Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Rumbling Around Home, Storm Watches then Warnings, Birthday Wishes

The Ridge

On Tuesday, Sept. 7th, I was awake a couple of times through the wee hours, lastly dropping off at 5:30 into a deep sleep. When I next woke and looked at the clock, it was 7:30! That 2 hours went by in a blink. Bill had a text from his boss last night that they wouldn’t be starting the job down the road today so he got another day off. It’s good in one way but it also means a small paycheck again. 😊 I told Bill it was just gearing us down to what will be, come October.

Back to school
makes me feel that things are 'almost' normal

I took a tea into Durham, cleaned the Mat and then drove to Hanover. We had built up quite a grocery list so I picked those things up at Walmart. Apparently, I was brain dead again though. I meant to go further down the street to the Independent Grocers to get my yogourt and completely forgot that. Not everyone carries (few actually) the 11% Oikos Greek yogourt so it means popping into a store I don’t generally shop at. Donna does frequent there for her groceries so if I don't get back, I'll ask her to pick me up a couple of tubs.

Breakfast time for someone

On my way back through Durham, I filled a 3-gallon water bottle and headed home. Bill was working on the water system for the Suite (he can explain all that) and Gibbs was digging another hole to China on the opposite side of the trailer. Good grief! It was a big one! 👀 It really doesn’t do any harm; it isn’t in the lawn at least so we just chastise him and fill it back in. We don’t get too bent out of shape about it. It's just stones.

Gibbs noticed the cows on our walk
He isn't sure about them so barks to let them know he's boss

Bill always has lots of projects to do around here, some for ‘our’ living improvements and others for his own ‘hobby’ improvements.  So, he started adding a railing to the Hangar porch. There were almost enough pieces left from our stoop to do it and he’d shoved them under the Suite to keep them dry. I loaded them in Ptooties hatch and dropped them down at the Hangar and drove over to M’s to show him how to use the Little Green carpet cleaner. I wasn’t gone 15 minutes.

All the way up the lane, he kept stopping
to check on those big bovine

When I returned, I decided to work on my canvas painting but this time IN the Bunky.  The forecast was for heavy rains and storms later today. Bill stopped when he ran out of wood and I stopped when I noticed the sky to the northwest was getting darker and darker. Over us, we were still in light skies but we knew that could change in a minute. By the time we both got inside, the heavy clouds and rain spatters didn’t take long to move our way.


What's the opposite of pigeon-toed?
He has the cutest little stance

It got scary and every 5 minutes we were getting warning notices on our phones and the radio that we may need to take cover because of 110 km winds or tornadoes.  It was covering a wide area but for the first time, I saw that Bill was nervous. He's my rock when I get anxious so this worried me. We packed up a few important things and then at 4:30 threw a few items for us and Gibbs in a bag and hightailed it to Hanover. Donna and Gerry have a basement at least.

Seeing the pictures, it makes us look like wimps
running for shelter

but it was much blacker than this shows
and it was enough to make us get the heck outta here!
Better to be safe than sorry, as Donna says

We need to communicate with a couple of neighbours closer to home for instances like this as driving the 20 minutes to family may not always be feasible. The scare for us was when the blackest sky I’ve ever seen here moved towards us and over top of it were some weird clouds. We hit wind and rain not far down the road but by the time we reached their home, things seemed to have settled down.

Pictures are quite blurry - sorry!

We prayed that things would be okay at the Ridge for us to return to later. Gibbs hasn’t been at Donna’s since he was just 8 weeks old so of course, it was a new exploring experience for him. 😊 We all chose food off a sheet of coupons from A & W and Bill and Gerry went to pick up our cheap supper. The Bacon Cheddar Uncle Burger combo was a choice for 3 of us and we enjoyed them in the dining room. Donna opted for the Papa Burger with onion rings. They looked good too although we agreed that we would like them better with the crispy, greasy hard coating. Yummy.

Gibb's was a going concern looking around
Donna was perusing the coupon menu

Checking the weather network around 7:30 showed that the warnings for tornadoes had passed and only a thunderstorm watch was in effect until early morning. Phew! We packed up and drove home. There was nothing indicating any damage anywhere along the route nor at the Ridge. That was a big sigh of relief. Family close to home had been communicating about the storm with one sister asking “Where is Pat?” They know we are kind of the sitting ducks up here.


Helping Daddy drive home

Things back home on Baptist Church Road were just wet
and puddly

We appreciate all their concern and let them know we were home safe. The rain does a number on our satellite service, always has, so trying to watch America’s Got Talent was almost pointless. We went up to bed around 10:30. Before I say good night, I need to mention that my 2nd oldest grandson, Jake, turned 24 today! I don’t know how this is even possible. I hope his card arrived on time. 😊

From 3 days old

10 years old

Happy Birthday, Jacob! 💕🎈🎉
Good night!

This was mostly a good day, we could have done withOUT the scare but at least we got to visit my sister.

Thank you for stopping in.

12 comments:

  1. I'm happy to hear that the storm didn't pan out to be as bad as it might have been. Glad too that you have places to go when things look ugly in the sky.

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    1. Thank you Maebeme. Neighbours are a better plan, we just need to have the conversation with them. :)

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  2. Glad that you are safe and sound.
    Got pretty windy here too and once again took plants down and secured objects. Gibbs is so very attentive. Glad he enjoys those cows like me.

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    1. Thank you Loree.
      I'd love to get Gibbs closer to the cows but I'd be nervous then! haha

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  3. Hope that was the same once in twenty year storms we’ve been getting. Not fun!

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    1. Yes, it seems we are getting a lot of tornados lately and it is scary.

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  4. Happy Birthday Jacob! Look at that hair on baby Jacob and now on grown Jacob! Love it! Glad the storm wasn't as bad as you thought it might be. You did get to visit your sister and have dinner "out"...Gibbs is just getting cuter and cuter!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for Jakes wishes. I think the same thing, he's always had lots of hair on that head! :)

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  5. When that tornado warning came through it sure woke us up fast! We reacted with a little extra nervousness since of course I can't get to the basement.

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    1. Yes, it really makes one take stock of where we are and where do we go. In your case too, scary things go through our head.

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  6. Yes, normalcy is what I see in the buses. :)
    Thank you, we were happy to miss the storm!

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  7. Thank God you're ok,I will pray that you find a safe shelter closer to home should you ever need it - Mary

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