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November 17, 2006
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
What a week!
We had planned on coming home after an early game last Sunday, but about got blown off the freeway from a severe windstorm that hit the area. So we - I mean I - decided we had better wait until Monday morning. Dave would drive through any kind of weather, but the wind kind of freaks me out and I hate driving in it - especially in the middle of the night in the mountains. Besides, we needed to get some blood work done and so our plan was to drive by the lab before breakfast and get that done on our way home.
They had just opened up a new lab in the building that our doctor has moved to, so we decided to give it a try. What a mistake! We got there around 9AM, and after filling out all the paperwork, we were directed to the third floor for the procedure. There were about a dozen people in the reception area so I figured it shouldn't be too long of a wait. Right. We waited, and waited and waited. The only magazines available to read were the "Diabetic Journal" and "Arthritic News". Whoopie. I watched as technicians appeared through different doors calling peoples names or bringing people back out. I watched the clock, I looked out the window, I anticipated that nice cup of coffee waiting for me after this was all over and finally after a half an hour our names were called. This gal that had been wandering in and out, shuffling papers in the in-basket, checking stuff on the computer and debating with the receptionist about some other folks who had arrived without paperwork and what to do about them. She finally called our names. I thought she was part of the admin staff instead of a lab technician. She apologized for keeping us so long because they were short-handed. Now there are only two reasons a person has to apologize as far as I am concerned, one, if you are really really busy or if you feel guilty for keeping people waiting. You can figure out which category I put her in. I wanted to say something like, "you blood sucking slug, if you would do your job and let the receptionist do hers, we would have been out of here a long time ago", but I bit my tongue because she was coming at me with needle in hand!
After that, we immediately headed for IHOP for some breakfast. That was an awful decision too, but at least I got something in my stomach. You know those little placards that they put on the tables for you to read, the little triangular things with space inside? Well, someone thought it would be funny to leave an opened container of coffee creamer inside the placard and when I picked it up to read it, I spilled creamer all over me! What a mess. So that was how my week began.
We finally made it home by early afternoon and the place looked like a disaster area. There had been a huge windstorm that had blown through over the weekend and we had leaves, branches and other debris all over the yard. We had a break in the weather on Tuesday so I spent the whole day raking leaves and gathering up broken tree branches until my arms felt like they were going to fall off. I had to get it done though, because I knew another storm was coming. I could hardly wait until 9:30 that night to go to bed and I don't remember my head even hitting the pillow. All this work was for naught as the next day the rains came along with severe wind gusts.
The wind continued to blow all afternoon and we routinely saw steady winds of 35 and 40 miles an hour. Our wind gauge showed a high gust of 60 miles an hour. Since we plan to use the Suburban to go into town this weekend, Dave got it out and drove it down to the mouth of the river, just to get it warmed up and blow the leaves off of it. He stopped and got out while down there, and just about got blown away! I guess the TV said the wind was blowing over 100 miles an hour along that part of the coast. I am sure glad we are a couple of miles from the ocean where we don't get the worst of it. Between wind gusts, Dave ventured out on our deck and took this picture of the wind blowing the water off the river in front of our place. And that's a new snag that got hung up across from our place in the flooding. I don't know how long we're going to get to look at that thing. Maybe the next high tide in December will take it away.
About 4:30 PM on Wednesday, we lost power. It wasn't quite dark out and I hadn't even begun to fix any dinner. Why doesn't the power go off during the day when you can at least see what you're doing? We found virtually everything that would make light...using my old antique oil lamp, every candle in the place, and even an old brass lantern that has hung in the rafters in the living room as a decoration for years. We found the lamp oil and fired it up! Dinner consisted of cold turkey sandwiches and cottage cheese with a brownie for dessert. You have to have some comfort food, right? Ordinarily, we would have used the motorhome for cooking, but we had taken it down and stored it at Kahrs' last week so that we could use the space in the boat barn to shuffle stuff around while Dave gets his workshop moved up there. So there was no motorhome for backup - bad timing.
With no TV, no computer, no radio, we were reduced to the basics, reading a book by flashlight, actually talking with each other, or looking out the window to see if we could see anything going on. There was some sort of accident up by the Highway 53 junction and we heard the ambulance go by and saw the flashing lights from the emergency and police for a couple of hours. Since it was the only light anywhere, we could see it easily from our place. It was soooo dark outside and the only sounds were the raging wind and branches crashing on the roof. We found out the next day that a gust of wind had knocked a semi-truck over onto its side. It took them about three hours to clear that mess up.
With the lights out, we did have to laugh at ourselves when we would reach for switches when entering a room, even with a flashlight in the other hand. Dave grabbed for the laptop several times to check on the progress of the storm, only to find that it wouldn't work with no power! It is amazing how much we rely on electricity and technology, and how we take it for granted until it's not here! Around 8:30 PM we were getting cold (no heat either) and so I decided to take a shower while there was still some hot water and then go to bed. It was around 3:30 AM when we were awakened by the blaring of the TV and the lights that had been left on when the electricity went out. So we got up, turned off everything and reset all the clocks in the house. When we woke up later, it was a beautiful, sunny day out.
We're headed for Silverton today to spend the weekend with Leslie and Jason and the girls. We're going to help them build an office in their garage and we will stay there until Sunday or Monday. With two games next week, we won't be home until after Thanksgiving so I hope everyone has a great day. I for one have so much to be thankful for and count my many blessings. Happy turkey day!
