Glad I am on the 3rd floor!

While wind-driven rains can find their way into my house, fortunately none since Sunday, the river will not! I am up three floors from the bottom with little chance of the river rising enough to even threaten the first floor units. Not unless the wind pushes the water up and over with increased wave activity. My earlier posting shows photos of the nasty weather which cannot show the cold and dampness of the air. The thermometer reads 70 degrees, and some may think that is warm...NOT!

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Linda J. sent me a wonderful note via facebook this a.m. that reported at First German's staff meeting and devotion time, they sang "Jerusalem, the Golden". She said she was thinking of me, and paid extra attention to the wonderful message woven in that hymn. What tickles me is that this hymn already appeared in previous hymnals but set to a different tune. We discussed this in our Monday Bible study not long ago, where the melodies can evoke certain emotions or sentiments in us, besides the lovely message in the stanzas.

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The morning's e-mail brought some wonderful things including an article to use in the Flock Talk from the leader of the Little Lambs. Sadly, she has somehow deleted her pictures taken at their most recent event, and cannot find where she downloaded them onto her computer. I know just how frustrating that can be and I feel very badly for her, losing not only those photos but others as well. A few hours later, another mom sent me photos she had taken at the event, totally unaware of the previous situation! Talk about intuitive! I forwarded the 2nd e-mail with photos to the first mom who lost hers, hopefully filling in some of the gaps in her picture taking loss.

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As grumpy a day as it is out there, I must venture out into it to Wal*Mart, having not finished yesterday because Justin needed my car for work. When Justin and I went later in the day to get his car, (completed with the brand-new tires, $500+!!!), the wind was blowing the rain sideways. Instead of finishing the shopping, I decided to just come back home and get dried off. Yeck! My friend, Kelly T., is going to come today and help me wrap the baskets with the clear wrap and shredded paper, things she has in stock like a good mama does, so I had better be ready when she gets here! The Tuesday night Bible study donated some money and Kelly has some partial baskets ready to go, so I am giving her the collected money which she will apply to the baskets. Rather than combining the Monday and Tuesday Bible studies into one basket, having more baskets to bid on will be better, even if they are smaller or lesser in value. Makes sense to me! I will miss the whole thing because I will attending a church picnic in Manitowoc WI instead that day!

Ahoy, there matey! Where is Mandarin today?

Here is yesterday's photo, with Mandarin still visible on the horizon. The winds were more fierce at this time, as you can see by the trees in the basin.
This morning, May 20th, does not allow for site of Mandarin, nor does it show the rock barrier to the left of the palm trees. The water is so high that the grass is covered, and Joanne wonders what the birds and fish are doing, and the raccoons, trapped on that island in the basin!

Just as I snapped this one today, the wind blew the mist against my lens, which made for an interesting photo, I think. It sort of illustrates better just what we are up against here. Some areas in our county have roads underwater making it impossible for the school buses to do their pick-ups. Other neighboring counties have had nearly a foot of water, but we in Clay are not that deep---yet!

Oops! Got carried away there....

I must have had words leftover, rambling like I did on the previous posting....I tried to remove some using cut and paste but it would not come, so get a cup of coffee and start reading. Sorry!

It is raining spam!

It is raining real rain, too, but I have noticed recently that my gmail account is being bombarded with spam messages. Fortunately my filter catches them but I always check to see what is in the spam file in case something which is not truly spam does not end up dumped. Crazy stuff in the filter, prescriptions available for body parts I do not even have! Ricky told me he gets those advertisements on his blackberry phone, too, and is horrified that they are even sent to him. What and who thinks people will actually open those misspelled and "taunting" e-mails in the first place? They even try using people's names to lure one into clicking it open. Do not do it! Delete, delete, delete!

This is my table, all dressed for the monthly dinner, Cinco de Mayo-themed, in May. Beautiful, if I do say so myself!

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Joanne is finally back home in this nest and wondering why in the world is the house torn apart like this? Justin was going to come over yesterday to put it all back, hang up my tapestry again, move the furniture, etc. but with the continued threats of winds and rain, nope. We might even leave it like this the entire time I am gone, since Joanne will be going away part of the time as well. My neighbors will have authority to come in and check on things for me while I am away, and Justin will have access, too, if need be.

