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I'm Back!
Irene wasn't much more than a gentle rain when it came through at my brother's in Delaware County, PA. It started raining earlier than predicted but it was more of a drizzle. It was the outer bands. There were many breaks in the rain and I was able to take Danny out. The problem was that my brother lives a few miles west of the Philadelphia airport and the roar of the jets taking off sounded like thunder to him. I guess they wanted to get the planes out of there. They take off every two or three minutes so I'd barely get him out the door when he'd stop, look over in the direction of the airport and run back into the house. The clouds amplified the sound of the jets so they sounded even louder. The airport finally closed down at 10pm when tornado warnings went out. The rain stopped briefly at midnight so I was able to get him out before we went to bed.
We got over 5 inches of rain as my rain gauge was filled to the top. There was a lot of flooding and still is. Every river, creek and stream overflowed there banks putting many communities under water. There have been floods before but usually one stream at a time. This storm caused them all to flood. Fortunately, neither my brother nor I live near a stream. I have the ditch out back but the lake that feeds into it has no stream flowing that flows into it. The water is pumped up from the canal which is a mile away. The power here at the mobile home must have been out as the clocks were flashing. It stayed on at my brother's house.
I could have come home yesterday but I had to wait for the bridges to open. There were high winds after the hurricane passed so they closed the bridges. When they finally opened them, I was too tired to pack up, drive down here and unpack. I didn't know what I'd find here and I was also too tired to deal with that. I stayed over Sunday night and drove home this morning. The only damage I saw was one of my gladiolas was broken down. A lot of people had a lot of damage from the storm. I am thankful I weathered the storm in safety.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
My pretty little dalia is full of blossoms.
It looks like Irene will track to the east of us instead of coming right up the Chesapeake Bay. They have issued tropical storm winds rather than hurricane winds. It could still change and move west. Who knows what hurricanes will do. Right now it is bright and sunny. The calm before the storm.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
This morning, I finished batting down the hatches and help my neighbor, Janine with her daughter's house and hers. The new neighbor across the street helped, too. Janine's daughter is away. Her son is having a treatment for Cystic Fibrosis. We put the lawn furniture and lawn ornaments in the shed and under the mobile home. I turned my picnic table and benches upside down and lashed them together with Danny's dog run lead. I put the glider with them. The prediction for the hurricane keeps getting worse for the whole northeast. I may go to my brother's tomorrow instead of Saturday. He may need help batting down his hatches.
It was lunchtime after we got done stowing the lawn items. I took Danny out and he heard the thunder. It started raining and every time I thought it was safe to get in the shower, it would start again. We got about two inches of rain in the rain gauge. Danny had his dinner and then heard more thunder. He's been under the bed since 6pm. I was hoping he'd come out to go outside before I go to bed. I may have to drag him out.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
Another barn along the country roads in Michigan.
I went to the church to help fold the newsletters to go out in the mail. After that, we went to the pastor's Bible Study. I walked Danny when I got home and had some lunch. This afternoon, I started batting down the hatches. I put the plastic furniture inside the shed and some other things went into the back door of the shed. Tomorrow, I'll turn the heavy wooden picnic table upside down and the same with the benches. I'll take one of Danny's dog leads and chain them all together along with the glider. The plants that I have outdoors for the summer, I'll either tie them to the trees or just lay them on the ground. I'll put the small ones in the shed. It's supposed to start raining here tomorrow afternoon. Not from the hurricane but from a cold front. It will rain clear through until at least Monday. Irene is supposed to hit here on Sunday so early Saturday morning, I will pack up and go to my brothers. There may be power outages all up and down the coast so I'll take gallon bottles of water and some empty ones to fill. Also, Danny's dog food and my laptop. I don't know if I"ll be able to get a signal from it because of the situation after the earthquake. I don't know if the computer signal uses the same system as the phones. We'll see. I'll take some games and books. Pray the storm heads out to sea as it is expected to be a catagory 2 when it hits here. Pray for the people in the Carolinas as it may be a 4 or 5. We'll know more tomorrow.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
It's been a crazy day. I started by changed the spark plug in my mower but couldn't get the thing started. I cleaned out the shed and threw out a few more boxes. I found places to put the things on the shelf. I found my recipe box that had been missing since I moved in. I contained my favorite recipes. I tried the mower again but I didn't want to knock myself out pulling on the rope thingy so asked the park manager Janine cutting her grass and asked if she would cut my grass. It wasn't that high but it's supposed to rain for the next week. I was getting the lawn furniture out of the way for Janine to mow and moved the glider too close to a wasp net. One stung me in the forehead. Ouch!
