And In The Morning... Let's Have Waffles!

OK, maybe not waffles. But this week for Carnival of the Recipes, I'm still doing breakfast! This is great when there is a lot of company staying the night, although I do think that in a couple years, this will be something that my three boys sit down and polish off in 5 minutes. It's quick and easy, but it does have a long baking time. Enjoy! (Remember, send recipes by midnight tonight to recipe.carnival(at) gmail.com)

Bacon and Egg Casserole

• ¼ cup of butter
• 4 cups of seasoned croutons*
• 8 eggs
• ½ tsp of dry mustard
• 2 cups of milk
• 2 cups of grated cheddar cheese
• 12 oz package of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Melt butter and pour in 11x7x2 inch pan. Coat bottom of pan. Spread croutons on bottom, followed by cheese. Beat eggs, add milk and dry mustard, beating together. Pour on top of croutons and cheese. Spread crumbled bacon on top of casserole. Bake at 325 deg for 40-50 minutes or until casserole is set. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serves 6-8.

*4 cups of seasoned croutons is the equivalent of 1 6 ounce box of Mrs. Cubbison’s Seasoned Restaurant Style Croutons.

Quizzy Stuff

Y'all are watching the Debate and I cannot. I just have this thing about watching the team I'm routing for; in a big game I fear watching them lose and being let down. Remember, I'm not a BIG Bush fan, I just cannot stand Kerry, I think he's a scary prospect and I frickin' LOATHE his very scary wife.

That said, I was surfing and hopped over to Hog On Ice to show my husband THESE pix of Kerry (my husband is giving me updates and my first question was, "Is Kerry still orange?") and I happened to see this quiz, Which Tarot Card are you. Steve at HOI is the Devil. He said Acidman, over at GutRumbles from where he pilfered the link, was also the Devil. (Surprise.) Below is what I got and I find it fitting as I tell people all the time and have even blogged it, "I have an overdeveloped sense of justice."



You are the Justice card. Justice preserves the
harmony of the world. Working with opposite
forces, Justice does not seek to criticize or
condemn but rather to accept. The idea behind
the card justice is that opposite forces are
complementary; you could not have good without
evil or light without darkness. Justice's
position is to make sure that if a thing is out
of balance, the weight of its energy is
realigned with its opposite force. This card is
also a card of humour, for it is in pointing
out contrary positions that humour is often
found. The attitude that is found in the
humourous person, being able to shift
perspective and flow with an instinct, is
important in the maintenance of good balance.
Image from The Blue Moon Tarot Deck.
http://www.themysticeye.com/pics/bluemoon.htm


Which Tarot Card Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Funny Ivan Stories... The First of Two

So many damn funny stories. Where to start, where to start.

First, my sister was on vacation in Cancun with her boyfriend just before Ivan started heading into the Gulf. They got stuck in Cancun while they waited for the hurricane to clear. My sister, in her day to day life, is a go with the flow no stress have fun kinda gal. Her work personality isn’t like that, but her homelife personality is very free spirit.

So she gets home Wednesday night, my parents are hunkered down, starting to feel the beginnings of Ivan. Our first conversation Thursday morning, after the conversation where I told her not to call them because I woke them up, went something like this:

Morrigan: I sure hope they took down the birdfeeders and wind chimes off of the dog wood.
Bou: Wait. Who are we talking about here? You or Mom and Dad. (Implication: Mom and Dad would NEVER forget anything in hurricane prep. My sister… Phtt. She would have had windchimes blowing out her sliders.)

We laughed.

Thursday again. I’m talking about the damage my parents have seen:

Morrigan: Dad should be taking pix of this and downloading them to us!
Bou: Ummm… he would… if he had… POWER!
Morrigan: They have power. I just got an e-mail from Mom.
Bou: No you didn’t.
M: Yes I did.
B: Are you sure? What was it an update?
M: No, it was a joke.
B: Wait. You’re telling me that you just got a joke from Mom. They just endured the wrath of a horrible hurricane and she chose to send a JOKE as opposed to an UPDATE to everyone?!
M: Oh. Wait. Let me find it. (Searching through her e-mail.) OH. You’re right. She sent it to me while I was in Cancun. I got the dates wrong here.

Yeah.

Squirrel Wars

Morrigan and I were laughing hysterically about the following, and there is some debate as to where to start, so we decided I should start with the current and then explain.

The Great Omnipotent One put all his birdfeeders back out on the dogwood after Hurricane Ivan. He said flocks of birds swarmed upon it. He put his hummingbird feeder out and the Hummingbirds just came out of nowhere. Tons of them. Then he said, “Heh, I’ve only seen a few squirrels. Hope all those little bastards died. Getting rid of squirrels is like trying to blow rats out of your yard.”

Now this is where my sister and I laugh uproariously. TGOO has been at war with the entire squirrel population since probably 1975. Oh my Mother loves to goad him. She loves to see squirrels on his feeders and then just offhandedly remark as she leaves the room, “Heh. Looks like the squirrels won that one.” This has been going on for 30 years. I’m not kidding.

1975, TGOO buys his first birdfeeder and places it in front of our picture window in Orange Park, FL. He looks out, and there are squirrels on it. It was a feeder attached to the top of a pipe. The squirrels were shimmying up the pipe to the feeder. So he started to grease it. The squirrels would shimmy up the pole and sliiiiiiide back down and he would laugh his victorious laugh, knowing that man had defeated rodent. But then the squirrels would pat dirt and grass and hair on the grease and they would shimmy back up the pole. So he put this platform under it, like a cone, something so when they got there, they couldn’t get to the edge to get around it. So they started jumping from the trees. And they had good aim. Sure we’d see one tumble to the ground every now and then, but they got good. Real good. My Mom would see it and say, “Squirrels:1, Man:0” and she would up the score, infuriating him. “Squirrels: 10, Man:0”. The battle was on whenever he was not on deployment.

In 1979 we move to Pensacola where my folk’s have a beautiful dogwood tree in the back. (We are thankful it survived Ivan. Screw the house, we kids wanted to know about that tree!) With this new house and tree came… squirrels. And it started all over. I can’t remember all of it, there were so many contraptions he built to keep them off. My sister remembers more because she was at the age as I was in Orange Park, where she paid more attention to ‘The Squirrel Wars’. There was some plastic coke bottle contraption, three of them, bottoms cut out, greased, and on the pole. They found a way. He spent money on squirrel free birdfeeders… no such thing. He’s shot them with a BB gun and I’m sure if the neighbors wouldn’t have a conniption, he’d have hunted them down with his hand gun.

Then one year, he sunk to the funniest of all funnies… he bought a “Have a Heart” safe trap. He would trap the buggers, spray paint their tails red so he could identify them, then he’d take them down to 10 mile road, a few miles away and release them. He damn near had a heart attack one day when he was driving down the main road to his neighborhood and he came to a screeching halt as a squirrel scampered across the road…. And it had a red tail. They found their way home.

The classic story is when my sister was given the job of unloading a squirrel. She took it in her car and drove it out a couple miles away and it had been raining. Unhappy as it was that she had to deal with this rodent, she opened her car door, took out the trap, opened it and tried to shake the squirrel out. But she was trying to shake it out over a puddle and that squirrel wanted NOTHING to do with it. Nothing. And he clawed and pressed his way back to the back of the cage as she shook harder and harder to get that damn squirrel out.

Ahhhh. Good memories.

So we are laughing now as we hear this, “Heh, I’ve only seen a few squirrels. Hope all those little bastards died. Getting rid of squirrels is like trying to blow rats out of your yard.” He may actually have won this battle. Ivan was on his side. My sister and I are picturing squirrels on the top of those pine trees as they got snapped off, squirrels plummeting to their deaths…. But we’re not seeing any squirrel carcasses, let alone an abundance of them. And there has been no flooding in my folk’s neighborhood, just mass destruction. So I’m waiting. Day by day, I think the squirrels will make their way back to his birdfeeders, if anything so the great squirrel Gods can hear my Mom goad, “huh. Look at that. Looks like Ivan didn’t do it either. Squirrels:1, Man:0”, as she walks out of the room.

And then today… today I am e-mailing TGOO. He is talking about all the pine trees. Any that didn’t fall, he had cut down. (They’re really lucky none hit the house. As these 200 foot pine trees were felled by the wind, he said the noise was horrific and the entire house shook.) He sends me this e-mail talking about the lack of pines and at the end saying, “The squirrels can’t figure out where to live”.

I am laughing and I e-mail him back, “Wait. Does that mean you finally won? Man vs. Squirrel?” to which he replied,

“No, hell no I didn't win. The furry little bastards began to show up again three days after the hurricane. I don't know where they'd been. I assumed they had been blown away. Maybe they found their way home like a lost dog. What we really need is some foxes to have survived. And I haven't seen the red-tailed hawks wheeling overhead either. I hope they survived.”

He has since decided HIS squirrels got blown away and NEW squirrels got blown in his yard.

And… I cannot quit laughing. Let the Squirrel Wars Recommence!

Youppi

OK, follow me on this one... it may take a minute.

There has been all this talk about John Kerry turning orange. As a matter of fact, there was discussion on it just yesterday in one of Harvey's comment sections and it was brought out by BeeBee who has more discussion at her site HERE. BeeBee was betting that Kerry is turning orange because he is a Furry and his inner animal is a tiger without his stripes. (You have to really scroll down in Harvey's comments to get to BeeBee starting with Furries... the first part of the comments is about something called Anime.) Then it went from there...

So this morning, I am reading my morning paper, and when I go to the Sports Section (yes, gentlemen, I do read the Sports Section, I just have not the time to watch the sports) and there is this picture of this orange furry 'thing'. It's the mascot for The Expos! Did I say he's orange? And did I mention he's furry?

The mascot's name is Youppi. I just see too many similiarities:

Youppi, or Youppi! (Yippee! or Hooray! in French), has been the mascot for the Montreal Expos baseball team since 1979. The orange, hairy giant is one of the most popular figures among kids at Olympic Stadium, where he is often running around with his arms waving wildly during baseball games.

