Ahhh...

The rose bush is very happy this year!

On NPR this morning the announcer told the listeners that there was no rain in the forecast for the next 3 days!!!

Today was glorious and tonight should be perfect sleeping weather.

Tomorrow will be warmer and Monday even warmer.

Yea!!!

Wild Weather Week

This week's weather brought more rain. Each time it rained I reminded myself that it could be worse. And then I got sad not just because it was raining again, but because our rain would end up in the Mississippi River.

We also had two nights of tornado warnings and watches and after the disaster in Joplin I took them seriously.

The first night the storm was fierce but quick. It blew through in less than an hour. CJ and I kept ourselves busy by gathering the storm/camping supplies and bringing them to the basement. By the time we had finished the threat had passed and so had my anxiety.

The second night of tornado warnings was a longer affair. About 5pm the warning was issued. By 10pm the warning was extended to 5am! The storms that night weren't as severe but did last all night. And yes, we sent even more water into the Mississippi. UGH.

Then Thursday evening the skies got dark and the rains and winds started. The rain came down sideways. The winds blew so hard that the rain came in the front door which is under a 8 foot deep porch roof! Fortunately it was over fairly quickly and the house and neighborhood fared rather well. 

It is now Friday and no rain. The weekend is supposed to be nice just like last weekend. Maybe this will be the summer of glorious weekends. It sure is starting out that way. If so you know where to find me.

A Not So Subtle Hint

Sometime this winter our Verizon Internet and phone got bought by/sold to Frontier. Since then our Internet has been slow. Slow as in sloth like. Do you remember the dial up modems of the 80's? Not quite that slow but...
Then Directv annoyed us by first raising the rate of our package, then by adding a new charge and finally for bugging us to get new 'free' services.

We discussed maybe moving to cable TV and Internet.

CJ thought the change would be a good idea. He also thought we weren't moving fast enough in making the change. One morning I wandered the house to find these notes on just about everything.

The good news is that we finally did call and when all is installed we will have better internet and tv for less money. Well, less money for the first year, after that who knows. The savings will pay a car payment or gas for me for 4 months or for the increase in the cable bill for year 2.
WooHoo!!!

The End of Moochie

Gutted and beheaded.

Poor Moochie.

Or, more correctly poor Tucker.

Whatever will he do without his Moochie?

A Glorius Weekend

Friday was glorious, blue skies, fluffy clouds and that beautiful glowing orb, the sun!!!

When CJ's cello teacher called to say his lesson was cancelled I was thrilled to be able to go home and sit on the porch with the sun on my face.

 

This is the porch.This is where you can find me when the weather is nice. Come visit, my neighbors and I like to see just how many people and dogs we can fit on the porch!

I did spend a bit of time just off the porch this weekend. I moved about 10 feed into the front yard. The yard is was once again covered in Bradford pear seedlings so I spent a lot of time pulling up baby Bradford pears. At one point my neighbor Amy was sitting on the front lawn helping me weed the lawn. I love my neighbors!

After hockey on Sunday Steve pulled out the chipper and discovered that it hadn't fared this winter as well as other winters. Maybe it was the horrendously wet spring that did it in and not the winter.

Here he is working on it with a little help from a friend.

Sunday evening while visiting with friends it started to rain. Thankfully it was a warm summer evening with a nice quiet rainstorm and we were able to stay on the porch and enjoy the sounds and smells of summer rain.

We even got to enjoy a beautiful rainbow, with our neighbor's house being the pot of gold at the end!

More rain is in the forecast for the coming week.

A Very Wet Spring

A wet spring is nothing unusual for Central Ohio. Usually we cut the grass twice a week until the end of May. This year it is hard to find a day that is dry enough to cut the grass. Not only that except for last week the temperatures have not been warm.

One local weatherman says this is the wettest and coolest spring he has had in all his years of forecasting in Columbus. He tells us that we will have about 1.5 days of sun each week for the next 3 weeks. Makes me really thankful that I spent so much time outside last week!

Unfortunately for CJ and the rest of the 7th grade it is raining today and the temps will be in the 40's most of the day. Today is their science field trip to the zoo.

The rain will eventually stop and the sun will come out again, but until then forgive me if when I am cranky as I miss the sun very much!

A Wonderful Week

This picture was taken on May 10th, it was a dark and rainy day. The woods still looked a little sparse. That made for great viewing of the beloved Dogwood tree.

This picture was taken May 15th. The days in between were warm and sunny. The trees filled in and the dogwood while still blooming is a little harder to see.

Each day after school the kids came outside and played and played. The grownups were outside too and we were rejoicing in the nice weather. Dinner became an afterthought as no one wanted to miss a moment of the glorious sun and warmth. It was great to see people outside in shorts and smiles!
I had missed hanging on the porch with my neighbors.

Mothers Day

Mother's Day was the day after Music in the Parks.
When I arrived downstairs that morning I was greeted with flowers, cards and a To Do list. The first thing on the list was to 'go back to bed' so shortly after getting up I did just that.
Steve and CJ prepared (and cleaned up) a wonderful dinner of salmon, asparagus, hash browns and salad.
It is nice to be pampered!

Music in the Parks

Very early Saturday morning our 7th & 8th grade bands, choirs and orchestras loaded onto school busses and headed off for a day of competition and roller coasters.

Music in the Parks is a competition held at a school close to Kings Island. Each group performed in front of judges, peers and chaperones.  After the performances there was a mad dash to change, put instruments away, get back on the busses and head to the amusement park.

The park was great fun for everyone. We were rained on only during the awards ceremony, so with the help of ponchos we stayed dry. The pirate ship and wooden roller coaster appeared to be the favorites for the group CJ was with.

About 9:30pm we headed back to the busses for our ride home. After verifying that all 8 busses worth of students and chaperones were accounted for the drivers took us back to school and our cars. The bus drivers were amazing as the rains that we wished away all day finally came along with some thunder and lightning.  We pulled into the school around 12:45, more than 18 hours after arriving there that morning.  It was a long day filled with great music and lots of fun. 

Oh, how did the kids do…the 7^th grade Orchestra won their division and scored a - I – Superior and the rest of the groups won in their categories as well. Congrats to all!