Matthew (The Hurricane - Not the Nephew)

I don't generally post on the twice in one day.

But this weekend we have excitement.

Potentially.

Meet Matthew.

The Hurricane.

Not the Nephew.

Major storm.

We are hoping it will stay where it is, 

which means we will be on the west side

which tends to be the drier,

less windy side.

But of course the "spaghetti" map

also shows it shooting straight up the

middle of the state.

Which puts us on the East side.

Ugh.

This is NOT something we typically worry about.

(If you are prepared, you need not fear)

Hurricanes (in my opinion) can be good.

They cause great damage and destruction.

But also create job opportunities

for those in the construction industry

as well as people buying new things to

replace the old things.

Thanks to insurance.

(And our house could really USE a new...

well, HOUSE. Grin)

(family joke)

And if you don't HAVE insurance...

well as an insurance agent,

I just shake my head.

However.

THIS particular storm has picked

a particularly lousy time to drop by.

I'll be in SOUTH FLORIDA

over the weekend.

Which puts me on the highway on Monday morning.

LONG before it is forecasted (YES, Google, it IS a word) to arrive.

But the pre-storm junk might make it uncomfortable.

But the BIGGER concern is

where will Matthew be on Friday?

Cuz we will be on an airplane.

And I'd rather NOT 

a) be NOT on an airplane

but sitting in the airport waiting to leave 

b) winging our way west, hoping we still

have a house when we return.

(OK, I don't worry about that as much, but I worry

about the horses, cows, chickens, rabbits, dogs,

oh yeah, and family / neighbors we leave behind...)

So, fingers crossed.

And eyes on the weather for the next

couple of days.

After all.

What is life without a little adventure?

My Hero

Rod is my hero.

Back story...

A month or so ago,

a friend of a friend was moving away.

They had 16 chickens they bought

(sort of on a whim)

(actually as "friends" for their turkey!)

But now they were moving to S Carolina.

And NOBODY moves chickens.

LOL

So they didn't know what to do with them.

They were next door using the dog agility

area my neighbors have in their yard

when they "noticed" our flock.

So they asked if we would be willing

to take their girls.

Sure, I say.

Turns out there are 14 girls

and 2 roosters.

Both are beautiful.

One is teeny tiny.

A little bantam.

Small,

pretty,

well behaved.

The other is larger

(although still much smaller

then my two roosters,

Fred and Barney)

We named these two new boys

Frick and Frack.

Frick is the larger of the two.

He was a little feisty right from the start.

And I kind of had a bad feeling about him.

But we figured he would settle in

and the other roosters would set him straight.

He attacked Rod's leg

and Rod set him straight.

And we witnessed Fred and Barney both

giving him the "pecking order" in the yard.

But then he attacked ME.

So I had a word with him. 

(Delivered by the toe of my boot)

A few days later I mentioned to Rod that 

Frick seemed to be settling in and behaving

MUCH better.

And not 2 minutes later he attacked me!

(He's a sneak, he dances and looks all tough

and then waits until your back is turned

and goes for the back of your legs...)

So we had another conversation.

(*Frick and I, not Rod and I)

(Although Rod and I DID speak... lol)

Days went by and I thought it was all good.

But no.

So I had a VERY STRONG conversation with him.

Rod was not home.

Or the conversation would have ended there.

And again Frick appeared to have it all under control.

And then we come to last night.

Top bruise - beak
bottom bruise - talons

Stupid bird.

So Rod shot him.

I have spared you the picture of the dead rooster.

You're welcome.

(actually, I didn't take one.)

Rod is my HERO!

(And we went to Sunny's BBQ to celebrate!)

(Yes, I thought about eating him, but honestly

he was a scrawny little thing and not worth the trouble...)

(And I wanted pork.)

What corner is that?

Thanks Rozie for once again

providing fodder for my blog.

LOL

(fodder = photos...)

She put some pictures on her blog.

And I was really thrown.

I lived in this house for the bulk of

my first 17 years.

And I could NOT identify this corner!

It had to look at it again this morning.

And then I noticed the wood wall

on the right side and it all came together.

This is the Christmas Tree corner!

(Until Mom moved her piano there...)

Before there was a swag lamp hanging there.

Before there was a piano sitting there.

(Before there were boxes sitting there...lol)

We used to stand our Christmas tree in that corner.

We spent many many evenings laying

on the floor, squinting to make the lights

soft and fuzzy,

listening to Christmas music on the stereo

just laying there, loving the Christmas season.