Catch that? He's French! Youppi is a French! We have the entire over generalization of the cowardly French who won't stand up for anything and then we have Kerry who gives a whole new definition, beyond Clinton's definition, of the word Waffle.

Youppi is popular with kids. Kerry is popular with young idealistic college kids who don't really understand that our Freedom has a price and is not a Free.

Youppi runs around with his arms waving wildly during baseball games. I think that is akin to looking like an idiot. Kerry looks like an idiot. Harv has a list of idiots he looks like.

And Youppi is orange. And so is Kerry.

There you have it. Kerry is a furry. And he is aiming to look like Youppi!

HE Doesn't Scream for Ice Cream

It’s amazing to me how the human body just knows something is not good for it.

Son#2 is lactose intolerant. It’s something we stumbled upon last year. He may also have other stomach problems, but the bulk of the problem has been this lactose thing. I cannot believe how bad it got before we realized there was a real problem. This boy, this very small boy, all of 7 years old and 35 pounds, can pass the foulest most rancid smelling gas you have ever had the horrible displeasure of smelling. It is bad. I mean BAD. How baaaaad is it, you ask? It is so bad, I swear the air you breathe turns green. It is paint peeling off the walls bad. It is ‘I might vomit’ bad. It is as bad as Son#3’s horrible smelly feet. (Which, by the way, are not so bad now that we threw away the offending shoes and he started to wear socks… a mandatory in school.)

So we have been dealing with this smelly, gagging, ‘could be used as a weapon of mass destruction’, ‘something surely crawled up him and died’ gas for about a year or two. And let me tell you, YES, there were days when we were in my closed up mini van, hauling ass down I-95, when Son#3 took off his shoes and Son#2 passed a big green stink bomb and I thought for sure I would veer off the road and kill us all. I can tell, they are destined to be great men.

Then the stomach aches really started. I ignored him, being the bad Mom I am, oh there is another post on that, because when you have three kids someone is always whining, complaining or wailing they got the shaft. Always. So you ignore it. Tune it out, yes I do. Until one day when the teacher says, “Your son is having some real stomach problems. We’ve been dealing with it in school and you may need to see someone.” How embarrassing.

Off to the pedo we traipse, to find out he might have a stomach ulcer, he might be lactose intolerant and a couple other things. He gave me a kids script for Zantac and we decided to eliminate dairy.

His stomach is not 100% anymore, but let me tell you, I have not gagged since. This whole gas issue seems to have passed… literally. And this is where my amazement comes in.

When we eat pizza or something with cheese, he’s jumps up to get a lactaid. No question. I switched him to lactose free milk. No issue. But the big surprise… he no longer likes ice cream. Can you frickin’ imagine?!! I’d rather poke my eye out with a pencil then give up ice cream. Over night, or so it seems, he just said ‘no more’. His body has told him it doesn’t like it, so now I have a kid who walks through the aisles of Publix saying, “Hmmm… Mom… what do you think Mango sorbet tastes like?” and he is content to eat fruity frozen stuff.

In my mind it’s a travesty. No chocolate ice cream? No coffee ice cream? No coffee ice cream with chocolate chunks or swirl? Nope. Just sorbet… preferably orange or strawberry and I am amazed.

Not the Good Mom of the Year

I cuss in front of my kids. There I said it. I’ve cleaned up my act, but I do it. Yeah, there are people that disapprove, but I quite honestly don’t care. I realize there is a time and a place for everything and I was always able to just cut loose with my friends and at home, so when the kiddies came around, the 4 letter words did not totally stop. They did stop to some degree like when I heard Son#1, who was 3 at the time, yell at some guy in a parking lot that had cut me off, “Hey you F---ing A$$hole! Get out of the way!” Yikes. That curbed it. And he did not pick up my trashy mouth nor did the other two.

But it is what it is. My bad word is $hit. I say it too much. Damn too. And Hell. The F bomb has dropped a few times, but they call me on it now and I apologize and we move on. Yeah, they actually call me on it. The F bomb rarely happens, however, as I’ve replaced it with ‘frickin’. I thought it was a much better thing to say, but I must confess hearing ‘my frickin’ brothers’ coming out of a 5 year old’s mouth still doesn’t sound so hot. Not even when he says ‘my stinkin’ brothers’. It just still sounds so… so… vulgar.

I’ve explained to my 9 year old that he really shouldn’t say sucks. Yeah, that’s another one of my words. I’ve told them to use ‘stinks’ instead. We’re working on it. I’m trying too.

The Great Omnipotent One cusses. Oh he can get a rant going in the car. His favorite in the car was $hitbird. I had this girlfriend in high school that it used to crack up. She would imitate him to our friends. She LOVED riding with TGOO driving, in great hopes she’d hear him yell at someone, “You GD, $hitbird! Where did you learn to drive?!!! Get out of my way!” So I did come by it honestly, although $hitbird is not one of my words.

My husband does not cuss like I do. Trust me, he is no saint, however. I married an Italian from “Joisey”. He can let a good old fashioned Italian rant fly when he wants, but he doesn’t cuss much and when he does, his two words are Sunnamabitch and A$$wipe. Which is where this story is going.

We were in the car yesterday, the boys and I. Sons 2 and 3 were fighting… of course. Son3 turns to Son2 and says, “You A$$wipe!”

Waaa! Gasp! I nearly drove the car off the road. You have to know the character in the story, this big round bubble head, blue eyes, blonde/red hair, sweetness of an angel in his face with the glint of the devil in his eyes… he is a Celtic colored version of his Daddy. And to hear this come out of his 5 year old mouth. I didn’t know whether to scream or laugh. I was calm and just said, “I DO NOT want to hear or know of you saying that EVER again.” The end. It’s worked before.

I said to my Better Half when he got home, “Is one of your words, A$$wipe?” to which he replied, “Ummm… yeah… who said it” and I gave him an evil eye and said, “Guess.”

I don’t know why the words I say do not get repeated back to me. I don’t know whether it’s hero worship with their Dad or if they just tune me out. I think I must sound like that teacher from Peanuts to them. ‘Wah Wah Wah Wah Waaaah’.

But see, this is where I really lose the Good Mom of the Year award, because I cannot let it die. I can’t quit laughing; I cannot quit picturing my sweet cherubic little boy yelling that awful word at his brother. So today while Son#3 was in school (kindergarten is in session, but the other grades are not), we went to Publix and Sons 1 and 2 coerced me into buying them Lunchables. I refuse typically since they are full of chemicals, but I acquiesced as a special treat and the “Look, do not tell your bro. I don’t want to hear about it from him that I didn’t get him one.”

After lunch, we had to go pick him up from school. I told them to quickly put their garbage away so he wouldn’t see it. They said, “Do you think he’ll be really angry?” to which I replied, “Are you kidding me? He’ll say to YOU (referring to Son#2) ‘I can’t believe you got a lunchable and I didn’t. That’s not fair. Blah blah blah blah blah… A$$wipe!’” at which point the boys thought that was hysterical and we laughed the entire drive to get him.

This is going to come back to bite me. I know it is. But right now, I’m just feeling happy that ‘Bite Me’ isn’t one of my husband’s expressions because I would be totally mortified if I was sitting in a restaurant with my kids, only to have Son3 get pissed off and yell at his brother at the top of his lungs, “Oh yeah! Well BITE ME!” Yeah, that would truly suck.

Damage

Well, Hurricane Frances took the big school, but left us with the library, Kindergarten, and the Parish Hall/cafeteria. We went into the big school and cleared out all that we could save after the flooding, storing it in boxes and hauling it all across the parking lot, via a moving company we hired, and stored it in our Parish Hall. Last week a bunch of parents went in and sorted what was to be sent to real storage and what was to be sent to the temporary schools. A storage company was going to pick up all storage stuff on Tuesday and move it out.

Then on Saturday, Hurricane Jeanne hit. I drove by the school yesterday just to make sure the Kindergarten was still standing. It was, as was the library. But our Parish Hall/cafeteria had the roof blow off (de ja vu?) and it took in water and everything we stored in there is now history. Well, maybe not everything. Once again, parents and staff are sorting through water logged crap trying to determine what is salvagable.

There has been concern that our Parish priest (who has been in Ireland with his dying brother for this entire ordeal) will not allow a new school to be built, that he'll just want to spiff up the 40 year old POS we've been making do with, mold problems and all. I'm telling you now, if this man isn't taking all this as a BIG DAMN SIGN FROM GOD, he is deaf and blind and I don't want to stand next to him for fear next time it will be a bolt of lightning that gets his attention. 'Nuff said.

Carnival of the Recipes

Carnival of the Recipes is due tomorrow night at Midnight! This week’s host is Trudy of Food Basics . Remember to submit your recipes to recipe.carival(at) gmail.com And also, you DO NOT HAVE TO BE A BLOGGER! If you have a recipe to submit, they will copy it in and give you credit! We love participation.

Tomorrow. Midnight. Submit. (Hmm. Don’t think that sounded so good did it? *grin*

A Different Side to the Frizzenspark's Post

Notice I have not entitled this Boudicca Draws her sword. That’s because I’m not angry. My Blog Father Grau didn’t come over here and bash me on my blog. He stated HIS opinion on HIS blog. He just simply states where he can see why things happen the way they do and I am simply posting this to tell some of you what it’s like to be on the other side, the working woman’s side. I’m writing to add what it was like in my world, not to tell him he was wrong and if you read his post you’ll see he’s NOT bashing women in the workforce.

I believe that women upon being hired should hire in at the same wage as their male counterparts if their skills and experience are the same. Period. No exceptions. None of this BS that the man is the breadwinner, the woman may leave in time, nothing. Same skills, same pay. However, should ANYONE, man or woman, take extended time off to care for children, parents or gallivant around taking their 5 month dream vacation, all bets are off. It is not right that someone who was gone half the year receive the equivalent raise of someone who was there busting their hump for the entire 12 months, no matter how hard the person worked before or after their absence. It’s how I feel, too bad, so sad. Life happens.

