mamaLove

Where I’ve Been

My husband and I were discussing yesterday all the places we’ve been (ie. States and Countries). My question is, does it count if you’ve only driven through the state? Does it even count if you didn’t even get out of the airport?

I’ve been to several airports…we switched plans in Washington DC on our way to Vegas and on the way back, we made a switch in Denver. But I never saw anything beyond the airport.

Over various trips, I’ve stayed overnight in Arkansas, New Jersey, Kentucky, and South Carolina on the way to other states.

So not counting overnights in a hotel, I can say I’ve been to:

* Alabama
* Florida
* Louisiana
* Arizona
* Maryland
* Washington DC (when I was a baby; not the layover enroute to Vegas)
* Massachusetts
* New Mexico
* Texas
* Nevada
* Georgia
* Tennessee
* Indiana
* Mississippi

Drive throughs would include Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia, and Oklahoma. That’s about all I can think of now. I’ve also been to Puerto Rico (I have family there) and I lived in Panama when I was a child (my dad was in the military). Maybe at some point I’ll draw up a map of the places I’ve “visited.”

Posted in At Home | No Comments »

Weekend in the Woods

We had a great weekend in the woods. Camping for 2 nights under the stars next to a really cold creek, or as we call it in the south, a crick. Our friends, Donald and Kimberly, got engaged Friday night and we almost got stuck in mud on Saturday night. We took our dog camping for the first time and she loved it. She ate so much stew, and climbed many rocks and went exploring all over. She had a blast and slept the whole way home. She will definitely be camping with us again.

We turned the radio on Saturday night, only to hear that Hurricane Jeanne was making landfall about the same place that Frances came ashore. So, of course, Saturday night and Sunday was spent talking to family, making sure they were ok.

My parents are fine as are my in-laws. They don’t have power and who knows when it will come back. My parents lost running water for a while yesterday, but fortunately it came back, so they were able to take showers. As far as they could tell, they had no damage. My aunt’s house in Port St Lucie has extensive damage and the ceiling in the garage has collapsed. She said she fears the ceiling in the sun room as well as the entrance way will also collapse from the water that is leaking through the roof. The rest of the house so far is okay. They are still able to live in it, so that’s a plus. They have no power, water or phone, so my parents are planning to try to get over there to see what can be done. But they weren’t sure they would make it, since they have to cross 2 bridges and didn’t know if people would be allowed to enter the area.

I really hope this is the last hurricane for this season and well into the next few years. There’s only so much you can take, before it becomes unbearable. For some it is already unbearable, for others, they are on the last shred of sanity. Florida just can’t handle anymore.

Posted in At Home | No Comments »

Friendly Weekend

This weekend some friends came over to watch a boxing match on Pay-per-View. I was not expecting De La Hoya to go down like he did. We were all a little stunned, but at least they were both gracious. Instead of talking trash about each other. We had a great time, cooking out hot wings and catching up. We decided to rent a movie so we headed over to Blockbuster. There were no copies of Ladykillers on DVD, so we actually rented the VHS. Good movie. Hilarious, I loved the portrait in the living room.

Then we all went a little kooked and yes, we rented Season One of The Knight Rider! We had a blast watching the first episode ever. Laughing at the hair styles and the music from 1982. But I have to admit, I had forgotten how cool K.I.T.T. really is. Of course, now I want to keep watching it. But I cringe at David Hasselhoff in those tight jeans. and how he pranced around all suave and macho.

We also rented Hidalgo for the hell of it. The Disney movie is based on a true story, but the true story is apparently all a lie. The History Channel did a show on how the guy made it all up and how unrealistic it was. I didn’t see it, but a friend did and he said the show totally picked apart the story and proved that it didn’t happen and that parts were just not possible. But I’ll watch it anyway since it stars Viggo Mortenson. And now I’m curious about the whole thing, since he told me about the History Channel show. I haven’t watched the movie yet, but look forward to seeing what it’s all about.

And next weekend, we are supposed to go camping.

Posted in At Home | No Comments »

Ivan Has Come and Gone

The storm is over. Our power went out about 8 am yesterday and came back on sometime overnight last night. We think we also lost cable, but that could be because our power inverter wasn’t strong enough to pull the cable signal. We had a few limbs broken from our trees, but other than that we didn’t suffer any damage. We were very lucky. Several parts of town suffered trees down, power lines down, flooding, etc. We are still in flood watch because the Alabama River runs through downtown. But we are all fine. Not so for others, if you’ve watched the news. Even folks in Georgia have suffered this storm and have had severe flooding in some parts. Most of the area here in Montgomery has power back. We went out for a little while yesterday after the storm had passed and power was back on in parts of my side of town. So I knew it was only a matter of time before we got power back at the house.

