Note to Don: Never Go Into A Building with Large Roof Expanse During a Storm

We had an interesting night last night. I spent the evening watching the Academy Awards show. It was just sort of all right. Having seen none of the movies, it was more a chance to view the beautiful gowns. Mostly I read a Jon Katz book at the same time. Having napped after supper, I was all rested and ready to stay up late, which I did.

Yesterday was a day to house straighten. Notice I didn't say house clean. I just dusted, moved things to proper places, did quick bath and kitchen shine ups, etc.
So, along with watching the A.A. show, I folded laundry, put away dishes from the dish washer, baked some Schwan blueberry muffin pucks, and peeled and sectioned oranges for breakfast.

SO, when I took my Katz book and went off to bed, I wasn't really really sleepy. I read, turned off the light, and had just dozed a bit when all hell broke loose outside. It lightninged, it thundered, it hailed, and boy did it blow. I moved from the west side bedroom to the tiny bed in the office, because it is a mostly an interior room with a small window on the east. I listened to the storm for awhile and then the weather radio sounded an alert. I got up and Don was also up and listening to the radio. They said that there was a tornado warning for southern Madison County. Well, that is us, and we are in a mobile home.
So, at 2:30AM. we got into the car and left.

I thought we were going over to St. Johns Hospital. That is where we always go to sit out storm warnings. HOWEVER, when we reached Madison Ave., the car mysteriously kept traveling east. And wouldn't you know it, that darned car just kept going until it arrived at the casino. Meanwhile outside side the car, the afore mentioned hell was swirling all about. Don deposited me right at the door, then parked as close as possible. Believe it or not, but inside the casino, you wouldn't have known that it was even raining a bit. There were lots of people, music, musical slot machine sounds, and twinkling lights. We stayed an hour, until the storm passed.
Or so it said on a TV monitor.
Don had had enough sleep since he went to bed about 8:30, so I think he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I, on the other hand, was in a bit of a stupor.

So I finally got to sleep at 4:30 and then got up again at 7:30. I did function at about 75% today. I did work at the information desk, and did not fall asleep on the job. But, as soon as we got home after supper, I had about a 2 hour nap. So here I am. It is 12:15, and I am wide awake again. But it is a gloriously quiet night, and I think as soon as I finish here I will go to bed and enjoy a wonderful night's sleep. Good night one and all.

An Uneventful Week During Which a Lot Happened

It is high time that I caught this little diary up for this week. For an uneventful week, a lot has happened. Ha! How is that for an oxymoron.

I'll start out by telling about the February Christian Women's Club meeting. On January 18th I wrote about our disastrous January meeting. We were trying out a new location, Flagship Enterprises. The luncheon was very meager and not very good. Besides, the caterer committed the ultimate sin: no dessert and no coffee for ladies of a certain age, namely my age.

So last Tuesday, we traveled to Edgewood Country Club for our February meeting, and to see if it might be an acceptable meeting place. I am happy to report that our meeting and luncheon were both a huge success. The meeting rooms are lovely and our food was delicious. The servers did a stellar job, and we had lots of dessert, and all the coffee we could drink. Mary Jackson presented her program about the Ukraine. She is always so entertaining and interesting. Her son, Scott, is a teacher and his Ukrainian wife are both teachers in the Internation School there, so Mary and Bob have visited several times. They also have two grandchildren there.
Mary reports that the family will soon move to China to teach in the Internation School there. Soon, Mary may be giving programs about China. Although Russian is Mary second language. She majored in Russian in school, and is licensed to teach Russian.

We had several lovely days of sunshine and warm weather last week. By the week end our streets were completely clear, and grass was the only thing in the yards. Hallelujah! WE DID sit on the porch one afternoon, and it was totally comfortable in the sunshine. I think it was Wednesday, when the temperatures went to 60 and there was no wind. The next day was warm, but cloudy and windy, so no porch sitting that day.

Over the weekend, I visited the funeral home. Two friends passed away, and their calling hours were at the same time, and at the same funeral home. Sister Carmencita, who served as the liason between the Victoria Guild and St. John's Hospital, passed away after being in intensive care with pneumonia. She was such a beautiful person with so much common sense, such a voice of reason, so loving, and possessed a delightful sense of humor. She was just the perfect person to work with the hospital volunteers. She will be SO missed.