I hired in at the same pay as my male counterparts. I know for a fact. For proof my company did not discriminate, VW and her ex-husband hired in within 6 months of each other into different groups but the same overall department, having the same degree and skill level upon hiring, her after him, at the same company I worked, and SHE hired in for MORE than he did. (Yeah, that didn’t sit right with him. Instead of thinking of it as “Oh Bonus! More money for us!” he had a piss poor chauvinistic attitude about it.)

During my time there, I took maternity leave three times. I took 5 months off each time, only being paid for the 6 weeks sick time and then taking the rest without pay. I had no intention of having three kids, but it is what it is and it happened. I went part time after Son#1 was born. It was a benefit written in our books, but nobody in my department of 600+ people had ever tried it. I went to bat to see what could be done and our senior management just about beat me to death with that bat before allowing me to come back part time.

1) “What does it do for US?”
2) “You are an indecisive woman. Make up your mind, do you want to work or do you want to be a Mom.” Oh I loved this one. Upon hearing this, a woman I worked with said to him, “You love her as an employee. Why would you NOT want her to clone herself for future generations? How short sighted you are.” He is dead now and I did not shed a tear.
3) “You know it will end your career. Why bother.” I’m still unsure why people think life is all about their careers. It is not. It is about balance, the people you love, the people who love you.

And on and on it went. I personally went in to see our VP about it who shot me down with remark #1. (He’ll be dead soon, he’s ill, I won’t shed a tear.) I went to see my HR rep who gave me the same response. (He’s dead now. I didn’t shed a tear. No I didn’t go to his funeral nor did I give a second thought when he had his massive heart attack.) I went part time when my boss and my manager realized that I was no shit going to leave the company all together if they didn’t let me go part time. As I put it to my boss, “I’m having a baby, not buying a dog.” My husband has a good job. It was important to both of us that we raise our own children, not a stranger, and with his job, it was a luxury we had. But it was also important to both of us, that I still retain the use of my brain, something I feared losing. I’m a smart woman with a lot to offer. I had a horrible fear of my brain oozing out my ears from lack of use. (Didn’t happen. I’m resourceful and found other ways to compensate when I decided to stay home full time after the plant shut down.)

So my boss and my manager took it to task to make it happen and it did. And it happened because I WAS A DAMN GOOD EMPLOYEE. People don’t go to bat for other people when that person sucks. They didn’t want to lose me. I worked hard, I got the job done, I played well with others for the most part, kicked ass when I’d had it, and they didn’t want to lose me. I have a strong work ethic.

My best friend from my group was also a woman. DK reads this blog and I’m sure she’s surprised she is reading this now and that I’m mentioning her! She has a strong work ethic too. As a matter of fact, of the people in our group, she and I were probably the best damn employees our boss had ever had, definitely the best he had at that time. We worked hard, long hours, our customers loved us, and we were honest and loyal. We were compensated monetarily because of this.

When I went part time, this DID NOT change. Yes, I was part time, but I was NEVER distracted by the fact I had a baby at home. I didn’t spend my time on the phone worrying about him or wondering what he was doing. I worked. I worked hard. And when there was something that was due and it was tough, when my husband came home from work at 6:00, I would GO BACK until midnight and finish. I did this the entire time I worked for them, whether it was in that group or when I transferred over to a more technical group in the engineering department. And for the record, with my second son, I worked until I went into labor AT WORK, then quietly said I wasn't feeling well, hugged everyone goodbye, then went home and had my baby.

People depended on me. They depended on me to get the job done, get it done on time, and have it right. There was no slacking. I don’t think anyone regretted when I went part time as opposed to losing me all together. I left when they were at lunch and when they came back, I was just not there.

Come first raise time after I'd been back about 8 months and was busting my butt trying to prove my worthiness... again, my VP refused to give me any type of raise. I was part time and part time employees didn’t deserve one. Our boss was horrified. I had been busting my ass and I was going to get nothing because I was part time. He sold our VP on a bill of goods, didn’t get me a raise, but got me a lump some money, the equivalent of a 10% raise. My old boss will forever be in my good memories and prayers. (And this was a DIFFERENT boss that saw enough value in me to get me my part time position!)

And that goes for my friend, DK too, as far as my permanent good memories and prayers. She was my biggest cheerleader. She helped me research things and when they knocked me down, she picked me up, dusted me off, and sent me back out into the fight.

We had no benefits when I went part time. No medical, no vacation, no sick time. As time progressed, I got prorated vacation and sick time and medical. It is the norm now for employees who work part time to receive some modified benefits. Allow me to tell you, I NEVER met one part time slacker. NEVER. The women I met that went part time worked their asses off because they had less time to complete their jobs. People were constantly judging them and questioning their worthiness.

I met plenty of full time men who needed to be fired. Plenty of them that spent their time saying they had ‘business in the shop’ so they could just meander and not work. Plenty of them.

As for not wanting to hire a woman because she ‘might’ want to leave and have children, all I have to say is, ‘their loss’. Women in the workforce add another dimension. Men enjoyed working with me and my women co-workers. It is not better working with women, just different.

So all I’m saying is don’t lump all of us into a pile. This pervasive attitude that is out there that I will not be as good an employee because I’m worrying about my family or I might leave to have another kid or whatever else might come along, is what makes me gun shy in venturing out into the work force. I KNOW what kind of employee I was. I just wonder if any manager out there will ever really want to take that chance on me.

And should I be hiring in at the same time as a man, I expect if my work experience and skill level are the same, I should be given the exact same pay. To the penny. And my employer will not regret it… ever. I will be his best investment.

Like I said in the beginning, Grau is not trashing women. He just shows a study and says where he sees some of it coming from. I’m merely showing what it’s like to have to be on that other side, to have to fight for what we have, to overcome the obstacles that are constantly thrown at us. Also, I don’t miss it. I don’t miss having to fight to prove myself because I’m a woman. And it happened… all… the… time.

Ivan's Passage

Having the password to Boudica's blog is better than having the keys to her car. I thought I'd take it for a spin.

When you live in paradise, you have to pay the rent when it comes due, just like everyone else. This year the cost of living in the Florida Panhandle was a little higher than anticipated. It cost some folks their entire homes and all their belongings. We were fortunate: a couple dozen trees, a few shingles, and minor miscellaneous damage that can all be repaired. But this area, overall, looks worse than some bombed out areas that I’ve seen. The residents are slowly, like ants, cleaning up the detritus that was left in Ivan’s wake. In several years, aside form the drastic change in landscaping, a visitor won’t be able to tell that a hurricane had affected us so deeply.

Two days after Ivan’s destructive passage, I was standing on my porch looking at the downed trees and broken fences, trying to decide what I’d start on that morning. I noticed my bird feeder, which I had rehung the day before, was being used continuously by black capped chickadees, tufted titmice, finches, cardinals etc. in numbers I’d never seen before. The humming bird feeder was surrounded by so many hummers that they looked like bees flitting around. Through the trees into my neighbor’s back yard two houses over, I could see a little girl on her swing, pumping with all her might, going almost horizontal from the ground, enjoying a cool September morning in the South. I knew then that everything was really back to normal for most of us, at least those who still had a home that was livable. Only our landscape had actually changed.

We all knew the rent would come due some year, but damn, we didn’t know it would be that high.

TGOO

News from the Panhandle

The Great Omnipotent One is back on-line. His cable line was torn from the house during Ivan. Evidently the cable people came to fix it on the day the Brain Surgeon and Rocket Scientists took that tree down over the power easement, starting that big fire, so when the cable guys saw that, they did a big "Oh. I see it's not a good time. We'll just come back another day." heh heh heh. Evidently that day was yesterday.

I finally got an e-mail reply from my best girlfriend from college. She lives in Navarre. I thought because I got her answering machine the day after, that perhaps all was well. I should have known better; I had read Navarre took a big hit. She managed to e-mail me from some unknown place. She was on her way home to shovel out muck from her house as it took in 6-8 inches of water. Another guy we went to college with lost his entire home. He had a great house on the Blackwater river. Meanwhle, my friend is doing this all alone... this clean up. I mean, she has her family, but they're cleaning up their homes too, and she has triplet boys that are 7 and her husband is a Marine stationed in a bad place. So I am worried for her. I'm hoping to get phone soon so I can see if I can ship them anything. (She has cell service.) I did e-mail her back and I told her I could send her anything but D sized batteries, because I honestly believe there aren't any more D sized batteries left in this state.

It's funny the memories some of this jars. Memories of college. She and I did everything together. She was already engaged to her husband and I was dating a Navy pilot. We studied all the time and were always in the computer lab. Just ask VW, that's where we all met. Anyway, there was a great guy who worked in the lab, who I will call "K". K was an officer in the Coast Guard and was getting his Masters in Computer Engineering. He's a brilliant guy. We used to go in and harrass him constantly. (Wondering if this is bringing back memories for VW!) He used to laugh hysterically at my friend and I (well all of us actually, but mainly at HER) and at the time I didn't think anything of it, but looking back, he was 5 - 6 years older, had been around the world with the Coast Guard, had probably seen damn near everything, so I'm sure the antics of the coeds around him were more than amusing. (It is from this phase of my life that I got the phrase "Mammary Man" that I use frequently... in particular in reference to Harvey!) Our lives were very innocent and our futures blindingly bright in our eyes. He was an established man, very responsible, bought himself this great house on the Blackwater River. He knew where he was going, no questions really. His future was not bright to him, but grounded and very well lit.

I look at the paths our lives have taken now. Her path has been so hard and so different from mine. I'm glad she kept in touch with K. He has been a WONDERFUL friend to her. I miss them both and my heart is broken that he lost his lovely home and that they are both suffering.

They are in my constant thoughts and prayers.

Basking in my Dorkness

Right before Jeanne hit, I was walking through Walmart when I found these rubber boots for $12.00. I was so excited. I ruined my running shoes during landscape clean up from Frances. I think it was whenI stepped in the foot of water to clean out the storm drain. Or maybe it was when I was dragging tree limbs to the front and half my yard was squishy black muck and I sunk up to my ankles. That'll do it every time.

So I saw these boots and was just overjoyed! It is amazing the incredibly stupid stuff that makes you happy during hurricane season. Then... I got to use them!

