Summer Storm

Thursday morning, driving home from the office at four a.m., the thermostat in my car read 84*.  The air was thick with humidity.  I was pretty sure I'd have to turn the AC on when I got home but Bro was up, getting ready for work, and had the Weather Channel on.  The forecast called for rain, early, and after the showers passed the temps were supposed to drop drastically.  I left the AC off and the windows open and went to bed.

That was a mistake.

The storm came through about seven, whipping up winds, darkening the sky to dusk.  The clouds were a weird, mustard yellow color in the darkness.  I have not seen this before, and I do not mind telling you it scared me.  I was the only one home at that point, and when it first woke me I didn't understand what I was hearing.  I thought something was wrong with Ernie, because I heard crashing noises in the kitchen.  I thought she had stumbled into a chair or something, knocked it over maybe.  But no:  the noises I heard were things from my kitchen counter blowing onto the floor and into the wall. Dishes from the counter, a bowl of garden tomatoes, a canister that we use to collect pop tops for the kids to donate to the Ronald McDonald house. Blown across the room.  I was stumbling around (no glasses) shutting windows, mopping up puddles, trying not to slip on the wet linoleum.  The bedrooms were worse:  soaked curtains, soaked bedding, soaked clothes in the kids' laundry basket.  Three feet from the window, which was only open about three inches, everything was soaked.  I grabbed towels and kept wiping. The whole time I'm making a mental list of what to grab if the tornado sirens went off and I had to go to the basement:  Ernie, medication, shoes, cat food, cell phone, a blanket......

The wind got worse, and outside the windows I could see things blowing by:  tree branches, garden plants, newspapers, garbage cans.....I heard a loud crack, and moments later I smelled the smoke.  Across the street a tree had come down in some power lines and caught fire. I called Walker on his cell to tell him to stay at work, we were fine, it wasn't safe to drive in this, but he was already on his way.  He was about a block from home when I got him, out in the storm clearing tree branches from the street so he could drive through. 

When the windows were closed and the water was mopped up as much as it was going to be, I headed back to bed.  I didn't sleep well, but I had to try, as I still had to work that night.  The fire department got the tree cut off the power lines but we were without electricity until long after I left for work.  I took a shower by candlelight but there wasn't much I could do with my wet hair.  I didn't attempt make up, either.  I probably should have taken it to work and put it on when I got there, but I didn't think of it.  We ended up having McDonald's for dinner, and I shared my cheeseburger with Ernie. I know it's not good for her but she was pretty freaked out by the storm, the sirens, the smoke.  When her belly was full, she fell right to sleep.

After all the drama, I still had a ten hour shift to work.  Bro called me to tell me the power was back on, so I thought everything would be back to normal when I got home. Guess I forgot who my roommates are.  The battery powered candles were still burning, the clocks have not been reset, the windows were still shut and it's hotter than Hades in the house. Ernie had not been fed since her McDonald's and she was pretty vocal about it.  Sigh.  Guess my work is still not done.

And how was your day, LOL?

Spring Storm Clouds

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Janine, This One's for You!

My friend Janine was feeling nostalgic for snow after her move to a more temperate climate.  I can understand that.  Snow is so pretty and it puts one in the Christmas spirit.  Sometimes.  Other times, like today, snow is scary and messy and exhausting.  Well, it's exhausting if you're Walker and you have to shovel.  If you're me, snow provides an excuse to stay in your jammies and make candy with your niece.  Anyway: here are some photos I was able to take without actually going outside. 



This one shows our patio door, from the inside.  Last night, we got snow followed by freezing rain followed by more snow.  Then the wind kicked up, creating whiteout conditions.  The result of all this weather is snow covering pretty much everything.

Then I opened the inside of the patio door.  Snow was piled between the screen and the glass, and the screen was frozen shut.  No photos of the patio - the camera just picks up the screen.










Then I went out to the garage. Here's what I saw when I opened the garage door.

This one shows a big mound of snow on the roof - right over our front step.  Hopefully it won't cut loose when someone is ringing our doorbell.  You have to clean your roof with a snow rake when it gets like this, but with the high winds, it ain't gonna happen right now.  If we tried, all that snow would blow down right on us.  It's not just messy, it's heavy from the rain we got between the snow falls.

 

So far, we've gotten 7 to 10 inches of snow, with more to come.  The  temp is about 25* with winds up to 40 mph and a wind chill of -5*.  It's still pretty, but I'm not going outside in it until it quits blowing around.  Janine, hopefully this will make you miss your snow just a little less.  If not, well, you can always come visit!

Just Stuff...

I'm sitting here listening to freezing rain hit my windows.  It's kind of like white noise - it lulls me.  Right now, I don't think it would take much to put me in a stupor.  I have never experienced fatigue like I have this week.  If I sit still for too long, I fall asleep.  No road trips for me for a while.  I don't drive any further than my office, which is a twelve minute commute.  Even I can stay awake for twelve minutes.

My peeling skin has gotten much worse, and more painful.  I have patches of open skin in several places in my treatment area.  My clothes rubbing cause the discomfort, as does showering.  I can't do much in the shower but the rest of the time, I have these dressings to wear.  They look and feel like the packing material my last computer was wrapped in.  The only place in town that carries them is the home care pharmacy in the hospital complex, and I walked over there on a windy day when we were experiencing single digit temps.  I chose to walk because parking is scarce in that area, but I was regretting that decision as I waited at the crosswalk for ANYBODY to stop.  I can't believe how many drivers, warm in their cars, ignored the few of us standing at the corner in a marked crosswalk.  How incredibly rude, especially given the weather and the fact that we were in the middle of a hospital campus.

I'm down to nine remaining treatments.  I can't wait to be done.  All in all, it hasn't been too bad, but as the doctor told me last Tuesday, it's going to keep getting worse from here. He said that in two to three weeks after I finish treatment my skin will start healing.  Two to four weeks after that, it will be completely healed.  I'm looking forward to that, counting down the days.

Right now, I'm grateful for a warm home. I have Diva tomorrow, and we'll whip up some holiday treats.  Walker will be busy digging everyone out from the snow that fell before the rain, so it will be just us girls.  We don't need to go into the storm at all.  Maybe we'll just stay in our jammies.  I like that idea.

After the Storm

We had yet another thunderstorm overnight. My overnight co-conspirator at the office job had his weather radio on and we pretty much had continuous chirping all night. Finally, as the sun was coming up, the rain stopped and we were left with this:




Pretty, huh? Now all we need is some blue sky....


Check out other Watery Wednesday photos here