Rain Rain Go Away....

Its going to rain again tomorrow. They are predicting it to be torrential. This has been the wettest winter I can remember. Water is still standing everywhere from the ice storm this past weekend, and the downpour that lasted all day on Tuesday. Honestly, I don't see where anymore of this wet stuff is going to go. Its a little unsettling, because I lived here back in 1999 when we had some serious flooding. Luckily we are on high enough ground that we didn't get hit with that kind of devastation. But there was no electricity, gas pumps, ATM's, trucks coming in to restock grocery stores, and worst of all.....gasp....restaurants were all closed because the water supply was contaminated. No ice, no way to wash dishes...I almost had to cook. Yikes! I hope it doesn't come to that. Maybe just having these few days between each storm will give it time to soak up and not overfill the Tar river.

And while all this rain is awful, Erica is forecasted to get up to 28 inches of snow this weekend. What the heck is going on? I would be eternally grateful if you all would just send us some happy thoughts to get us through until spring. Stay warm, stay dry, and have a nice weekend!

Weirdest Dream

I had the weirdest dream last night. And for some reason it was really vivid and it stuck in my memory even after waking up. Bruce and I had bought a new house in Maryland. (I have no idea why I would dream that specific place other than I have been talking to my friend Julie a lot lately and she lives in Maryland...?) The house itself was a 2-story typical American home in a typical suburban neighborhood. Very nice, nothing over the top. But in the back of the house was this unbelievable indoor/outdoor pool. Half of it was inside in the huge sunroom filled with plants and statues. And then you swam under a partial glass wall and were outside in this beautiful outdoor pool area. It was spectacular and more like a luxury resort pool instead of what you might find in a regular home.

So we had moved in and were getting settled...and I noticed that our front walk had these black horizontal lines going down it. Spray painted graffiti lines that made it look like a railroad track. And while I was inspecting this strange thing, this large FBI truck pulled up and starting unloading dead bodies onto our walk. Laying them on each of the lines. I was so freaked out. I was frantically asking the FBI agents what the heck was going on, and they explained to me that this is where they brought all of the unidentified bodies to have their pictures taken for the media so that the families could hopefully see it and identify them. And apparently it was the "national" spot, meaning bodies from all over the country were brought to MY sidewalk, photographed while stretched out over these lines, and then loaded back into the truck and taken away to a morgue. I was so creeped out. I wanted to move out of the house immediately, even though I had been so happy and thrilled with the pool.

I have NO idea what this dream was about. It left me unsettled even after I woke up.
Maybe I have been watching way too much earthquake coverage lately. And I know I have been upset by the discovery of that young girl's body in Charlottesville. You know, the one that went missing from the Metallica concert last fall. Right there in my daughter's town. I had been hoping and praying for a happier ending. I guess I just let things get to me. Things that I have no control over or that don't even really involve me or affect my life. I have a whole lot of trouble not feeling empathy for the awful situations of other people. Maybe I should take a break from watching the news for a while. Geez.....

Victorious

This is what my house looked like when I woke up Saturday morning. Unfortunately, it was almost all sleet/ice with a thin layer of actual snow underneath. It was NOT good snowman-making snow...and I was a little bit disappointed in that. But the good news is that even though the trees and power lines were heavy with ice by late afternoon, we never lost electricity. I was so grateful.



I did get the chance to wear my bright shiny GREEN boots though. And that made me happy. I know you are all seething with jealousy over these things.

And there is more good news, too. We have HOT water. ALL over the house! Everywhere! And Bruce and I did it ourselves. We were victorious. It was a long, and arduous journey, and we had many fails (we think it was due to a bad batch of flux...if you know what that is. I didn't before, but I SURE do now). But it got done, and no more holes appeared in our ceilings. Bruce put down more flooring up there, and it helped a whole lot. The only thing not done is the 2nd new water heater is not installed. It was bought to replace the one old one still up there, but the old one is working (at this moment in time), and we? We have had enough of that for right now. I was nothing more than a glorified plumber's assistant. But I learned a lot. Like when we get ready to tackle the second new heater, we will be using a brand new batch of flux. Flux is important. I think the second round of plumbing will go much faster and more smoothly since we are seasoned and experienced. Also? This heater is located in a wide open area that doesn't require contortions of the body to get to.
Maybe next weekend....?

I ended our long day of miserable plumbing fails (we just got finished TODAY) by making a big ol' pot of turkey and rice (with lots of celery and onions....yum).
It was turkey and broth that I had frozen from our leftover Christmas turkey dinner, and it was delicious.

Maybe things are looking up? I am going to be optimistic that this new week is a much better one than the last.