all over the place, and at least one was probably deliberately started.  I hope that the arsonist it caught, that particular fire was really big and a lot of homes and property were destroyed.  I think that was the fire to the south.

It doesn't really show up well, but there is a limb on the other side of the pole holding the bird feeder.  The limb was in the tree Thursday morning.

Toward the middle of the tree on the right side, there is a broken limb.

This is a better shot.  The piece that came off is probably from this part of the tree.  All it's going to take is another hard wind storm, and we get a lot of them in the Spring.

This is not the same tree, but I noticed these two doves when I was taking pictures of the broken limbs.

Let's hope that this is not an indicator of what we are in for this year!

This is the futon in the YARN room.  There are a few things on top of it, I was in the process of rearranging things in there.  But the object of this picture is something else.  Look closely at the far corner.  See it? :)

Happy Thanksgiving! And More. (EDITED)

Hopefully everyone is having a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Just because Maggie Moo wants to say hi:

This picture is from a few days ago.  I came across this bandana in my craft stuff and Maggie looked kind of happy when she saw it.  So I tied it around her neck and she was very happy.  I left it on her for a long time and she seemed quite content.  She was eager to go out in the back yard when I took this picture, that's what the look on her furry face is about.  "Hurry UP!  I gots stuff to do!"

She attempted to get a squirrel this morning.  I let her out in the back yard and she was about half-way across the deck when she spotted a squirrel all the way across the yard, in the shady corner behind the shelf.  She went from slooooow mid-step to full warp speed the second she spotted it, and evidently she thought she could actually catch it.  But it was already too late, the squirrel saw her before she saw it and it was up on the fence and running down the top to safety before she was even off the deck!  Silly doggie. :)  By the time I was able to call her name, she was already half-way across the yard.  She is fast when she wants to be.  She was not happy that I wouldn't let her go after the squirrel, but he was long gone by that point.  Not that I would have let her get it, but she is a beagle and that is the instinct.

Otter's internet was not transferred after all yesterday.  The company had both her cell phone and J's, they also (obviously!) knew which apartment they were transferring from and which apartment they were transferring to.  The guy called her (she was at work) about 20 minutes after 5:00 and she told him that someone was at the apartment they were transferring from.  Then that was the last she heard of him.  At about 8:20, she called me so I could look up the office number for her and I gave it to her but I also told her to call him back at the number he called her from.  He said that he'd gone to the apartment but nobody was there so he left.  IF he even went at all, he went to the one that they are transferring TO and never to the one that they are transferring service FROM.  He never called either one of the phone numbers to say he was there or to ask where anybody was who might be waiting on him - both things he was supposed to do if he got there before J was at the old apartment.  I told her she should call him back again and remind him of all that, and demand that he get back and do what he was supposed to but she didn't have enough time on her break and is going to call the office Friday.  She's going to give them an earful, and it's going to be her version of *RHTW.  She is going to tell them that they need to get out there tomorrow afternoon, but who knows if they'll do that or not.  They will get it switched, it's just a question of when and if they will do what they are supposed to.

Because we originally thought we would still be moving furniture today, at least that was the probable plan if it had rained like it was supposed to do, we didn't really have anything in the way of Thanksgiving planned.  So J and Otter have gone with J's dad to visit his family outside of Tulsa.  Otter texted me earlier, they were giving her a tour of haunted sites in the county that they are visiting.  I think she was really enjoying it.  I have a frozen lasagne in the freezer and some garlic toast, Bill and I are going to have that tonight as our Thanksgiving feast.  I did get to Braums and managed to snag one of the two strawberry cheesecake ice cream pies they had left, so we even have dessert.  We have already gotten into the pie, we had a very light lunch and decided we needed dessert. :)

When she moved out of our house, she left her stackable shoe shelves and I used them with my craft stuff.  Bill bought a tall plastic shelf unit, like the ones we have already.  He put it in the office/pachinko/junk room.  He claims he's going to get a little more organized in there, but I'll believe it when I see it!  Anyway, I decided to get one for my craft stuff.  I put it together and put it in the room, but I haven't had time to really get it organized yet.  My stuff WILL be organized!  I'm also going to be able to get the sewing machines out of the closet and sit them on it and possibly some (or maybe all) of the fabric/sewing stuff - although quite a bit of the sewing and fabric related stuff is Otters and it may be going to her apartment at some point.  She said she wanted the shoe shelves since I'm not using them anymore, so I took them over to her new apartment this morning.  Nobody was up yet, so I left them in her living room.  Along with a hammer that Bill is loaning her and some wood.

When we were moving her furniture yesterday, Bill was moving her bookshelf and it kind of had an accident.  It's wooden and very heavy, about 6' tall and we bought it out of surplus and a local school district when we first moved into our old house when Otter was 2.  It has always been in her room to hold things and she's been using it lately as an actual book shelf.  It's huge and she also has more books than it can hold, which actually is a Good Thing.  Anyway, Bill got it (with the dolly) out of her old apartment, down the stairs and across the sidewalk to the door to the other side of the building without a problem.  But then he stopped to rest a minute and check his cellphone to see what time it was.  It was windy and cool, and as soon as he stopped and took his hand off of the bookshelf there was a very strong gust of wind and the bookshelf went right over.  It landed flat on the front and it landed hard.  It wasn't broken, probably due to the sturdy construction and solid wood, but there are a couple of places where it looks like part of it tried to separate at the top corner and bottom where the feet are.  It can be hammered back into place, but she only has a small hammer so Bill loaned her one of his (many, too many) hammers and also a few pieces of wood to use as hammering blocks.  She may also wind up using them as shims to secure it because when she and Bill put it in place, it looked like it was leaning to the front.  They moved it to another corner and it wasn't leaning.  She asked the apartment office about that, and they said what we thought - it's an old building and it's quite possible that there may be some settling.  Not enough to even be worried and the building is structurally sound.  But the bookcase may need a little support under the front if she decides to put it where she originally wanted it.

