Tag: weather

Travel

Well, we drove three+ hours each way today instead of flying half as much to go visit my grandmother for Mother’s Day weekend. The weather was just too spotty and unreliable, so we drove. The up side is that we got to bring the dog with us. The down side is that my man didn’t get the extra three hours of cross-country flight time he would have gotten if we’d flown. But it was also cheaper driving…

Nonetheless, plans changed, but it still worked out well. We got to stop at Costco for flowers and a hot dog and slice of pizza. Always a good thing on our list. And then we had a great lunch out with my mom and grandma (and the dog), a good time just the two of us with the dog waking around town a bit, and then a good time relaxing st my grandma’s before we all headed back out to go home. All in all, it was a very good day, and I am grateful for it.

Thank you, God, for the family and the love and the safety of today. Please, keep us always safe, that we pursue and fulfill your will by being our best selves. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Completed

Well, it poured and rained for most of the day today, yet the festival was still a success. Not all the groups got to perform today, but they all did yesterday, when loads of people were at the festival, so it kind of balanced. Nowhere near as many people came today as yesterday, but there was still a surprisingly good number of people, despite the rain. When the rain started letting up somewhat in early afternoon, even more people kept showing up. So, sure, the grounds were basically flooded in spots all over the place, and most people just walked around, getting soaked, no umbrella to be seen. (That part actually really got me. Sure, the weather forecast had changed a bit from what it had said last night, but the sky was dark this morning. The sun barely even rose. There was no way one couldn’t look or step outside and not know that it would be raining a decent amount today. And, likely, it already was raining by the time anyone did step outside to head to the festival. Nonetheless, loads of people had no rain protection whatsoever. Okay, folks… haha.)

Anyway, great day and great time with my family today, and then great dinner with my dad and my man this evening. I’m already in bed about to go to sleep, and it isn’t even ten PM. Thank you, God, for all these blessings. Be with us always, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

A change in plans

Today, I got to experience flying in a small airplane on a hot and clear day – loads of, basically, constant turbulence; high crosswinds with crazy-high gusts that made landing quite difficult and had several planes look insane as they were landing (successfully); an unidentified malfunction of the flaps – those help you slow down when landing, as I understand it – that prevented us from landing with those gusts, multiple times; the discovery that that malfunction was related to power… as all the plane’s electrical power eventually disappeared while in the air – remember that the engine still is running, just nothing else works, including the com system; navigating with no modern electrical airplane tools; and landing at a towered airport without radioing the tower, and, instead, by telephoning someone on the ground to let the tower know we have no power, and getting the all-clear from the tower through that person.

We never actually got to stop at the fly-in event we were going in the first place to attend, but we got to where we apparently needed to be today. Talk about a nutso flight… we certainly had it today! But I am extremely proud of my man and grateful for his passion and dedication to learning and practicing what he needed to learn and practice in order to handle it all safely and efficiently today. I mean, sure, I was definitely crying… a lot…, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t handling each situation well. That just meant I was terrified, which is really nothing new for me with flying.

(I know, it’s hard to believe, given all of my experience flying all over the world, but I genuinely am nervous and at least a little stressed every time I am preparing to travel by and am traveling by airplane. Walking off that plane and onto solid ground always gives me such immense relief. Seriously.)

Anyway, I prayed a lot today. I was definitely stressed as things were happening, but God and Mary and Jesus and Jude and Joseph of Copertino all came through and kept us safe and, eventually, gave us a safe landing… and on a real runway. (I kid you not, we never said it aloud, but we were both thinking that we were likely about to be emergency landing in one of the many fields we were passing.)

Thank you, God and Jesus and Mary and Jude and Joseph (of Copertino – grazie!), for keeping us safe and bringing us home, safe. Thank you for this training for the both of us. Please, help me to find a call around my man’s flying. And, please, help him always to have safe travels and departures and arrivals, especially for work. In Jesus’s name, I pray. Thank you. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Rainstorms

Whereas I love hanging at home and going to bed during rain storms, with all the thunder and lightning and wind and rain outside, the dog resolutely disagrees with me. And, frankly, tonight, she is pissing me off. If I didn’t despise having to touch her crate right now, after I’ve already showered and gotten all clean and all, I already would have pulled it out and locked her inside it. No, I don’t like trapping a dog inside its crate. But it is sometimes the only option to prevent them from freaking out so much that they destroy just about anything they can get to.