Somewhere out there, is an awesome

(staged)

picture of Dad snoozing under the tree.

"Somebody" (ahem) (NOT me!) (for REALS)

 piled up a bunch

of wrapped packages under his free

hand so it looked like he was claiming

his pile and just waiting for it to be

declared MORNING!

I will always remember the year I "arrived".

Dad and I went to pick out the family tree together.

And in a Father-Of-The-Year moment

he let ME pick out the tree.

Not only did he let me pick it out,

when the lot guy came over and asked if we were

sure it was the one we wanted, he said

"This is the one my daughter wants, so this

is the one we are going to take."

I felt like such a responsible adult!

*I might have been all of 8...

Thanks Dad!

We weren't a "throw the tinsel on the tree" family.

First of all, it was called icicles, not tinsel!

Mom had us carefully remove it strand by strand

each year and layered the strands carefully in a

piece of paper towel for preservation until next year.

This was back in the day when tinsel wasn't

silver tinted plastic.  It was the REAL DEAL.

(And for a little family with one salary and 4 little girls,

it was probably ridiculously expensive...)

Each year we would place the balls on the tree

and then you would walk back over to Mom 

and she would give you ONE strand of "icicle"

and you would carefully drape it over a limb.

Making sure it didn't come in contact with a light.

Or drape over a ball.

Or crumple on another limb.

But hang gracefully as though the angels themselves

had covered the tree in icicles.

Our trees were pieces of ART!

(But only if you remember they were decorated

by said 4 little girls and later assisted by one 

little rambunctious boy!)

Aaaaaah,

I could go on waxing poetic,

but I have to get back to work.

LOL

Puppy School

We have enrolled Bandit in Puppy School.

Our next door neighbor does agility training

with her two Carolina Hounds.

Her trainer is really good.

So, we decided to check it out.

(there are no pictures...)

(we were busy)

I guess this isn't "puppy season"

since we were the only ones there.

Sweet!

$15 for an hour of totally

personalized, individual instruction.

And she is really good.

We learned how to help

Bandit learn to not jump up.

(Rod doesn't mind, but it 

makes me nuts - mostly because

I wear dress pants and he wears

uniform shorts...)

(And I worry about all the people

we have come visit the farm.

Most people don't enjoy having a

strange dog jump up on them...)

Anyhow.

She did really well.

(She already knows not to jump on me...)

(She sometimes forgets though)

(Today is an "aside" kind of day, I guess...)

(LOL)

We also worked on sit (she's already good at that)

down (picked that up quickly)

stand, come, and touch my hand with your nose.

(Early target training)

It's hard to expect much with a 5 month old

who is a total bundle of energy.

But she did well.

Until the other dogs showed up for the 

agility class.

Then we weren't NEARLY as interesting

as they were.

That's ok though.

We got a good start.

Hey, we got Hay!

The cows love their hay.

So do the horses.

Except Buddy.

He doesn't like hay.

He likes grass.

Or re hydrated alfalfa cubes.

But not hay.

Anyhey.

LOL

The cows love their hay.

And they eat quite a bit.

Kyle built them a nice shelter

that they could stand under

and enjoy the shade.

And then Rod put a roll of hay

under there.

And they LOVED it.

But they made quite a mess.

Especially Sir.

Who thought he could stand on top of it.

*he couldn't - but he tried...

We have been buying round rolls and leaving

them in the barn and then pitch forking a bunch

into our little red wagon and taking it out there.

But since we are getting ready to be gone

for a couple of weeks, 

we always try to simplify our (already pretty simple)

system for the ease of those who have

graciously agreed to take care of the animals.

Rod had an idea.

And then he bought all the stuff.

(That was an adventure in itself...)

Then between the roof leaking

and the dog eating a thumb tack

and various other distractions,

his idea got moved to the back burner.

This weekend he made the time

to focus on his brilliant hay trailer idea.

Check it out!

A trailer that just perfectly fits

a full roll of hay!

And can be pulled by the 4-wheeler.

Nifty, eh?

Rod and his helper bringing

a roll of hay out to the

"patiently" waiting cows.

Moon, enjoying her new feast!

(Sir is on the other side)

They are VERY happy.

Rod told me this morning that the cows

weren't standing by the gate this morning

demanding their morning grain.

They were both contentedly laying in the

pasture, chewing their cud,

content, happy, FAT.

