MAJOR FLOODING CAUSES NIGHTTIME RESCUE

Just wanted to jump on here and say I don't know how much longer we'll have internet service.It is raining cats and dogs right now and usually this much rain brings flooding and lost DSL service. If that happens I'll catch up tomorrow. The water is flooding places as I here on the scanner rescuers are getting boats out. God bless us all as this too shall pass. Hopefully will be back later tonight with todays events.
Well it's after midnight now ,we didn't lose our power or internet,it is definetly very flooded and we've had an exciting evening.
As for today we all went to church this morning,had a big spaghetti lunch,had a restful afternoon,listening to the pouring rain. G-son came to stay with us while #1 son and d-in-love went back to their Love Dare class at church tonight. It poured and poured the rain with a couple of lightening and thunder claps mixed in with a tornado warning. When #1 son came to pick up g-son,he said our driveway was washed really bad. So after they left we went to check it out since the rain had slacked for the moment,we found the problem and fixed it but it was like closing the door after the horse is out,as the driveway now has deep ditches cut all in it,but that is minor compared to what some folks have tonight. So here's thanking God for just a bad driveway. There has been trees on houses and all kinds of damage I'm sure with this storm. We kept watching people run into the water that was flooding across the road from the creek and couldn't believe there were no blockades to warn of high water. Finally as the water got higher and higher a car ran into it and was pushed off the road by the currant of the water. #2 son called for the rescue squad to get the people out.
I asked the fireman where the state was with the road blockades, and he pointed and said they just pulled up. So sad for the people that ran into the water,at night it is hard to see this water as it is right out of a curve.If you don't live around here and know this area floods like this,you have no idea what happened until you have water flying over your hood.I thank the Lord that they were able to get the people out and get themselves out without anyone drowning,they left the car in the water to be gotten out when the water goes down. I know the rescuers get really aggravated with people driving into water,but in this case maybe it was truly an accident. I thought this afternoon,it really didn't start raining really hard until almost dark,as it almost always does,and that makes things eerily dangerous in the darkness. As we stood on #2 son's porch and watched this rescue,we heard a huge tree fall into the creek and saw a beaver swimming for his life up the flooded bottom,the sound of the rushing water was almost defining as if sounding a warning. All that remains visible of our fence is a few inches of fence post, I am not looking forward to what we'll find in the morning and the work we'll be facing tomorrow when the waters recede. But like I said we're safe and warm and dry,with our cars parked in our yards,
thank the Lord for that and I know He'll get us threw all the challenges that this creates, that's just how He is.Sorry for the blurry pictures,that's the best my camera will do in the darkness and pouring rain.
Good Night and God Bless.

FOG KEPT PROMISED SUNSHINE AT BAY

Dreary,dreary day, as I looked out the market window at noon into all the fog that was still hanging on,I wondered where the nice morning that the weathermen promised was? Maybe I just couldn't see it through all the fog!!! Slow boring market day.Got acquainted with a new neighbor that was setting up her booth for her first day,she sells homemade doggie treats. Honestly some of them looked good enough to eat and looked like people food. They fooled a lot of passer-bys as we would hear them say "ohhh,look at the pretty cookies"! She is a widow and never had a dog in her life until she lost her husband,now she is in love all over again with her 4-legged partner. That is how she began her business,she worried about all the additives in the food she was buying her dog,so she started making his food herself so she would know what he was eating,so sweet! I do love my 4-legged friends but sorry Bernie and Dolly there isn't enough hours in the day to cook for you too. I'm sure you will start having some of Carols goodies from time to time. Many people came looking for cat treats today,so she is thinking of expanding already. I left market and delivered Avon at a stop I missed last week. When I got everything put away it was relaxing time,a fine mist is falling outside so it was a good afternoon to pile up on the couch and Bernie and Dolly were glad to keep me company. This was the agenda for the evening,just lazy,relaxing,4-legged kid bonding time.When I let my dogs outside right before bedtime,I could hear the coyotes howling,across the creek,they have been making a lot of noise tonight,I wonder if they have something going on or know something we don't?????
Looking forward to worshiping the Lord tomorrow with my church family. Good Night and God Bless.

