Isaac ending

We got power on the 30th around 2, but it only lasted a few minutes. Stacie and I both called the power company to let them know a line was down between us and the nursery. By 5 there were several trucks here working. They worked until after dark and at around 8 we had power again, followed shortly by a tornado threat. Lightening hit somewhere really close. I thought it hit something in the office and could have as the UPS to Terry's desk has a red light on that isn't on on mine...but everything works so if that is it, I am live with that.

Whoo hoo, the power is still on, internet is working, 2 of 3 phone batteries are charged and the 3rd is charging. I woke with a raging headache, got up to check the office as we thought lightening had struck something in here right after the lights came on. It may have, because the Uninterrupted battery supply for Terry's desk has a red light on that mine doesn't have, but all seems to be working fine.

Anyway, I have taken something for the headache, did some updates---all data used between midnight and 5a.m. doesn't count against my package for my internet--on satellite internet we are allotted a certain amount we can use a month or our connection is slowed considerably.

Today, I need to start washing the towels used to soak up the water from the chimney and under the side door; go to the church and do what I need to do there, run to town for some groceries because Judy and Robert are coming up. 

I have shade cloth off the fern house, #2 and the west shade area. That will simply have to wait for Terry and Robert and fix Saturday. I know there are plenty of limbs to be picked up...so am going to try to get back to sleep.

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The only thing that is the end of the world--IS the end of the world

Still no electric and a constant wind blowing through the trees across the road.

Isaac 9:09am

So far still holding on good, with power and not a lot of scary winds. Occasionally we get some swirls of wind, a constant rain, but not torrential as of yet.

We fixed a late breakfast-grits, eggs and toast. Just as we started Terry got the call that there was a tree on the road. He managed to eat a bit of his breakfast before Jack arrived to pick him up. I see a pecan limb lying in the yard to the west of my house. There is a pecan tree there. To the east of the house is the big oak tree. katrina leaned her to the south. I was hoping that the winds of Isaac might would lean her straight for me, but they are mostly coming from the east. This means that if my oak falls it will fall on my patio.

It is my prayer that none of the trees fall on my house. I do see that facial siding has blown down from the store, but it has always been an iffy...the hardest stuff to get to remain secure. We finally paid a neighbor man, who was doing siding work, to secure it up there. Hmm, seems as though he didn't do too great a job. Such is life.

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The only thing that is the end of the world--IS the end of the world

Isaac 2

 

Well, it's a hurricane now. Around 3 we had our first band of showers, knocked out the satellite and internet for a while. 5 P.M., sun is shining, wind has died down....lulls one into believing there isn't anything ugly, ferocious and mean churning away south of us.

Internet and satellite tv are back on for the moment. I don't expect to have either, including electricity by morning. I will not complain if I do though. It will be one of those blessings I can add to my list. 

Lordy that thing is ugly to see.

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The only thing that is the end of the world--IS the end of the world

Isaac

Well here we sit, the eve of Isaac, almost 7 years to the date from Katrina. I am a bundle of nerves. According to our local weather channel this is what we can expect

Widespread trees/power lines, trees on homes, power outages, 5"-10" of rain:

• Adams
• Franklin
• Lincoln
• Lawrence
• Jefferson Davis
• Covington
• Walthall
• Pike
• Amite
• Wilkinson

Here are the counties impacted by high winds in the WLBT viewing area:

30-40 mph sustained winds with gusts of 40-50 mph:

• Adams
• Copiah
• Simpson
• Smith
• Jefferson
• Lincoln
• Lawrence
• Jefferson Davis
• Covington
• Walthall
• Pike
• Amite
• Wilkinson

I am Walthall county. Today I put gas in our two cans, filled up the Mule, made sure the car and truck were filled up with gas. I ran into town and picked up some canned goods and Ana some Easy Mac. I consoladated the food in my two freezers, getting the majority of the most precious items (corn, peas and beans) in the larger freezer in the house. We maybe can keep it charged up with the generator. I don't know about the peanuts and peppers that are in the freezer on the patio and that wouldn't fit in the one freezer. I took the stuff out of the side by freezer, hoping to only have to worry with one freezer, but maybe we can keep the patio freezer going too. *sigh* I just don't know.

I have buckets and containers cleaned and ready to fill with water tomorrow. I will pick up some gallon jugs of water tomorrow too if there are any left, if not I will fill some containers with water for drinking.

They predict this thing to hit New Orleans around 4 tomorrow evening. it is a huge storm, a slow moving storm. I expect we will be without electric so I intend to write daily of the events and what happened so I can journal it once power and internet is restored.

I am a bundle of nerves..did I say that already?

But I know God is in control and He is my Pilot.