The plan at this point is that I'm going to the grocery store in the morning and Bill is going to take the El Camino to get the oil changed and also to get something checked on it.  If his car is going to be there for a while, I'll bring him back home.  If it's a quick thing, he'll either wait at the mechanic or walk around the grocery store with me - they are in the same shopping center and so is Otter's store.  She has to work the Black Friday opening and when she gets off work, I'm going to meet her at the old apartment so we can see about getting what is left moved.  I could tell that she and J did manage to get quite a bit moved after we left yesterday, but there is still more there.  When I talked to her about 8:30, I woke her up when I called her and she said she wasn't awake enough to think, much less converse with any sense!  I told her to go back to sleep, she worked her behind off yesterday with moving and then she had to work until midnight last night, getting the store ready for Black Friday so I think she deserved to sleep in a little bit today.  She couldn't remember how much was still at the old place but she thinks we may be able to get the rest of it moved in one afternoon, it's boxes and probably trash bags with stuff but all the furniture is moved already.  We hopefully will be able to get the cleaning done tomorrow afternoon as well, but she doesn't have to work on Sunday so that is our second plan of attack if tomorrow doesn't work out.  A lot of it depends on the weather, the rain that was supposed to start yesterday finally arrived this morning.  It may be strong rain but it might not be steady.  It could be off and on, and it could be heavy at times.  Sunday is supposed to be dry I think, but we want to get it done as quick as we can.  The apartment office said that they won't change the lock until Monday so she can have all weekend, but we don't want to wait until the last minute if we don't have to.  Also, we want to go to a local museum that has a really fun Christmas tree exhibit.  We haven't missed too many years of the museum exhibit and it's only there for a very short time, so Sunday is probably our only chance this year.  J has to work, otherwise he would go with us.

Hopefully, the El Camino is a minor issue.  The engine temperature light came on yesterday when Bill was on the way to Otter's.  He checked and there was plenty of antifreeze, the radiator was not leaking and the system seemed to be working.  The car had plenty of time to cool down but he said it came on again when he was on the way home (we took separate cars since I went earlier than he did) so he's going to ask them to check it when he gets the oil changed tomorrow.  It is very probably the sensor itself going bad, the car is a 1976 model after all and it is probably the original part.  But it is still odd/funny that out of three cars "we" have, two of them have similar issues!  My car had better not decide to join the party the other two are having!

**EDIT:  I turned the oven on about 4:30 for the lasagna, and I turned it off about 5 minutes later when the electricity went out!  We looked out the front door and it looked like it was at least our neighborhood, so I called the electric company.  I was the first person calling, so they couldn't tell me what/why/how long.  I opened the freezer long enough to toss the lasagna back in.  We waited a little while, then we decided to go in search of a restaurant that was actually open and had power.  The police department already had an officer out to direct traffic at the intersection closest to us, but there were lights on a little farther than that so we knew it wasn't very widespread.  We wound up at a Taco Bell, because they were open and had power.  Most of the actual restaurants and fast food places that were in the area with power were closed.  But it was still good and kind of fun, even if it wasn't what we expected to be doing on a rainy Thanksgiving night.  We were gone about an hour and when we got back the power was back on.  I looked on the news station website and I think it was a squirrel that caused the outage.  Maybe Maggie Moo had the right idea this morning?!!!!

It's Summer Alright

(Froggy, this is just for you.)

And the skeeters are out!

The recent wet weather just keeps giving ad giving.

Apparently, mosquito dunks are becoming the hot, gotta have item in parts of TEXAS and Oklahoma.

Can't say I'm surprised!

Been a Busy Few Days

The last real post was last week, on Monday.  The other posts since then have been quick.

We ran off to TEXAS last weekend.  Bill's sister got married and we made a fast trip to be there.  We headed down south at 4:45 last Friday morning.  We made really good time, considering that we had some major traffic issues on IH 35 in the vicinity of Austin.  We came back on Monday, we left San Antonio even earlier - at 3:45!  But we got home before noon, no traffic at all because it was a holiday.

There was some really bad weather last weekend, it's been all over the news and it's tragic.  I know a lot of the areas that are affected, Wimberly in particular.  We used to go to an outdoor flea market there.  It's not a big town.  We worry about tornados here, but people tend to forget how TEXAS reacts to a lot of water.  (Not well, obviously.)  Southern Oklahoma has also had a lot of flooding but a lot of the areas we saw were farmland and not built up too much.  Which doesn't make it easier for people affected to deal with, but there were a lot of deaths and some people are still missing in S. TEXAS.

Otter stayed at our house while we were gone, she beaglesat for us.  She reports that the futon is comfortable enough to sleep on, and she enjoyed getting to play with the beagle a lot.  She had already placed an order for things to eat.  I got her a frozen pizza, frozen chicken nuggets, cokes (TEXAN cokes, also known as Mountain Dew for Otter) and potato chips.

The wedding was a lot of fun, it was really special and we are very glad we were able to go.  Bill's youngest sister married a wonderful man and they did it their way:  on horseback.  It was great and it fit their personalities very well.  We had a really great time.

While there, Bill also acquired more pachinko machines.  7 to be exact.  Along with a lot of other stuff, he bought out a fellow pachinko fanatic's business that they owner wanted to sell.  It's the same person he got the 40+million machines from a couple of years ago.  (Otter would not have had a place to sit, she would have been strapped to the roof if she'd gone!)

Froggy and I were going to get together on Sunday, we had shopping plans.  But IH 35 was closed and so was 281, both highways that would have gotten her to San Antonio.  So we weren't able to see each other.  :(  That will be remedied soon!

I'm on day 2 of the first migraine of the year.  At least I didn't get it until late May, last year I think I had 9 or 10 total and they started early.  The flashers weren't too bad, the headache isn't horrible but it's just still there.

I'm wondering if the jalepeno and bell peppers are going to grow, or if they'll stay little and not produce fruit.  They have been planted for several weeks, but they are constantly being overwatered due to the rain.  I have been draining them often, they are healthy but they are not growing and have not had any sign of a bloom yet.  The peppermint is growing, but it isn't one that needs to bloom and produce fruit.

We could get yet more rain tonight and for the next couple of days.  We had a thunderstorm last night.  I'm beginning to think it's time to look up plans for an arc!

168

20 Years

It's "THAT Time of Year" Again (and Other Stuff, Too!)

By "THAT Time of Year", I mean this time:

I can say that honestly this year, because what we refer to as the annual Persecution started early this year and has been more intense than usual.