(yum)

Thanks darling!

LOL

Oops

Sooooooo...

Remember YESTERDAY when I said I

was taking a month off?

Yeah.

We all know that was too good to be true...

Just got off the phone with my boss.

He said he was calling to let me know the

site is all prepared with the new equipment

for our revamped curriculum.

(iPad / Apple TV combo)

Ok, thanks for letting me know...

but you should probably be having

this conversation with Lillian.

She's the one teaching there...

Boy was HE surprised!

LOL

"I guess that's why she's been blowing

up my phone about getting her new

iPad... I haven't even ordered one for her

yet since she doesn't start teaching

until next month..."

Sigh.

I have now re-made the hotel reservations

I had previously cancelled.

My bank account will be happy......

Hiatus

I am taking a MONTH OFF!

Not from here.

From TEACHING!

Woot woot woot!

I taught my last class yesterday.

Finished strong.

The only people who didn't pass

were the 2 that don't speak English

and 1 who wasn't going to anyway

since she didn't have enough hours.

But all the rest (14) did great.

I was happy.

(And so were they)

I will be sending those keys to the

new instructor in charge of that site.

I stopped by my new/old site

(haven't taught there since March)

and picked up my projector so

I can play with it and get familiar.

But I'm not teaching there until

OCTOBER 20!

I have to say, I'm looking foward to this break.

It's going to KILL my standing in the contest

(currently 2nd in the State and in line for a $500 bonus)

But I'll take my sanity over $500 any day.

Now if I can just keep off my boss' radar

so he doesn't tag me to sub somewhere...

Sssssshhhhhhh!!!

Fall!

It's still summer in Florida.

It will be summer in Florida until....

Thanksgiving?

But it's FALL further north and west.

Kyle took a little hike yesterday.

And this is what he saw.

Doesn't that look beautiful?

All those pretty reds and yellows!

We have reds and yellows too.

You just have to have your sun glasses on.

(My morning commute)

I Love Wednesdays

Monday I'm usually in an exhaustion induced haze.

Tuesday I'm generally starting to feel human again...

But by Wednesday...

I've got my Mojo back!

Today was no different.

I woke up this morning and felt

rested and happy.

Whew!

Plus it wasn't raining.

We have the tail of Tropical Storm Julia

hanging around.

Got a LOT of rain yesterday.

But this morning the sky was beautiful.

We are going to start taking Bandit

to "puppy school" tonight.

If it's not raining.

She's getting big.

Much bigger than she was when we got her!

And she needs MANNERS.

Plus I have to wash this week's eggs.

I keep saying I'm going to wash them daily.

But then it's Monday and then it's Tuesday.

See above.

LOL

And right now the girls are on their

end of summer moult (or whatever excuse

they are using these days...)

Whatever their deal is, we are averaging

3 measly dozen eggs a day.

(Just a month ago we were getting nearly 5!)

It doesn't help that the coyote took a bunch

of our girls.  (And the neighbors...)

But still..

There are a LOT of chickens still in the yard.

More than 3 dozen.

One of which is a VERY naughty new rooster.

He attacked me several times yesterday.

(Well, he TRIED to attack me...)

I put him in his place, but as soon as I turned

my back, he was coming again.

I see a crockpot in his future.

Just sayin'

Coming Up for Air

It's so FUN now that Rozann

has her own blog!

I love checking it out every day

to see what is going on in her life!!!

Good job Rozie!

So...

Yesterday I was SOOOOO tired.

When I woke up (to my alarm clock)

I seriously didn't know where I was

for a minute.

Thought I was still in my hotel.

And then I fell back to sleep.

My alarm (iPod) is set for 6:00

and again for 6:20 for just such emergencies.

But about 6:19,

Rod came in (as is his habit)

and said "Are you getting awake?"

I opened my eyes and looked at the

bedroom door, expecting to see him

standing there in the glow of the hall light.

But the door was still closed!

Great.

I'm so tired I'm hallucinating!!!

And then he called out to me again.

And I realized he had come in through the

OTHER door on the other side

of the room.

We have a "tack room" / catch all on that

side of the house with beautiful

leaded french doors (covered by black-out curtains)

(hailing back to when he was working nights)

He was standing there.

I was SO confused!

Hahahahahahaha

After work I came home and remembered that

we were having the Elders over for dinner.

I just couldn't make myself think about what to cook.