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The only thing that is the end of the world--IS the end of the world

jelly and junk

 I spent a good portion of the day making jelly. I made Christmas jelly. With the help of a bit of food coloring, I now have 16 half pints of red/gold/green jelly. Of course it has some flavoring...some hot flavor. I used cayenne pepper and red food color for the red layer; yellow tobasco and yellow food color for the gold layer and jalapeno and green food color for the green layer. I made a batch at the time and poured a third of a jar. then by the time I made the next batch, that layer had jelled and I poured my new batch and color on top of that. I plan to give it away as Christmas gifts.

I also had to have my washing machine worked on today. It has been whining loudly for a few weeks. I called the repairman 2 weeks ago and he listened to it on the phone and agreed something wasn't right. After that phone call, the machine stopped with the loud unusual noise for a several days. Then last week it started again so I called him and he came up, but of course it wouldn't make any noise while he was here. He told me the next time it began to whine, to stop the machine and call him. I did, he came and found a long piece of wire stuff in the gears. He said it looked like something that would come off a bearing. I figure it came out of Robby's pants from back when he lived here or TA's son's one. Anyway, that piece of wire cost me 83 dollars and change. Jimmy, the repairman says he doesn't know how things can get down between the tub and the frame and worked their way into the moving parts but they do. He said one time he pulled a t-shirt from between the tub and the housing.

We have a good time when he comes. We tease each other a lot. He was asking me about what size load I was washing and how many. I told him I had a load of mine and Terry's work clothes on last night and this morning put on a load of sheets. He said, "you had Terry's work clothes on washing. You don't have any work clothes on." I said, "Are you saying I don't work or that I don't wear clothes?" He cracked up laughing. It's always something like that going on.

Stacie came down this morning right after I had eaten breakfast. She didn't say much, just sat there while I took my vitamins, tended to laundry, called the repairman and such. she said she needed to take her bike to get an estimate on it. Finally I told her I had to go water, so off I went. Eventually she walked up to the nursery and watched me water some of the ferns and talked a bit; then she disappeared.

I finished all my watering, locked up, went home and as I came up to the door she came walking up from the other direction. I don't know if she had gone home and just walked back or not. She came in, watched me gather up jelly making stuff, laughed at the repairman and myself as he joked around with me, fixed her something to eat, decided she would let her dad take the bike to get an estimate, then suddenly left with no goodbye, not kiss my hiney, nothing. Strange child!

Terry did take the bike to get the estimate; the guy will call Stacie tomorrow when it's ready. I guess I will take her down to pick it up and take it to the insurance company. 

We had a finance committee meeting and a pastor search committee meeting...meeting together to try and trim the budget so we can afford a pastor. We didn't accomplish a thing. Some don't want to cut the mission giving, others don't want to give to missions at all, some want us as a search committee to throw out a figure and I, as treasurer, can't get them to understand that throwing a figure out won't help IF the money isn't there to back up the figures. With the turmoil in the church, giving is down and so finances are tight.

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The only thing that is the end of the world--IS the end of the world

further along

Thursday, August 9--Stacie, AnnaD and I went to Hammond to get Stacie's bike and her accident report. After driving around the block for 15 minutes at the Hammond PD, we finally parked the lot of an insurance company and prayed they wouldn't report us. We went in to get the report and the ticket. the lady said she had called the officer who wrote the ticket in...within minutes he was there. He explained to us what to do, told Stacie about the witness to her wreck, teased her about learning to control the bike and even went upstairs with her to find out the cost of the ticket...but there was such a line he told her to call.

Then we went and got the bike, Stacie drove it to Robby's and left it since we couldn't get it in the truck. the only damage is the front brake is broken and some cosmetic damage. I think Stacie sustained more damage than the bike. Then we came home, stopping in McComb to pick the girls up some pants for school.

Friday I was in the garden when Stacie came down and proceeded to help me. As we picked she brought up the drug use and stated that at least she wasn't using like she and Garry had used. I simply stated that I wasn't interested in the comparison, one thing led to another and her recreational use was the same as my buying a pack of cigarrettes and smoking them...it was a death wish. Then I dropped the subject.

We finished in the garden and I went to the church to do my work there before Judy and Robert came. Stacie told me to let her know when I got back and she would help me cook...so I did; not that I really wanted her help, but it is rather fun watching all this 'suck up' activity. I know full well she thinks that she can be nice to mom, help mom a bit, oh and even pay mom a bit more than normal and mom will cave and believe any lie she tells me.

I don't know what has happened. I don't know if I have grown wiser, or if illness has caused me to be realistic or I am just a bitch...but I don't buy into that stuff today. I have been lied to, used, manipulated, conned, fooled, and otherwise run over and used as a door mat and I am done. Totally done through and through. There isn't a touch of pink on me anywhere. I am like shoe leather. Today I can fully understand why and how people become 'hard' in their old age...they have gone through the mill.