There is a basic rule after being hit by a hurricane. Clean up does not start until 24 hours after damage. You can assess damage immediately, but you don't do clean up until everything dies down, about 24 hours. We got hit Saturday night/Sunday morning, we assessed damage on Sunday morning, then we went back inside and didn't come out until Monday for clean up, as did everyone else in my neighborhood.

I woke up realizing I got to wear my new boots for clean up! There I was, ball cap, yardwork sunglasses (23 year old beau/hunk man boy calls them my Terminator glasses), running shorts, t-shirt and rubber boots. The biggest dork you ever did see. All I needed was a couple teenagers of my own to hide in utter embarrassment from their Mom. Instead I have a 9 year old who said, "Oh! Let me take the picture for Aunt!" I decided my hip chick sister needed a picture of her dorky older sibling.

So here it is, basking in all my dorkiness... I can't wait until I have teenagers to embarrass the stew out of ! heh heh heh And this also goes to confirm that there is no way in hell I am 23 year old beau hunky man/boy's older woman fantasy.



BTW, my Mom would NEVER dress like this... oh, but The Great Omnipotent One would!

Blog Family Expansion

Over the past week, Blog Father Harvey of Bad Example had a little competition to see who would be the next adopted blog child of the Bad Example family. Jeff of Au Fait is our new blog brother.

So Welcome to Jeff! May the future comment parties at your site be Merry and Festive... Oops! Was I supposed to tell him about those? Were those a secret???? Muwahahahahaha

Morrigan

A special thank you to my sister, Morrigan, who guest posted for me. She appears to be happy to hand me back the reigns to my blog. Go figure.

Of the two of us, she is the extroverted beautiful one. Men, you would be amazed at what a truly beautiful woman she is. It's kinda scary. Nicole Kidman hair, auburn colored, green eyes, infectious laugh, hugely funny personality, she garners attention wherever she goes. It is funny to me that on my blog though, she had great trepidation. I am the extorvert on the blogosphere, hiding in the shadows of real life, while she would prefer to lurk in the shadows of the blogosphere and live life large. We are very different. Yet very much alike.... her nickname, Morrigan is for a reason. Named for a Celtic Goddess... a warrior type like Boudicca. (I do not look like Boudicca. My sister would more so, except she is not tall.) We are very similar in that sense. A profound over developed sense of justice. Perhaps that is what you spawn in daughters when you have a strong Mother who is a survivor on any account and a Father who is a warrior in every sense.

I called her right before we lost power and said, "Just post we're safe after I call you tomorrow morning. It's no biggy." and I gave her instructions. Her reply was along the line of, "Oh great."

Heh. Note her short posts. Makes me laugh! *grin*

Here I Be!

I am back on-line. I have power, I have internet, I have water.... what more can one ask for? I don't have phone, but could not personally care less. I have cell if I need it.

What small damage was done by Frances was made larger by Jeanne. Where we were missing a few roof tiles we are missing many more now. The rains of Frances were for two days, creating rivers in our streets (I will post a picture of my street during Frances in a later post), but the winds of Jeanne were those to be feared. People who had suffered major roof damage during Frances lost their walls during Jeanne. We listened to our radio in the storm as a brave rescue crew took an 8 ton SWAT vehicle and rescued a family in Lake Worth whose home had come down around them. We listened as during the eye of the storm north of us, reporters continually spoke of buildings caving in and roofs being lifted off previously damaged homes. We listened as the roof tiles were being torn from our home and hurricane shutters were being peeled from our windows.

As my Mother says, anything happening to your roof sounds horrific. She is right. She sat in her safe room as Ivan ravaged Pensacola and tree limbs fell to their roof as shingles were being torn off in the same wind. No matter where you are in the house, when something happens to your roof, it sounds like it's going to blow.

The Great Omnipotent One said his next door neighbor had said during Ivan, when it got so horrible, she started to vomit and had diarrhea. I have one up on her; I never threw up. As I heard roof tile after roof tile bumping across our roof, it gave a whole new meaning to 'it scared the shit out of me'. I really thought we'd lose our roof.

But we didn't.

Our homes are built to withstand winds up to 140 MPH and that they did. When we walked outside yesterday morning, we were amazed at how little damage had been done in comparison to how bad it had sounded throughout the 7 hours. Frances had taken care of most of our landscaping problems. We had power by 10;30 AM.

Many in Palm Beach County are still without power and will remain so. We are having 12 for dinner tonight. I've invited friends and family over to take hot showers and eat a hot meal in air conditioning. Once again we have been blessed and are fortunate. I will be trying to have different people over thoughout the week as power grids come up.

The people in Port St. Lucie, Vero, and Fort Pierce got absolutely hammered again. They caught the eye and the north eye wall. The northern east eye wall is the place NOT to be. I cannot comprehend the vast destruction. It is the type you are seeing in Pensacola from Ivan.

I have to say, throughout all of this, I was most worried about blog sister Tammi. She was alone through this and this is her 4th. She has felt the wrath of 3 and tropical storm effects of the 4th. She is an amazing woman and she is the one I spend an inordinate amount of time praying for. We had a dinner planned for Saturday night as I was supposed to be in Orlando. We are DEFINITELY rescheduling!!!

Bou and family have power!

Bou says that this didn’t do the damage that Frances did. When she called to give me the update, she was driving to friends’ house to find out if they wanted to do dinner -they didn't have power yet. No landline yet, but Bou does have cell phone coverage in certain areas…it seems that AT&T’s coverage is better than Sprint’s in a hurricane….hmmmmm.

GB- Morrigan

11:20 AM- All is fine at Bou Corner

I just spoke to Bou for the Hurricane Jeanne update. They are without power and therefore without Internet access. As they were listening to reports of people losing their roofs their own roof tiles were peeling off and two of the storm shudders came loose and ripped away from the house. Bou thought they were going to lose the roof and paced the floors all night. Fortunately, they only lost 15 tiles and suffered a little more screen damage on the porch. Bou says, “ We’re destined to be eye wall people. We don’t get to have the piece of the eye, we get stuck with the frickin’ eye wall.”
The boys and husband are currently taking down the storm shudders as Bou directs them. Surprised? Sounds like things are slowing getting back to normal.

Guest blogger- Morrigan

VW Bug is Down

Just spoke to VW and her power is out.

My power is flickering. I gather I will be out in the next hour or so.

She is well. Her kids are not sleeping due to the wind whipping through the shutters. But she is well.

We think we have only 8 more hours to go.

Yet Another Change

Well, my better half decided because of the wind change, the panel on that obscure window needed to go back on. I'm actually glad he decided to do it. I wasn't in agreement that the panel should stay off, but decided it wasn't worth the fight.

It looks like we won't stay in the eye wall like we did last time. We will catch the edge of the southern tip of the eye wall. Also, because of what we're catching this time, it may bode well for his office... or at least better.

Damn, those folks in Vero and Ft. Pierce are taking a pounding. I hope they talked those idiots who stayed on the barrier islands into coming in. Dopes.

We're definitely getting hurricane winds. Can't believe we still have power.

Heh.

Heh. This appears to be a minute by minute change.

Oh yeah, I can see us moving to the middle of the house soon. Not good.

Goals Aren't Lofty

Yeah, it's picking up now. Actually, my husband just walked in and said, "You look outside, it's blowing pretty effing good right now". He left one panel off on an obscure window so we could see outside some.

Jeanne is definitely coming in. We're getting hurricane gusts. I can't believe we still have power. He just moved the cars against the garage doors. Last time we noticed the garage doors started to creak. The double garage doors can be blown in or at least sound like it. So he threw the cars in neutral and backed the cars up just till they were touching the doors. It gave enough support that they stopped creaking so much.

The wind is coming slightly different from last time. I have yet to decide whether or not that is good. The winds appear more from the NW this time.

My goals aren't lofty. Screw the leftover trees. I just want to keep my roof.

Still up but waiting...

Evidently we still have power. Others we know have already lost theirs. I'll keep blogging while I can. I can hear the gusts really picking up. Daggum shutters... can't see what's going on.

So what am I doing besides blogging and watching the weather on the internet? Eating Godiva Belgian Dark Chocolate Ice cream. Can't let this stuff go to waste! It's all about priorities. Got the kiddies fed, dishes washed, laundry done, cleared out all frozen desserts out of the freezer and I guess we're ready.

Looks like Ft. Pierce and Vero are going to get nailed again. I'm serious, it makes me sick for them. I love Vero. The nicest folks you'd ever want to meet. It was a beautiful little ocean town. Nobody deserves this stuff. Nobody.

BRain Surgeons and Rocket Scientists

The Great Omnipotent One called me today with a couple funny stories. I can only post one of them.

Since Ivan hit, power has been restored to them, however, there are some trees that needed to be taken down. As he put it, he hired a Brain Surgeon and a bunch of Rocket Scientists from S. Carolina to take these trees down. If you recall, TGOO lives on a power easement and some of these trees were damaged and needed to be removed. Well his team of brain surgeons and rocket scientists took one of those trees down right across the power lines on the easement, where an explosion ensued and a fire started. He said he thinks at least 8 people called 911. I can just imagine my Mom wigging out. Her big fear is fire. I guess I came by that naturally.

Anyway, the fire department showed, putting the fire out and the folks directly behind my parent's home and many many neighborhoods south suddenly lost power. My parents did not!

So Gulf Power is out there right now restringing the power lines.

What idiots. You would think if you removed trees for a living you would ensure you didn't ever take out power lines. Especially not the big ass kind attached to the transformers on a power easement.

"It Won't Happen To Me"

I don't understand this mentality. This "Oh, it won't happen to me." When I hear people say that, I want to say, "Why not?" Anything can happen to anyone. Sure, we prepare and take certain precautions so certain things don't happen to us, but overall, anything can happen to anyone.

There is a mother dying of cancer in our school. A mother I know very well. I have never blogged on it. I have never once thought, "Oh that could never be me." I don't walk around waiting for the shoe to drop, leaving my children motherless, but I am fully aware it could be me as well as her. There's no reason she got what she got. It could have been me. But it wasn't.

