Hurricanes and things

You know, living in Ohio you wouldn't think that we'd be bothered by a hurricane. HA! Yesterday the remnants of Hurricane Ike came barreling through Ohio, including our nice little city of Green. I say barreling because wind speeds were up around 60 mph or so. Insane! Around 3 or so our power went out for the first time. There was no rain, just the crazy winds. I didn't mind too much, it was daylight, so I could still see to read. I just couldn't play on the Internet or watch tv. Or go to the bathroom or take a shower. Or cook lunch/dinner.

We decided to drive to the local home improvement store to check out different drainage solutions, and in turn of a/c and a bathroom if we needed it. We went and did our grocery shopping and returned home and there was power. Yay! Joe decided to do a load of laundry and I watched TV, basically to see what the weather was going to do. After all, if this was what was left of a hurricane, I wanted to know what we were in for! The winds really started picking up, so much so that I decided it was time to go to the basement. The trees were really moving and we're pretty sure our car moved a couple of inches. We'd turned on a football game and I was just finishing my food and POOF! The power went out again. I went upstairs to see the wind just whipping around, branches and leaves flying. The neighbor had a huge limb down and we noticed we had a limb that if it were to drop would take power, cable and phone out for our house.

I have to say that the folks who have weathered storms like these amaze me. I wasn't scared so much as bored. I still am, to be honest. 24 hours later and we're still waiting for our power to come back. We bought water so we could flush the toilet, and we bought extra candles because well, it gets dark! You never know how much you rely on electricity until you don't have it. Even the little things like looking at the alarm clock in the middle of the night isn't possible. This morning I received 2 calls asking me to come in and sub. I couldn't do it. I wanted to, but I really wanted to take a shower, and I didn't want to go in feeling icky. So I stayed home. Joe, on the other hand, had to go in, so he used what water we did have to take a shower. He's called me a few times to ask if we've got power yet. Nope. That's why I'm bumming electricity here at Panera. My phone is pretty much dead, so I needed to charge it up, and while I really wanted to read one of the many books I've checked out of the library, I wanted to get online. The Internet is an addiction. I've realized this. Here's hoping we have power soon. Otherwise, thank you Kate for saying I can come over and take a shower. I so appreciate it!

As for other things. Yesterday morning we had to go move furniture for Joe's aunt. He's only met her twice. I think I've seen her that many times as well, and it's been when Joe wasn't with me. So she's not exactly a close relative of his. Anyway. We drove down to Navarre to move some furniture that she needed to get out of her apartment because she was being sued by her niece/cousin. It was crazy. Her apartment definitely helped me see that I cannot become a pack rat. I have a bunch of stuff in the basement that I need to start going through. i don't think I'll be able to live like his aunt. There was stuff EVERYWHERE. There wasn't an empty shelf, counter, chair, sofa, whatever. It was crazy. The only good thing was that we got to see some old pictures of Joe's dad, and that was pretty cool. We both liked that. I love seeing old photos anyway, and to have them be of Joe's dad when he was 8 and 9, that was just awesome. Now I just need to figure out how to get copies of the pictures for us-without having to see his aunt again.

I am back on the 'sauce'. Sauce being Dr. Pepper. I'd been off for about a week, but yesterday's event caused me to go back. I only drank it yesterday, and even then it was just a bottle. I've decided I'm going to give myself one day a week to have some DP for about a month, and then I'll get off. I needed the caffeine, and since I couldn't open the fridge to get to my iced tea (or make more, for that matter), I had to get some sauce. I still haven't gone back to gluten though. I don't see that happening. I feel so much better without it! Plus, I really don't miss bread. I am at Panera now, and I do miss their desserts, but I'll survive.

Ok. I'm done for now. I think I'm going to write a book review shortly, and then maybe see if there's power back at home. I've been here for almost 2 hours now, and I have a feeling they're going to ask me to leave. Have a good one!