I just hope Becky is doing okay in Pensacola and has only suffered minimal damage at her place. A friend of ours has a cousin in Pensacola who’s house was in pretty bad shape.

Our top sustained winds were probably around 60 mph, with wind gusts reported at 95 mph. Gosh the wind was wild! When Opal went through, it hit at night so we couldn’t really see anything. But this thing hit us during daylight hours, so we could see the rain blowing down the street. It was something. Then when the wind was dying down to about 25-30 mph, it felt so nice. The wind gusts by then were in the 40s and you could hear that wind gust coming from several miles away, blowing like trains through the trees. And seeing the trees blowing like that amazing. I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see. If only it wouldn’t do so much damage.

Now the folks in Florida once again, wait to see what will happen with Jeanne. They are predicting it might come inland as a hurricane somewhere near Jacksonville, FL. Sheesh, what a season we’ve had. There isn’t anyone now, in Florida, who hasn’t been through a hurricane this season. I just pray that Jeanne doesn’t turn like they are saying.

Posted in At Home | No Comments »

Ivan Latest

It’s about 2:15AM on Thursday morning and we just had our first power flicker. It went off for about a minute. Many surrounding areas have already lost power, so we’ve been lucky so far.

At this time, the eye of the hurricane is just now coming ashore in Orange Beach, AL. Many reports of damage are coming in from areas in South Alabama. But for now, we are doing ok. I just pray that Becky is doing okay in Pensacola, FL. I know they’ve already lost power, so we’ll find out hopefully tomorrow or Friday how she weathered this storm.

Posted in At Home | No Comments »

Waiting Game

It’s a waiting game now. Waiting for Hurricane Ivan. As far inland as we are (we’re about 200 miles from the coast), people here have been going nuts. Lowe’s ran out of plywood yesterday. But there were folks from the coast getting it here, because they ran out earlier. Also yesterday, almost every store in this area was out of batteries, flashlights and bottled water. People are having to drive to nearby towns just to get the supplies. We had trouble getting water containers so we could fill them up with water since we have a high risk of flood in this area.

We just got a webcam and set it up to allow family and friends monitor the conditions at our house. The link will be in the sidebar. Of course the webcam will only last till we lose power. If we’re lucky, we’ll keep power till sometime tomorrow. Just to remind everyone, we are in Montgomery, AL, just to the east of the forecasted path.

Anyone reading this in the storm’s path? How are things in your area? How are you doing? I’ll try to post updates as long as I can. Currently, newsfolk are saying we’ll be feeling tropical storm winds…50 to 75mph tomorrow. If Ivan strengthens, we may feel some hurricane winds before its all over. But fortunately, we’re inland enough that we won’t get the worst of it. We are already in tornado watch, flood watch and high wind watch.

Posted in At Home | No Comments »

This and That

Well, the weekend was pretty good. Saturday, we watched some football with friends. Then my husband went off to another friend’s house to play video games, while I stayed home watching movies and knitting. Sunday, we did yard work. Mowed, weeded… And E cleaned out the garage. We can now fit my Pathfinder in the single car garage. Amazing. Of course you have to climb out a window, because it’s such a tight fit that the doors don’t open. But if the need arises, at least we know it can be done. It definitely looks strange in there now with so much open space.

E made a little cover in the back yard using tarp to put the lawn mower. It gets it out of the garage, but just as we move it outdoors, we may have to move it back inside if Hurricane Ivan comes our way.

It is predicted to come ashore Thursday morning in the panhandle of Florida and make its way north into Central Alabama…putting us in its direct path or real close to it. So the mower may be making its way back inside in a few days.

Yes, we are getting prepared. We normally wouldn’t be concerned this far inland (we are about 3 hours from the coast), but we’ve seen first hand the damage a major hurricane can cause, so if it looks like it will come anywhere near us, we want to make sure we’re ready.

As bad as it could get though, I would prefer Ivan to come this way and leave Central Florida alone. They have endured enough this season.

