So. . . what's a tornado doin' around this neck o' the woods?

 

 We had a tornado touch down in downtown Elmira at 4 PM yesterday.

 Elmira's 10 miles south of us. .  But - Everything's fine here at the Woods Edge.

 Paul and I were  out with friends for our weekly Thursday lunch  and it was mentioned that there was a severe storm coming through around 4:00.  The weather looked lovely then.  So it was nothing to even think about. 

At about 10 to 4 I looked outside, and sure enough, it had gotten dark - almost black as night.  Then it started to rain and the wind picked up.  I found Paul  in the garage working (He's putting up a drop ceiling.).  I was concerned that he'd left the windows open upstairs.  No.  So we watched the storm from the garage.  I love a good storm. 

 Then the wind really picked up, so we came inside and put on NBC.  They mentioned a tornado coming towards Elmira, which is where we get all our local tv.   Shortly after,  NBC went off the air,  so we turned to other channels that one by one went off the air, but not before we could see a local weather map with all the towns near us.  The tornado was south of us and not moving towards us, but towards the east.  We weren't in its path.  So we didn't need to run to the cellar with Gracie.  Like Toto in The Wizard of Oz.   BTW - she was great.  It didn't bother her in the least.  I think she even slept. 

We assumed we'd lose electricity.  (at least I did.) But we didn't.  There was a bit of grumbling from me about "a little tiny generator."  And where were the flashlights? Well, we lost our cable system - which includes tv, internet and phone.  Thank goodness for cell phones! We got calls from Greg in Fla. and Jeff in Ontario NY. 

 Today I went to Curves, in Elmira Heights.  I called before I left to make sure they were open and the roads were okay, and they were. The talk there was all about it.

 From what they said, and the newspaper confirmed it, it touched down right in the middle of the city, damaging several buildings, downing trees all over the place, limbs hitting roofs, cars.  Emergency vehicles were called from all surrounding towns as far away as Bath.  Lots of power off in Elmira still today.

 BTW - In the beginning there were a lot of rumors going on - these are local tv stations receiving news by the minute. . . .Macy's roof was off, the Clemens Center roof was also damaged (that's the big theater around here for shows.).  Glad they were rumors, although the Mall was on emergency power, as was our wonderful food store, Wegmans - which is still on auxiliary power.  (And has lost a lot of food.  That's news from Curves - so not sure if that's true.)

We've certainly had worse, here, at the Woods Edge.  Power outages are not a regular occurance, but they occur often enough, that we expect them when severe weather happens.  So - being without cable was not that bad, plus the cable was restored before we went to bed. (Nancy called from Chicago this afternoon on our regular phone to ask how we were.)

 I got a lot of reading time on my Kindle, so I was happy.  I had a good book, which is another story unto itself. A pun - I think - story? - Ha.   If I remember, I'll write about it. If anyone wants me to.

BUT the Olympics Opening Ceremony is on tonight and it's broadcast on NBC which  is still off the air.  That's pretty devastating stuff when you think about it.  Perhaps they'll tape it, or do something else.   If they do, I'll give them a hug.  I'm not a particular sports fan, but I love to watch the Olympics.

Things Work Out.

You may have noticed, or not, that I haven't blogged since the 14th.  I would have guessed it was longer.  When you're busy with "life-changing" things, your days are so different that time seems different too. 

Our Corning relatives are going through a difficult time -  Our daughter-in-law's mother died on Wednesday, July 11th in Erie, PA. The obituary said that the viewing was Monday 4-8:00, and the funeral was Tuesday, 10:30.   Paul and I changed our plans so we could go.

 We decided not to join Greg and Brenda's families at niece Sue's home in Middletown for her Sunday reunion/party because it was in the opposite direction from where we needed to be on Monday.  200 miles East from our house versus 200+ miles west from our house.  It would obviously have doubled our travel time.

 Brenda's Eric was flying in to NYC on Saturday from California, and getting to Middletown late that night.  That meant Brenda needed a ride to Sue's by Saturday night to pick up Eric at the train station.  They and Greg's family were planning to go in to NYC for a full day of sight-seeing on Monday.  The kids were looking forward to it, as were they. 