The other death was Don Cook, one of our high school class officers who always worked on our class reunions. He was still actively running his own business, and was very active with many community groups. Sadly, we keep losing many class mates.
This can be expected, since we are all in our mid seventies. I just keep forgetting, in spite of my stiff joints, that we are not still kids.

Daughter-in-law, Debra, celebrated her birthday on Monday. We planned to take them out for dinner. But their lives are SO busy. Debra runs their business, DeCapo Enterprises, Rod teaches full time at Ball State University, and together they write a food blog call Smithbites. They are co-planning a bloggers workshop or convention in Savannah that will happen in a couple of weeks. The blog just keeps getting better and better. They have several sponsors now, and have become acquainted with well known bloggers, food writers, cook book authors from all over the country. They now have our granddaughter, Avery, a student at IU, writing some of their blog entries. Avery is an exceptional writer, and hopes to make writing her life's work.

Anyway, this evening they found the time to come over for dessert, and for Debra to open her birthday gifts. It was great to see them, and we did enjoy the visit. It is always good to hear the stories about their lives, their pets, their work, and their friends.

Menta met today for lunch at MCL. It is Norma Spear's birthday, so we all brought cards for her. Last Friday while Norma, Ginny, and I were working at the library, I had selected a couple of books to bring home, and had set them aside on the table.
One of them was a decorated cupcake cook book that I thought granddaughter, Lydia, would like. When I got ready to go home, I couldn't find my books. Norma had packed them up to take to the hospital for their book cart! So Sunday when I saw Norma who was also visiting at the funeral home, she said she had my cook book in the car. Later, in the parking lot, she gave me the book and said that now I had to make cupcakes for our break! Well, today I took cupcakes to Menta for her birthday.
The were decorated to look like fried eggs. ( That was the easiest decorating idea in the book.) I also gave her a card with a duck on the front that quacked when opened. I wrote a birthday poem with a lot of poultry references. Needless to say, Menta had a very fun birthday party today. We even lit one candle that Ginny brought, and sang "Happy Birthday." I'll bet MCL and its customers are happy when all those noisy, yakking women leave. We stay about 2 hours. However, they are all very nice to us, and seem to love having us meet and eat there.

Whew! Long entry. But that about brings me up to date. See - a lot did happen during this uneventful week! After this week of premature springtime, I won't even mention tonight's winter storm forecast for Friday.

Here's a Whole Lot of "kiss kiss" for You

There has been a whole lot of love going around today. And I guess that is why
Valentines Day is one of my favorite holidays. Its only purpose is to give us another excuse to tell others that we love them. We should do that every day, but sometimes we just forget.

I had used one of my enforced stay-at-home-snow days to make my own valentines. So I was all set for the day. Then I discovered a wonderful new thing. Starbucks will E mail gift certificates either to you so you can print them, or directly to the recipient. I just keep on finding more and more ways to stay at home and still spend money! It is just marvelous. So I included a Starbucks certificate in with the valentines.

Don and I started the day with our traditional "Leave it on the kitchen counter" card and gift exchange. He got a shirt, and I got cookies, muffins, and chocolate covered pretzels. In fact up until suppertime, I only ate sweets today! Now there is something to rejoice.

When I got to the hospital to work with Elaine, we exchanged valentines, and she gave me a bag of home made caramels. MORE SWEETS! We spent most of our time delivering beautiful valentine bouquets to hospital employees. I have never seen so many red roses in one day before. See what I mean - a whole lot of love going around.

Then Don and I went to Bob Evans for a sweet heart supper. There were a lot of couples there doing the same thing. AND I got to see one of my favorite couples,
Marie and El McKenzie. We used to see them eating at Bob Evans all the time. I used to teach with Marie, and El supervised student teachers at Anderson University.
El is now in his 90's, and Marie is not far behind. El suffers from osteoporosis, and is bent at the waist until his back is almost parallel with the floor. But they do keep going, and are such precious people. I hadn't seen them out at all since before Christmas when winter really set in. So I was so happy to see them today, and to know that they are all right and able to be out.

They have been married AT LEAST sixty years, and are two of the sweetest of sweethearts that I saw celebrating this day for sharing love. I hope that you, dear reader, spent this day with those you love, and received an extra portion of affection.

