We will probably not know the results of our national election tonight. We may have to wait until the end of the week or longer. It’s hard when our country is so divided. Emotions are high. Tension is high. I hope that everyone votes and has their voice heard.
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LINDA’S CRAFTINESS – 8″ X 12″ hand wood-burned and painted sign that encourages you not to waste a minute of your precious time. $24.99 with Free Shipping. Use this link to see this and other wood-burned gifts on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy.
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WEATHER –
Karin de Haas – Funda Altincekic Aysel
We had some pretty strong storms with LOTS of rain, thunder and lightning. (We’ve gotten 4.10 inches in the past 24 hours.) We don’t think we had any damage, and for that we are really grateful. Greenwood is under a flood warning until mid afternoon and it is cool and wet now. Nice day to stay inside (unless you need to get out to cast your vote).
It was cooler yesterday, but seemed really hot when my husband and I drove the trash down the driveway yesterday. We had to stop SEVERAL times so I could get out and gather and/or drag branches that had fallen into the driveway from the storm and throw them off to the side of the driveway. The trash can had blown over and was partially filled with water. I managed to drain it and then drag it down to the bottom of the driveway. We put our trash in for pickup today. We got our mail and then it took the two of us to straighten our robot.
The robot is about 200 pounds and stands, welcoming people, toward the bottom of our driveway. We had winds blow him down once several years ago and practically killed ourselves trying to get him up on the driveway again. So we wrapped a big chain around his neck, securing one end to a pole behind him and the other end to our driveway gate in front of him so that he can only LEAN now. The storms were enough to make him lean, and my husband pulled on him while I found rocks to shove under his right foot to steady him.
That said, what we dealt with was nothing compared to what a lot of people in Arkansas suffered. There were a LOT of power outages, power lines and power poles down, trees down, roads had to be closed, flooding, etc. And this was from a storm I didn’t even know about when we went to bed. Another rain followed that one the next night, causing more outages and damage.
I THINK all is okay now. I don’t mind a good storm, but I wish Mother Nature wasn’t quite so dramatic, causing good people to have problems.
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I had a good time in my art room yesterday afternoon. I’m working on a wood-burning piece, trying different techniques and having a blast learning. I even put away a few things while I was up there, but you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. The only time it looks reasonable up there is when nothing has happened, nothing is in progress, and nothing is planned.
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My husband mowed yesterday – telling me happily how much easier it is to mow now with the new mower – and I used the leaf blower to clean off our front and back sidewalks and driveway pad. Even though it was cooler yesterday, I was wringing wet when I came in. I’m ready for fall.
We’re supposed to have storms starting later today. We’re going to go shopping in a few minutes to get our mail and get some groceries in for what looks to be a rainy few days ahead.
I planted my elephant ear bulbs in three different brick planters around the front yard yesterday. Clearing out one of the planters was quite laborious, with having to lop off a LOT of heavy branches from two trees behind and around the planter. I may have to do more down the line, but it’s enough for now.
The bulbs are huge and look like small bowling balls without finger holes. I couldn’t tell from looking at them which was ‘up’ and ‘down.’ I researched, and it said the end that is more rough, with what might look like gouges or holes is the end where the roots will come out and should go DOWN in the hole. I’m now anxiously awaiting a spurt of greenery to show.
If the rain holds off for a while after we return this morning, I’ll see if I can get the iris I dug out of one of the planters bracketing the front porch relocated in planters around the yard.
My only plans other than the above are to clean up my area around my computer, pay bills, file, bookkeeping, cooking, etc. Exciting, huh! :0)
We had quite a storm overnight-into-this-morning, knocking out our power for a very short time. However, I’m reading that a lot of people in our county are still without power. It’s rainy and we’re under a flood watch now, and excessive heat warning later today. It sounds like we should fasten our seat belts.