This is a shot taken this morning, May 19th, as Joanne and I watched the winds whip the trees and throw water around the breakwater. See how gloomy it is out there?

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Joanne was ensconced in my bedroom desk chair and eating her supper while watching the finale of "Dancing with the Stars" when I came home last night. The TV in the family room was still unplugged and she was desperate to see this show. Wow, she has got it bad! Immediately I plugged the TV back in and turned the family room over to her to watch this show, while talking with her sister in Atlanta who is also a fan.

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Many years ago when I was newlywed, some of my sisters and I were involved in watching a spinoff of "Dallas" with Joan Van Ark as the star, I simply cannot remember the name of it right now. One of the main lead actors died in a season finale and Jill called to tell me that Sid had died. I was all upset and talking about someone dying, and my spouse thought it was a real person. He got upset because here it was a TV show, and we had a brother-in-law named Sid....Guess he had a point, but still, that is how "real" it was for us, at the time. As a married couple, we were "hooked" on "Dallas", pre-VCR days, and scheduled our Friday nights around the TV show. After that series was over, we never really got attached to TV shows like that anymore, it was so empty and we were too busy working to have our lives revolve around TV. How did I get into this? Oh, yes, "Dancing with the Stars"!

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Despite Monday's wretched weather, a nice group of us met at church for Bible study before we take a recess until July. We did not finish or even come close to it, our study of "Come, Worship Christ", because we got off on a tangent about the role of women in the church. The passages we started looking up were about keeping worship orderly, no speaking in foreign tongues unless there was someone to interpret, only one or two or at most three speakers in worship, and so on. One of the ladies proceeded to read further into the chapter, hence, taking us widely away from learning about organ music in the church! We did not even get to view the video segment planned for the class but Pastor said the conversation and questions confirmed the plans for an upcoming Bible study on this matter. We went to Longhorn (really?) for lunch, having seven of us in our group this time, and at the end of the meal, "our" waitress, Patty, treated us with a dessert which we all shared. Yummy! We will not be going as a group to eat there again until July but certainly individually or in twos or threes, we might!

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Sunday I sent my heating pad home with Paul for use on his sore neck and now I am thinking it sure would be nice to have it to help warm me! It feels quite chilly in the house, no sun since Sunday afternoon---brisk winds and rainy skies make for good nap weather! This morning I got a call from my little boy, asking me if I could buy his birthday present early....okay, now what? It seems his tires are quite bald and he got freaked out yesterday when his car swayed into another lane when he went from stop and around the corner. At first I was skeptical about it, but when he informed me that he has 45000 miles on them, I ran to the store to buy him tires! Ever since he did a 360 spin out on I-95 last year, he is extremely cautious when driving, especially on wet pavement.

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We met at the tire place near Wal*Mart, thinking I had to pay right away. He said not until it is complete and agreed to ride over to the store with me instead of sitting in the waiting room. He picked up a new pair of wipers for his car, too, saying he has originals on there yet. I replace mine fairly regularly because I have a low tolerance for poor wipers. Justin told me he had to be at a house in St. Johns county at 1:00 and hoped the tires would be on by then, but then he got a call that he needed to be at the house sooner. Oh, oh, now what? He was getting upset and I suggested he take me home and use my car to run his errands. Mom, the Problem Solver!!!! I checked out and away we went so he can do his work. He will just come back for me later and we will go together and pay for the tires. I told him that I really had not planned on tires for his birthday, and that I certainly would not have spent THAT much on him!!!! We are going to work out his paying me back for them as I have plenty around here that needs doing for him to work off much of the cost.

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I finished the washing and drying of the rain-catching items yesterday afternoon, and laid them back in place "just in case". The maintenance lady, Connie, said the storms were not over and I would rather be safe and messy, than sorry! Part of the afternoon was spent helping my friend, Suzanne, write some paragraphs to use for her application process at a job she is interviewing for today. She lost her job last week and is hustling to find a new one. Of course, I was incredibly flattered that she asked me, saying, "I need a writer!" As we spoke on the phone, I was also typing on the paragraph she e-mailed me, plus Instant Messaging with Justin about him not needing to come help me with the furniture repositioning....true multi-tasking! I should have applied for the job! One thing about that----I am not qualified!!!! And Suzanne is perfect for the job, I know she is going to get it.