She looks at me so pathetically, yet won’t accept the comfort I offer her of a fancy faux-fur pallet on the floor right next to my bed… she isn’t even allowed in the bedroom usually. But she’s about to blow it… ugh…

Dear God, please, keep my man safe and bring him back to me safely each night, including tonight. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Thermostat lies

How on Earth does that thermostat think it is 77 degrees in this house?(!!!!!!!!!) I am freezing!(!!!) Sure, it’s 49° outside right now – no idea where that cold came from, but I am delighted about it – but that doesn’t mean that it is 77° in here, and it certainly doesn’t feel anything even relatively close to 77 in here… no way.

Give it five minutes, and the air will come on, suddenly showing that it’s actually only 66, which is why it is suddenly starting to warm… yeah, yeah, thermostat. You keep on lying to yourself and to us all, but we know what you do. We know you fake it sometimes until you feel like actually getting to work.

Post-a-day 2023

Guess wha-at…!

We

Have

Gas Again!!!!!

So, now we can have hot water and cook and bake and have heat in the house and run the dishwasher and wash and dry clothes and just hand wash greasy dishes period(!). Oh, goodness… the difference it makes. We are incredibly grateful this is finally handled.

Turns out that we likely didn’t need to dig the ditch ourselves at all, but I think it was still good in that it gave my man a somewhat cathartic thing to do, as well as a thing to do while we waited for all the rest of the pieces of big company nonsense to sort themselves out.

See? The contracted company brought their own machinery to handle the rest of it all. AND they put all of the dirt neatly back on top of the ditch after they replaced all the piping. No extra work for my man or us. Woohoo!

The big energy company, when we did what we were supposed to do, then told us that we would have to wait until Tuesday for them to come and do the simple re-installation of the gas meter and to turn on the gas… a very different message from what they had told us two days beforehand, when they’d said same-day installation would be no problem whatsoever. They now wanted us to spend over five days in our home in freezing temperatures, and then they would come do a twenty-minute stop-in.

No way, Jose.

Fortunately, after much intending on my part and multiple phone calls on the part of my man, Centerpoint showed up, and a very nice man named Lee hooked up everything easily and quickly, and turned on the gas and cleared up our gas lines in the house (because air is in the line at first, after installation). And now we have heat!

We actually both reveled in taking hot showers before going to the Christmas gathering we had this evening at my brothers’ dad’s house. That shower, though not the actual best I’ve had, was, within the context, the best shower ever. Uh…

I just thank you, God. Thank you. Keep us safe, please, that we pursue and fulfill your will, being our best selves. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022

So much to do, but too cold to do it

We both have lots to do before Monday afternoon, when everyone is coming over for family dinner. But it is just so cold now. He is outside, building the fence – brave soul. Fortunately, he actually likes the really cold weather. As a matter of fact, I really like the cold weather. Just not when it follows me indoors. And so, it is also really cold indoors here, since we still have no gas. We received the other two space heaters today, which I’d ordered on Amazon the day before yesterday. They help, but have to be on different breakers, since they pull such high ampules. So, it takes time to warm the big open space of the living room and entry and dining room and kitchen that we have. Great for openness, terrible for heating and cooling quickly.

I also just showered, and that was miserable, because the water is terribly cold now. I still have the few kettles of hot water to pour on myself throughout and to finish, but the cold in between is really cold, and that just tired me out.

Not to mention that I’m already exhausted from only five-ish hours of sleep last night and six-ish hours of sleep the night before. flying this morning was great, and was only terrifying a few times for a short time. I’m filled with pride for my man and what he has accomplished so far with flying. Next stop: a boatload of ratings (and, thereby, hours upon hours of practicing by flying) so that he might be able to fly commercially, professionally(!). Woohoo!

Anyway, I’ve been sitting on the floor in front of the heater a while now, and really need either to get to work or to get to bed. Just have to go get my socks and sweatshirt from the other room, put them on, and hop to it all.

Goodnight!

P.S. Want to see our to-do lists????

Before Monday afternoon: – [ ] tidy desk – [ ] tidy clothes in spare room – [ ] sort out dish towels – [ ] put away RenFest costumes etc. – [ ] clear out apartment stuff in dining room – [ ] finish washing and putting away dishes – [ ] handle drinks in garage and in garage fridge – [ ] tidy inside fridge – [ ] clean down countertops and kitchen surfaces – [ ] change bulb in dining chandelier – [ ] tidy shoe rack – put away some in bedroom – [ ] tidy pillows – [ ] see what consolidation I can do in the garage Setup stuff: – [ ] put out coasters – [ ] red/green Christmas bathroom linens – [ ] Christmas decorations set up – [ ] display german cookies etc.