And then Rod checked the calendar and it said

I was scheduled to attend the Trails and Greenways

meeting that night at 6 at Town Hall.

(I'm Vice Chair, so I can't really blow it off...)

So he ordered pizza.

And the meeting (despite having EIGHTEEN agenda items)

ended in record time of one hour and 10 minutes!

AWESOME!

We got to bed early.

And today I feel pretty good!

Whew!

***************************************

In other news...

There has been a rumor circulating that I am

cutting back on my teaching.

I would like to validate that rumor now.

I keep saying it.

And then I keep teaching.

But this time it is FOR REALS.

In fact, I was supposed to be teaching

in West Palm Beach the final weekend

of this month and the first weekend of 

October before our trip west.

But somehow the class never got scheduled.

When I talked to my boss, he apologized

and said he could squeeze it in.

And I said, in a wimpy, weak, exhausted voice

"Ok, if you think that's best"

He caught the tremor in my voice

and said

Or NOT!

MY HERO!

Yup.

Last month was officially my final

month of marathon teaching!

The lady I have been covering for came back.

And I am happy to announce that I am

only teaching ONE CLASS PER MONTH!

(Well, two weekends, but whatever...)

YEA!

Let's Not Do That Again

Wow.

What a weekend!

Friday night saw me heading south to Margate

a little early to meet the new/old instructor.

(She quit and then un-quit... lol)

Anyhow - during her hiatus we got our new iPads.

She came to the training, but still won't get

her own iPad until Wednesday.

(Today is her official "hire date") 

And it's the first time I tried it "live".

So we got together to hook it up,

make sure it all works, etc.

It hooked up a little slower than I wanted

but easier than I thought.

(And once I knew it takes a couple of

minutes I'm fine - was just getting

nervous when it wasn't "instant")

When I got there, she was already there

chatting with our newest Regional Vice President,

Markis.

He just got promoted last month

and moved into his new office this week.

We visited for a couple of minutes 

and then he left.

Lillian and I got finished and I decided

to put my stuff in my locked cabinet for the night.

Went to the back corner office were my

cabinet (full of all my school supplies)

only to find THAT was Markis' new office

and he LOCKED THE DOOR when he left!

Unfortunately, all we knew about him was his

name is Markis.  No last name.  No number.

Called the resident RVP and left a message.

Also texted him.

Headed out (around 9:00) to grab a salad

at McDonald's and head to my hotel.

On the way I called Rod and while we were

talking, I realized I didn't turn off the

projector hanging from the ceiling.

(When I turned off my iPad it went dark,

so I forgot all about it!)

Turned around and headed back.

Glad I did - you could see the Apple TV

stuff shining through the window.

A great invitation to the less savory types

to come on in and steal it.

While there, the RVP called and said

he would try to get a hold of Markis and

not to worry - he would make sure it was ok.

(Markis called him while we were on the phone,

so he said to hang for a minute in case Markis

was coming right back... he lives right around the corner)

I waited for 20 minutes with no word.

By the time I got out of there

it was too late to mess with dinner,

so I just went to my hotel.

When I got there, Kevin (RVP) called and said

Markis doesn't have a key either!

Omar (a Senior VP) owns the office and has

the key and HE is in the Bahamas!

Told Markis to put his stuff in his new office

and just lock the door - they would figure out

keys etc on Monday.

Sigh.

Luckily Kevin has a spare and he would drive

into town in the morning and get me in.

(Poor guy lives 30+ minutes away)

I got there 15 minutes early and Kevin

had already been there and "hidden" the key

and sent me a text with a photo.

Whew!

Crisis averted!

I got everything all set up and ready to go.

Then waited for students to show up.

And waited for students to show up.

And waited for students to show up.

(We had 38 pre-registered - can't run without 6)

At 7:45 they started to trickle in.

(Registration is 7:30)

By 7:50 I had 4.

As #4 came in, I looked at him and thought

"I know this guy.  He's been in my class before..."

Which isn't unusual.

He says

"Hi.  My name is Wayne, and I'm your auditor."

I laughed.

(Auditors are "mystery shoppers" and NEVER

identify themselves.)

He said, "no really".  

I said "Yah, I know.  I remember you from last time.

You audited me 6 years ago in Boynton Beach.

You brought a banana to class.

And you had weird ID."

LOL

So we laughed for awhile.

He was a "walk in" and "forgot" his ID.

(the idea is to see how I deal with that...)

I had him fill out a form and sign in

and class started.