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In the midst of our conversation, my doorbell rang, as I had cautioned Suzanne it would. I had an appointment with the ceramic tile cleaners who came to give an estimate for cleaning the tile for The Palace. Excusing myself from the conversation and typing with Suzanne, I put my jacket on and joined the cleaners as we visited each floor so Aaron could see what needed to be done. Each floor in the building has a different colored tile in the elevator alcove, some needed more care than others. He is even giving us a price on cleaning the lobby on the first floor in case the Board wants to go that far. As Hugh told me, the floor in the elevator is going to be replaced at some point, but in the meantime, it needs to be clean. With so many Units for sale right now, everything really should be looking its best. My opinion is it should look its best all the time for those of us already here, but I also understand the other thoughts.

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After walking the floors and getting the measurements, the three of us came back here because Aaron wanted to make sure my floors and walls were not holding moisture from the mini-flood. He has a metal rod with prongs which is a moisture-meter, as well as a handheld device which does the same thing. He was pleased with the readings from the drywall, wood floors, and baseboards, no danger right now of mold or other rot from the leaks. I was not worried until he said something about it!

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Being chilled to the bone after running around outside in the rain, I decided to climb under my covers to warm up. While there I thought about Sheila and her little grand daughter walking in the rain to get home that afternoon, and since I would be heading that direction later to have dinner with Kathy and attend some church meetings, I called Sheila to make arrangements for picking up Akeila. It was on my way, and if the day care would allow her to leave with me, that would be great! I got Sheila's answering machine and left her a message. Before long she called back to say she was in a job interview when I called but was glad I did.

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At first Sheila said she would walk from the interview to the daycare to meet me there, but I told her to stay where she was, since I had to drive right past her to get Akeila. I had to fly around to get myself ready and off I went to get her. She looked very nice for her interview, and Sheila said she has to call back in a couple days for a 2nd interview. We picked up her granddaughter and I took them home. I really must get a booster seat for use in my car, especially if I make a habit of picking her up from daycare. I think I have the child-resistant handles in the back seat but don't know if I want to enable that for when grown ups sit back there......Anyway, I dropped them off, complete with a bag of food from my fridge, including the fore-mentioned fruit. Since I will be gone, there is no need for my food to go bad when Sheila can certainly make use of it. As my grandma used to say: "Every little bit helps", said the old lady as she peed in the sea..."

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On my drive to meet Kathy B. for dinner, I called Kathy L. in Manitowoc to see how she was. Mom told me about the "performance" Gabe gave in church on Sunday. She laughingly said, "He can't just walk up to the front, he has to leap and dance all the way up the aisle!" This reminds me of Timmy, how he could not stand still either. She did not tell me about his song or any more info other than that his aisle dancing.

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Kathy and I enjoyed a lovely meal together and did some necessary chatting, the kind best done face to face. Joanne had given me a gift card for the Olive Garden which I used toward my meal. Thanks, Jo! Mom was envious that I was eating there, as she misses the Olive Garden. Unfortunately, since I had back- to-back church meetings, I did not have an Italian margarita. Certainly I had to have my wits about me when we are making decisions regarding summer Sunday school and VBS! We did end up choosing the same program that Victory is using and I already made some contacts with members over there to see what we can "share', as their VBS is before ours. I know one man is making a backdrop of some sort, looking like "Tool Time" from the Tim Allen TV show of old.

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During our phone conversation, Mom did tell about nearly missing a fabulous chorale concert by the Lutheran High choirs at First German. My sister, Jill, called Mom to make sure she was going and it is good she did! At first Lynn was not sure if she wanted to go out again that night but also was happy to see/hear the concert. The director, whose father-in-law had died that morning, was presenting this special concert as part of earning his advanced degree. The show must go on! Even his wife and mom-in-law were present and joined the choir for their final anthem, the benediction. No dry eyes in that house, the Lord's house. "Oh, for a faith that will not shrink though pressed by many a foe; that will not tremble on the brink of poverty or woe...", (used in Timmy's funeral service.) Mom said the memorial service for Dan Hennig is being held on the day prior to the trip to Lori's for Dusty's graduation party and I am sad to miss it. I will already be at Lori's, perhaps hanging out with Judy the day of the service. Again, the show must go on!