I have a couple friends who have lost children. I went to the funerals. I have never said, "That could never happen to me". Once again, I am not making myself sick awaiting the shoe to drop, but I am fully aware, just as one friend's toddler died of SIDS, it could have just as easily been me.

And so I look on in utter amazement as people who live on barrier islands are refusing to evacuate. Did they not see that people actually died during Ivan? People in Grande Lagoon, thinking they could ride it out as they had in the past, washed away. The authorities are telling people if they won't evacuate, they want the names and phone numbers of next of kin so they can be contacted when these idiots die.

I just shake my head in disbelief. Anything can happen to anyone on any given day. It is a fact.

Out of Pocket

I will be out of pocket for awhile. I won't have power and I expect to lose internet service any minute.

Last time The Great Omnipotent One posted for me. He is still without cable from Ivan. That means this blog will go dark until he's up and running. Check back intermittently as you never know if I'll suddenly have a guest blogger!

Until then, when I have service and know I am safe, I have phone numbers of two bloggers and they will keep everyone posted as to our status.

Take care. Be safe. Laugh A Lot. -D.

Keeping it Light

I only drink water. That is all. No juice, no alcohol, no coke, I truly only drink water. My kids are similar, although they will occasionally drink juice and they are kids, so a coke is not something they turn their noses at. Oh and they love sweet tea.

That said, whenever I'm out and about, I'll grab a bottle of water from whatever store I'm in to carry with me the rest of the day. I don't pay attention to brands, although I suppose I should.

I was just in the kitchen making a coffee cake for tomorrow morning's 'no power' breakfast, when my husband brought me an empty bottle marked for the recycle bin and said, "Did you see this?" The brand is 'Volvic'. Hmm. Made in France. He started to laugh. Now there is a picture of a volcano on the bottle, a dormant green lush volcano, so we are gathering that perhaps they really meant 'volcanic'?

However, that is not what it says. And although it is not spelled absolutely correctly for the female anatomy, it appears to be pronounced that way. We are laughing and he says, "What did they do? Squeeze the juice out of women's orgasms?" Blech. I will be paying more attention to the brand water I pick up and Volvic will not be on the list... Just the thought! Yuck!

Latest as We Hunker Down

This one is going to be stronger. My husband just informed me he expects the damage to his office to be far greater this time. They’ve already been hugely compromised. Of course we have concern as we are not being paid for this month and probably not for next month. Most everyone is in the same boat. People lost their businesses in Frances and most of us have lost sales or pay. We have insurance for when business is closed, a business interruption insurance, but that only ensures our employees get paid and we can pay electric and landlord. It keeps the business afloat. We take no pay.

The tracks my shutters attach to are bent. They weren’t bent before Frances. Don’t get me wrong, everything fits, but the windows that received the brunt of Frances are the ones with the bent tracks. The wind force tried to pull the tracks off the house.

Most of us are still missing roof tiles. They’re concrete type tiles. So even though our roofs have not been structurally compromised, they are not at the same structural level of integrity they were before Frances, if that makes sense. That has us a bit nervous. Some of us still have errant roof tiles scattered along our roofs that will now become missiles. We just haven’t been able to get roofers to our homes yet.

My husband has gone around and braced all the trees that remain. We expect them to snap in half this time.

They say we could be without power for 4-5 weeks this time. I am trying to find some positives in this… it is now almost October which is infinitely cooler than August. Losing one’s power in October, while it totally and completely sucks, is not like losing it in August where it is akin to living in Hell. Also, I am hoping that Frances did such a thinning of trees that there are fewer trees to fall on power lines. Hey, I can hope. But I fully expect the worst.

The Mood

I'm tired. I need to go to bed. Why am I up? I'm waiting for the frickin' 11:00 hurricane update. No kidding.

Tammi is on her way to the West Coast. As in FL. Not CA, although CA is looking pretty damn good right now even though they're full of fruitcakes in that state.

I'm staying put again. We have 3/4 of the shutters up and will do the remainder in the morning. If I get a chance, I'll post a picture of a house with shutters... the tin can effect. We'll be helping neighbors get theirs on too. Then my husband will run to his Dad's house and put the last shutter on his. It appears his Dad may be staying with my bro in law in Lauderdale. It really isn't right that he stay with us as we have to contend with 3 kids during this storm. My bro in law and his wife have ONE kid and no storm. He may be hanging down there.

I got the last 3 quarts of skim milk yesterday from Publix. I was waiting in line for gas when some Mom I don't know stopped at my car, then rolled down her window to inform me that Publix was totally out of milk. I thought it was really really nice. I guess the dead giveaway I'm a Mom, no kids were in the vehicle, was that I was in a mini van.

There is no gas in Palm Beach County to be found right now. I got gas at 10:30 AM and only had to wait 30 minutes. It was very orderly and I was impressed with how the gas station handled the line. They had employees directing people in and out so there was no cutting.

If you're not down here in S. Fl, I don't know how to describe the mood. We're all walking around like zombies. Whereas the typical greeting in Fl, like everywhere else, before Frances was "Hey! How ya doin'?", after Frances it became a tentative, "So, do you have power?" and is now, "Can you believe it? I'm not ready for this. Can you believe this?"

We're just numb. I'm not anxious. I'm not freaking. I'm just dead inside. Horrified. Appalled. I don't know. Stunned. Incredulous. Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne.

And who do you wish this upon? I wish it upon nobody. I'm not sitting here wishing it would go North. I'm not fervently praying it goes West. We've all taken enough of a beating and some worse than others. The Carolinas and GA have had horrible flooding. Alabama has had vast destruction from Ivan. Florida... well we all know. And some cities are worse than others and I am very very afraid for the people of Ft. Pierce, Port St. Lucie, and Vero. Very afraid. I cannot wish this upon anyone, so I just sit here grinding my teeth knowing, if it comes this way, it is what it is. No prayers from me that it goes elsewhere.

We got the shutters down and up in 1.5 hours today. We're getting good at it. It's just not a skill I felt I needed to perfect.

I can tell my eldest is not quite right. Even his teacher noticed it and said something to me. He is being very quiet. He is stressed. Possibly depressed.

I'm a little nervous for the kids. Their new school is at this phenomenal Church that has opened their religious ed classrooms to us... the catch is the Church is located on a barrier island and that would just really suck if we lost the new school too.

Our kids have fallen so far behind academically this year. At least my kids don't have to take the FCAT. The governor has already stated there are no exemptions of public school kids from the FCAT. Port Saint Lucie schools are still closed. How much more stress can the kids take?

I'm not sure how this ramble is coming across. Disjointed? Apathetic? I don't know. As I said, it is difficult to describe how we are feeling. I just want to crawl in my bed and go to sleep. I think about that a lot. Sleeping. I want to sleep and I want someone to awaken me when it's over.

And I wish they would hurry up and post the updates. It is after 11:00 now. My pillow beckons.

Update: The 11:00 is up and we are just so fucked. I'm going to bed.

Pajama Carnival

Harvey has posted on his Pajama Carnival! Not many men participated, but you can see lots of pix of scantily clad women. Well not all. Just some. I'm diggin' Machelle's bunny jammies and may have to get a pair. I don't have the bod to wear the other stuff, but the real impediment to my dressing provocatively in the house is my kids! Oh to be able to blog nekkid....

Carnival of the Recipes is UP!!!

The Carnival of the Recipes is up! It is HERE and is hosted by Mellow Drama.

I didn't submit this week. I got preoccupied or overwhelmed or both. It is what it is. BUT, it is not keeping me from looking through and once again there is breakfast, lunch, dinner and my fave...dessert. Yeah, it's a problem with me... this dessert thing.

So take a peek. You won't be sorry. And a special thank you to Mellow Drama for hosting this week!

Excuse the Language But...

We are oh so fucked... again. HERE

Remember, I live just below that lake. Targeted area is Ft. Pierce... they're the ones that got hammered the hardest during Frances.

This just really fucking sucks.

What Do I Wear When I Blog?

Blog sister Michele of Letters from NYC and Blog father Harvey from Bad Example, are hosting a Blogger Fashion Show. Essentially it's a 'what do you wear when you blog' carnival. I thought about pasting pix from various websites and trying to be funny, but everyone is pretty much funnier than I, so I thought I'd show you what I really wear and for the first time, out myself as to what I kinda sorta look like.

First, I wear pajamas when I sleep, but not typically around the house except breakfast. I can't sleep nekkid in the house because I have small children, let alone blog nekkid like John and Beth!

On Monday, Wednesday, or Friday nights, I wear what you see below, except usually there is not a gi top, but rather a jog bra and gi pants only. I blog after coming back from Karate, I eat a quick snack while blogging, and then I jump in the shower and hit the rack. (About the picture: kata, or 'form' as some martial arts groups call it, in competition last year. I no longer compete. I just wanted to see if I had what it took. I placed 2nd out of 8-10 women. I got beat by a senior student and good friend from my own dojo. I do not compete in sparring. And yes, I am able to pick apart both photos as to all I am doing wrong.)




On all other days I wear something similar to what you see below. (Picture taken while beach training last year.) I wear ball caps about once a week. Depends on whether I've worked out that day and/or if it's a bad hair day. I am a shorts/jeans and t-shirt kinda gal. No shoes. I wear glasses when blogging. I'm very casual although I do clean up OK when I have to.



So that's what I wear when blogging. No great secret. Nothing sexy and alluring, but I am sure a bit different as nobody else has said they wear a Karate-gi while blogging. Just plain old me! *grin*

On a Positive Note...

The Great Omnipotent One will not have cable for awhile. He's cool with that except... The Bowden Bowl is this weekend. (That is Clemson vs. FSU for you non Southern Football folk.) Since they don't have cable, it's 'like watching snow with voices' as my Mom put it. So TGOO ran out today to buy a pair of rabbit ears. Why am I thinking that all those readers below the age of 30 may not know what rabbit ears are?

TGOO got THE LAST PAIR of rabbit ears. My Mom said he was so excited, he called her from his cell phone while in the store and said, "ooo! Should I get ice cream too?!!!"

Heh heh heh!