COVERED WAGON SURPRISE

Up early to get started on a busy day. After morning chores and breakfast I went back to the Yoga tape, I'm still a little sore from the tape I did yesterday,but soreness feels good,at least I know I'm working those muscles. Wrapped daughter's cakes and breads as she called and got up late and didn't have time and her evening is full tonight. Picked g-son up from pre-school,felt sorry for an older lady holding up the car line as I don't believe she knew how to work the carseat she had and the teachers at the school can't put your child in your carseat,finally after about 10 minutes with cars backing into and down the highway,one of the teachers stood back and told her how to do it.
After lunch I baked and iced cakes while g-son played and then took a nap. I have several orders tomorrow,maybe it will be a good day. #1 son picked g-son up,we ate supper and headed to work at church. I watched a women's b-ball game on TV,then finished icing and wrapping my cakes.
Pretty routine day with no surprises today so here are some more of my memories. This wooden wagon was made by my uncle,one of my mother's sister's husbands,he worked a regular job but loved wood working,I also have a lamp base he made out of several different woods.
This wagon is a lamp, the pull chain to turn it off and on is attached to the wagon tongue. I have many special memories of this uncle,he was blessed with musical talent and could play anything with strings on it. Our 2 families were usually together every weekend and there was always music. He turned an old barn on his property into a gathering place for family,
neighbors and friends every Saturday night and he and his brothers and his 2 son's always kept things lively with their music. My cousins are both very musically blessed also and I get together with them as often as I can to listen to their music.
This old fireplace bellows I just recently bought,I was drawn to it by the beautiful painting on it. It makes a nice wall decoration and it works so I can use it to help start a fire,which I need all the help I can get in that area!!
Today has been a nice day,55 degrees and mostly sunny,I even sat outside for my 15 minutes of vitamin D this afternoon. Tonight at 11:45 it is 36. Rain is supposed to move in tomorrow,hope it holds off till I get home.
Ask Jesus-- He knows,then open your heart to receive the answer. Good Night and God Bless.

FALSE ADVERTISING, OOPS THAT SIGN WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!!

Woke to the familiar sound of rain pattering down. Sloshed outside to take care of the animals,then while I ate breakfast I watched the weather predictions on TV. They said maybe flooding this afternoon,so I decided to slosh out this morning and run my errands so I would be home to put the cattle up if needed this afternoon. I got soaked at every stop and I made quite a few,this is just great as I just got rid of the sniffles. My last stop was at Ingles for one particular thing they had on sale. Lucky they had 7 left,so I loaded them all in my cart,then I remembered the 10% off coupon I had in my purse,so I looked around to see if I needed anything else,finding several things of course. When I got to the checkout and she started ringing up the sale items,they weren't ringing on sale so she got the manager to go check the price on the shelf. He came back and said ,"well the sign was there but it shouldn't have been on this variety", I said but the paper had them advertised also. GRRRRR!!!! This is where it got unbelievable, he said he would sell me 1 of the items for the sale price because it was their fault for putting the sign up but wouldn't sell me all 7 of them. Then they wound up not giving me credit for all they had charged me for since I refused to buy them at regular price,and I had to go back and get another refund.I shop at Ingles a lot but this stinks and my stops there from now on will be limited. To top it all off I forgot to use my 10% coupon so I guess the jokes on me after all!
Finally got home at 12:30,ate lunch and did my exercises that I skipped this morning,good to work off some of my frustration. I worked cleaning my office all afternoon,now I only like downstairs,which will be easier since I had that all re-arranged when they plumbed the house. I finally got my old saw collection hung up. At the top is an old cross-cut Buck saw and above the door is a 6 foot 2-man cross-cut saw.My dad had one just like this,but I have no idea what happened to it, most of his things mysteriously disappeared shortly after his death. So when I see something like he had it still brings back happy memories even it wasn't exactly the one he had and who knows I may have bought back his actual saw.There is no doubt about this old handsaw as dad's name is stamped into a metal tag and attached to the handle,I have no idea why he would have put his name on this saw. This old Bow saw I bought,but the old lantern hanging beside it came out of hubbie's grandmother's smokehouse. I'm really glad to finally have a place to display all these memories. And I will share many more as time allows.
Tonight I'm tired, I stopped cleaning long enough this afternoon to fix 2 caramel cakes and some green beans to send to the high school to help in feeding my cousin's/coach's family before his visitation. Daughter came by after work and delivered them with some things she had made for them last night,then she had to go to coach her little girls practice. Hubbie and I ate supper and then waited on daughter to get here before we went to the visitation,we stood in line for an hour,there were many people there,I was glad for the large gym,no funeral home in town could have held such a large crowd without standing out in the cold.All us old players of his got to sign a basketball with the years we played and got a sticker like we used to wear with TP on it,these were coach's initials but they also stood for Team Power!!
We came home,changed clothes and went to work at church, daughter baked while we were gone. Now I'm listening to the news,the temperatures are dropping and they are calling for freezing rain tonight.It is 34 here now at 11:15 so with the light rain falling it is going to be a good possibility.
Always be mindful of the gift that God created in you! Good Night and God Bless.

LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL "ANGEL"

After breakfast and exercise tape ( I did a different tape today) to work some different muscles I decided to check out a new grocery store in town. It's on my way to pick up g-son from pre-school so I left early to check it out.It opened last week,I went through the whole store.I was impressed with the fresh produce prices and bought several things,they had some sale items that were good deals but over all their prices are in line with Ingles. For me it will be worth coming here for the fresh fruits and veggies,as we eat a lot of these. This store is supposed to be a bargain type Ingles grocery. I finished my shopping a little early and was looking to kill some time before picking up g-son so I stopped in Oakdale Cemetery,which is famous for having Thomas Wolfe's "Look Homeward Angel" in it. Thomas's father was a stone carver and ran a headstone business,he carved and sold this angel to the Johnson family to mark their mother's grave.The angel who faces east is said to be the inspiration for the book Thomas wrote and it has since became a local tourist atraction because of the popularity of his book.The angel has a stone carved lily in her left hand as her right hand reaches skyward. There has been in the last year or so a flurry of opposition to a road widening project that would have required the moving of several graves in this cemetery and as I looked around I surely now know why. The many unique headstones dating from the early 1800's are something to behold. Just in the area of the Angel I noticed these, what caught my attention to the 1 on the left was the inscription that gave place of birth and death and age in years,months and days! I didn't have much time today as it was time to go pick up g-son but I will definetly go back to check out this set of markers on the right. Also as I was driving out I spotted a headstone that looked exactly like the trunk of a tree. Many of you may think this is a bit morbid but to me these old cemeteries are full of history and interesting information of our past. This particular cemetery has a lot of slave graves in it. I know when I found the old cemetery where my grandmother was buried I learned a lot about my ancestors and how they lived life through the inscriptions on their headstones. I do remember what struck me the most from looking around in that cemetery was the number of young children that were buried there. I thought this tree looked to be a perfect fit here.I don't know what it looks like in other seasons,but in it's winter nakedness it was the perfect accent,I could just picture the eerie shadows it must cast in the moonlight.
Off to pick up g-son,he looked tired when he came to the van,must have had a busy day. We had lunch and I couldn't wait to post these pictures,so while he's watching TV here we go. Didn't take g-son long to get ready for a nap and I went to work cleaning my office. Wow,I didn't know there was this much stuff in here. I made a pretty good start on the mess anyway. When hubbie came home he helped me distribute the piles into other areas and put them away. I'm making a run to Goodwill tomorrow.
#1 son came after g-son, daughter,hubbie and I had some delicious grilled sliced pork rib roast tonight,that I bought today at the new Sav-Mor.
I did paperwork and payed bills tonight,made a baking list for Saturday and a list of supplies to pick up tomorrow. Watched a b-ball game on TV and now listening to the news.
Got a little rain this afternoon,but temps were really warm,63 , tonight at 11:30 it is 45 degrees. More rain is expected tonight and especially tomorrow. Maybe I can get all my errands done in the morning before the rain,I hate sloshing around in the rain.
Thanking God for this blessed day. Good Night and God Bless.

SPRING DAY IN JANUARY!!!

