Tuesday, August 11th, it was time to get back to whatever normal is. To do this, I created an updated 'to do' list. There was a threat of severe rain so Claude went to the grocery store, CVS and the dry cleaners in the morning before the weather was projected to begin.
I set to work doing our laundry. Then I went through the toys taken for the great grandmonsters. Cleaning out the Play-doh was fun. I was then ready to return them to the shed. I really wanted this done ahead of the storms.
After Claude got home, we put the groceries away and then then tornado alarm started. It went on forever!!
I continued to get the laundry done. I completed my Blog and taking care of picture labeling and filing. I did start to catch up on my Northern Disclosure podcasts. While Claude napped, I cleared the DVR of some of my documentaries.
While the storms raged, Claude fixed us a nice salmon dinner. We would watch World War II with Tom Hanks for the evening.
Hayden and I did some texting while I watched television. He started it by sending my a meme of a man in a rain slicker reporting the weather. The caption said, "It's raining sideways!" The storms they were having in Chicago were the ones that would come to Kentucky.
Wednesday, August 12th, during the night, I was awakened with claps of lightning striking nearby. That will bring one bolt upright in bed I tell you!
I was able to secure tickets for Claude and me to see Mannheim Steamroller. They usually come to the Lexington Opera House in December. This year the closest they come to our home is Owensboro, Kentucky. It turns out we have tickets the night before to be in Nashville to see Amy Grant and Vince Gill's Christmas show at the Ryman. It is only 1 1/2 hours to drive from Nashville to Owensboro. We opted to get the tickets and stay in Owensboro the next night.
In the afternoon, I went to CenterPoint Health for my annual mammogram. CenterPoint Health is really Georgetown Hospital. They have changed their named. Ugh! All went well.
I made it home between rain storms. Yeah!! I still felt like I was getting a cold. I don't know what this is but I clearly have something not right with me. No fever but I feel chilled. Achy. No energy. Some congestions I can hear in my chest. No runny nose though. It is strange but I could rest, so I did rest the afternoon and evening away. Claude made chili for dinner and that was delicious.
Thursday, August 13th, was Michael Marx's birthday. He is our son-in-law married to our middle child, Andie. This was a biggy birthday as he turned 55 years old. I posted this on our family Facebook page. "Guess what Family? We get to celebrate a special day in the life of Michael Marx! Happy Birthday!! This birthday is a biggy for him because it is a multiple of 5. You may guess which one. Michael is a great hubby, father and sin-in-law. Yep, I spelled that right. Remember that phrase Michael? He is unfailingly kind to Claude and me. We love him bunches! Please join me in wishing Michael a very Happy Birthday!!"
I did not feel well at all when I awoke. Still not able to identify what in the world is going on but I was not feeling great. I had purchased tickets for Claude and me to go to the Georgetown Cinema to se "The Brink of War" starring Jeff Daniels. It is about the summit between Gorbachev and Reagan in Reykjavík Iceland. This was a part of US history during Claude and my lifetime and we have been to Iceland. The film was made by Angel Studio. It was excellent. We are very fond of Angel Studios work.
After the movie, Claude took me to Applebee's for a nice salmon bowl for my meal-O'-the-day. Yum!!
I rested for the remainder for the day and evening. I really didn't know what else to do with my strangely sick body but let it rest and drink lots of liquids. I did manage to set a lunch date with my friend Laura and I had a phone call from Katelyn. We watched more World War II with Tom Hanks.
Friday, August 14th, was the Roper's anniversary. My goodness, I almost missed posting it on our family Facebook page. I did get it posted but not first thing in the morning. " Oh my heck! I almost forgot to post our congratulations to Drew Roper and Katelyn Roper on their anniversary!! Happy Anniversary you two!! From those early days thru hockey and children, we love ya bunches!!"
We started our day with a donut run. Our goal this day was to sit down and go through "The Drive" and determined what would work and what wouldn't work. It is good for Claude to see all of this on the maps and realize the driving times and let me know if it will work for him. We made it through so that I could redo the grid for that trip for a final review. Hallelujah!!
I was slowly mending from whatever I had. We would start watching the Hobbit movies. Claude forwarded a thing for me on Facebook and it had the music from the Hobbits on it. That made me want to watch them again. We would get the first two watched this evening.
Saturday, August 15th, was a quiet day at home. Love those days. I settled into SandiLand to make the changes to the grid. I also watched my remaining Northern Disclosures. Claude would go over the final grid. Once we did that, I was now ready to book hotels and entries to things we want to see. It's getting there.
We had a mega thunderstorm that started in the evening. Someone a block over from us posted this on the Ward Hall Estates Facebook page. The blue dot is the person who posted this picture's home. If you look to the left down Warfield, you find a red dot. That is where the lightning struck. Our home is just off the bottom right corner of this picture. Yike!!
Sunday, August 16th, was an interesting day. I was up before Claude. I went to the door to the patio to see what happened with the rain we had the night before. This is what I found.
When Claude woke up, I suggested we text Jon Zimmerman and see if he could take out this tree for us. Jon was the man who mowed our grass when we first moved to Georgetown. He had helped us with the trees and other things in our yard before. I sent Jon a text with a picture of the tree over the fence. Then Claude and set to work getting ready for church.
We got all dressed and went to church. Before it even started, I got a text from Jon saying he would come right over and assess the situation. I assured him we had no dogs and we would come home immediately. We exited the church before the meeting even started.
We got home and changed into our grubbies just as Jon arrived at the house. He came with his truck and some gear. I think my pictures gave him an idea of what to do. He walked around and assessed how to get the tree off the fence without breaking it. Then he quoted us what we felt was an extremely fair price to take the tree down. We agreed and he went to work.
First he went to the neighbor behind us and told them he needed to enter their yard to cut the tree down. Then he took his chain saw and cut the top of the tree off. He loaded it in his truck and cleaned up the neighbors yard of all debris.
Then Jon came to our back yard and set to work. He in a piece of equipment and all Claude could do was say, "I want one of those." Men and their toys. This had a claw on it that made it possible for Jon to lift the trunk of the tree off the fence and place it on the ground without breaking the fence.
Once the trunk was on the ground, Jon cut it into three pieces, each about the same length.
Then he lifted all three branches at the same time with the claw.
He was able to use the machine carrying the three pieces with the claw down the little hill, out the gate and place them on the curb of the front lawn for pick-up.
This is what the tree ended up with on the front lawn.
Jon the set to work cleaning up the mess in the back yard. He used the biggest rake I have ever seen in my life to rake up the debris. He would load it in the wheelbarrow and take it to the front yard. Then he used his extremely powerful leaf blower to clean off the bricks.
When he was finished, our backyard was back to normal again! A Sunday Miracle!!
Claude and I are extremely grateful for people who care about their work and do an expert job at it. We have two more trees to come down this fall and Jon with work with us on that project.
Well that took all our morning. We were now very off-kilter for a Sunday. We went to Jimmy John's for our lunch. Claude took his nap. I watched my documentaries. Then I came to finish my weekly Blog and pictures. The thunder is rumbling in the distance. We may have a few more storms this evening.
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