My Mom and I then started to compare what is in our freezers. We're all hesitant to buy too much food. My Mom has assorted nuts and ice in her freezer. I have bread and ice in mine. I bought my first ice cream a few days ago.

Now you know what TGOO and Mom will be doing on Sunday. Watching the Bowden Bowl with rabbit ears and ice cream. Life is very very good!

Talk About a Bunch of...

Crap! Hurricane Jeanne is coming right back at us. Can you believe it? Right now, the THREE DAY FORECAST has that bitch hitting just north of me in the Fort Pierce/Vero Beach area. HELLO??!!! Those folks were the hardest hit by Frances!

GRRR.

I was tooling through my neighborhood in my van today thinking, 'love love love, bluebirds, rainbows, flowers, life is good', looking at the 80% of the homes that never bothered to take their hurricane shutters off and then thinking, "Get real people, you can't keep living in a tin can!" when I came home to find out we could get slammed by Jeanne.

Oh there are so many bonuses to this plan I don't even know where to start.

1) Thank God they picked up all the killer sticks from my yard 2 days ago. All potential projectiles.

2) This storm is moving at 4MPH, so they expect it to strengthen to 115 MPH, stronger than Frances.

3) My father in law, who I have not blogged much on, but who I need to blog on as a huge catharsis for myself, is now back in town which means if this bitch of a storm is coming this way, he has to stay with us.

I'd rather poke my eye out with a pencil than have to endure being cooped up in this house with my father in law. I can barely endure a 2 hour dinner, let alone an evening or two or three of his moaning and anxiety.

And before you judge me about how I speak about my father in law, think twice or I will completely unload on you. You don't know the situation and cannot possibly comprehend what its like to live with someone who is mentally ill, mean, crippled and has Parkinsons. Did I mention mean? Did I mention unappreciative? Did I mention mentally ill? 'nuff said.

Home Depot In Pea Ridge, FL

There is so much to post and I can’t keep up. I’ll get to it all eventually.

I know I went on a Home Depot bashing frenzy before Hurricane Frances. When I called my Mom and The Great Omnipotent One after Ivan hit, after Home Depot finally opened its doors, my Mom said, “You need to post on what a super job Home Depot has done up here.” So here is the post.

TGOO woke early, no surprise, to get to Home Depot first thing as he heard they were open. He went to the Home Depot in Pea Ridge. Yes, that is a town in Florida, as are Bagdad and Two Egg. When he got there a line had formed. As one person exited Home Depot, another was allowed to enter. However, it was not a case of just enter and fend for yourself, as you entered the store, you were assigned a Home Depot worker who took you to the aisles you needed to go to and assisted you in selecting the proper supplies for your repairs. In TGOO’s case, his personal Home Depot shopper took him directly to the roofing section, where he promptly helped him get the shingles and any other supply that would be helpful in his repair process.

TGOO said it was efficient and a real pleasure to work with them. He was in and out of there in no time flat. No wandering around wondering where things were located.

So to the Home Depot in Pea Ridge, FL, a big THANK YOU from Boudicca in hitting 100% in Customer Service and helping the victims of Ivan… in particular because your employees were victims too.

Fashion Disaster on the Horizon?

Wow. That 1 Guy’s nephew came up with much more a cerebral question of the week than any of my boys! While my little guy is asking what happens if his nuts explode, T1G’s dude is asking about bodily functions of certain professionals. Cracked me up!

Today while at soccer practice for Son#2, Son#3 found a haircut on an 8 year old he swears he wants. The little boy had a mullet. I can’t do it. I’ve let my kids damn near have their heads shaved. I’ve bought more hair gel for spikey hair than you can imagine. They’ve worn it spiked all over, spiked only in the front, and slicked back. I own more hair product for them, than I do for me. But I have to draw the line somewhere and my youngest is not having a mullet cut. I’m still pushing for a high and tight.

Power UP!

My parents have power as of 11:35 AM CST. Yahoo! Unfortunately, The Great Omnipotent One says they still don’t have cable, which is who his internet service is through. I have a feeling as soon as he has internet access, there will be a guest Blogger…. You’ve been warned!

Carnival of the Recipes... Don't Be Late!

Don’t forget your recipes to the Carnival of the Recipes! This week’s host is Mellow-Drama. Submit your recipes to recipe.carnival(at)gmail.com and she will post it on her blog on Friday . They are due by Thursday night at midnight! I’m still stumbling through the recesses of my brain to decide what to submit for this week…

Victory!

Big News around here is that The Great Omnipotent One rescued his Lawn Mower from the crushed shed! He got it out today, after working on it with bolt cutters and God only knows what else, for the last 2 days. (Remember a 100 foot pine tree crushed half the shed.) Mom says he's tooling around the yard trying to chop stuff up and put it in the lawn bag. They have so much crap in their yard she said he can make it maybe 10-15 feet before he has to empty the bag.

I would say, that tonight, TGOO will chalk today up as a very successful day!

Does This Make me a BAD Daughter?

Heh heh heh. I call my folks a couple times a day. OK maybe four or five times. They try to stay off the roads other than going to FEMA to get ice or to bop around the neighborhood to check on homes for me, from questions I have received on the PNJ Forum. So my Mom answers today. Now they get no news other than local stuff on the radio and every now and then they get a paper. It's tough to get to them as there are power poles blocking easy access to their home. Also, keep in mind, my Mom doesn't really curse or anything.

Me: So it's raining here today. Pretty hard. Lots of wind.
Mom: Really?
Me: Yup. It's gonna last awhile.
Mom: Hunh.
Me: Guess where it's coming from?
Mom: I have no idea...
Me: Remnants of Ivan.
Mom: What?!!! It made its way back DOWN the coast?
Me: Yup.
Mom: You've got to be kidding me!
Me: Nope. Guess what the worst case scenario is?
Silence
Mom: Tell me that it's not going to go back into the Gulf?
Me: Yup. Worst case is back into the gulf and turn into another hurricane.
Silence again
Mom: Well... that's just a bunch of crap!

I started to laugh. I'm still laughing. Now of course if it happens, I won't laugh, but for now, the whole thing is so daggum absurd, it's funny.

Bones to Pick and Southern Ball

I have a bone to pick with Southern Living. Yeah, I’m a Southern Living freak. I read it every month, looking at the beautiful gardens and homes, imagining what they must smell like in the morning, sitting on their wonderful southern porches in a rocking chair. I read through all the food, picking recipes to try on family. I just love the magazine, but this month… I have a bone to pick.

So I’m reading through the magazine, looking at the pictures of the Mums and the ‘Secret Garden of Color’, La Dee Da, when I come to this section called, “All-South 2004, Special Football Section”. Well, hot damn! Football. Southerners love football. College ball to be exact. And we hold grudges a mile wide when it comes to our ball teams. This love of football actually includes High School, where EVERYONE who is anyone attends a high school football game every Friday night. I remember one year, we had 13,000 people turn out for our high school game. Ahhh. Good memories. Then of course when I was in high school, the heroes on campus were any senior going to play for ‘The Bear’. If you don’t know who ‘The Bear’ is, then you should just go ahead and skip the rest of this post.

I had a ton of posts to post today, but I can tell I’m so into this already; this is going to be a one post night. It’s all about Southern Ball. I knew this was coming… I could feel a post coming on when the College Ball season started, but I can refrain no longer… especially since Tammi has already had to pay up her bet to Eric and Johnny Oh as the Vols beat our Gators. I’m not in deep mourning. It’s not like it was the Dawgs! Ha!

The Great Omnipotent One is from Alabama, Birmingham to be exact. His family is rabid Bama Fans. Roll Tide! I wanted to go to Auburn and study engineering, but quiet undertones from Granddaddy indicated if I wanted to stay in his good graces, I would think nothing of it, so I didn’t. It just so happens our family burial site is in the same cemetery as ‘The Bear’s’. So, when we buried Granddaddy in the winter of 1991, we all paid homage to ‘The Bear’. This is what we do when we go to the family gravesite; we pay homage to ‘The Bear’. Now my cousin married a man whose family knew ‘The Bear’ personally and that got him in our instant good graces. We didn't even have to know him, just the fact his family was connected was good enough for us! (Turns out he’s the nicest fella you’d ever wanna meet. My cousin done good.) So I grew up knowing ‘Bama was it, but when we settled in Pensacola late in my 13th year, I started to really begin to like other ball teams. Florida ball to be exact.

My siblings attended FSU. Their homes are completely decorated with more FSU memorabilia than you can imagine. One year for Christmas, my Mom got my sister a big Santa holding a snow globe, Doak Campbell stadium smack in the middle, he’s holding a ‘Nole flag and there are motion sensors in Santa’s feet. When you walk by, the snow globe plays the FSU fight song. Her then boyfriend, who was a Yankee, was completely horrified! He asked if she was really going to put that in her home. What was he thinking?!! Hell yes! That’s what we Southerners do; we have rooms dedicated to our football teams. Some even go so far as only buying cars in their college colors!

I know, you’re wondering where this is taking going. OK, so on page 75, brought to us by Chevy, is this article. The caption on this section is ‘All South Top 10’. Now to people like me, I think SEC. (If you don’t know SEC, find another post, but you can find a list of their members HERE.) I can fudge a little, and add Miami and FSU, both ACC teams. But that’s what I’m thinking, true Southern Ball is SEC+two additional Florida teams. (And I also throw in Clemson and Ga Tech, so make that SEC+4)

So #1 on their Southern run down is Georgia. Yup, that’s good Southern ball there.
#2 is… Oklahoma? Hello? WTF were they thinking? If they’re going to talk about Oklahoma, why the hell didn’t they put Nebraska? That ain’t Southern Ball!
#7 is… West Virginia? Their big games are Maryland, Va Tech, and Pitt. Sorry, I’m not seeing any true ‘Southern Ball’ there. Next!...
#8 is… Missouri? Wha? If they’re so daggum Southern ‘ball’, then who in the hell is their big rival? At least I KNOW Oklahoma’s rival. Just damn.
#10 is… Texas Christian. OK, let’s say Texas Christian should be Southern ball, which they should NOT because they aren’t SEC+4, when the hell did they become such a big ‘Southern’ powerhouse that they deserve to make this list of the ‘All-South TOP 10’?