Now. . .if we'd gone to the party, we could have brought Gracie with us and taken Gus and her back to our house on Monday because Greg and Noi would be coming back here for a couple of days after their sight-seeing.  They were to drop Brenda, Emma and Eric off at the train station in Middletown so they could get back to NYC and JFK airport for their trip to Germany on Tuesday.

 So there were complications for all of us.

 We couldn't take the dogs with us.
They couldn't take Gus with them. 
Sharon was away at a wedding, coming home Monday evening. 

So....We called our petsitter, Carol, and she - bless her heart took both of the dogs early Monday morning.  They stayed over Monday night, and we picked them up on Tuesday - early evening.  Gus didn't have his papers here, nor proof of shots, or anything. Who would have thought to bring them?  BUT -  Greg called his vet and they e-mailed all the info for us.  Isn't technology wonderful?  And how things worked out?

And how things work out.

More Busy-ness

At Christmas, Eric, our son-in-law from Califoria, was busy in Paul's garage completing (unbeknownst to us) our Christmas gifts - two wooden laptop lap desks - for us to use in front of our tv or wherever. 

Well, I'm using it now on our bed - as a "desk" because our computer room is a guest room for Dorothy and Jeff.  It's working great.  As a matter of fact, Jeff had said that because laptops give off a lot of heat underneath, it should not be put on bedding because it could overheat.  This is just like a wooden desktop so . . . good!

We had a very small family picnic yesterday.  Only 10 people!  Paul used his Cornell recipe to barbeque chicken.  It took much longer than we expected - two and a half hours to cook.  But we weren't keeping track.  The siblings and us were outside, under the trees, where there was a cool breeze.  That's something you wouldn't want to do in Florida in July.   Everyone was content, doing their own thing.

 The 3 teenagers are spending a good deal of time upstairs - using the library or the Kids Kamp as their hangout.  That's okay, too.  Ipods, smart phones, other things. . . .  They're also down here doing card games, playing badminton, using the hottub.  When the other grandchildren were here, it had crossed my mind that they were too old for hide-and-seek.  But, no. 

Lue's daughter, Gail, is here from Boston for the weekend, and they both came up for coffee and dessert last night.   It's always good to see Gail  and Gail hadn't seen her cousins in a while, so that worked out well.

Emma was busy knitting a scarf for college. Noi helped her finish it.  Emma begins her new life at Humboldt College, CA. on August 20th.  She's all packed and ready to go when she, Eric and Brenda return from their Germany trip.   They fly out of JFK on Tuesday evening.  She'll celebrate her 18th birthday in Germany. 

 Brenda's also busy.  She's looking at educational catalogs for her brand new school, new grade going from first to third grade when she returns from Germany. 

She's so lucky.  Her new principal is giving her couple of days off, after the first day of school, to  help Emma get situated at school.   Now - that's a really nice, understanding boss. Sometimes they're hard to find. 

Greg is ensconced at the dining room table doing work on his laptop.  He is just so busy - he has to work even during vacation time.  The table has been expanded, as always, to accomodate us all. 

Today is the day everyone is leaving.  Jeff and Dorothy for home, and Brenda, Emma, Greg and family for Middletown and cousin Sue's house.  Eric is flying to NYC from CA tonight.  He'll take the train and meet Brenda and Emma there.  The plans are for them all to go to NYC for a couple of days and sight-see.  Then, they fly to Germany from JFK, and  Greg and family will return here on Wednesday, stay til next weekend, and then  head home to Fla.. 

Gracie is beginning to trust Gus and let him play with her.  She's teaching him to back off, if he, and his twenty pounds, gets too rambunctious . . .but sometimes he forgets.  Well, we'll give him the benefit of  doubt because he's young.

Paul, plus Greg and Brenda, have gone up to Sharon's place twice to feed the chickens, collect eggs, feed the cats, water the plants.   Sharon's family's  due home the day after tomorrow. 

This is when summer really starts. . . .

Today we have three sets of families here:

 Greg and Noi arrived last night around 8 from Florida.  They left Monday around 11 AM, and stayed overnight only one night.  They are ensconced in the upstairs guest bedroom on one side of the upstairs. Other sleeping arrangements are: Neenee is in the Kids Kamp with Emma on the other side of the upstairs.  Brenan is on the futon in the middle room we call the library .  Brenda is downstairs in the guest room. 