However, we still say:

We won last year.  The result of that is that we are even more of a target than usual.  I've been tailgated closerthanthis multiple times for the last two or three weeks.  Which makes me hit my brakes just enough to make the lights light - that's always fun, because a)  Okies look so funny when they are surprised like that and b) if I do get hit - it is not my fault and I will not accept blame.  :)  But this year is the first time that Otter's really had to deal with it, at least as far as driving goes.  She and Roomie went to Michael's Craft Store on Saturday afternoon.  Otter called me when this happened, but she and Roomie came out of the store and there was a note stuck underneath the windshield wiper.  It basically said "I know what you did, you hit my car, I have witnesses, you didn't even apologize, I have your license number" and a woman's name was signed - however, she did not leave a phone number of any identifying information.  AND, Otter did have a witness that she a)  didn't hit a car, b) neither one of them dinged a car door or c)  didn't do anything at all.  AT ALL.  Since the person didn't leave a phone number, email address, anything at all, it's pretty obvious why the note was left.  I think that Otter said that the cars she was parked between were the same cars that were there when they came out of the store.  Roomie was floored that this sort of thing happens, and it's not just to us.  There are actually quite a few of Us here, and the majority of us have some type of emblem on our cars and wear hats/shirts/burnt orange on a regular basis - and a huge amount of it this time of year.  I've seen several times the normal amount this year.  Otter will have the car for the next several days including Saturday, she will bring it back Saturday afternoon well after the Game is over.  She originally expressed some concern about it, but now that she's had to deal with it she is angry about it and she's developing the Texas Attitude that we all seem to have increase upon moving to OklaBACKWARDShoma.  However, she is minding her P's and Q's when she's driving, since we have been pulled over by various police-type agencies before (once when my Okie Dad was in the car, and he was incensed!).  We're not the only ones, it has happened to several other ex-patriot TEXANS here.

 

 

Because we are, and will always be:

HOOK 'EM!

Other stuff now:

Froggy, blogger didn't tell me about your comment on the Taking Flight post.  I've signed in several times and it still didn't tell me that I had a comment waiting.  I'm kind of surprised that it actually told me today.

 

As I mentioned, Otter had the car on Saturday.  She actually had it from Friday afternoon until Sunday when she got off work.  She brought it back on Sunday and while her laundry was in the washer/dryer (she brought it but she also did the washing herself), we got the remaining stuff in her room boxed up.  Most of it is craft stuff or misc. stuff that she might eventually want but doesn't have a place for in her apartment.  It's boxed and stacked against the wall in her old room.  I'm going to go through some of the boxes and label them better, some of my craft stuff was with hers and I need to find mine.  She is willing to let me do that, that way she doesn't have to.  But I'm not going to get rid of anything, she has to do that.  Her closet still has some stuff in it, a few of her spring/summer clothes and probably more craft stuff.  She's bringing the car back on Saturday after she gets off work and we're going to box the closet contents up.  The clothes that she'll need in the spring will be labeled clearly, then I'm probably going to see how much of the box stacks I can get back into the closet.  Her bathroom still has a few things, she left some stuff like misc. earrings and that sort of thing.  Her nebulizer is still in the bathroom, I think it's going to stay here but I'm not sure.  I'm thinking that  lot of the stuff in the bathroom is actually stuff I can get rid of, rearrange or just put elsewhere.  Oh yeah, her desk is still in there and it's loaded with craft stuff - which she said I can box up and label.  She isn't taking the desk with her, it's going to become mine again unless she eventually has a place with room for it.

 

I have the door to the extra bedroom/Otter's old room/My playroom closed while the boxes are stacked in there.  I let Maggie Moo in there last night, she followed me in and was unsure why we were there - she kept staring up at me and was waiting to be petted.  Later on, I let her back in there again and that time I think she figured it out.  She was a little confused, she sniffed a few boxes and looked around a little bit but then she was fine.  Otter and I had been working with her over the last several weeks, getting her used to me being the main caretaker/feeder/spoiler of beagle with Otter's move in mind.  The beagle is now officially mine, although Otter retains ownership of the wiggly, cold nose and the very tip of her waggy tail.  Maggie was clingy at first, but she seems to be better.  Frasier was a little clingy as well, but he was "my" dog from the first second we met him.

 

It's still strange, not having Otter here.  But, along with the dog being gradually acclimated to the idea, Otter is a young woman and she's been more active out of the house with friends, etc., over the last couple of years and in some ways it doesn't feel that much different - however, she always came home from those outings!  Now, she's not here.  But she's home.  Just not at our home.

It's a Jungle Out There!

Or at least it looks like it in my front yard.  I called someone we know and he is going to either come out here in the next day or so, or possibly send one of his crew over here.  Probably tomorrow.  Maggie Moo will be pleased, she's afraid of getting lost!

 

Bill's doing pretty good, just a little stir crazy.  Not that I blame him.  It's hard not to use your hand, but he's trying very hard.

 

Froggy, I know what you mean about women and their purses.  Many times, I've seen a woman shopping and the basket with her purse in it is either behind or, our several feet away.  I've seen more than one nearly be stolen, just my presence and obviously seeing the person has been enough to have the would-be thief walk away.  Otter has noticed it pretty often as well.  In fact, if she and I are shopping together and notice it we will make a point of walking by the basket/shopper in question and loudly (so that she hears us) commenting to each other how someone could have grabbed that purse and the owner would never have even noticed it.  Otter thinks she should print up cards to leave on top of the purse with words to the effect of "I could have stolen your purse and you'd never have seen me" as a warning.  I remember one time walking into a grocery store and hearing a woman yelling that her purse had been taken out of her basket.  I also went to Sunday School with a woman who had her bag stolen out of her basket at a clothing store.  There are enough bad people in the world, why make it easier for them?  But it happens.  Very frequently.

 

Migraine today.  This is the 4th one this year.  I usually average about 3 per year.  This is only August, I still have several months left in 2014.  I hope that it is not a trend!  I did have ranch dressing on my salad yesterday, I usually don't eat ranch dressing unless I can read the label on the bottle because it usually has msg by the ton in it, but this was a prepackaged salad and I just didn't think about it.  Hidden Valley brand is one of the worst, and it's also the most commonly used ranch dressing.  Well, it does taste good.  I think it's the most likely culprit.  The headache hit about 11:00 or so, I had planned on getting lunch and bringing it back to the office so I could crochet but crochet and migraines do not mix!  I was a little nauseated, which is also common with migraines.  I went ahead and ate lunch, I had a tuna sandwich at Subway and it helped.  I managed to stay at work but I left about 30 minutes early.