Keepin' the Faith

Whew! The weather has changed! This weekend has been sunny, and today the temps were in the 40's. So now the layers of ice are turning into huge puddles and lots of slush. But that is a good thing. As I sat in my office today I was enjoying the warm sun coming in the window and listening to the gurgle of melting snow coming down the drain pipe.
'
Don has been out chopping on the ice in the Johnson's driveway and in the street. These spots sit constantly in the shade during the winter time, so th snow just continues to sit there. The Johnsons have been in Florida for a couple of months.
They call periodically and tell us about the sunshine, the fishing, the golfing, the barbecuing. Oh, bummer, is that being good neighbors? And here is Don chipping away at their ice, so it won't still be in the driveway when they arrive home in March.

Our neighbors across the way left two weeks ago for Florida. They were staying over night in Valdosta, and Chester suffered a stroke. He was in the Valdosta hospital for a couple of weeks, but was improved enough to fly home yesterday. His brother, I guess, drove their truck back. He is healing, but still has numbness and trouble talking and remembering. I feel terrible for them. They were looking forward to enjoying Florida.

I was going to go down about a block from here and take pictures of their snowman family. They built about ten snowpeople of many sizes in their yard. There were children snow people of all sizes, and something in a rocking chair. When I viewed the scene, whatever was in the rocking chair had fallen out and was merely a blob in the yard. I haven't checked today, but I fear that all the snowpeople are now blobs.
It was so much warmer and sunnier today. Too late for that photograph.

I did try to coax Frankie the cat out onto the porch this afternoon. I even considered sitting out there for a bit in the sun. I was going to do it as a joke for Don when he came in from chopping ice. He has kept telling me all through the coldest days that it wouldn't be long until we would be sitting on the porch! He is disgustingly happy all the time. Anyway, the porch chairs were so tightly wrapped in a tarp, that it was too much trouble for a feeble joke.

Well, today does have me a bit encouraged that somewhere, sometime Spring might make an appearance. While working at the library third floor yesterday there was a sound overhead that sounded like a train going through our book sale room. They said it was ice sliding off the roof. So melting ice, puddles, potholes, slush, and sunshine are all good signs. And, oh yes, tonight there are March-like winds blowing. I shall keep the faith.

apPOINTments and viewPOINTs

Today is the one year anniversary of my hip replacement surgery. I had an appointment with Dr. Shick to mark this event. It is very good to be at this point in my progress, and to be walking very well, and with very little pain. When we arrived at the Orthopedic Hospital the waiting room was PACKED. There were patients waiting for both Dr. Shick and Dr. Surtani. And I heard Dr. Graybill talking with someone, and he said he had performed ,I think, ten emergency surgeries this last week on people who had fallen on the ice. Dr. Shick said he felt like an accountant at tax time.

While we waited in the waiting room we heard several stories about folks who had fallen. This has been a very serious ice event this winter. Not only have there been many people who have fallen, but the roofs, carports, and awnings are falling from so much snow and ice weight on them. The large carport awning at Rod's rental house has fallen in. Fortunately the cars were not parked there at the time. We worry about our garage roof, porch roof, and the shingles of the roof. Heavy, heavy hangs over our heads.

This afternoon Don went to Dr. Matas and had his two big toe nails removed. Now doesn't that sound like fun? Actually Don says that it wasn't bad at all. His toes were numb until about mid evening. Then he soaked them in epsom salts and changed the bandages. He took some Tylenol PM and went to bed. He says that they just burn a bit. He had those really thick toe nails that form from a fungus, and would have to go to Dr. Matas frequently to have them filed down. Dr. Matas recommended that the removal is a better way to go.

Dr. Matas! Now that is little Jamie Matas, one of my former "little" third grade students. I haven't seen him in his grown up form, but Don says he is a tall and stocky, good-looking guy. I can only believe the good-looking part. As a third grader he was on the small side, but a very good-looking little boy. What a good student and nice kid, too. He is the son of Ron and Judy Matas. Ron followed Don as dean of boys. They are a great family. They also have son Andrew who is now a lawyer, and daughter, Sarah, an artist. They are the kind of family that teachers remember fondly.

I spent some time on line doing some shopping. I like to shop the outlets and find some good deals. I did order some summer things that were at super prices in the outlets. I like to get a little head start on the next season. Well, really, I'm dreaming about summer and warm weather. It can't come soon enough.