Housecleaning and laundry are on schedule today,right after I finish breakfast and my Yoga tape. I like this Yoga stuff,it's hard,feels like it's really working my muscles but there is no soreness and it is relaxing.
I actually hung my towels out on the line to dry today,first time since early last fall! I love soaking in this warm sunshine,60 degrees,sure feels good. I put in a full day of cleaning,was still at it when hubbie came home from work. I wanted to get the outside steps cleaned off today because it is supposed to start raining tomorrow again. One of my customers came by to pick up her Avon order and I took books to another friend,who said her beautician wanted books in her shop. I hardly recognized her house ,she didn't tell me the snow collapsed her double carport onto her car in December. We are so lucky we didn't have any damage,thank you Lord!
I am always sore and tired after I clean all my floors so tonight has been a lazy night. But it's hard to find anything worth watching on TV anymore,so I'm blogging and now listening to the news. Wow just checked the thermometer and at 10:15 it is still 41 degrees. Not to many 60 degree days in January,so better enjoy!!!
Even after 1 week they are still finding survivors in the earthquake rubble in Haiti,amazing.
All is very quite tonight and I am humbly grateful to God for all the joy and love He sends my way everyday. Good Night and God Bless.

WHERE "OUT OF THE BLUE" URGES COME FROM

Started out the day with Avon deliveries,at one of my stops the highway patrol had a license check set up. They were on one side of the parking lot,so when I came from the opposite direction I turned in and parked before I got to them,when I looked up there were 3 officers running toward my van. I calmly got out and started getting my avon orders out of the back door, 2 of the men stopped and turned back but 1 came over and ask to see my license. I said I'm just here to make a delivery,he laughed and said that's what a lady who came just before me said but she didn't have a drivers license and was trying to get out of the check. He checked my license and apologized for the aggressive action,I said I understood and he went back to stopping cars on the road. Today I made a delivery to one of my favorite places,Barker House, this is a bed and breakfast,the people that own this are unique in their own right,especially the Mrs. who is a dear friend of mine. This is actually the realization of a dream for her. They bought this old house,moved it,and renovated it to date back to the 50's and before. She spent tons of time shopping for just the right decorative touches and everything is genuine,no replica's, the first time I went in and she showed me around ,I was in awe,it truly was like stepping back in time. Unfortunately with the economy she is going back into nursing to supplement their income. But for me just to live in this house would be great.
On the way to this house I passed another of my favorite places and today their was more water than I have ever seen coming over the dam of Highland Lake. Unbelievably this snow under these trees on the side of the spillway has survived another heavy rain. Daughter's junior prom was held in a nearby facility and they all gathered here for pictures with this waterfall in the background. I finished my deliveries for today about 1:30. Daughter took care of g-son today since she had the day off while hubbie painted outside and I did some more winter cleaning.
God takes care of the little things even when we don't expect it. This afternoon out of the blue I decided to take a walk in our pasture even though I knew it was very wet,my hubbie thought I was crazy. But God had a plan!!! During yesterday's rain and wind a large tree limb blew out of a tree and onto our fence near the road. I called hubbie to come and help fix the fence.He said maybe it's a good thing you followed your intuition and took that walk. I'm just glad the cattle didn't find that hole in the fence today! Just think how wonderful our lives would be if we always followed that little nudge that God gives us from time to time. We finished chores and ate a late supper. Watched Antique Roadshow on TV,I love to see what people bring on the show,they were in Raleigh,NC and had some people from close to our area on tonight. I washed and dusted all my Mrs. Albee Avon awards today and moved them to a different shelf as they have been on a shelf above our bed and I guess that earthquake in Haiti made me think what if we have even a small tremor,these things are heavy and could fall and hit us in the head while we were sleeping.So now they have been replaced with my collection of stuffed animals. My office is now the only room yet to be winter cleaned and believe me it needs it as being the last room,that is where everything that didn't have a place from the other rooms ended up. Hoping to get started on it tomorrow.
This has been a glorious day,almost 60 degrees and not a cloud in the sky,it is 33 degrees at 11:30 tonight. How blessed we are to have a wonderful loving Lord who watches over even our unknown needs. Good Night and God Bless.