Lots of Weather

It seems like the warning siren went off constantly yesterday afternoon. It's such a scary sound even when you look at the weather map and see you're not in any danger. It did make me a little nervous to read the Weather Channel report tracking the weather and see it mention roads within a mile of our house and the word "tornado." I love bad weather - but the way I like it. Wind without rain. Rain without wind. Both in moderation. Turns out we had just a lot of hard rain for a little while and then again later last night some more, less fierce but lasting longer.

Our walk yesterday was perfect. Darby was frisky, the wind was blowing,and there was a threat of rain with the added pleasure of seeing the blooms of the Japanese magnolia and forsythia that I once again went out of my way to see.

Random pictures from the walk.









This was taken sitting outside and enjoying the wind yesterday afternoon.

My absolute favorite kind of weather - until the siren started wailing. I read a little bit but couldn't work on my quilt because the wind would have blown all my little rectangles away. I did finish the square I was working on and one more. It went faster. Maybe I'm relaxing a little bit and can start doing them assembly line fashion.

Busy day today. I have 4 hours to work, and then Barbara and I are going shopping - sort of - mainly just looking. But we do have our 40% Hobby Lobby coupons. I'll probably use mine for blades for my rotary cutter. Those things are expensive, and I use them as long as I can. When I start having to saw back and forth across the fabric, then I know it's time for a new one. Maybe I'll treat myself to a new needle in the machine today to celebrate my newfound confidence in quarter-inch seams.

Ice in the Dishwasher

I think I mentioned once or twice about it being cold, but we've managed to avoid it pretty much. Except for washing clothes. It was a pretty good idea on the part of the former owners of this house to turn the laundry room inside into a large pantry (because most people spend more time standing there in front of the shelves and looking for things they thought they had bought but forgot where they put - or eating cookies - than they do washing clothes). The laundry room got relegated to a storage room in the garage, which is heated and pretty nice but still unpleasant to get to in the cold or heat. But that was the worst of my suffering today, that and holding the door open for a reluctant dog to go in and out. I think she really regretted not being litter box trained today.

I said a prayer or two during the day for homeless folks and others who aren't lucky enough to be as warm as we are, and I just completely forgot about my own daughter who spent the coldest night of the year with no heat. The girls haven't been too high on the student/intern housing there in Warm Springs from the start. It's supposed to be a "cottage" and sounds quite charming, but it's really just an old house with a leaky roof and mildew that they've divided into rooms - but it's free, so they can't complain, or maybe they can! Last night the heating system (whatever it is) broke, and the pipes burst, causing them to have ice in their dishwasher. I would not have wanted to be in that kitchen this morning with a bunch of shivering, fussing girls trying to get breakfast after a frigid night. She was still griping about it when she called on the way to Mobile. She plans to take back a tent and air mattress plus plenty of blankets Sunday. If she stops here, she might can fight Grandmama for her fancy heated wrap. I think I know who would win. She would also have to contend with Stella who thinks her person has the best place in the house for napping.