We’re planning to go to Lunch Bunch later to meet our friends. It will be interesting to see if we 1) have any trouble with flooding on the roads, 2) the restaurant is open and has power, and 3) if our friends come. We’ll plan to hit the local grocery before coming home again. (I would try calling or texting our friends, except that neither one answers their phones or gets texts, so it’s like throwing a bottle in the ocean these days. Getting older is such a treat. :0)
I think I told you my husband decided to sneak out a cut down another tree beside the driveway this week. Each day he’s dragging more of it up to our burn pile. I’m not sure where the tree is. I’m just glad he hasn’t hurt himself trying to tackle this.
I’m not sure about what else we’ll try to do today. I’m enjoying having the front and back doors open to the breeze!
We had quite a storm overnight with LOTS of loud thunder and lightning. a lot of people in Ft. Smith and the surrounding River Valley don’t have power this morning. We were lucky, with no damage that we know of. We have another storm due around noon, and then I think we’re clear.
My good husband mowed the grass right before dinner last night so it looks like someone cares around here. I need to catch up with the weed whacking when things dry out.
We set the triptic (sp?) on the truck when we left to go to town yesterday, measuring how far it was from our driveway to the place we usually turn on Hwy 10 to finish the trip to town. It’s 5.3 miles to get there, going the back way. There’s another back way, where we go down back behind our house and out to HWY 71 South and then back to Greenwood, but that’s even farther. It’s not a huge deal – just a couple of extra miles in the wrong direction – an annoyance until the new bridge is built and open.
Happy March! Celebrations are going on in the Lewis household that February is gone for another year and that the start of spring isn’t too far away.
We’re in for a BUNCH of rain and possibly severe storms starting today and running through Friday, with a flood watch. Since we live on top of a hill, if we make it through the thunderstorms, gusty winds, and hail, we’re good. :0)
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I’m doing laundry, changing bed linens, vacuuming and other exciting stuff today. Right now we have lots of happy looking daffodils all around the yard, so it looks like our yard is celebrating, too.
This is an older photo, when we covered the boxes with tarps. This year we used fabric weed control cut to length and held down with bricks. They have lasted all winter and through the thunderstorms and gusty winds so far.
I’ll get serious about figuring what I’d like to plant in my garden this year. I’m hoping for lots of lettuce and spinach plants for sale soon. Also sweet onions of some type. Tomato plants, of course, radish seeds, celery plants transferred from buying bunches at the store. I’m thinking about trying some herbs on my kitchen divider this year. It’ll be fun to start digging in the dirt again.
I hope that this first day of March is a beautiful one for you.
Good morning! I’m feeling a bit disorganized this morning, as we went to the clinic for my blood test and to go to breakfast at The Dari afterwards, only to find the clinic closed. I had checked my computer which said it was open, but it was wrong. SO – we regrouped and went for supplies at Walmart and home again. We checked for mail when we got home, and then I realized AGAIN that there would be no mail service today. I’ve gathered trash and we’ll take it down later today BEFORE we’re due to have possible severe weather this afternoon and evening.
I’ve just eaten a pear for my breakfast and am enjoying a cup of coffee, feeling weird that I’m a couple of hours late at this and wondering where the morning went. I would like to get my session on the elliptical trainer done before we have lunch at noon.
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It has been awhile since I wrote the above. We got our trash down to the bottom of the driveway, then ate lunch, and then I started to take a nap. The weather suddenly changed and the rain came roaring. We had a really loud bang and thunder, and the power flickered. It came back on, so I went back to sleep. My husband woke me up to ask me how long we had been on the generator. I looked at the clock and told him when the lightning and thunder clapped and that I thought the power had returned. Apparently, that isn’t the case. We’ve been on the generator ever since. The rain has stopped, but my computer is telling me that heavy rain is on the way. Looks like it will be a long afternoon and evening.
We think we came through the storms last night all right. We were under a tornado WARNING for quite a while, and that was concerning. Lots of rain and gusty winds. We haven’t been down the driveway yet, but so far, we haven’t found any damage.