Let me tell you who Chevy/Southern Living did NOT put on their list. Missing are: FSU (hello?), Tennessee (yes, Johnny and Eric, they do not think you make the list of All South Top 10. I thumb my nose at them, even though the Vols beat my Gators), Alabama (Can you frickin’ believe ‘Bama isn’t on this list? ‘Bama only had THE BEST Southern Coach in the history of Southern Ball), and GA Tech (rolling my eyes), and on and on.

Who paid Chevy to write this POS article?

So I looked at the author and saw it was written by a girl, but she is obviously not a Southern Girl, because ALL Southern Girls know GOOD Southern Ball before they know how to read.

She proceeds to write about The South’s Best Grudge Matches. She mentions two. One is Bama vs. Auburn. Good on her for getting that one. The other is… Oklahoma University vs. OSU. Wha? And I have to say, “Girlfriend someone done yanked your chain when they fed you this BS.” No FL/ GA or FL/ FSU or Miami vs. anyone. None of that. Can you believe it?

AT LEAST she got the major games of the week right, although I’m still scratching my head on the Notre Dame/Tennessee game. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be watching and I’ll be screaming for my Fightin’ Irish to beat the snot out of the Vols like my Gators SHOULD HAVE, but wouldn’t put that as an All South Game of the Week. It says, “ALL SOUTH” in the title. Last I saw, Notre Dame was North of the Mason Dixon.

And BTW, if you want a full listing of the team schedules go to southernliving.com/features. Yeah, right. Like I’m going to trust that they got that right after reading all they got WRONG.

Tomorrow: Pat Conroy and Southern Living. Sally, you gotta get the Sept, 2004 issue!

Highs and Lows with Ivan... Mostly Highs

My parents now have full water pressure. My Mom says she screams when she gets in the shower its so cold. The good part is, she’s still laughing about it. I hope she’s still laughing at the end of the week!

I’ve been logging onto a forum located on their newspaper’s website that lists every neighborhood and people can log in and ask questions. The questions are coming from people who live there part time and are not in town or who have evacuated. My parents drive around the neighborhood and get out and check the properties and then I e-mail back. For the most part its been stuff like a tree is down in your backyard, your balcony is missing, or there’s a tree in your pool. Nothing that would freak people out… at least not a lot. Today I had to e-mail someone that an oak tree was resting on the roof of their front porch. Basically a ‘there’s a tree on your house’ report. That sucked. Now here is what The Great Omnipotent One reported and here is what my Mom added, on the same house:

TGOO, “There is an oak tree that has uprooted and fallen at an angle and is resting on the roof of their front porch. I can’t tell the extent of the damage, but the shingles are crumpled from what looks like the rubbing of the tree on the roof.”

Mom, “The porcelain pot on the front porch with the plant in it is intact.”

My sister and I are laughing. At one point, TGOO is on the cell telling me about a fallen tree from a neighbor’s yard grazing these people’s home and I hear him say, “Wait a minute. No. They don’t care about that stuff. No. Don’t worry about that.” Heh heh heh. I really wanted to ask what she was noticing. Mars and Venus. Gotta love it.

Meanwhile TGOO spent most of his day trying to bolt cut his riding lawnmower out of the crushed shed. Remember when I said the shed was crushed by a tree and he was able to rescue his chainsaw? Well, he thinks his mower didn’t get crushed, I guess the tree only crushed half the shed. So he can see the mower and it’s making him nuts not being able to get to it. I said, “Dad. You said the mower was crushed.” TGOO, “Oh, I think only the leaf catcher got caught. I can hammer that back in place.” Then he proceeds to tell me what hard work it is to cut this riding mower out of his crushed shed.

Really? Who woulda thunk.

I have no idea if he was successful. He’s so hell bent that he’s going to get that thing out. Let me see if I can remember all he’s going to do with it, “I can chop some of this shit up and put it in bags and take it to the front. And I can attach ropes to the back of it haul logs to the front. And…” Wow. I’m hoping he gets to it. He’s a pretty determined guy. I just hope he doesn’t have a damn heart attack while doing it. I mean, the tree service guy is supposed come on Monday. This is Sunday. Just ONE day! ONE!

Tomorrow’s post is great things about Home Depot.

They recovered the body of the truck driver that was on I-10 when the bridge broke. It was a full 18 wheeler semi. If you look at the pix linked below, you'll eventually get to the aerials of the truck and bridge. So what makes someone take a big ass bridge during a Hurricane? At first I figured he was worried about his family (people do stupid things when it comes to worrying about family) and I figured they lived in Milton, but it turns out he's a trucker from TX. I don't get it.

And to end this post, new pix of the area can be found HERE. I’m not belittling the suffering of anyone from any storm, but let me say that Ivan is being compared to Andrew by the experts now as far as vast destruction. The problem they have now is that there is such major road damage, they can’t get stuff there. FEMA has been forced to use C-130s to get supplies in as there is so much damage to the bridges and road infrastructure. As someone put it, when Punta Gorda got hit, help came in a flood. With Ivan, it is trickling in because they just cannot get there.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Boudicca's Boys Back to Normalcy Part I

In the car today Son#3 shouts to us, “Mom!!! Son#2 said if my nuts explode that my weenie will turn into a girl’s weenie. Is that true?!!!”

Wha? First, my kids know the names for body parts, this is just what they call it and I have other things to fight, like grammar. Second, Son#2 is sitting there laughing his butt off while this is happening. Third, is this a common thing with boys? Wondering what would happen if their nuts explode?

I just kept saying, “Your nuts aren’t going to explode.” Reply, “Oh yeah? How do you know and if they do, do I get a girl’s weenie?”

I took a different approach at one point, “What in the world would make your nuts explode?” Reply, “I don’t know! Son#2 said!”

Final approach from me, “That’s it. I’m sick of it. No more talking about nuts exploding. It won’t happen and no, you can never have a girl weenie.” I didn’t think it was the time to talk about sex change operations.

Boudicca's Boys Back to Normalcy Part II

Warning, this is a gross post.

Son#3 has been pretty sick with the icky stomach virus. It lasted damn near a week. I finally had to take him to the pedo on Friday as Thursday he almost puked again and he didn’t appear much better. (Turns out Thursday he was car sick.)

Well, not to get graphic, but basically she said if he wasn’t better by Monday they wanted a sample, bleh, and she would give me the papers in advance in case we had to pick up the sample cup on Monday. As we’re leaving Son#3 asks me what the papers are for. Being the wicked Mom I am I laughed and said, “Well, little buddy, if you still feel icky on Monday, you’ll have to poop in a cup." Oh his face, it was hysterical and then he shouted at me, “I’m not pooping in a cup!” I’m still laughing thinking about it.

Every now and then I would tease him and as I’m relating this story to my sister, she says, “You are going to be in big trouble if he has to actually poop in that cup. Maybe he thinks it’s a drinking cup.” Turns out that’s not what it was. We’re germ phobes in this house and he was afraid of a ‘cup floweth over’. Whatever. Blech.

Anyway, he is fine now. But this is what I’m wondering and dreading. Now I know I’m blogging about this, and I see it differently because there is an anonymity with blogging, for the most part, and I’m not shouting it to the world, people are coming here and if they read it they do, otherwise, they move to a different post. No captive audience. However, he truly does not understand the difference between what you joke about around family and close friends and what you joke about in public, like in school. So he’s going back to school tomorrow and I am really afraid he’s going to yell out to his class, “Oh yeah. I was sick. And if my stomach virus wasn’t gone by today, they were going to make me poop in a cup!” And he does not speak, he only shouts.

So I’m hoping I remember to tell him not to talk about it in school before leaves… otherwise I think I’m guaranteed this will happen.

Numbers are Better than Letters

For those who may wonder, yes, in real life I actually have been known to call my sons, Son#1, Son#2, and Son#3, or just #1, #2 or #3 for short. For some reason, I get their names all mixed up, but I never get their birth order mixed up. I have been known to run through all the names shouting for one of them and then say, “You! Son#1,Whatever your name is! Come here!”

It is what it is. Hopefully they’ll get good jobs with benefits that pay for any counseling they may need for emotional damage incurred since their mother could never remember their name and called them by number.

And to just add to it, occasionally a son will show up at my bed in the wee hours of the morning. Now my sons do not look alike in broad daylight, but at night, they have the same shape head and face, for the most part. When they appear at my bedside for whatever reason, it’s not uncommon for me to say, “Wait. First, who are you and second, what do you want?” No warm fuzzies from me if you wake me up. State who you are and state your business. Just the facts. And let me sleep.

A Big Thank You

I have a lot to post tonight, good things about Home Depot, funny stories and such, but I wanted to get this out for my parents.

My parents said they want to thank anyone who has contributed to Red Cross or FEMA and anyone who has volunteered in any way to help those stricken in the panhandle. Policemen from other areas have come in to assist, National Guard, Red Cross and Salvation Army volunteers and power linemen from all over the country and my parents said that every single person in the area cannot express enough how grateful they are for the outpouring of love and assistance.

My father stood in line today for ice. It has only been 4 days without power and they are well aware it could be another 3 weeks. He went to the local FEMA branch which he said was very well run and they gave him two bags of ice and some MREs. Their freezer is cleared of all meat now and you can't buy meat or dairy yet as the supermarkets still don't have power. They have plenty of canned goods.

I saw a post at Matty of Blackfive on MREs once. People were posting on how you could mix and match or add stuff for flavor. I read it at the time just for fun. Who would have thought I'd be hunting for it now to give my parent's advice on a potential meal? It does make me laugh.

Once again, a big thank you to all of those who have donated to Red Cross or FEMA and to those who have been volunteering to help. Our paper today was saying the devastation they are seeing from Ivan is akin to that of Andrew.

To see the lastest pictures, including aerial photos provided by the Sheriff's Office, go HERE.

Carnival of the Recipes- A Day's Menu!

Amy of Prochien Amy has posted our latest Carnival of the Recipes! A big thank you to Amy as this is an enormous undertaking.

