New month, new banner! Another great banner from Christine. Thank you, Christine – I always say it, but I’ll say it again: you rock!
Okay, I took a look at the garden yesterday and it looks pretty rough. Most of the tomato plants are completely gone – and when I say “gone”, I don’t mean “dead.” I mean NOT THERE. They were small plants, and I’m guessing that either they were completely covered up by the mud or perhaps just washed away. Who knows? The peppers are still there and standing proud, some of the cucumbers are still there, and a lot of the squash plants are there, too. We’ll likely go up to the local high school this weekend and buy more plants. I don’t think we’re going to end up doing as much in the garden this year… but then again, garden fever very well might strike and prove me wrong.
Fred’s talking pretty seriously about having a storm shelter put in. Someone – a couple of someones, I think – asked why basements are so uncommon in the South. I can’t speak for other areas of the South, but I know that right here at Crooked Acres, any basement would have a big flooding issue. So a storm shelter would be a good idea for us, but as I told Jean and Robert, and Fred’s sister and mother and stepfather, having a storm shelter’s not going to do us a bit of good if I’m in the storm shelter with 114 cats and George and Gracie, and Fred’s standing in the front room staring out the window in search of twisters.
Our internet and phone went down a few times yesterday, so I guess things are still a bit iffy. I finally had to go over to the gas station down the road to call the shelter manager and talk to her about Dorothy and how things are doing at the shelter. They still don’t have power out there, and I guess it could be as late as Friday before they do. There are FoCH (Friends of Challenger’s House, of course) where they can go for meals and to take showers, so they’re okay. They did get dangerously low on litter (which is something you don’t want to do in a shelter of 60+ cats!), but managed to get through Sunday, when they were able to get to Walmart and get their regular order of 800 pounds of litter. They didn’t lose any trees, and the shelter is high enough so that they weren’t affected by flooding, so if they could just get their power back, they’d be doing well.
The schools aren’t back in until at least tomorrow, I believe, and Fred finally went back to work this morning. We’re ready for life to go back to something approximating normal, but I keep thinking of those poor people who lost their homes and loved ones, and how life won’t go back to normal for them for a long, long time.
The radio stations did a fantastic job of keeping us informed and keeping information circulating, WDRM and WZYP in particular. They aired the press conferences and just generally kept repeating where those who needed help could find it, and it was really just pretty comforting to sit and listen to the calls.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to slap up some cute kitten pics and then head off to Tennessee. Miss Dorothy has a date with the vet for testing and possibly for spaying (she’s a bit over 2 pounds on my scale), so off we go!
“Dude, your brakes are shot. And you need an oil change. Also, your tires are bald. This is gonna cost you a pretty penny.”
“An’ then she dumped us all in a CRATE, an’ then she ran downstairs with us and put us in the CLOSET!”
“It was skeery.”
Macushla tries to decide whether he’s up for a cuddle, or if he’ll just sink his claws into my leg.
They love to climb into my lap and fight with each other. It’s pretty painful on the rare occasion that I forget to change into jeans before I enter the room.
Pouty princess is pouty.
Silly Fergus Simon. Note that his eyes are thinking about starting to change color. Wahhh!
“I bite you butt.”
“They’re going to stick what in my where? No thanks, I’ll just stay right here!”
Alice and Rufus enjoy their daily egg yolk.
“What storms? What water? What internet outage?”
Previously
2010: “Whooooooooooooo’s ready for the snackin’!” I bellowed out the back door, and all the cats came running.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: My feng is not shui’d, and it’s pissin’ me off.
2006: It’s a Suggie in the Sug Cave!
2005: I RUE THE FUCKING DAY I decided to buy a car from this guy.
2004: I snorted. “This from the man who put Oxi-Clean in the dishwasher over and over and over last summer.”
2003: No entry.
2002: I am now sporting a fashionable little red mustache.
2001: What? You don’t think bugs would use the word “abattoir?”
2000: Why all of a sudden is her big scary clown face all over the place talking about it?
Little Dorothy is so cute. Just look at that eyeliner!
Didn’t get to read yesterday’s entry until now, but OMG! What a skeery day!! Glad everyone is OK. I think you should keep Dor-o-thy, she’s a cutie pie and a survivor!
Get you some tomato plants this weekend and get them in the ground. I bet that other stuff bounces back just fine. That garden fever will be back as soon as you get through these hard times. What a scary, life changing time you have been through. I sat here on the couch last week during a tornado warning because the sun was still semi-out and it sounded from tv like the storm was moving on the outside of the county. Come to find out a twister passed over a block away (saw pics)but never touched down. I am kind of like Fred watching the radar on tv and looking out the windows until it gets so scary outside that I run downstairs. They say if you wait til you hear it you cannot get to your safe place quick enough. If he puts that storm shelter in you have to get him to promise to get there with you asap!! SO thankful you are all safe!!
All of this brings back what we went through last June with the tornado destroying so much of our tiny towns. Is it just me or do these storms keep getting worse and worse? It is so scary.
