patina106

I was in a meeting this morning when someone said they'd just received a text message letting them know that it was snowing in Dallas. Five or ten minutes later, they said they got another text message saying it might snow here on Friday. After the meeting, I checked the weather forecast and the weatherman predicts that we might get some flurries Friday night or Saturday.

Last December, we had the 1st real snow that's been seen here in 20 years. Kids who'd never seen a snowflake had so much fun trying to build snowmen and having snowball fights. I even tried to build a snowman but quickly retreated back into the house after 15 minutes or so--it was just too cold.

The worst part of the snowstorm was all of the snow and ice that collected on trees--branches snapped and trees fell from the weight. Trees and branches fell on powerlines, which left people without electricity--not a good thing in the Deep South where we're not used to coping with extreme cold during the winter.

A year ago, my office was in a building that overlooked the Mississippi River and I took some pics of barges going up/down river with their loads dusted with snow--very pretty. Of course it was a traffic nightmare here because we're not used to driving on ice or in snow.

Will have to wait and see if we're once again transformed into a winter wonderland.

Today is the official end of hurricane season. Huzzah! The season begins May 1 and ends November 30 and some years is 6 long months of hoping a hurricane makes landfall elsewhere.

Last year was rough for my area because of Gustav--an extremely windy storm. I was truly lucky--the 70 foot pine tree in the backyard lost several limbs but none came through the roof and the tree remained standing after the storm. So many friends lost their houses in older parts of town lost their houses when old trees came down on their roofs. The only thing I had to gripe about was being without electricity for a week and being "forced" to eat melting Hagen-Daas ice cream bars. Drinking a pint of Ben and Jerry's was a first for me but at least I had a house in which to enjoy it.

Of course the predictions for this year was an active season with several strong hurricanes. When the season got off to an early start with the first tropical depression at the end of May, it certainly seemed that the predictions might be right. That fizzled out quickly and then the next system was a tropical storm that developed in August. Ada lasted less than a week before fizzling out.

When Hurricane Bill sprang up in August shortly after Ada, the prediction was that this storm would be terrible and blah, blah, blah. Turns out that Bill stayed out in the Atlantic most of the time and then brushed past New England and Nova Scotia before heading for Europe. Then it was back to quiet with storms popping up, swirling around the Atlantic, and fizzling out.

There were predictions of gloom and doom when Hurricane Fred roared around the Atlantic as it was the most intense storm on record in the Atlantic for its longitude/latitude. It too fizzled out in less than a week.

Here we are at the end of the season and we only made it up to the letter I. What a pleasant change! In 2005 (the year of Katrina and Rita--the 2 storms are sometimes combined into Katrita here in Louisiana) the Greek alphabet had to be used because all of the selected names had been used by mid-October (halfway through the season).

This year was pretty boring, which is a good thing--it's given everyone living in the Caribbean as well as on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts a year to relax a bit. Here's hoping that next season is just as boring.

This is the first time in many, many years that my brothers and I haven't gathered at one of their houses or our parents' house. Dad and one of his brothers planned a trip to New Zealand so that's where they are. My younger brother is probably working his second job (his first job is as a high school teacher) today. My older brother and his family were going to spend today with his brother-in-law's family.

I've spent the day relaxing and waiting for the Cornish hens to cook in the crockpot. No turkey, which is fine with me. No hours of cooking/cleaning the kitchen/and cooking, which was a pleasant change.

One of our traditions during Thanksgiving dinner is to go around the table and each person says what it is they're thankful for. This year, I'm thankful for my job and co-workers, being relatively healthy, my two cats (Jude and Tripoli), the many friends I've made through a shared love of Bonanza, and the opportunity I had to take my first vacation in 6 years (to Lake Tahoe for the 50th anniversary Bonanza Convention). I'm also thankful that my parents are in good health and able to enjoy their retirement--they're able to travel when they want, something their parents weren't able to do for health reasons.

My brothers and I will be getting together at the parents' house for Christmas, so there'll be hours of cooking/cleaning/cooking but it'll be worth it to spend time with my toddler niece and toddler nephew.

I've owned my home for 7 years now--hooray! The thing I hated about apartment living was being at the mercy of the landlord if something went wrong. The air conditioner went out during the summer once year and it took over a week for the landlord to decide it was indeed in need of replacement. It wouldn't have been so bad if the temps hadn't been in the high 90s during the day and the low 80s at night.