Kelley Blue Book
We got the tires changed on the truck from the regular tires to our snow tires yesterday. We’re a bit “long-in-the-tooth” for this, but we managed. We agreed that when we take them off, we’ll do one end of the truck, then REST, and then finish the job, rather than trying to get it all done in one session. I suggested that we pull the truck up onto the shop concrete pad, but not try to get the truck IN the shop this time. That saved us having to move a lot of things in the shop to make room, plus the stress of getting the truck in and out. It’s good to know now that if we get a sudden cold snap, we should be able to get down the driveway and back up again.
I’m trying to get my husband to realize it’s not the end of the world if he needs to rest during a project. He admitted to me yesterday that during one recent project, where he insisted he didn’t need any help, he got to the point he was almost throwing up with exhaustion. I pointed out that while we were both getting older, we could still do most of what we wanted to do. We just needed to realize our limits, rest and do several sessions, rather than doing something all at once. This is an ongoing ‘discussion’ and I’m trying to be patient with him while not worrying myself to death…
Another example – we need to change the bulbs in one of the upstairs bathrooms. My husband was up on a ladder this morning to do the job. I received the old bulbs and handed him the new ones, one at a time. He got the first one in, but the second one was giving him trouble. He fought and fought with it, to the point he was shaking. I finally got him to give me the second bulb and helped him down, convincing him he could tackle the second one again later!
We have a 20% off coupon from Yeagers/Ace Hardware good today and tomorrow. We’re planning to buy potting soil, gardening gloves, clippers, and whatever else occurs to us in order to take advantage of the savings. We’ve gotten teed off by the coupon system that the store adopted a year or so ago, where you have to “hold-your-mouth-right” in order for the $5.00 coupon to be valid. Usually we find it has expired, isn’t good yet, we haven’t spent enough money, didn’t buy the right brand, etc., etc., etc. :0( This one has to be used either today or tomorrow and says 20% off everything you buy. HOPEFULLY, we haven’t missed something in the fine print (I’ll read it again) and it all works as it should.
I melted into a puddle when I saw this puppy. I couldn’t resist giving him whatever he wanted. Those eyes. :0)
We had lots of severe weather last night. It was all around us, but mostly went just north of us, with tornadoes, really high gusty winds, hail, lightning, heavy rain, flooding, and flying hairballs. Lots of people lost power, had damage, etc. A semi was blown onto its side on one of the main highways through Fort Smith. Trees were down, some on homes, and more. Several of the public schools in our area of Arkansas went back to Zoom learning due to damage and lack of power. I don’t think any lives were lost.
We lucked out. We walked around checking our roof and yard. I checked my veggie plants. We had some leaves and branches in the yard, but just little stuff.
We did our errands this morning, taking our trash down to the bottom of our driveway (650 feet steeply down to the street in front of our home). No damage on the driveway. We didn’t notice any damage in Greenwood as we did our errands.
We are home now, hoping for a quiet day. I finished getting things back in place yesterday after our new carpet and porch flooring project. I’m determined to keep getting rid of STUFF. I’m trying to get into a ruthless state of mind. Hopefully I can make some significant progress – AFTER I rest from moving all the stuff OUT and then back IN to our office, living room, foyer, and porch!
I hope that you are safe and well, enjoying a quiet Tuesday.
Yesterday we enjoyed a 90% solar eclipse. My husband came in a few minutes ago and said, “It looks like we’re having a REAL eclipse now.” I looked out the window and it was really DARK.
I thought a storm was imminent, so I rushed to take Amber out before the downpour – but it didn’t come. Things have lightened up a bit now, but we still have a 60% chance of rain the rest of the day and night. I think, once we get through today, we’ll have several days where we just have a chance of the normal pop-up showers of summer.
We might actually be able to schedule getting the ham radio tower pulled up by the crane people soon! I also look forward to being able to get my flower planters under control again. And NOW the rains have come…
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