Now, I send a welcome email to all my

registered students during the week to invite them

to class, give them directions to the school

(it's SUPER easy to find, but people still get lost)

and notify them we have been requested NOT to bring

ANYTHING but bottled water into the classroom.

*new carpet

The biggest problem with this site is there is no signage.

So I made a laminated sign for the front door

and another for the office door.

The one on the office door again reminds them

NO FOOD / DRINK.

So class starts.

I'm welcoming them and going over the rules.

(You know where this is going, don't you...)

NO SOONER do I say

remember, they've asked us to only bring in bottled water

than sure enough, the lady on the front row

reaches behind her to hang her jacket on her chair

and knocks the FULL CUP OF COFFEE

off the desk behind her onto the floor.

Creating a 3 foot coffee stain RIGHT INSIDE THE DOOR.

Fabulous.

So lunch break sees me dashing to Home Depot

and buying industrial strength carpet cleaner

and two rolls of paper towels.

Spent the rest of lunch scrubbing and spraying

and blotting and spraying and scrubbing and blotting.

This is what it looked like after a TON of cleaning.

(during lunch, every break all afternoon,

and about an hour after school)

Meanwhile, while trying to clean the carpet

I was also entering the student's hours into the computer

and registering my "phantom" student.

Turns out he only put half the information I needed

on the form.  The last 4 of his SSN and only

a house number but no street name.

I'm trying to figure out what to do

when I get a text.

From HIM!

LOL

He said, in all the excitement, he forgot

to give me the rest of his fake information.

Hahahahaha.

Finished up,

went out for a DELICIOUS dinner

of fall off the bone tender ribs and coleslaw.

FINALLY.

Something fabulous!

Sunday went well.

(Although it included more cleaning of

"the spot".  The lady who bumped it

brought some Oxyclean so we tried that...)

(The lady who brought the COFFEE was all 

like ... stuff happens... whatever...)

(grrrrrrrrr)

(Subway for a TERRIFIC, on plan,

turkey sub for lunch.  It was yummy!)

During the final hour, we were playing an online

game that the students use their phones for.

They love it - it's a really fun, competitive review.

And the sound system quit working.

Sigh.

(This is the same site where last month the projector

quit working so I had to teach the entire class without

my power point presentation.)

I was SOOOO glad when class was over!

Except when the students left,

Markis came back wanting the key.

And then he went in his office and closed

the door so he could call clients.

But I NEED to get in there and do my

inventory, put my extra stuff away, etc.

Which meant it was again about 8:00

before I finally got out of there.

Stopped and grabbed a burger.

(I was going to get another Subway for the

road, but it was POURING rain and I didn't

want to have to get out of my truck... lol)

When I FINALLY got home,

Rod was sitting on the couch.

I dragged my suitcase in the door.

Normally I sit on the couch with him and we

watch our favorite Hallmark show together

while I unwind from the drive.

NOPE!

I actually sat at the front gate for a couple

of minutes, wishing with all my heart it 

wasn't broken and I could just push a button

instead of get out.

(I was REALLY REALLY sleepy!)

Finally got out, opened the gate,

drove through, closed the gate,

parked the truck,

grabbed my suitcase (only because I needed

my pills and alarm clock out of it)

slouched into the house,

said Hello, I love you!

to my husband

and went STRAIGHT to bed.

LOL

This morning I am drinking a LARGE

Diet Coke.

And (kind of) dreading next weekend already.

LOL

How Do You Like Your Coffee???

I was listening to the radio the other day.

There was an ad for something or other playing

and they said

How do you like your coffee?

And my brain immediately answered

CRISP!

I haven't thought of that in YEARS!

I remember loving them.

So today on Facebook I saw another ad.

This one for an Expack.

A monthly delivery service that sends

expats a box of stuff from your home country 

each month.

And in the picture, there was a coffee crisp

bar sticking out of the corner.

I've been gone for so long that the only

things I recognized in the box were 

Coffee Crisp and Kit Kat.

So I went to my trusty Amazon page.

And sure enough, there it was!

Canada-Coffee-Crisp-Chocolate

Whoooo mama they are expensive!

But then as I scrolled down,

there were my beloved Aero bars!

And then

fingers trembling

I tried for the Holy Grail.

So.....  while Rod and Rozann are in

Calgary next month,

they have a homework assignment.

I NEED THESE!

(Even though I'm working really hard to

stay sugar free...)

But hey.

