Lookin' Out My Front Door

Before all of the white stuff started falling, I experienced my first pre-snow thunder and lightning storm.  It was kind of bizarre; you don't expect lightning and thunder when it's snowing.  It was peaceful listening to the sleet and then heavy snow, hit the sky lights upstairs and McHotterson built our first fire of the cold season.  Come to think of it, its the first fire we've built since we moved into this house.  It was lovely and before he left for work this morning, he stoked it and threw another log on, so it's still blazing.

Y'all stay warm!  

Ice Storm 2010, etc...

Obviously the weather prediction in my previous post was right on.  We've been out of school the last two days and I have to say, even though I know we will have to use a bad weather day to make it up, I needed a four-day weekend!  So, I've loved it!  I've relaxed, built a fire, cuddled with the pups (and McHotterson while he's not doing his TXDOT engineer duties and saving the lives of stranded strangers in a single bound).  I finally cut up a bunch of veggies and fruit I've had in the fridge and put them in the new Rubbermaid Lock-Its (they're way cool), I bought at Wally World the other day.

I've also been on Facebook, reading blogs, and sleeping.  Told ya I needed the day(s) off.

Here are some pics from Ice Storm 2010:

The temperature gauge about 3:00 p.m.; it feels colder. 

The backyard...so sad...and it looks even worse now.  The ice is just too heavy for the limbs and every once in a while you'll hear a "SNAP" and there's another branch down.

Branches heavy with ice. 

ABOVE:  The tree that normally hangs over our driveway a bit was so heavy with ice yesterday it was touching the ground.  Mid-afternoon I heard a huge POP and went out to find the tree had completely broken off and is now in our driveway, blocking my exit from the garage.  

BELOW:  My view from the couch.  Rough, huh?  

And these shaggy girls aren't sure what to do with all the ice, but they sure are cute, aren't they? 

Sadie girl looking pretty.  She's turning into such a great dog!

ABOVE:  We had to get on to Sadie the other night for chewing on my running shoe.  A few minutes later we looked everywhere for her.  When we finally found her, she had made a bed out of the toy basket and was sulking.  Too funny.  I finally bought her a new bed so she has a place to lay other than on top of all the dog toys.  

 

ETC...

I've already posted about this, so I won't say much about it.  Here are some pics from our trip to Dallas last weekend.  Somehow I got no pictures of myself with Sally or with McH.  Darn it. 

 Playing shuffleboard

My BFF, Sally (L) and Amanda.  

Dinner Saturday night was DELICIOUS!  Chicken wings and brats, tossed salad...

fresh asparagus...

 

satueed mushrooms...

And here's the full spread...

Throw Another Log On!

Look what's headed our way!  Here's an article from www.weather.com.  YOWSERS!  You know it could be serious when the principal sends out an email with the call tree attached, "just in case." 

I don't particularly like the words, "dangerous" and "storm" used in the same sentence.  After 3 tornadoes in the first 3+ years we've been here, I'll stay with "safe" and "calm," thank you, very much!

Notice the paragraph that mentions I-44 from Missouri to Wichita Falls, Texas?  Yup.  That's pretty much us.  

So, today when I went home for lunch, my ever-resourceful, engineer-of-a-husband had taken off a little early for lunch and loaded up on firewood in preparation.  

And that's how you do it in the Texas Panhandle, where "rain will increase in intensity...with a wintry mix..."  

Here's to a POSSIBLE day off from school, curling up by the fire with McH, the pups and a good book!  

But I'm a South Texas Girl!

Last night was the first meeting of our much anticipated bible study, Love and Respect. I was really looking forward to it, so about 15 till 8:00 I headed over to Tara's. I noticed as I drove there were lots of people standing outside their houses looking to the Northwest. I looked back and saw a huge wall cloud, but I had seen several similar ones before that never panned out to anything important so I really thought little of it. I made my way to Tara's and we had our little informational. Then it started to rain. Two of the girls decided to try to leave before it started hailing. Too late. The sky grew darker and the hail grew bigger. By the time it reached it's peak, the hail was tennis ball sized and we were in the hallway. Yes, folks, C-town was hit by a tornado yesterday while I was at bible study. I kept saying, "But I'm a South Texas girl, I don't know about tornadoes and I don't like them." The windows in the front of Tara's house started breaking and my heart started racing and we all started praying...in the hallway. More nervous laughter.