 

Otter needed to get something at Hobby Lobby and I had already asked her to wait for me so I could go with her, so I forced myself to go (not that it was all that hard.)  I actually need to buy yarn this time, I bought 5 skeins for Uncle Crazy's lap blanket but it's going to take 6.  At least.  I cruised the yarn aisles while Otter was getting her stuff, the fall colors are starting to come out and they are nice!  I was able to resist, but I'm not making promises for any future trips!

 

Froggy, you do realize that you are now an Official Conscript of the Pachinko business!

 

We just saw an advertisement for a can't miss movie:  Into the Storm.  All I got to say is, Yeah Right!  As Otter says, anybody who lives in Tornado Alley should know just how B.A.D. that one is going to be.  I'm pretty sure we'll pass on that one.

Windy Monday

I'm so glad that my jury duty is over and that it is back to "normal" around here.  Well, as normal as it ever gets for us!

 

There have been a few news reports about a specific trial that was starting the jury picking process today, it's not one I would ever have wanted to be considered for.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would be the absolute last person on earth the defendant would want on a jury.  It was a pretty horrific crime and I'm just really glad that I'm done.

 

I edited my last post, but Otter's late night shift wasn't actually that late.  She texted me about 8:00 or so, to let us know that she might be getting off around or before midnight.  Then about 10:00, she called to let me know that she was heading home - she was supposed to call and let me know when she headed home, no matter what time it was.  We were still up anyway.  The store was not too busy yesterday, so the supervisor had the employees that were there in the afternoon get started on some of the inventory.  As a result, when the 6:00 p.m. crew got there, quite a bit of the work had already been done.  Otter was well caffeinated, she had a couple of Cokes (in non-Texan language, she had Mountain Dew), because she was anticipating several hours which would end late at night or possibly early this morning.  The result is that she got home just after 10:00, and she was still pretty wound up.  We went to bed about 11:15, I have no idea what time she finally wound down and went to bed but she thinks she was up for at least a couple of hours after we went to bed.  She did ask me again to let her sleep in this morning and not wake her up - she usually tells me if she wants me to make her up before I leave for work.  She called me about 10:30 this morning when she woke up.

 

Today is one year since the tornadic outbreak that devastated the middle part of Oklahoma.  The first horrific storms went through the Shawnee area, today marks the one year date.  Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Moore monster.  It was a bad time for so many people.  This spring has been calmer so far, although there have been a few twisters.  I hope & pray that there are no more.

You Know What?

I hate colds.  Especially summer colds.  Ok, so it's still spring.  But you get the idea.

 

I managed to work most of the day today.  I went in at 8:00, which was a struggle.  But it was a quiet morning, the Teenager had a few senior moments which involved calling me numerous times over his plans to have lunch with his grandson today.  But when you are 97, you are allowed senior moments!  They weren't bad, mostly he just couldn't decide if he wanted me to come get him or if he was going to have his grandson pick him up at home or at the office (which is what he finally decided on.)

 

I spent most of the morning coughing my head off, or at least it felt like I was attempting to.  But I was still doing better than I had been.  I got back from lunch with Billyboy (Chinese buffet!) and the Teenager got there a few minutes later.  And immediately launched into what we call "Dr. Teenager" mode - which involves repeatedly lecturing me about going home.  I was supposed to be his ride home, so I told him I was able to stay.  I was still coughing myself dizzy at that point, so he called around until he found someone who could take him home.  Then, he ordered me out the door and gave me clear instructions about NOT wanting to see me until Monday.  I left about 45 minutes earlier than I normally would have.  I think I'm probably going to take his "suggestion" and not even attempt to go in tomorrow.  One of his reasons is that he doesn't want to catch the cold, which I agree with and I have tried to stay as far away from his as possible.  Keep in mind that he told me that was his reason for not letting me take him home - but then he thought maybe he should drive me home since I was obviously sick!

 

Otter worked today, she drove Bill's impala since he wanted to drive the White Lightning today.  Of course, that was before it started pouring and UPS notified him that he had a pachinko machine delivered (which is why he took the truck today.)  Normally, he would have gotten it without a problem if he was in the truck but it was too big to fit in the cab and the back is not covered.  Guess who got to go to UPS on the way home?  Yours truly!  I didn't have to carry it, they carried it out to the car for me and it (just barely) fit in the back seat.

 

Bill wanted to take a couple of machines to the booth, so I rode along with him.  I rearranged a bit while we were there.  Then Bill decided to bring a machine home and fix something on it.  I need to seriously rearrange but I was pretty tired, so I just moved a couple of things around.  I'm not sure if anything has sold or not since the last time I was there, which was maybe last Friday?

 

OK, here's the not fun part:  It's Spring.  This is NE Oklahoma, also known as Tornado Alley and that is for a reason.  We might be reminded of the reason this weekend.  Specifically, Sunday is the highest chance and the forecasters sound worried.  Sometimes, that means something.  Sometimes, it doesn't.  But it does mean that we all need to be prepared.  Just in case.

Alright, Already!

OK, Froggy.  You nagged me.  I'm blogging.  Happy?

Of course, the reason I wasn't blogging was because I was too busy.  I was working on something crochet, and it was for you.  But if you'd rather I blog instead of working on your stuff...

Ok, on to other things now that I've ragged Froggy!  (She deserves it, by the way.)

 

Last weekend was the Sales Tax Holiday.  Well, I found pretty much everything I was looking for.  I went to the Wallyworld by the mall and the mall parking lot looked like it was overflowing.  Wally was pretty crowded, but I was able to find nearly everything on my list there.  Bill wanted 3 pairs of jeans, I found two there so I decided to hit the Wallyworld by home.  I still needed to get stuff like milk, things that I didn't want to curdle by the time I fought traffic and got home (it was pretty warm) so I went on to the closer store and I found the rest of what I wanted there:  another pair of jeans for Bill and some socks for Otter.  I think we probably saved about $8.00 ish in sales tax, give or take, but I'm not complaining.  It's a couple of gallons of milk or a 3-lb. package of ground turkey, but it's still nothing to gripe about.  I used to save a lot more, but that was when I had a school kid and had to get back-to-school clothes.  Most of what I actually bought at the closer store was grocery related anyway.  I had to stop at the liquor store after that, but they weren't participating!