I came in to have some lunch and was relaxing on the sofa with a glass of iced tea when I heard what I thought was a gust of wind blowing on the mobile home. Then I felt the room shaking and the pictures on the wall were shaking. I was running the dishwasher and thought something went wrong with it. I pulled open the door to stop it but the whole house kept shaking. I opened the door to see what was going on. I thought we were being hit by a tornado but the sky was clear. Danny ran out the door but I was able to catch him before he got away. All the people were outside wondering what the heck was going on. Two little girls next door were in the shower. One grabbed the towel mat and another sister grabbed the two year old who was naked and they all ran outside. I said it must be an earthquake but everyone said no we don't have earthquakes here. I thought at least not like that. Another person thought the Army Corp. of Engineers was blasting something but we didn't hear any blast noise. A few minutes later, a man across the street said it was an earthquake in Virginia. Holy Moly, I thought it must have been a big one for us to feel it like that. I looked it up on the computer and found it was a 5.9 on the Richter scale. I have experience a couple 2.1 quakes here but never a 5.9. It took about 15 minutes for it to get on the news and then it was on for a couple hours.
My niece called around 3pm. She was bringing the new baby home from the hospital and asked me to come to her house to see him. She and her husband are adopting him. They named him Ethan.
I went over around 6:00 and my nephew and his wife and family were there. They brought dinner; spaghetti, meatballs, chicken fingers and a tossed salad.
Danny is feeling much better. He wants to play and is running all over the house with his stuffed toy. He won't leave me alone so I better go play with him.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
I didn't do much today. I felt rather tired. I did some wash and computer work. I put some things away that were in the yellow bedroom. I'm getting it ready for my cousin to come in October. I did some computer work and that takes up a lot of time.
The days are growing shorter. I have to take Danny out before 8:00 or I won't be back before dark. Last night there were hundreds of mosquitoes buzzing around the light over my door. I spray them with yard guard and it either didn't faze them or there were hundreds more to replace them. They are really bad this year from all the spring rain.and the debris in the spill way in back of me. I wish I knew someone to call to clean it out. I would but there are snakes back there and deep mud. It didn't dry out this summer because they drained the lake.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
One of the many barns seen along the roads of Michigan.
This is the Church of the Straits in Mackinaw City, MI.
I went to my zumba class this morning. There was a man there who really did a lot of jumping around. He led one of the dances. There were a lot of people there today. I was tired out afterward. I did some ironing and that was about it. I had some rye pasta I cooked up for dinner. It doesn't cook up very well. It stays rather firm. I had it with chicken. I think ground beef would have been better with it. I also cooked up some broccoli and threw it in with the pasta.
I saw a tree frog sitting under my light next to my front door. I took his/her picture and will post it soon.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
The gladiolas I planted in June are now blooming. They look lovely along my fence with the portulacas.
I did the dark wash today. I put up my traverse road and hung the light blocking curtain on it but I don't think it's going to work properly. I did some computer work and put some more things in there places.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
I did some computer work this morning. Then I went to the grocery store. I had to go to two stores as the Acme didn't have Danny's dog food and Redner's didn't have the Mission Figs or Dates. The bridge is being worked on so only has one lane of traffic going across. The other lane has to wait for the oncoming traffic to pass and then that lane is stopped so my lane could cross. I was lucky I didn't have too long of a wait. Last week, I waited a good half hour before I could drive across.
I found a letter addressed to my friend Carol. It was laying in the road in front of my house. John must have dropped it when he picked up the mail. She invited me in and we talked for awhile. Danny adores both John and Carol and they like him, too. Danny stands in front of their house looking to see if they are outside. He does that with people he likes.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
Barnstormin' along route 66 in Michigan.
More rain today. I managed to get in my power walk this morning before the rain came. We had 5 inches yesterday and another .6 inches today. Everything is waterlogged.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
This lovely building in Petoski, MI was a former church. It is now the arts center. We stopped in Petoski to have lunch on our way to Mackinac City, MI last August.
It started raining yesterday around noon and continued all night. There is about 5 inches of rain in the rain guage and it's calling for rain until Wednesday.
I went to zumba class this morning. It is held at the church. It was fun and a good work out. I just home I am able to move for the rest of the week.