So, yesterday, Friday, she is good as she can be. Helps me cook, is friendly, associates with all of us...today her Uncle Robert offered to drive to La and get her bike. She, her dad, Robert and Ana do that and after they come in she takes off home; coming back around the time she thinks I will be cooking. I am not cooking just yet. She leaves only to send a text down some 30 minutes later asking Ana to bring her a piece of cake and not a small piece of cake. Ana talks Shandi into taking the cake up there. Shandi promptly tells mom next time to make Ana take it and mom says...no one will have to bring me anything from now on, which is how it should be anyway. 

Then Shandi wants to eat her pain away and when I suggest she eat the second hamburger minus the bun she won't eat anything else, instead she cries. Bless her little heart. Lord help me because patience is wearing out too.

Sandy, the secretary texts me and someone has misplaced the homecoming bulletins. Insecure that I am, I wrack my brain trying to be sure I haven't moved them and stress for hours until it dawns on me that NO, even if I moved them in the office, I didn't move them OUT of the office. I never mess with anything that belongs to Sandy unless I have to move it out of my way and then I tell her about it. Tomorrow is homecoming at the church and we are all tired--the nominating committee has a short meeting with the current Sunday School director. We pray he will turn down the job so we can find someone else to take his place but I don't see that happening.

And that has been my last few days in a nutshell.

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The only thing that is the end of the world--IS the end of the world

ummm--just thoughts

This year we planted the running butter beans she always planted...huge purple beans once they are shelled, yet cook up so very tender. I feel a closeness to her just feeling the rough hull as I check them for readiness.

I am up this morning cooking a chicken pot pie and a coconut pound cake to carry to the church to feel a family following the funeral of their departed loved one. I baked the same cake yesterday and carried for the wake and brought not even a crumb home with me. It is Terry's grandmother's cake recipe.

Daughter is home from the hospital; facing arrest because the investigating officer determined she was driving reckless (or careless) and one carries arrest the other only a ticket. She wants me to tell her what to do. She wants to know if I will enjoy turning her in..all this text to me last night while I was helping with the wake. I told her it wasn't my problem.

Ex-hubby and son's step daughter, who is staying a while to help with her, took her to ER last night due to pain in her neck. She complains they aren't concerned if she eats or not when they fixed her food and when she is perfectly capable of getting up and fixing a bite to eat. They took her 2 hot dogs and can you believe she told them she didn't want hotdogs, she wanted soup and jello. She would have worn those hot dogs....LOL

She loads the girls down with her complaints about no man wanting her, and on and on. As much as I know what I need to do in some areas, there are some I haven't a clue what to do. My body is wound up tighter than a guitar string and I am hanging on to my program and God and my church friends. I will attend al-anon tonight and with our meetings being small, I may share a bit of what is going on...I don't know.

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The only thing that is the end of the world--IS the end of the world

to visit or not to visit

At the risk of sounding cold, I will share a recent event; as recent as today.

Daughter, who isn't actively addicted to my knowledge, but lazy and mentally unbalanced, has been seeing a man about 2 hours distance from here. She rode down yesterday on her motorcycle to visit, spent the night and on the way home this evening had a bike wreck...I suppose she was on her way home as she had her backpack with her. She is in the hospital, scraped, bruised, heavily sedated. I haven't a clue how this happened, what shape the bike is in, where it is..nothing.

The ex is home from work, spending time with the girls. I told him, he took them to see their mom, called me and updated me, now he and the girls are spending the night with my son who lives about 10 minutes from the hospital. I haven't gone. I won't go until I am needed.

Why haven't I gone?

Various reasons. Some good, some not so good. Some kind toward me, some unkind toward daughter. I will lay them out here for ya'll's contemplation:

Practically, what could I do? She is sedated. My time is valuable. She isn't dying to my knowledge and alanon teaches if the house isn't on fire, if they aren't dying...then don't stress. Emotionally, I don't want to go. I have serious health issues but still run my nursery business part time, water daily and have a part time job as a church treasurer. I also have gathered the vegetables and canned them this summer, all while she laid up in the bed and slept or played on her computer or rode the roads on that bike. 

Yes, she's my daughter, but do I owe her undying allegiance, attention. and sympathy when she is incapable of giving back?

I raised her. I continue to help her to some degree since she is a single mom...even though I know plenty of single moms with less than she has who make it. She doesn't want to help herself, therefore, I don't feel a lot of empathy or compassion toward her.

Cold, yes. Realistic, yes. Right, I don't know, but it's what I'm doing at the moment.

Last year when she was in a car wreck and broke her foot, I took her to the doctor, paid for the visits, when she got her insurance money, I wasn't repaid.

I do not want a repeat of that.

I've read that if we lay with the dogs long enough we will wake up with fleas. I, for one, am tired of having fleas and am making some positive steps to cut the apron strings with my daughter as I have done with my son. I may be making a drastic cut by my actions. Only time will tell. But it is what I am doing today. Tomorrow, I may decide to go visit her, IF she is alert and capable of having a reasonable conversation..after I finish up what I have planned for the morning. :)

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The only thing that is the end of the world--IS the end of the world