Last week, I did a giant load of laundry late in the evening and was surprised (to say the least) to discover that the carpet in the hallway was water-logged. Since it was very late, I realized I'd have to call Dad (my 1st call for home maintenance suggestions/help) in the morning. He came over to the house while I was at work and pulled up the carpet. Turns out that there's been a leak going on for some while as the bottom of the carpet and the pad were water-stained and there was black mold on the slab. At least the mystery of my severe allergies and twice (or more) a year bronchitis is solved.

That evening, Dad and I pulled the washing machine out of the laundry area and tried to figure out where the water might be coming from. Even did a small load of laundry and didn't discover a leak. Grrr....

A few days later, the house smelled as if something had died in here. Mom gave me her bottle of Febreeze to spray around and it helped some. Also washed the slab with Clorox to hopefully kill off the mold.

I'll have to put in new flooring now but don't want to spend any money until I know where the leak is coming from. I'd hate to put down wood or tile only to have to tear it up to get to the problem. Definitely won't be doing carpet since it's nothing but a dust/mold/cat hair trap.

I hate house cleaning. That's actually putting it mildly. I loathe it. Detest it. There's no rational explanation for it, either. A mop never viciously attacked me. The vacuum cleaner never stalked me (like the one did to Michael Keaton in Mr. Mom). If I was given a choice between watching paint dry or cleaning the house, I'd choose watching the paint dry.

Amazingly enough, I did manage to get some house cleaning done this weekend. Yay me!

I had plenty of time to kill this afternoon between doctor appointments.  Since I didn't want to stray too far from the area and then fight traffic, the car found itself headed to Barnes and Noble.  Browsed the shelves for a good long while and drew the attention of several clerks who kept asking if I needed help finding something.  Kept telling them I was just looking. 

Wandered by the new releases and saw Diana Gabaldon's newest book in her Outlander series.  Hooray!   My former college roommate sent me Outlander (the 1st in the series) years ago at Christmas and I have her to thank for my addiction to the continuing story of Jamie and Claire.  I'm not much of a fan of romance novels (or bodice rippers as a friend calls them) but this series is so much more than that.  I enjoy the historical research she puts into her novels, which makes the characters and settings seem a bit more "real."  So, I didn't leave the store empty handed.  Normally, I wait for the book to come out in paperback, but this time I splurged on the hardback.

Still had 2 hours to kill, so I went to BestBuy--my favoritest electronics store.  Love BestBuy so much that their logo on my discount card has faded away.  Browsed the DVD section for a while, hoping to see Season 4 of NCIS (no such luck) or something that might interest my younger brother.  Didn't find anything so I decided to stroll. 

A big display was set up for the WiiFit, so I looked it over but didn't really know what it was.  Went over to the iPod area and found a clerk to ask.  He was all excited when I asked him to explain the Wii and he told me what it does and how to use it.  Asked him if other games could be played on it or if it was just for the WiiFit and he looked at me as if I'd been living in a cave.  When I told him that the only game console I'm really familiar with is Atari, he busted out laughing,  I laughed with him and told him that I'm "old."   So, now I'm the proud owner of a WiiFit.   Since a knee injury is going to keep me from doing too much of anything exercise-wise for a while, this will at least get me to do something other than veg out in front of the TV. 

Finally arrived at the doctor's office with over an hour to spare only to find out that the doctor was in surgery and I could either wait for several hours or reschedule.  I chose to reschedule. 

At least the afternoon wasn't a complete waste since I've got a new book and a new toy.

My parents were babysitting the grandkids (aged 3.5 and 17 months) last week.  My niece (the 3.5 year old) attends school and one day was telling Mom about a few of the boys she plays with there.  One boy is Batman, Big Lucas (age 5) is Superman, Little Lucas (age 4) is Robin, and my niece is Batgirl.  She wanted to be Batgirl for Halloween--until she saw the costume.  Since it apparently wasn't very girly, she decided she'd rather be the Little Mermaid instead.  lol

I live in Louisiana, a state that has disaster exercises for hurricanes each year.  Today, while waiting in the lobby for my eye doctor appointment, I read in the newspaper that the University of Florida now has a disaster plan for zombie attacks.   Got a good chuckle out of that while wondering who was brilliant enough to come up with a detailed plan to manage such a disaster and what it might include. 

Lots of times, disaster drills are very dry and boring and people try to inject some humor into them.  I'd like to see how the zombie disaster exercise is carried out and if participants can do so with a straight face or without laughing.

The University of Florida's Zombie Attack exercise can be found here media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2009/10/01/18/zbsd_exercise.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf

Welcome to my journal.  No promises on keeping it updated, but I'll try.