My nephew came this afternoon and power-washed my house and shed. He also did my green plastic lawn furniture and Danny's dog house. The paint on my steps and the back door to my shed was peeling so he did that too. Since he was here, I asked him to help me move my sewing desk out of the yellow bedroom and into my computer room. I had cleared the furniture out of the way so it was an easy job. I had taken all the drawers out so it wasn't very heavy. I am getting the room ready for my cousin, Erin. We're both excited about her moving in with me. She is also excited about an opportunity to promote her book at the Miami book fair. She was thrilled that they were interested in her book. She also contacted a couple places here for a job and they are interested in hiring her. Things are moving along. She's supposed to come in October. She will probably join me in the zumba class.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
My portulaca garden. What a lovely burst of color.
One of the many barns along Michigan's Route 66 somewhere between Battlecreek and Ionia.
I took Danny out in the yard this morning and then went for a power walk around the park. I went to Bible Study at the church and then home to walk Danny. After lunch, I watched a movie and fell asleep. I must have been tired from my walk.
I had dinner with Cheryl and Ed. He made bbq ribs. He slow roasted them in the oven before finishing them on the grill. He also made pepper poppers and broccoli. While getting the table ready on the deck, I saw their dog, Belle, snitch a rib out of the serving dish. She did it so fast no one could stop her. She swallowed it whole, bone and all.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
Barnstormin' along route 66 in Michigan.
I took Danny out this morning. He just walked around the back yard. He seem interested in the grass clippings I threw back along the edge of the woods yesterday. I took a fast walk around the park and talked to my neighbor, Marlene. Jim from church came to pick up Marlene while I was there. She helps his wife, Midge with housekeeping.
I sweeped up the grass clippings that were in the street along the edge of my yard and also the stones. I sweeped the stones into my driveway as there were low spots in the drive.
It is suppoes to rain this afternoon but it looks like it could rain any minute.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
I did some computer work this morning and then went out to rake the grass on the west side. The flowers needed watering so I was doing that when my nephew came with his two children. He brought back my white plastic chairs that we used for Cheryl's shower.
I didn't do much else. I took my movie back to the library. Danny went for a ride with me. Cheryl's husband called. He had baked four elderberry pies yesterday and was bringing one over to me. He had them sitting on the counter. He walked out of the kitchen and when he came back one pie was gone. The pie pan was sitting there empty. He thought Cheryl had eaten the whole pie but that wasn't the case. The only other way the pie could have disappeared is their dog, Belle must have eaten it. She is a Labrador Retriever and is big enough to reach the counter. Anyway, I had a nice slice of pie tonight with my dinner. Ed used Ted's mother's recipe and like it very much. He sends a big thank you to Phylis. He has lots more elderberries. I told him how Phylis makes up packets of filling and freezes them. She then has the makings for a pie all winter long.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
A church we passed on our trip to Michiganlast year. We left Ted's parents on a Sunday morning and many churches were in session.
I weeded my iris garden this morning and raked up the grass clippings. Yesterday, my neighbor cut my lawn because I wasn't feeling well. I thought I had an ear infection. Went to the doctors and my ear was fine. Sinus pressure was pressing on my ear and made it sore. I had a low grade fever and thought I was coming down with something. I feel much better today. My neighbor's tractor mower doesn't mulch up the clippings so I had to rake them up this morning. I still have to rake up the west side yard. The crab grass was long and left a lot of clippings.
I ran out to do some errands, I made some phone calls and that was it for today. I was done in. I got a movie at the Library and watched that tonight. It was the first time I tried the DVD since I moved here. I had been watching movies on Encore and Starz. I think I have seen them all. They play the same ones over and over.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
The flowers have really filled in and are a lovely burst of color out front.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
This photo was taken as we drove across route 94 in Michigan. I took the pictures out the window so I have a lot of them. I will post them a couple times a week. I finally figures out how to use my upgraded software. At least the part of it where I can get it ready to post to the web.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
I went to Middletown to do some shopping this morning. Tonight, I went to my niece, Cheryl's. Her husband cooked salmon in a caramelized sauce. It was excellent. Their boat was just delivered after being repaired from damage a storm did last April. They will be happy to get out in their houseboat. The summer is half over. I looks like milder temps this week as it will be in the 80's. What a relief.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
One of the many barns in Michigan.
It was another hot day. Most people stay indoors. It has cooled down tonight with thunderstorm. We had one earlier with only a few drops of rain. The rain gauage was totally dry. It is lighning and thundering now. I hope we get some rain for the flowers. I don't know what they are doing up on the lake. I saw a big crane up there this morning. It must be pretty well drained at the ditch it down to a trickle.
I installed a shelf in my walkin closet today and that's about it. I have another shelf to be put in. I have to get one of my nephews with a truck to get a ten foot shelf to put the length of the closet.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