Before Monday afternoon: – [ ] Put stove away – [ ] pick up all dirty clothes in house and garage – put in laundry – [ ] gather spare parts and tools left around house and garage – put away – [ ] Gather packages/boxes/bags and empty and put away – [ ] return emptied Christmas bins to upper shelf in garage – [ ] tidy back porch table – [ ] tidy back porch and prep for use by many – [ ] ***Can we use the fire pit Monday night?*** If so, what’s needed for that? – [ ] finish fence – [ ] Christmas lights up on house

Post-a-day 2022

Soup

I made a paleo/Whole30 chilli on Sunday evening, and then ate it yesterday and today. (I froze the majority of it, as my man is still on his juice cleanse he wanted, and he even stops day away from me, so he could have two three-day cleanses, instead of one five-day. [Recall that he wanted carbs for the 10k Sunday morning, so we ate food Saturday night and on Sunday, then he resumed the juice cleanse Monday.]) And, golly, is it good! I had never made chilli before, and was totally nervous I would make a pot of mediocre soupy stuff that I can’t stand for more than a few bites. Instead, I ended up with a vat of one of the best chillis I’ve ever had. Gratitude, God! Yay! Thank you, Heavems, for giving me a good recipe and for helping me actually do well in a super complex recipe. The more steps and ingredients they have, usually, the more likely I am to make it turn meh. So, this was a wonderful surprise.

The not-wonderful surprise was the massive trail of ants that attacked the cornbread when I’d left it (covered) on the counter yesterday for a couple hours. It was kind of terrible. Plus, we lost the cornbread… and I only get Jiffy cornbread when we want that down-home southern feeling, which we did for this meal. With its being so cold and wintery right now, that was exactly the feeling we’d wanted. And I’d left out the cornbread so that I could pack it up and freeze it after I’d had lunch. So much for that idea… :/ Anyway, the chilli is now frozen and waiting patiently for my man, and that’s a positive.

Oh, and I’ve had soup yesterday and today both. I think I’ve been fighting off a virus or cold, as I’ve been absolutely exhausted – couldn’t even do almost anything Monday. This evening, I started getting a headache after I’d napped, and then started getting progressively colder at karate class. I ended up going home after we realized that everyone else found it on the warmer side there, and they were actually sweating. Likely that I was building a bit of a fever there. They told me to go home and eat some soup. Little did they know that I’ve basically been doing that the past two days already. 😛

Nonetheless, I need to be ready for the cold, outdoor test Saturday morning, so I need to heal up and eat well (in addition to preparing for the actual test, which includes performing a weapon kata that I haven’t quite yet created…). At that, I bid you a good and blessed and rest-filled night!

Post-a-day 2022

Cold

Usually, by morning, the ice in my YETI tumbler – no lid – is long gone, with only a hint of cold to the water still in it. Sometimes, when I go to bed earlier, the water is barely cool by morning. Today, however, even with the heat on in the house, as I am going to bed at nearly 11pm, there is still a huge chunk of ice sitting in my tumbler from last night… clearly, it has gotten cold here.

I whipped out my ski pants and winter coat and wool beret and SmartWool socks – and I even tested those in my tennis shoes – to wear tomorrow morning for this run. My man is running in it, and I am volunteering for it. I am so glad I had the karate thing at the park this morning, so I was clear on what was warm enough and what wasn’t. (Three layers of pants was okay, as were three layers on top, including a casual winter coat. The warmer socks were nowhere near enough. The cotton knit beanie made all the difference.) So, I think I’m ready for the weather tomorrow, which will be even colder than it was today – today was 41/5, but tomorrow morning is forecasted as 39/4 degrees. Since I’ll be doing a lot of standing around outside, possibly even in the wind, I think the winter costa Ms ski pants are a good move. My man, however, might not have the right gear for his run… the plan at present is for him to wear high socks and a warm top and gloves, plus a pair of sweatpants that he’ll pass off to me just before he starts off… We certainly shall see how that goes, shan’t we? 😛

Say a prayer for us, if you don’t mind, please. Keep us safe and appropriately warm, God. Amen.

Post-a-day 2022