What a mess!

I am seated on the loveseat which is pulled out into the family room, watching a TV only recently plugged back in. The TV stand is also pulled away from the wall and once more towels and sheets and blankets are spread about to sop up the water drips. Yikes! It was Tropical Storm Faye all over again but with incredibly scary winds this time. Paul, Emily, Sarah and I were in the family room, with Paul and I watching a "Seinfeld" episode when it became apparent that the wind was bending the palm trees almost to the ground...Yeah, I think we are having a storm! Almost immediately we noticed the water running in around the window and the sliding glass doors....oh, no, not again!

*

Paul helped pull the furniture out and get the towels in place, unplugging the TV (nuts!) and Emily helped me remove the glass pieces from the window in case the windows didn't hold. We saw what might have been a lawn chair go floating by in the river, and I remembered the winds a few weeks ago that took the neighbors' gas grilled over onto its side. Oooh, that would be terrible if the wind blew it my direction this time! We did not lose electricity but the lights blinked many times. The rains were just torrential, lightning wild, and thunder booming, with Sarah half afraid and half excited about the whole thing. As soon as we said, "Stay away from the windows and doors!", she headed straight for them! Of course!

*

Emily thought they should stay to help put things back but I wanted to keep the water catchers in place at least until the storms ended. They left as soon as it seemed to let up a bit, but it was still raining and lightning. Paul has a bulging disc in his neck giving him a fit and I did not want him doing any more than he already had to help me. Justin is coming by tomorrow to give me a hand with the furniture and such, which I appreciate. He has school tomorrow night so will not be able to stay, and I can do much of the clean up before he arrives. I filed a "damage report" with the maintenance guys in my building, not because they can fix it but they at least need to know what is going on in the various units. Hopefully some of the leaks will be corrected when the building is caulked, sealed and painted this summer. What's another $100,000.00 capital improvement, especially when we are flying around moving furniture and laying out drip cloths for the leaks????

Boy, I am hungry this a.m.!

Normally I can go until 10 or later before rummaging for something to eat for breakfast, but do not think I will hold out that long today. I had a nice little supper last night, making Four Cheese cook-in-the-bag rice and adding cut up ham into it. No directions to follow other than "microwave for 90 seconds". The other instructions on the package were for where and how to grab it when the food is done cooking but fortunately I took a non-hot edge when removing it from the oven. "Sometimes," she said smugly, "I don't need directions!"

*

Part of my time Saturday, on a weather-threatening day, was used talking on the phone with Mona in Manty. Since they had to be on JR's campus at West Point bright and early the morning we arrive for graduation, we needed to find our own ride from the airport to the hotel. I checked on-line and saw our hotel offers "Complimentary airport transportation" ("My, you look nice today!" "New outfit? Great!). It suggested I call for availability so I did and talked to a young man in the metropolis of Newburgh, NY. It seems the hotel does not have a dedicated vehicle (shuttle or town car) but 'someone will be here that can come and get you'. Great! I asked him to please put a note on my reservation that our flight arrives at 10:23 a.m., and he told me the driver would be there at that time. Don't I need time to get my luggage, etc? Oh, yes, he said the driver would be there at 10:30!!!! It must be a tiny airport...

*

Mona said that it is quite small and really old, with blacktop runways and baggage claim is not going to be a problem. I will not tell Justin about this, let him find out himself, or he might murmur about our small plane, rugged airport, riding in the back of a truck to the hotel, being beastly tired because of our early morning flight. I sure would not want him to ruin JR's big day the next day! JR could twist Justin's head off because, according to press reports, JR is "the best powerlifter West Point has ever had"! I'll bet he could get us carried in chairs on people's shoulders from the airport to the hotel if we asked him to make the arrangements in person!

*

It is time to leave for church so will sign off for now. Presently I am sweating just a bit which means it might a good day to sit poolside, but guess I should check the weather first, before making too many plans for the afternoon. I cannot wait until the cabana opens again which will be Memorial weekend and not one moment before! I want a hot dog and an adult beverage poolside!