 

The liquor store was interesting - there is a type of tequila that has a REAL scorpion in the bottle.  I don't think that they sell much of it, but it was a good conversation piece.  The clerk and I talked about it and then another customer joined it, none of us would drink the stuff but also none of us would be afraid of a live one.  Although I'm not a fan of them, but that comes from having one run underneath my bare foot one time.  It didn't sting me, but I was in the process of putting my foot on the ground and I'm not sure how I managed to avoid squashing the critter and getting stung in the process.  The other part of the story is that I'm allergic to something in cheap tequila, so when I do drink it (which is rare) I have to get the good stuff!  Yes, I know - there's a redneck joke or a country & western song in that.

 

There is another part to the liquor store story.  Bill wanted a case of beer.  Being from TEXAS, he's never been satisfied with the low-point beer that is sold in backOklahomawards.  So, on the rare occasions he drinks beer it's usually bought at the liquor store so he can get the "real stuff."  I carried a case of it out of the store with my left arm, then I got it out of the trunk of the car with my left arm and carried it into the house with my left arm.  And pulled a muscle in my left side!  I'm finally beyond the pain caused by just breathing, but it wasn't fun.  It's probably also a redneck joke or song fodder.

 

Otter went to Tokyo in Tulsa, also known as TNT, over the weekend.  I was going to post pictures of her in cosplay here, but it turned out that her face was too identifiable.  But she had a good time and saw a lot of her friends.  She and 3 of her girlfriends rented a room at a hotel that was part of it and was offering special rates and she ran into several other friends of hers.  Including her boyfriend, he was out of town but got back in time to go for a little while on Sunday.  She left the house Friday morning and we didn't see her again until Sunday evening.  She was tired!  But she had a great time and she's already planning next year's costumes.  She did find the Borg drone hive, they were wandering around and she did tell them that her mom is a big fan - they said she should have a "Hi Mom" picture taken but they got sidetracked.  Besides, they'd have just followed her home if she told them the truth - that I'm not just a fan.  I'm their Queen!  And Otter is very much a Borg Queen in training - something she's finally decided to accept.  She's embracing her Borg-ness and she's obviously strong enough to carry the mantle.

Resistance is Futile, after all.  (Y'all, since the Borg Queen is a TEXAN,)

Close Call **(EDITED**

We had a close call last night.  It was unexpected.  I try not to put much in the way of identifying information on here.  We are not paranoid, although it may seem like we are.  Just trust that we have very good reason for privacy and we'll leave it at that.

So, without going into any details of location, let me just say that last night we had a reminder of what Tornado Alley means.  We're fine, but it was close.  Too close.  All we were supposed to get was thunderstorms.  Sometime after 8:30, Otter was in her room on her computer.  Bill and I were in the living room watching Rango on Blu-ray.  Since we weren't supposed to get any bad stuff, we didn't have the tv on a local channel.  The part of the movie had a lot of background noise and some of it was loud.  So, we didn't realize at first that we were hearing something else in the background.  Until Otter yelled "the sirens are going off!"  We turned the tv to a local station and they were talking about our area.  I turned the tv volume up and we joined Otter in the laundry room (our safe spot).  After a few minutes, they started giving out specific street names & locations so we knew we were out of danger but it could have easily hit us as it was going east but then turned a bit south, went a little further east and then started back northeast.  The weather forecaster on the news was pretty much hysterical - he was following it.  But he probably had reason to be upset - seeing full-sized trees flying through the air will do that to a person!

There was damage but it was structural and no injuries have been reported.  It was possibly an F3, I don't think they've figured it out yet.

Tonight may be bad also.  The bad weather could start as early as 3:00.  I'm Otter's transportation today, we had shopping & library plans so I took her to work this morning but that might have to be changed.  She gets off at 3:30 and was going to walk to Hobby Lobby, where I will meet her at 4ish.  But that might change, she may just stay at her store until I get there.  It depends on the weather.  I don't want to be driving in it, I don't want it at all.

Please pray.

**EDITED**

OK, the weather held off but it's still on the way.  Where it goes, duration and intensity are still unknown.  Otter got off work at 3:00 and it was very humid but not raining or anything.  She walked to the Hobby Lobby, it's close enough to her work that she could walk.  I met her there.  We tried to shop, but no luck.  We went on to the library and we did at least find books.  We had a couple of other stops, but they were not anything exciting.  It's about 5:30 now and we are under a thunderstorm/tornado watch but I don't think that anything has developed yet.

Please pray.

Springtime in Oklahoma!

No doubt about it.

 

It does get interesting, to say the least!

 

The time of year generally referred to as "Season" normally runs from the end of March until about the end of May/early June,  This year, since it was so cool so much longer than normal it's different.  It's the end of May and Season should be ending.  Instead, we may only be in the middle of it.  Instead of the end of May, we may be looking at end of June/early July!

 

Today was another day of possibilities and bad chances.  There were two different storm systems that were possible problems for us, one went on north of Tulsa and the other one looked to be heading the same way.  Then, it did what storms sometimes do - it turned right or east and that brought Tulsa into the firing line for a storm that had already produced at least two small funnels.  Wall clouds are where the funnels come from, funnels are also known by a couple of other names:  twisters or tornados.  Fortunately, by the time the storm was hitting downtown Tulsa it had weakened a bit so instead of tornados it "just" produced a lot of rain and hail.  We are near Tulsa and we got some rain but nothing bad.  Tulsa dodged a potentially big, bad bullet today.

 

Bi-polar weather for sure!

Oklahoma

By now, I'm sure that everyone knows what has happened Sunday and Monday in Oklahoma.

How to help:

Salvation Army

United Methodist Relief

Southern Baptist Relief

(The Red Cross is not on my list and will never be.  They have a well-earned bad reputation, the above places will help and they do what they say they will do.)

 

Oklahoma is where we live and is our adopted home, although TEXAS is and always will be Home.  But that doesn't mean that we don't care about the people here and what happens to them.  Sunday's tornados were bad, but it wasn't over as there was an even bigger outbreak on Monday.