My sister got a webcam so she could see her boyfriend while talking to him via instant message. She is in Texas and he is in Missouri. She is nuts and now has convinced my parents to get a webcam too. Next thing they will be begging me to get one. I probably won’t though, since I know I’d never use it. I’m rarely on instant message except at work and I’m not bringing a webcam to work.

Posted in At Home | No Comments »

Scaredy Dog

We got a new water bowl for the dogs this weekend. I mentioned that in a previous post. It is the kind that has the jug above it and dispenses water into the bowl. It seemed like a great idea…fill the just and we don’t have to keep refilling the bowl. The jug holds 2.3 gallons of water, so it should last more than a week.

Well, now it has proven to be a problem. Last night, our dogs were drinking from their new bowl and the thing burped. We have 2 dogs. One is a Cocker Spaniel/Miniature Husky mix (Sadie). The other is a German Shepard/Austrailian Shepard mix (Dakota). So Sadie is about half the size of Dakota. Apparently Dakota was drinking the water when it burped. It freaked her out so badly, she won’t go near the water.

If she wants food, she takes a huge arc path around the water bowl to the food bowl. My husband has to hold her close, for her to even get near it enough to take a drink. I just hope she gets over her fear of the water jug. I don’t want to put the regular bowl back out. But I worry that she will stay away and not get enough water to drink.

Posted in At Home | No Comments »

Better Than Last Time

They survived Frances. She wasn’t as bad as Charley for my family. My in-laws only discovered 2 new leaks in the roof and all the tarps that were on the roof held. They felt 80 mph winds, less than the 95 they had with Charley.

My family weathered well. My parents left home to stay with family near Tampa and what happened. Their house was fine, but my aunt’s house, where they were staying, had a power outage when a transformer nearby blew up. Go figure.

My SIL stayed the weekend with us and we had a great time. She had some trees down in her area but no major damage. We actually went shopping at the mall. I haven’t done that in so long. And you’ve never believe it, but it was my husband’s idea! He wanted to get out of the house so he let us go shopping. It was so much fun. I bought a new sweater that is officially my new favorite sweater. I can’t wait for the cooler weather so I can wear it.

We also got a new bed for the dogs and they love it so much, they share it. It’s the cutest thing. And we got them a water jug, so now we don’t have to refill their water bowl a million times a day. This thing hold almost 3 gallons of water, so it will last a while before we have to add more water.

Anyway, we are waiting to see what hurricane Ivan does. This is a bad summer for Florida. Two major hurricanes within a month and another one on the way…appearing to follow in Charley’s footsteps. I just pray it doesn’t hit the same place. Many people that suffered Charley’s direct hit still don’t have power. A co-worker of my SIL’s said she had trouble getting a uhaul to bring her stuff back to school when classes started. Many were already taken by people who are living in them because they don’t have homes. And hotels are just too expensive. The people in Florida need a break. They don’t need another hurricane.

Posted in At Home | No Comments »

Frances on the Way

We weathered Hurricane Charley not 3 weeks ago. Now we anxiously await Frances to make landfall and cause destruction in the same general area. This just isn’t a good summer. As with Charley, no matter where it hits, some members of our family will be affected. My SIL, who lives in Gainesville will be coming up for the weekend. We are trying to convince my MIL and FIL to come up as well, as their house isn’t safe at all, especially after the storm they had a week ago that threatened to collapse the ceiling after it blew away the tarps covering their delapadated roof. And I’m hoping my parents will come up, even though they have said they will be going to stay with my aunt near Tampa. We’re still uncertain what my aunt in port St. Lucie will do, but mom was going to try to get her to get out.

My husband’s cousin was all set to spend the weekend down there with her mom, since it’s a holiday, but she plans to exchange her tickets and her mom is coming up instead. At least she’s getting out.

My parents are getting ready…stocking up on water and supplies and dad is getting the generator ready for use. Fortunately they didn’t need it when Charley came through. By the time they got home from Texas a few days after it hit, power had already been restored. At least this time they are prepared for a power outage.

My biggest worry though is my in-laws. Their house has suffered so much already, I’m afraid of what Frances will do. If it follows the predictions, they could lose half of their house.

I know it’s still early since it’s only Wednesday and Frances isn’t expected to make landfall till Saturday, but Charley took such as unexpected turn, that you really can’t say for sure that it won’t hit before then. Of course it could turn out better than we all are expecting and that would be wonderful, but I have a feeling that no matter what, Frances will cause havoc in parts of Florida that are still trying to recover from Charley.

Posted in At Home | No Comments »