Songstress7's Cinnamon Toast Casserole will proably show up for breakfast on a family holiday! We're breakfast people and it looks too good to pass up.

I can't pass up any recipe that starts out with, "...OK... to start off, melt a shitload of butter". It just kind of reminds me of The Great Omnipotent One, so Eric of Straight White Guy's Straight White Chicken Parm will be getting a try, because it also looks fun to make. (Hey, he included music.)

Allan's Parmesan Buttermilk Chicken looks great too!

There is dessert too. VW's Kahlua cake is getting a try... I told her that the other day. And I gotta try Blog Father Harvey's Candy Bar Cheesecake if anything because he posted a recipe!

Chances are, everything will get tried in the House of Boudicca. It all looks great! Go take a look!

Depleted

It’s incredible. The massive amounts of destruction. And to most of you, it is difficult to explain because it is just two dimensional pictures. If you go HERE, you see the picture galleries from the on-line Pensacola News Journal. If you click on the picture, it was the 3rd one down, of the house that is on it’s side crushed on the beach, there are 16 pictures and a couple of them of I-10. I think it gives a good scope of magnitude when you see the I-10 bridge kinked and broken. By the way, I believe they found the cab to the truck. What kind of person drives in heavy Cat 3 winds on a bridge with water rushing over it? A currently dead person, obviously.

I keep having to think of the funny things that have happened over the last few days to keep my spirits up, because I am teetering on the brink of lower than low. My husband is out of town, thankfully Jeanne appears to be both dissipating and moving away, and I can’t help my parents. This last hurricane has finally taken the wind out of my sails and when people started to talk about Jeanne coming this way, I finally said, “I do not care.” And I don’t. The adrenaline is gone. And I’m past the point of wanting to deal anymore. Honestly, if it turned this way, I wouldn’t even put up my shutters. I’m just that over it. I’m tired.

I’m emotionally drained. I have a friend who is a clam farmer and they lost everything in both Frances and Charley. He just bought a house, has a 13 month old daughter and a baby on the way. And there is story upon story upon story here in West Palm and we didn’t even take the hit that those in Pensacola did.

The stories from Pensacola are trickling in and they are just as heartbreaking, but more scary. I have a friend that evac’d to her uncle’s home and I believe she said her cousin lived next door. The house they were in started to fall apart around them, so they moved to the house next door, where they lost part of the roof and still had to stay.

Pensacola is my hometown. It is a place I still call home and I haven’t lived there since 1988. Here in West Palm, our school was destroyed and I shed not a tear. I saw buildings tattered and saw pictures of various areas and while I felt enormous empathy for the people involved, I felt nothing more. I do not love Palm Beach County. I never have and I never will. It is just a place I came to live because a big corporation offered me a great job making good money. And that is all it will ever be to me here.

But Pensacola is different. Coming from a family that moved every two years and then at the age of 14, finding a place that roots were actually placed, that makes a place different. My Dad continued to move one more time, but they kept the house, renting it out until he came back to retire. I went to High School there and made the best friendships of my life. It’s where I went to college and made a couple other deep friendships. I kissed boys on the beaches and rented a beach house for two summers in a row with girlfriends. I partied at Seville and have huge ties to McGuire’s Irish Pub. The Naval Aviation Museum is one of my favorite places to go. I love my parent’s neighborhood. I love the people of Pensacola. It was home for me and always will be and I have this horrible ache inside as I look at the pictures and see it has been dismantled and may not be repairable. At least not ever the way it used to be.

And the injustices… the small older wooden homes in downtown, down in the historic districts are gone, crushed by the powers of Ivan, yet the Portofino, the new 3 tower concrete high rise eyesore complex that most native Pensacolians loathe, one built right on the damn beach, is still standing. The inequities make me nauseous.

So today I am very sad and am in sort of mourning. I am worried for my parents still and I am worried for their neighbors.

On a positive note, since I’ve been continually logging onto the Pensacola News Journal, they have a community forum. You can click on an area of the city, and it will list neighborhoods in that area. If you click on a neighborhood, people from out of town are posting questions. For instance, when I clicked on my folk’s neighborhood, a girl was trying to find her grandparents as there was a death in the family. A guy’s parent’s had evac’d and were wondering how there home was. I called my folks on their cell and my Dad took down the addresses and went out with the stipulation, “I am not doing death notification. I’ll just tell them they need to call her.” Fair enough. He’s done enough death notification in his lifetime. So he went around, checked on the houses and the people and the people in the forum are extraordinarily thankful. Good deeds were done and it is the positive I am seeing today.

I may not be blogging tomorrow or this weekend. I am depleted. I am drained. I like to use my blog to post at the end of the day all the funny things that have occurred to me or the ridiculous I have witnessed, kind of as a positive reflection on my day. I'm just a little drained right now.

Omnipotence Reigns

Where there is a will, there is a way. I got an e-mail from a cousin I have never met, but whom The Great Omnipotent One met through his genealogjcal, research. I've been keeping family posted. Anyway, it seems my cousin had spoken to TGOO right before they lost their landlines. Cousin told me that he informed TGOO that next time he goes into his safe room, he needs to sleep with his chain saw instead of keeping it in his shed. My Dad stores all lawn equipment in his big shed out back and the shed got flattened. It's one of those big Tupperware type sheds you see nowadays.

My folks finally got cell coverage and TGOO called me to give me a status. He said he was outside with his chainsaw, cutting up trees. I said, "What? I heard your chainsaw was in your shed and you told me your shed got flattened like a pancake." He replied, "Oh yeah, well I got my bolt cutters and just started cutting my way through the shed until I got to my chainsaw." His lawn mower is history, but his chainsaw is obviously intact.

I was sitting there last night thinking, 'This is going to be his own personal hell... seeing all those trees out there and he can't do jack about it. ' I was even thinking of shipping him a chainsaw. Phtt. What was I thinking? We're talking about The Great Omnipotent One. He finds a solution to everything and nothing holds him back.

Next on the list, as soon as Home Depot opens, he's going to buy shingles, repair his roof and as he puts it, "Get the hell out of here." No power, no water, no phone, no internet, not pleasant. He's got things to do and it doesn't include sitting in a sticky house with no water.

I Have Come to Hate the Weather Channel

It's official. I hate them. I hate them all. I hate the ef'in Weather Channel. The sounds of their voices in the background as my husband watches and I sit at my desk, is enough to make me want to vomit. The Weather Channel music makes me want to scream.

The sensationalism... I guess what else are they going to do? It's the damn Weather Channel. They report weather. I guess they figure this keeps us in tune... but it does not. I'm tuning out. I am officially getting all my weather news from the internet.

If I see little weather channel chicky girl say one more time, "Look! Look at this stick! This could become a projectile and kill someone!!!" or stupid weather channel drama boy, "And look at this awning! It was torn from the building!", I may punch my TV. Guess what? That's what hurricanes do. Yeah, I'm interested in the bridges washing away and the floods (this is MY HOMETOWN they're reporting on), but I'll pass on the awnings and the potential killer sticks.

I'm over them. And if we take a hit from Jeanne, I frickin' promise you I will NOT be getting my updates from the Weather Channel. Bah!

Man Chests... Ain't Life Grand?!!!

Blog Sistuh Tammi reminded me that I wanted to Post about this... I've been so wigged out about my folks and Ivan I completely forgot.

OK, so Harvey asked for Boob pix (his round up of pictures is HERE) and so Blog Bruddah Johnny Oh! posted THIS, to which he got a scolding from Blog Faddah. So he went back and posted THIS entry, which of course, me being a man chest lovin' girl that I am, made me very happy. But THEN, Johnny Oh! threw down the gauntlet to Harv, so Harvey posted a picture in return, HERE.

Ahhh.... life is very very good. I love man chests. It's good to be me! *Grin*

Pensacola Revisited

The Great Omnipotent One told me to tell my readers that “Pensacola was Shot at and Missed, then Shit at and Hit.” Damage is extensive.

They are blessed. No trees hit their home. To understand Pensacola is to know that the yards are chock full of 200 foot pine trees and Oak trees. Every tree except for the family Oak has been felled or sheered, not one of them landed on the house. So far it appears that although every house around them lost every single tree, not one house was hit. TGOO said it appears that a small twister may have come down, but not landed, and twisted and snapped the tops off the tallest trees. Some of the trees are contorted and snapped, but have not totally fallen. As he puts it, “Major relandscaping has been done.’ They do have roof damage, but think it may be from tree branches brushing the roof as they fell.

Some funny stories. It was about 11PM and my folks had been without power for about 5 hours. Their neighbors in their back yard and all along that street all had power. TGOO went to bed to catch some sleep before Ivan hit and my Mom was sitting on the couch, looking out their big windows at our neighbors, quietly pissed that they still had power and they did not. (During Opal, my folks lost power for a week and these people never once lost power.) My folks live alongside the power easement. As she is staring down their house, she heard an enormous explosion, the sky went the most brilliant colored light, lighting all around for miles, and then… everything, including the backyard neighbor's house, went black. Black as the inside of a hat, is how she put it. She said she looked in shock and thought, “Oh no! What have I done!” heh heh heh. When my Dad looked out to investigate this morning, it was one of our 200 foot pine trees that took that line out. Don’t mess with my Mom, Dammit!

They went into the bunker room about midnight. My Mom had created this small bed for TGOO to stretch out on. Their bunker room is a very small bathroom. She said she sat against the wall, fully clothed, shoes on, flashlight in hand, holding the quilt I made her for her birthday looking like a ‘sitting corpse’. TGOO fell asleep. My Mom said she was horrified by the noise, the explosions. Of all the hurricanes they’ve been through, and they’ve been through a Cat 3, this was the worst. She said TGOO slept and was snoring. She sat stone straight listening the whole time. Finally, TGOO woke up and said, “I’m tired of this shit. I’m going to bed” and he did. She said she joined him, staying full clothed and awake. He started snoring again.

TGOO has already started calling tree services and roofing companies. He doesn’t mess around.

There are nearly 350,000 people out of power with 50,000 still with power… never lost it. I can’t figure out where those folks live.

That’s the latest. My folks are fine.