 

The forecast on Monday was pretty specific and it turned out to be right.  We were already aware of the possibility although we weren't expected to be under the gun until later in the afternoon to early evening.  About 3:15, shortly before I was to leave work Bill called me because he had access to a tv and the stations were showing the beginning of the monster that hit Moore.  Bill was supposed to work a board meeting, so he'd taken the other Impala since he would have been getting off late and probably about the time it was supposed to get really bad here.  That meant that I was Otter's transportation which turned out to be a good thing.  She got off at 4:30.  I got to her store about 4:00, I went in to tell her that we were not going to have our shopping errand so she didn't need to change out of her uniform when she got off work and to let her know what was happening.  Their manager was not in, but she was calling them with frequent updates so they were aware of the weather situation and the fact that they might have to close suddenly.

 

In the space of about and hour and a half, the tornado had grown to over a mile wide.  It was also obvious that it was hitting the same general area as the F5 May 3, 1999.  Except that this time, it was worse.  By that time, it had already taken out at least one of the two schools and I think it had already obliterated the hospital.

 

There was another storm system, this one was northwest of Tulsa and it was heading northeast so it didn't affect us, but the city of Bartlesville was in the firing line.  There were two confirmed tornados out of that storm.  The highway patrol was stopping traffic on Highway 75, which is the main way into and out of the Bartlesville area.  They were "lucky", in that there is a lot of undeveloped land in the track that those two took.

 

While that was developing, I was talking to Froggy while I waited for Otter to get off work since Froggy was able to watch a television and could see what was actually happening, as well as updating me on what was happening with the Moore storm since the Bartlesville area was the bulk of what the radio was reporting on since that was closer and of a more immediate impact to the Tulsa area.

 

About 4:15, the weather service started asking employers in Tulsa and the surrounding areas to close early and let their employees get home, since it was beginning to look like the Moore storm was going to take a track that would put the Tulsa area right in front of it.  Just like the May 3, 1999 storm did - we were in TEXAS then, but that is what that storm did.  I talked to Bill just before Otter got off work and the board meeting had been cancelled, so he was heading home.  We got home right at 5:00, there was a lot more traffic than normal so most employers were heading the weather service request.

 

The storm was on the track to hit our area head-on, but it started weakening quickly after it got to about Stroud, which is a small town to the west of Tulsa.  Stroud was just about wiped off the map on May 3, 1999.  The storm probably weakened as fast as it did because our temperature was dropping, probably due to the rain we were already getting.  That fact probably saved a lot of people, as the storm was immense and since it already had a history of a tornado it's very possible that it would have sprouted another.  All we got was a little rain and thunder for a few hours.

 

The death toll was originally over 100, but a lot of those were probably duplicate reports.  At the moment, it's just over 20 with about 9 children.  But that will change, there are still missing people and after this long they are probably no longer alive.  There were over 100 survivors pulled out of the rubble overnight.  But it's been pretty long now, although miracles are still possible.  The original reports said that the monster was an F3 or F4, then this morning the weather service was calling it an F4.  This afternoon, they revised it:  It was an F5, the biggest on the scale.  The May 3, 1999 monster was also an F5.

 

This type of event doesn't happen very often.  Although tornados were possible and even expected yesterday, the monster sprouted fast and grew fast.  A lot faster than it was expected to do.  There is no such thing as lightning not striking in the same place twice, and that also applies to tornadic storms as well.  But it's very rare for something like this to happen twice, on this level especially.  Moore is a smaller town, but Okies are tough and they will recover.  It just won't be fast, but they will make it through this.

 

If you are not in a position to help with either a monetary donation or supplies, please pray.  Pray anyway, that will help more than anything.

I know it's been a few days...

Since I've posted anything.  It's been one of those weeks where it's been up one minute and down the next. 

Monday was such a bad day for our nation, with the bombing in Boston.  My first thought was that it would probably turn out to be domestic and that it might be environmental activists.  Don't ask me why I think that, I just do.  And as Otter says, we've all learned to listen to my "feelings" as we call it, because I'm generally right.  Not always, but most of the time.  However, until the lowlifes are caught and interrogated, the motives are unknown.  It was wrong, it was inexcusable and it was criminal.  Because of what happened in Oklahoma City 18 years ago tomorrow at 9:02 a.m., there has been a lot of "local" reaction.  It would have been big news anyway, but there is that local connection and it's been covered in a different way here than it seems to be in the rest of the country.

We've also been dealing with weather issues.  The bad kind.  It's been fairly cool but yesterday it was in the 80's.  Which is actually really bad this time of year, warm days like that when there are weather fronts moving in that are cooler are perfect breeding grounds for tornados and bad storms.  We were under a tornado watch most of yesterday and we expected rain although the chances of tornados was not actually high.  Otter worked yesterday afternoon and was scheduled to get off at 9:30 p.m.  Because of the weather issues, I took her to work and picked her up.  It was starting to rain around 7:30 or 8:00, and at that point it looked like all the storms that had already fired up were going to be heading straight north and would miss us.  There was one storm that was in the far southern part of the state and it was probably going to get to us, but it was expected well after midnight and by that time the temperature has generally cooled down enough so that the tornado chances are down considerably and sometimes non-existant.  I left about 8:30 to get her, it only takes about 15 minutes from the house but I expected them to close up early.  I got there about 8:45 or so and at just before 9:00, the lights went out in the store so I knew that she'd be out soon.  We got home about 9:15 and it was rainy but not bad.  We actually enjoyed watching the lightning we could see off in the distance.  The south storm was moving slowly and we didn't expect much although we were warned about hail and it did look like it was going to be in our area instead of going east of us.  At about midnight, I woke up for a potty trip and heard what sounded like hail hitting the roof but nothing else.  I was awake for a while after that, and I heard nothing but rain and there was a little lightning/thunder.  But nothing else, at least not that concerned me.  When we got up this morning, I turned the tv on about 5:30 to news reports of a house less than a mile from ours that had lost it's roof when a tornado touched down.  The storm came right over our house not too long after I think I went back to sleep, and we were literally right in the flight path of the tornadic storm and we heard nothing.  Nothing.  BECAUSE THE SIRENS WERE NEVER ACTIVATED.  AT ALL.  The tornado was small, but small can still be dangerous.  It apparently disappated shortly after taking off the roof and then another one sprouted shortly after it had passed over us and was a little east of the Tulsa area.  At that point, the tornado was probably an EF1 which is the next-to-smallest official size but it did quite a bit of damage.  Houses damaged badly, a train blown off the tracks, there was at least one mobile home that was picked up and deposited on a "regular" house that was next door to it.  No injuries have been reported, but everyone in this area is asking one question:  WHY WERE THE SIRENS NOT ACTIVATED?  No reason has been given at this point.  But there had better be, and it had better be a good one.  Even though it was not a big tornado, it was one.  The sirens should have gone off well before the actual tornado because the storm was already meeting all the signs that tell the forecasters that it could sprout one at any moment and the protocal is to sound them as the probable tornadic storms get to a set distance from each area of the towns in the path.  It's actually a good system.  When they use it correctly.  The tv stations were broadcasting the alerts and warning people and had been for a while because they at least were concerned about the possibility of the storm becoming tornadic, but very few people were actually up at that moment watching tv because the forecast had been that it would most likely not be that dangerous by the time it got to us.  The people who lost their roof were actually up, the father had seen the news reports and got his family out of bed and down to what has been described as their basement but I think it was actually the first floor of their home.  He said that he was actually about to send the kids back upstairs to bed when he heard the tornadic winds and felt the impact on his house, not because of sirens (because he didn't hear any) and based on what he was hearing on the news - that the storm was fast moving but not as dangerous as it turned out to be.  Because he did what he did, his family is safe.  Thank God.