Tomorrow is Randy's birthday. The weather was just like this when he was born. I remember looking out the hospital windows and seeing the people fighting the snowy walkways and streets. The temperatures were down in the single digits, just like they are going to be in the morning. That was in 1958, so tomorrow Randy will be 53 years old. I keep telling him that his dad retired when he was 55, and we seemed a lot older than Randy at that time. My how one's viewpoint changes with the years.

Well, Happy Birthday, Randy! You have always made you parents happy and proud!

"Mother, Do Not Go Out"

Cheryl called late last night and said, "Mother, you are not to go out! Everything is covered with ice, and you will be sure to fall."

I said, "Sorry, honey, I have already been out." Remember, Don and I took a trip to the Casino yesterday afternoon, and had a sandwich there for supper. However, I must say that I walked to the nice dry garage to get into the car, and Don let me out about three feet from the door under a covered portico. So there was no ice. I will not go out and walk on ice.

Again today there are no schools open. The library is not open, so there will be no work for us there tomorrow. It has already been announced that everything will be closed again tomorrow.

Actually it has been a beautiful, sunny day today, but very cold. But from inside our nice warm house it has been perfectly lovely. Don did drive to Muncie early this morning to see Mother - way before I was up and awake. And Rod drove to Muncie for his classes. Both of them agreed that the Interstate was fine, but the other streets and roads were brutal. I'm not sure if there is any extreme weather that would keep Don from going out and about. He just can'tstay in all day. I hate to think that his health might someday make him homebound. Crazy - he would be!

I was happy to sleep in because I read very late again last night. I started and almost finished a very good book. I finished it today and have already given it to Janie, so I can't tell you the exact title or author. I never pay much attention to the covers, it seems. I also washed, dried, and curled my hair since I am missing my beauty shop appointments. I have no great hair-do, but it is clean.

This afternoon Don went and picked up Janie. She came over to visit and have supper with us. She has been in for days by herself - well, with just the cat. We had meatloaf, baked potatoes, salad, rolls and fruit. Very good. Don cooked. Janie and I visited. I sent her home with all the books that I have read this week. She is also missing her library visits.

I, too, have been spending a lot of time with Frank, the cat. He follows me about all day. He goes to the bathroom with me every time. He gets short drinks from the faucet. If I sit down to read or be at the computer, he is in my lap or on my shoulder. I would be very flattered to think that he loves me so, but actually I fear that I am just a nice warm spot for a nap.

All in all a very nice day. Tuesday I got all the materials together and planned to make Valentine cards during my enforced stay at home. I've been too busy to start that project. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

Tonight I am writing to continue the account of the Ice Storm/Snow Storm of 2011."
I wrote about our plans and preparations yesterday morning after the first of the
sleet had fallen on Monday night.

Bu Tuesday afternoon we were fully prepared for a major storm event. Candles and lighter were out, flashlights were ready. Don had the generator assembled, set up, and tested with some trial runs. We had some water in buckets and pans. We were ready! Then we had a nice quiet afternoon, truly the calm before the storm. We were almost to decide that once again we were to miss the worst of the storm.

But, about supper time, we began to hear the sleet hitting the house. Don went out and, sure enough, the driveway he had cleared was already iced over. The sleet continued most of the evening. The weather people assured us that sleet was much better than freezing rain, because it bouces off things and would not leave the lethal layer of frozen rain on wires and trees. Indeed, that proved to be true.

About bedtime the wind began to blow, and I do mean blow! Our modular home, bless it, is lovely, but not the strongest of construction. The wind gusted to 40 or 50 miles an hour all night. Our house shook and groaned. We have nothing to the west of us to break the force of the wind. The house was chilly as it always is at windy times, but it did its best and held itself together. We expected that power lines would be down at any moment and we would be without electrical power. However, that never happened. I read until 3:00 am, snuggled all warmly in my bed, listening to the house shake, rattle, and roll all around me.

So this morning the wind settled, the sun came out, and we were presented with a beautiful ice-encrusted world. Just look on Facebook and see all the photos of folks trying to clear their car windows, drives, and walkways of ice nearly 3 inches thick. I think we will still be clearing drives and walks in March!

Friend, Sarah, called this afternoon. The first words out of her mouth were, "So, do you know that song, 'Shake, Rattle, and Roll?' " I laughed because I knew exactly what she was talking about. You see, she lives by herself here in our park.
Her home is surrounded by huge trees and has a flat roof that I'm sure was covered with ice. This is her first winter in a modular home. Bless her, she said she was scared to death. I worried about her, and about Janie, too. This is the first time that Janie has lived by herself through a bad winter. I hope that I have assured them that they can come stay with us any time that they need to.