I spent much of my growing up years in middle TN and there was not a basement to be found. As far as flooding, we live in a flood plain now (in NW Ohio) and our backyard is completely under water right now. I had never heard of them until I moved into this house, but if there is much water around, there is crock (I call it a well!, roughly 4′ deep and 2.5′ wide, dug into the basement floor and a pump in the crock, called a sump pump. The water that collects around the foundation flows into the crock and the pump sends it back out away from the house. I think ours ties into the storm drain but not sure. My grandparents live in NE Ohio and they do not have a pump and had not heard of the sump either. Their basement has flooded several times and they had to discard Everything down there. Maybe, because we are in more of a rural area – and the storm drains are higher than where the water is and the water cannot flow into said drain – that is why they have pumps here and mostly every house has one. I recently learned from a friend that they change the pump every 5 years whether it needs it or not, which I wish we had known before the one we put in 6 years ago croaked. All of my craft supplies are down here and thankfully we found it sooner rather than later. That concludes our lesson for the day. Tornadoes are so skeery! *shudder*
I love the telling of the “McMaos first terrible storm” story. Those tiny kitties are just too darn cute. Also – am I a skimmer? Why a Daily egg yolk? and why just Alice and Rufus. Do tell.
I live in Oklahoma (tornado alley) and there are very few houses with basements here. I’ve heard it’s because the clay is so hard to dig through to build one…don’t know about that. Most people have storm shelters (fraidy holes).
yes PLEASE consider a storm shelter! My parents live in West Texas and they have one — I rest so much easier knowing they have it. You and Fred certainly have the land area for it. As for getting Fred to actually get IN the shelter, maybe he can trick it out in a high-tech way with above-ground web cameras that link to a computer in the shelter, etc, etc.
Oh I get it, Dorothy! Clever as usual. Glad things are headed back to normal and you are all okay.
Do you build a separate building for the shelter? Or is it more like reinforcing one room in your house to make it storm proof? I obviously don’t live in tornado alley although we did have a one time freak tornado here a couple of years ago that was very destructive. I was really worried about you guys last week, I’m so happy to hear that everyone is safe. My 11 yo daughter looks at your website with me for the cat pics and when I told her about the storms you’ve had she was worried as well. But her first comment to me was “they should put on a cat olympics to entertain themselves until they get power again!” lol so there’s a suggestion for next time Robyn 🙂
I was just talking about storm shelters with my husband. We live in the far north, but someday hope to be south where the winters are milder. Anyway, I know about the lack of basements, and said “the only way I will move to the south is if we build a storm shelter!”. It is a great idea, and all your readers will feel more secure you, Fred and company will be safe. Just so thankful you are all OK, and my heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by these storms.
Celler/basement in row-home my parents had in Philadelphia (in the city–not suburbs), and Atlanta rental house; no basement in subsequent Atlanta home. No basement in our Huntsville home.
Last night I Googled storm shelters. There are many types from which to choose (under-ground; above-ground; within the home, etc.). And, other factors must be taken in to account before determining the kind you should have. I’m certain Fred will do extensive research regarding storm shelters.
I live in the midwest and I’m lucky enough to have a basement. The last time our sirens went off, the weather men kept us informed and I didn’t have to go downstairs. I feel so sorry for the folks that lost everything in the south.
By the way, the new banner is cute! 😀
IT’S HAPPENING!!!
The best time to have a pile of kittens – just when their ears stand up and they look less awkward and more like teeny tiny cats – and then all of their butts catch on fire at once and they turn CRAZY!! What’s more fun than a pack of wild crazy kittens?????
Is that Coltrane in the last picture? I was wondering if he’d been seen since the storms. I wondered about the basements myself, but seems to me with the ground and flooding issues that the moisture and flooding are why there aren’t many basements. If I don’t get one for this house, the next house will definitely have a storm shelter, preferrably in my master closet or the garage – somewhere inside I can load the cats and hunker down without going outside.
I’m so glad you guys are okay. I can’t believe how close that was to you!You have to get a storm shelter. Maybe you can get one made out of glass block so Fred can see everything!
My late in-laws home in Broken Arrow Oklahoma was a ranch on a slab. No one in the development seemed to have any extra tornado protection. I grew up with basements in Philly row houses and we had a small dirt cellar called a “Yankee basement” in the old white elephant we rented before we bought this. I worry about hurricanes here and the Insurance companies are too. Ever since all Katrina, Ike etc. our homeowners keeps going up every year. We do not have a basement and many homes don’t. I would love the extra space.
The McMao border rocks. Every time I think of Dorothy I get the music they played for the wicked witch in The Wizard Of OZ playing in my head. Not that I think she’s a witch I just love that tune and think of it whenever I encounter mean people :). The amusement helps lower my blood pressure.
When I was a kid, we lived in west Texas, and we had a storm shelter; as did most people in the town. Although, we never used ours, because it had at one point became a den for rattlesnakes (which, were removed before we lived in that house), but my dad was worried that there might have been rattlesnakes still in it. One time when I spent the night at a friend’s house, her dad came and woke us up and told us to get in the closet because the sirens were going off; my friend, her sister, mom, and I were all huddled in a little tiny closet. (there wasn’t room in the closet for her dad, but i think he went and stayed in a different closet in the house.) But the twister didn’t touch down near town, it just hit the outskirts and didn’t do any damage.
OMG the McMaos have tooffffsss! Are they needle sharp? I was visiting my friend and she has a 6 month old and his teeth were like needles.
Where we live if we put in a basement we’d hit water about five feet down.
Those are the most adorable kittens I have ever seen. I don’t know how you can ever get rid of any of them. (Yes, they are all the most adorable kittens I have ever seen. I love kittens. And cats. And puppies.) Glad y’all are okay.