Oh, baby, it's cold outside.....

According to WOKV.com, the temperature here is "only" 62 degrees at 8:00 a.m. this morning. And I do not think it is going to be much more than this the rest of the day, which is predicted to be overcast and misty....As long as we do not have the wind-driven rains, we should be okay. My washer is busily handling the towels, blankets, and sheets used to soak up the dripping water, and I go on record as saying, "I hate folding sheets!"!!

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Jill called me last night to report her computer has "worms" or what we would refer to as a virus! She recently had the computer repaired for the same type of illness and now it is acting up again, so the repairman is doing this fix gratis. Only, she has to physically take it to him for the fix since he does not have a car. I cannot even begin to imagine trying to disconnect, lift and carry, and then reconnect this monster "AlienWare" computer which gives me wings to tour the world. The last time I needed work done, on my previous "regular sized" CPU, Steve came here to disconnect and take it away, and then returned to hook it back up. I wonder if he is still in business....this economy has been rough on small business people.....and big business, too!

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At this moment I am enjoying a nice bowlful of taco salad leftover from yesterday. Mmmm.....When it began to thunder, the Lawcock's and I came upstairs and Emily watched me as I threw the taco salad together. The final ingredient to add was the container of grape tomatoes, which made the salad look so pretty, lying on the cheese layer on top. As we sat around the table in the family room with our plates piled with salad, a meal in itself, all three adults sat there, pushing the grape tomatoes off to the side of our plates! I just had to laugh because if I had known none of us ate them....obviously, I could have omitted the tomatoes! Emily and Paul loved the rest of the salad, though, with Paul commenting that he even ate the diced tomatoes mixed in. Oh man! Emily said later that she is fussy about green peppers and onions, too, which were in this salad but did not mind them being in the famous salad! And you thought I was the fussy eater???? I also picked up a container of fresh fruit from which Sarah ate only the cantaloupe, digging deeply into the dish to garner. As I looked at it this a.m., I made a mental decision to eat some of that fruit so it won't go to waste, remembering I have another can of Cool Whip in the fridge leftover from Sandy's key lime pie......

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Not long after eating, Sarah was asking for something to eat, and Paul kept saying, "No!". I asked if I could get something for her and Paul told me she only wants to eat junk food. Emily said Sarah does not generally eat beef (i.e. taco salad) and I said I had some chicken in the fridge that I picked up at Winn-Dixie, drumsticks and breasts, etc. Nope, Sarah will only eat nuggets, like from McDonald's. Emily asked if Sarah could have some potato chips which, of course, she could. I had the snack mix leftover from the Youth Group but from that mixture Sarah only wanted the M & M's, throwing the raisins and nuts back into the dish! Oh, it has been a long time since I have had interaction with little ones!!! I cannot wait to see the boys in Sheboygan!

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I have been in communication with a young lady from church who is stressing about how and when to discipline her kids, etc., always second guessing herself. One of the remarks she made was about "picking your battles" and I had to tell her that I missed that in my era. Battles? Are you kidding me? Bottles, yes, picking battles, I do not know..... One thing I did comfort her with was that age and a fading memory allows me (and probably other moms, too) to recall primarily the good things the kids did, the type of things one captures on film or tape. Fortunately the temper tantrums and raised voices don't often make it to 'preservation format'! How I wish I had a recording of Justin telling us at bedtime, that he could not stop talking because "I have words left over..."

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Oh, oh! I have gone into the "danger zone" of my time frame for being on the computer before leaving for Bible study so had better finish up. I might put on a long-sleeved top due to the cold, nasty weather, which will go right through me once I leave the building. Saturday I got an e-mail from one of the maintenance guys declaring the snake is dead, and he included a picture of it. Sadly, Miss Chardonnay reported to me that this is NOT the same snake which was intertwined in my kitchen door grille-work so the heat is not off as far as that fear is concerned. Oh, if only Eve had not eaten that forbidden fruit......

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!

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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!

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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!"

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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...

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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!

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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!