But, we were never without electrical power! We can thank God for that. A house without power is like a dead thing. I love a living, breathing house. I love all its little noises: the furnace clicking on and blowing heat, the hiss of the humidifier, the hum of the refrigerator, the ticking clocks. I love all the homey little sounds of a living house. I love the soft lights and I love the warmth.

Don and I even got brave enough to take a short trip out this afternoon to see if the casino was open. It was. We thought few people would be there. Surprise! Or maybe no surprise at all. There were quite a few other folks with cabin fever. We played awhile, bought our suppers at the deli, and enjoyed a break from the weather news.

So back home this evening, all seems back to normal. We have put away all the candles and flashlights. Don stored the generator away in the garage. We watched ball games and HGTV. We forgot about the weather. It is supposed to be very cold tomorrow, so I am sure what ice melted on the streets will be refrozen and treacherous. Mayabe by St. Patrick's Day.................

Ice is Not Nice - Preparing for the Storm

Over this last weekend, the TV weather people began preparing us for what they called the "Ice Storm of The
Decade". Indeed, for three days now they have reported, reported, and reported.

I know it is good for people to be prepared, and we are certainly trying to be prepared. Yesterday (Monday) I went to volunteer at the hospital as I do on every Monday afternoon. In the morning Don and I discussed what steps we needed to take to be prepared to ride out the coming storm. We had enough food, but thought that perhaps it would be a good idea to get a few more candles and batteries. Don checked out our kerosene heater to make sure it worked. I found the glass chimneys for our candle holders to protect the curious cat from the flames. At lunch it occurred to us that if we had no power, our heat tape would not prevent out pipes from freezing. This is very bad in a modular home. We would not only have no water supply, but the bursting pipes could do a great deal of expensive damage.

We decided that it might be cheaper to buy a generator than to repair all the plumbing damage. So, while I worked in the afternoon, Don went out shopping for a generator. All that he found out was that all the generators had already been purchased. He did get candles, lighters, some more food supplies, instant coffee, and things like that.

At the hospital, all the talk was about the coming storm. The day was sunny and bright, the lobby full of cheerful warmth, and it didn't look like a coming storm.
Tuesday was to bring a full surgery schedule. Mike, the therapist and the surgery room volunteers were concerned about the doctors and patients making it to the hospital.
As Elaine and I looked out on the sunny day, the storm seemed far away.

However, by the time Elaine drove me home at 4:00 o'clock, the skies had clouded over and looked threatening. Don and I listened to the TV news as we ate supper, and they reported that the storm was in Western Indiana coming our way. By 5:30 we could hear the freezing rain or hail hitting the house. It didn't take long for the streets and walks to be iced over. There was no wind. Some of our windows iced over, but we were warm and comfy in our house. I watched my evening shows, watched a Netflix movie, and went to bed.

Son-in-law, Jon, worked his first full day at his new job at Meijer's on Monday. He is their new produce manager. What a day to start a new job in a grocery. I am sure that Meijer was very happy to have a very experienced produce manager(he has over 30 years of experience.) Of course, the groceries were all slammed with buyers preparing to be snowed in. They ran out of all produce, and would have none until trucks delivered on Tuesday. Jon not only has this storm to deal with this week, but then the Super Bowl is this week end. That is another big grocery shopping event. We are just happy that Jon does not have to drive to Indianapolis anymore for his work.

This morning I awoke to find that Don had been to Menards, and they had had a new shipment of generators. So we are now the proud owners of one. Don has spent the morning getting it assembled, put into place, and preparing all the cords necessary for hook-ups. It wasn't easy, believe me. After an omelet, toast, fruit salad lunch/brunch, he is taking a long winter's nap.

Well, we lived through both the blizzard of '78 and the ice storm of '90, so I hope we shall survive the ice storm/blizzard of 2011. This is a new version because we live in a modular home. We don't have the huge trees around us that we had in Rolling Hills, so the danger of falling limbs is diminished. I just hope we can keep our water pipes from freezing. It is nice to have water.

Best of luck to all of you. It seemed like Indiana had dodged the severe weather all this last year. But it seems that our luck has run out. It will be interesting to see how the Super Bowl plays out in the Dallas blizzard. It may give us some hints about next year's Super Bowl in Indianapolis.