It's Big Turk!

(Well, and Coffee Crisp and Aero...)

Whatever.

Fireplace

If you don't know yet,

Rozann has a new blog.

www.rozannjohnson.blogspot.com

Check it out!

She's a great writer!

Yesterday she posted a "tribute"

to Mom and Dad's home.

Where we all grew up.

With PICTURES!

So I decided to steal them

(the pictures)

and focus on them this week.

So this week we are talking about

the basement.

This isn't what it looked like when I grew up.

The fireplace didn't have the pretty insert.

And there was a rust / orange hide-a-bed.

It was

U G L Y

but pretty comfy!

(Ok, except for the bar, but when you are

little and only weigh 60 pounds you don't

notice it much...)

And it was more "two rooms" than one big

room since the flooring changed from one

room to the next.

There was carpet in front of the fireplace

and tile floor on the other side.

There was a piano where the TV sits now.

Back then, the TV was right at the bottom

of the stairs (to the right of the photo)

There was also a beautiful

tall black vase / urn thing that Uncle Chuck made.

(We had lots of his pottery!)

It held some cattails Mom found on a car ride.

And one day,

they BLEW!

LOL

The pretty little velvet sausages popped

open spewing white fluffy mess everywhere.

Darn it.

(I don't remember if Mom had a hay fever 

reaction or not - but I'll bet she did!)

Also, please notice the ONE lonely log in the

firewood bin.

This is because they no longer have 5 little

"willing" helpers who were tasked with

carrying logs from the wood pile

down the 13 long, slippery, scary

steps to the basement multiple times

throughout the winter.

In the summer the wood pile was home to

scary things like DADDY LONG LEGS!

In the winter the wood pile was covered in

ice and snow, requiring that you chip it out

first before you could load up.

(Load up being a relative term - please see

above note about weighing 60 pounds...)

I was pretty proud when I moved up from 3 logs

to 4.  (Logs being a relative term...

Dad split all the logs into quarters...

otherwise it didn't burn and his wimpy daughters

couldn't carry them...)

The painted deck and the painted porch steps

were SLICK!  Even when not covered in 

ice and snow.

(Cuz the bottoms of your boots quickly

loaded up with ice and packed snow.)

It was like an ice rink.

"Please fill the wood box"

struck fear into my heart for YEARS.

But BOY OH BOY we loved those

fires!

ie:  Sunday night after church usually

meant a fire, pink lemonade and popcorn.

Aaaaaaaaah

New Phone!

Whew!

My 5 days in Perdition have ended.

You don't know what you've got til it's gone.

(hear the music?)

I was talking to Rod and Kyle on my phone

on Saturday evening from my hotel.

Then I plugged it in and went to sleep.

Woke up Sunday morning to a dead phone.

It wouldn't even turn on.

And boy did I miss it!

I reached for it a thousand times.

And I didn't even think I used it that much.

Little things, like what do 20 bags of

chicken feed cost at $23.25 / bag?

(answer - $465. OUCH!)

How much do I get paid this week for

20 dozen eggs at $4.50 / dozen?

(answer - $90 - so he gave me 90 and

I handed him back $465.)

OUCH!!!!

That was fun.

And of course, while I'm out of town

I'm always using the map feature to

figure out where I am and where

I'm supposed to be going and

WHERE TO GO FOR FOOD!

Not to mention not being able to talk

to my family on the phone while driving

home after a 12 hour teaching day.

I had a hotel room booked for that night,

but Hermine (pre-hurricane) was heading our way

and they were predicting deteriorating conditions

beginning late Sunday night and into Monday morning.

So do you drive home when you are sleepy

but it might just be lightly raining?

Or do you get a good night's sleep,

wake up EARLY

and drive home in a hurricane?

Yup.

Going home Sunday night.

The weather ended up being lovely for the drive.

A little rain here and there, but nothing as bad

as the rain storms I drove through Friday night

on my way down there!

And since I couldn't talk to anybody on the phone

I plugged my Kindle into my truck speakers

and listened to Hunger Games all the way home.

The miles fly by when somebody is telling you a story.

So...

Anyhow.  Last night. While it's raining.

And thundering.

And lightning-ing... (is that a word?)

I was at the Sprint store getting my new phone.

The computer wasn't particularly happy

with the weather and kept flickering out.

But after an hour I got my free phone.

And $50 case.

Geeez.

But I'm back on the grid.

And thrilled about it!