Here are some pictures of the damage at our house. Our bedroom window was broken and hail and water got into the room and in the corner of the carpet. Our fence is destroyed, and I lost pretty much all of my plants. We have one tree gone, and lots of branches broken. Dead birds and squirrels everywhere, but the worst are the ones that are just hurt and can't fly. Maggie came up while I was outside with a dead squirrel in her mouth...OMG it was SO GROSS!!! Our sky lights on the porch are broken and the paint has been scraped off of the house in places. Our roof will need to be replaced and we had no power until about 3:00 this afternoon. And in spite of all of this, we are just SO VERY THANKFUL no one is hurt seriously and that everything that happened is covered by insurance and very fixable. Praise, praise, praise!

Here are two links to some pictures from the storm. They are very cool, but I wouldn't be caught dead outside at this point in its progression!

News Channel 10
Times Record News

Enjoy, and if you are in the area in the next two days I've got a job (or five) for you!

The broken window in our bedroom :( after Richard boarded it up from outside.

My poor, poor aloe vera plants were beat up! I think they will bounce back, which is more than I can say for most of my other plants...what a bummer!

In the backyard...this is looking into our West neighbor's yard...privacy is no longer an option in our neighborhood! That's our tree limb broken.

One of the two skylights that both were broken out! I LOVE those skylights...but insurance is a God-send!

Looking into our East neighbors' yards. The neighbors just next to us were out of town, so we helped board up their broken window last night, too.

These pics are out of order, but this is the cloud McH saw while I was at bible study and he was home. It is HUGE, isn't it? Scary but very cool looking!

Aw, hail! Yep, I'm sure that was said many times last night among other things. Can you believe this was yesterday evening? It looks like the dead of winter! That is ALL hail (and rain, too)! Unreal, I tell you! It ranged in size from tennis ball to marble and did SO MUCH damage around town!

There's talk that we could have another similar storm tonight. Ugh. Pray that it misses us but that we get some rain...can I be that picky? I think God understands.

Tornado Schmornado...

If you have watched the news in the last two days, you probably have heard Childress mentioned a time or two. Too bad it has to be about a tornado tearing through the sweet little town and and ripping it to shreds. Yes, it went through our neighborhood but thanks to God it did no structural damage to our house. My dad used to worry about us in College Station living in a trailer house...well pops, we have a house without wheels but are now in the true center of tornado alley! Somewhat of a catch 22 don't you think? Agghh! Word is we have one less large oak tree in our front yard (bummer), some damage to our back fence (nothing serious) and my rose bushes are missing MANY blooms and leaves....yikes. Other than that, the house seems to be okay, but what a welcome wagon we were given! We definitely were lucky compared to other parts of town. The high school lost one gym and had major damage done to the roof of the other. There were roofs of houses near ours that were damaged or ripped off. The Dairy Queen sign was ripped away as well as stop signs ripped up around the town and blown away. Buildings had glass blown out and the majority of the trees in the local park (and the bridge that spans the small lake) were uprooted. We are headed up again this weekend to work on the house...I guess we have some housekeeping to do on the outside, as well. Such is life, huh?

Life's New Chapter

And this seems to be a LONG one! I realized I haven't added any pictures or information about our big move to Childress, Tx. Where, you ask? Ah, the inevitable question that always haunts my telling of our impending move northward. Uvalde, my hometown, isn't a thriving metropolis, but most people know it because of the Frio or Nueces river, or Garner State Park, or Acuna, Mexico. So, now that I am moving to a place not many have heard of, or if they have, it is because they travel up 287 and go straight through without so much as a nod in either direction, I am tiring of the constant, "Oh it is at the intersection of 287 and 83," bit. However, as much as I would love to have great things to say about my future domicile (thank you for the lingo, Wilbur) I don't really have the foggiest what I am getting myself into, besides a new house without WHEELS! Yay!

So, here are some pictures of the house, so far. Come and visit one and all...a great place to stop on your way to ski Colorado!