There was quite a bit of localized street flooding as well.  We don't have any tree damage that I can tell and the roof looks to be ok.  I heard hail but it didn't sound like it was big, just a little noisy.

I have real and serious reasons for being private on here, I'm not mentioning any specific city names for valid reasons.  We're near Tulsa, but that is kind of general.  There are a boatload of little towns and small cities around and near Tulsa.  I choose not to discuss my privacy reasons, but they are real so I'm not naming any city/town names beyond Tulsa.

The explosion is TEXAS is also a bad thing, and because of the fact that tomorrow is April 19 and the Oklahoma City Bombing was a fertilizer bomb it's also generating more "local" news that it would have normally.  I know where West is, but I don't think we've ever actually been there.  It's tiny, and the destruction was horrific.  It doesn't seem to be anything other than a fire that caused an explosion because of the nature of the plant and what it produced, foul play is not suspected.

This wasn't meant to be depressing, it's just that there have been major things happen this week and most of them are bad.

Adjustments

It's been a full day.  I've been running since I got up, which was actually about 10 minutes early.  Bill had to turn off the power to one part of the house yesterday so he could replace an electrical outlet, and we totally forgot about the fact that it always messes up the alarm clock we use.  The clock has a battery back up so it never actually turns off, but it always speeds itself up when the power is restored.  But I didn't mind too much, I was already awake but still in bed.

Otter's annual lung/asthma recheck was this morning.  She was going to take herself, but they kept calling me yesterday (4 times!) to confirm the appointment and each time they had it wrong.  They apparently scheduled her for allergy testing, although that was never mentioned.  Then they thought that she was just going in for allergy shots, although that was never part of it either.  The other two calls were the same.  After that mess, she said she wanted me to go with her in case they tried to start testing, etc. but they managed to get it right.  Her allergist was amazed at how well she's doing.  He said that this is the kind of appointment he likes, and for her to keep up whatever it is that she's doing.  He didn't make any changes, she still uses her daily inhaler twice a day and the rescue inhaler if/when she needs it - but she hasn't needed it in over a year!  She goes back in a year.  Hopefully, by then they will have gotten on the ball!

We met Bill for lunch at our favorite TexMex place.  The waiter was bringing our drinks and he managed to spill an entire glass of water - almost on me.  I just barely managed to get my purse (the Coach!) and feet up out of the way, I got a little splashed on my legs but I wasn't upset.  He was embarassed, but it was just an accident and no harm was done.  We had fajitas, which were (as always) good.  After that, Bill was heading home but Otter wanted to go to the library so I dropped her off on my way back to work.  And the Teenager wasn't happy that I didn't bring her back!  He saw her between the doctor appointment and lunch, so he wasn't as unhappy as he'd have been if he had missed her entirely.

After I dropped her off and was heading back to work, the rain that had been threatening finally started.  And swiftly turned into sleet!  I thought it was Spring?  Well, there is a reason we say that Oklahoma weather is bipolar and today it certainly was.  It has been cold all day but the sleet stopped quickly.  It's just cold and grey now, and will be for a few days - we have a chance of snow late Saturday night into early Sunday morning.

After I got off work, I picked Otter up and we went to the mall.  My new glasses came in yesterday but I didn't have time to go get them, so we went today.  Otter wanted to get her glasses adjusted and she did that when I got my new ones.  I think I'm going to like them.  I haven't had plastic frames in a long time, but they are comfortable.  They're also smaller than the previous ones.  The prescription isn't that much different, but now that I've got the new ones I realize that they were worse than I thought.  After the glasses, we wanted a coke so we hit the food court and Cinnabon had freshly made cinnamon rolls, so of course we had to get one!  And because we are TEXAN, our cokes were actually Dr. Pepper.

As if all that wasn't enough, we went to the grocery store next.  We were discussing which Wallyworld we wanted to go, since I needed to get Ridex, allergy meds, toothpaste, vitamins and a bunch of other stuff that is actually quite a bit cheaper there and we realized that there is a Walmart right next door to the mall.  So we didn't have to drive very far.  We managed to miss the bulk of the afternoon rush-hour traffic and got in and out quickly.  I really prefer the regular grocery store, but sometimes it's a Wallyworld trip and today was one of those Wallyworld days.  They weren't too crowded.  I don't like to wait late in the week, but I just didn't have time earlier or I'd have already gone.

The dogs were crazed when we got home and let them in.  They are pretty playful most of the time, but they love the cooler temps and today was no exception.  They were invigorated and nutso.  I had to bend over to pick something up, and Frasier was suddenly right in my face - sniffing my new glasses.  Silly boy!  But since we bought (many) bagged pasta and they each got a couple of pieces when I was putting it in the container we keep it in, they were happy dogs.  Now, they are probably snoozing dogs.  Smart puppies, actually - at least Frasier is.  Maggie Moo is sometimes as dumb as a box of rocks, but they know a good thing when they see it and naps are good things.

Bill's at an auction in a neighboring small town.  There are a couple of specific things he wants, and hopefully they'll go pretty cheaply (and he'll get them.)  I don't miss the eBay/auction days at all, but sometimes I still like to go to auctions.  Just not on the massive scale we did when we were actively selling huge amounts on eBay.  It was fun, but it ran it's course and I'm glad that we've moved on.  Well, Bill has - to pachinko machines!

Now, back to my laundry.  Otter likes to have clean clothes for work, for some reason.  I have a deal with her:  I iron her work clothing and then she does whatever household chore I come up with in return.  Since she started working, I don't have a maid any longer!

My allergies are better today.  I've realized that I'm probably not actually allergic to aloe vera.  I can use things that have it in them, the sunburn gel, hydrocotisone cream and lotions for example.  It doesn't bother me.  But if I use it straight from the plant itself, I think it's just too strong and that's why it irritates my skin.  We have odd allergies, in the family.  No doubt about that.  I'm allergic to ecinachea (sp?), acai and a couple of other things that are supposed to be good for me.  But they aren't.  I can't eat kiwi or have any contact with lavendar.  Those are just a couple of examples.  Froggy is allergic to bananas, but I could eat them every meal and never have a problem.  She likes kiwi (I think), but I will scratch off every bit of my skin if I eat it.  Otter can't have honeydew, cantaloupe or blueberries.  Weird.  But we just have to deal with it, it's just kind of hard when we either accidentally come into contact with our eat something bad or, and this is the really "fun" part, find out the hard way that we're allergic to something.  There's only one type of beef jerky that Otter can eat, something in the spices used will send her into a migraine faster than the speed of light.

Fun!

Twenties Part Two

Twenty years ago today, a lot of things happened.

Twenty years ago today, we got up and put just about everything we owned into a U-Haul truck and pointed it north.

Twenty years ago today, that same truck wouldn't start again after we'd filled the tank near Dallas.  Fortunately, we were at a truck stop at the time and were able to at least get a meal and stretch our legs a bit while we waited on the U-Haul mechanic.  By this time, baby Otter had figured out that her daddy was back and she did not like it when he was out of her sight while she & I were in the restaurant and he waited with the truck - we took him food, so he didn't starve.  The U-Haul mechanic eventually got it running and then he offered us two choices:  another truck, which would mean that we'd have to unload it all and then reload it - by ourselves, or to head on but not turn it off for any reason until we got where we were going.  We chose the 2nd option, which meant that the next time we stopped for gas meant that one of us (me) stayed with the truck (and baby Otter) while it was being filled up and Billyboy found the restroom, then he stayed with the truck (and baby Otter) while I found the restroom.  Our original plan had been to spend the night somewhere, but two things happend:  Not being able to turn the truck off with the very real possibility that it might not start again and the fact that Bill took the one of the two highway choices availiable that didn't have any hotels we could stay in!  Baby Otter spent most of the trip playing in her carseat while it was light, with a lot of reaching over and patting her daddy's arm and she was happy about it.  We got to Grandpa & Sweetie's house (which is now our house) somewhere around 3ish - AM.  OK, so that was actually not Twenty Years today, but it was a Leap Year and still the last day of February even though it was not the 28th any longer!  And the truck did start that morning, which is good because we were able to drive straight to our apartment and move in.  But if it hadn't started, at least we were in a safe spot and would have been able to get help if we needed it.

It's been a busy 20 years, we left TEXAS with an 11 month old baby and she'll be 21 in a month.  She's gone through all 12 years of school, 1 1/2 years of college and is now working.  We've had 7 dogs, if I'm doing the math right and that does include the two poochies we have now.  We still had my parents with us then and we've also lost Bill's Grandmother on his mom's side and Grandfather on his dad's side in the last 20 years as well.  All the grandkids on "my" side are grown, most of them on Bill's side are grown.  Some of them are now parents themselves!

We've had two business ventures, eBay and Pachinko Restorations.  Also, we had a rent house for a few years.  Bill's had two jobs, I've had one.  Otter's been through three school districts, she went to elementary at a private Christian school and then middle & high school were public schools.  I'm on my 4th car, Bill's on his 5th but one of them is also my previous car so I'm not sure if that actually counts of not!  We briefly had a boat, for one summer.

We've learned to deal with actual winter, including more than one blizzard.  Also, ice storms.  And there are always those "other" storms that this area is known for.  It's not called Tornado Alley for nothing!

We've belonged to four churches, although there are two others that we attended for a while but didn't join.  We changed demoninations once.

We've dealt with asthma and scoliosis (Otter), asthma (me), pneumonia (me, Otter and possibly Bill as well), a serious illness that put me in the hospital for a week and ended with surgery to remove my gallbladder followed by a week at home to recover from a life-threatening illness (me, pancreatitis).  I also had my original teeth 20 years ago, now most of them are gone and replaced with plastic ones I can take out.  Bill, being Bill, has had stitches more than once but he's an Engineer and it goes with the territory!  There have been a couple of broken bones (Otter, left arm.  Me, foot & toes.  Me, probable broken rib(s) but that did happen in TEXAS when we went home to visit and I was stupid enough to get on a see-saw with Toadles - not that it's his fault, he was just on the other end of it.  OK, it is partially his fault because he decided to leave me hanging in the air, but it was still my decision to get on the thing in the first place so I don't really blame him.)

We've moved three times.  Four, if you count the original move and then three since.

While there are times that I would like to go back and redo, there are also times that I wouldn't trade away for anything.  The last 20 years have been good overall.  TEXAS is and always will be Home, but Oklahoma is also home.  Just not with a capital "H" but it's still home and we're happy here.  We could have landed in a lot of other places, and they might not have been good or as good.  We feel like this is where God wants us, or we wouldn't be here.  But we are and will always be TEXAN.

(There was also something else that happened twenty years ago today, it affected all of us and not necessarily in a personal way but it still affected us all:  Waco.  Waco was not entirely the fault of the government, although the governments actions in the stand-off did affect what happened.  But what ultimately happened caused repercussions that were felt in Oklahoma City two years later on April 19, 1995 - the Waco stand-off started on February 28, 1993 but it didn't end until April 19, 1993.  It was, unfortunately, not the last terrorist attack that we has a society and nation have had to deal with, but it was the worst to that date and I think it was probably the first real "homegown" terroristic act.)

Twenties Part One

20 years ago today, I quit the last job I held in TEXAS.

20 years ago today, I was sick with an allergy/sinus infection and had to go to an emergency clinic before I could go to work for my last day.

20 years ago today, Bill flew back to TEXAS from Oklahoma (where he'd been for 2 months, getting a job and finding a car plus an apartment for us) and I was too sick to meet him at the airport so I had to get someone else to do it.