And the third set are: Sharon's visiting for the day with Charles and Ida.  Lee is taking Drivers' Ed. at school in the morning and is working at "Children's Rep" in the afternoon so we won't see him til later on this afternoon when he comes with Dave.

Gracie is adjusting to Greg and Noi's little dog, Gus.  And vice versa.  This was Gus's first trip away from home and that was a long trip for the little guy.  They said he was very good.  Both dogs are lying down here in the computer room.  Within eye sight of each other.  It's taking a while.  . 

Last night Sharon and the kids joined Brenda, Emma and us for scalloped potatoes and ham.  Originally I pictured dinner as two ham steaks with pineapple slices atop, cooked on top of the stove.  Scalloped potatoes as a side dish with another vegetable.  But as we (Paul mostly) realized there'd be 8 for dinner (including two teen aged boys) that menu needed to be changed. 

Paul went back to the store and got another ham steak, making it three instead of two, and two more scalloped potato  boxes (yes.  I'm guilty.  I didn't make it from scratch.  Paul makes a delicious scalloped potato dish) So we had four boxes of scalloped potatoes, three ham steaks - cut up into cubes, put in a large roasting pan and cooked in the oven and veggies on the side.  Worked out fine.  Salty, but good.  Very little left.

 I congratulated myself because yesterday afternoon I made a blueberry pie.  There was a lady at Curves that was selling blueberries by the quart.  So I bought two.

 I had help - Paul put both crusts on and Brenda pinched them together for me.   I must say - the kitchen smelled as good then as now! We waited and ate it when Greg and Noi arrived. I also made brownies because there were so many people and I wanted to make sure we had enough food. To me, that's a constant worry - I'm not used to feeding so many people - and one Christmas, my first one, we ran out of veggies. Never again. 

We're having a cookout tonight - hamburgers and hotdogs, corn on the cob, potato salad (Brenda's making it).  Brenda's also  making a strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert tonight.  It's still in the oven and smells delicious! I better think of an alternate dessert.

 Lue's coming to the cookout too.    Good!


Paul put up the badminton net which will also double as a volleyball net.

Right now everyone under 18 years has gone to the movies to see Madagascar 3.  The house is quiet.

I'm at the point that I have to check at when I last posted so I don' t repeat myself.  It seems like longer than Wednesday last (the 4th) but it isn't.  We've been busy. 

Thursday morning we three, meaning Gracie also,  left for Middletown, NY ( It was a three-plus hour trip.) to pick up Brenda and Emma who arrived there the evening before, on the 4th, from San Jose.  They'll be at our house about a week and a half before they're on their way to Germany to visit Lina, and her family.  If you don't remember:  Lina's the foreign exchange student who was with them this past year.

They didn't have any adventures on this trip, but my goodness - there were a lot of sit and waits.  Their first stop was in Dallas for an hour or so, and then La Guardia with an hour wait for the shuttle into the city to Grand Central and the train to Beacon Station which got in  late night, early morning.
 Cousin Eric and Lyndsay picked them up at the train station.
 
Then they spent the night at Lyndsay and Sue's house,   til we came the next day to pick them up.    Thursday, Sue was away on business, and Lyndsay had to work, but Eric was there with  our lunch - delicious deli sandwiches.  So - we ate, spent time with him,  and then started back.  Paul said it was just about the same mileage we'd travel in a day from Fla.  It was a full day.

Friday evening Brenda had a chance to visit with friends in Ithaca, and Emma went to Sharon's house to be with her cousins.

 So Paul and I were alone - to pick up Lue at the airport from Washington, DC.. It was suppertime, so instead of going home first,  Lue joined us for dinner at the El Monte's Inn.  While there we saw two friends we knew from Marcia and Hal and Florida - Bev and Tom.  It's a small world!

Yesterday we went to the Amish marketplace, The Windmill.  About a little over an hour's trip.

We were just a short distance from Sharon's home when she called and asked if the kids could come along.  Of course!   We had the van and it was big enough for them to sit in the last row of seats.  -    We just swung over and picked them up.

 It had been cloudy and ominous when we left, but as the seven of us got to Seneca Lake and Watkins Glen area, the sky got very dark, the wind began to blow, and the water looked really really rough with big rolling white caps.  No boats were out. The skies opened up - and even the lake disappeared on us.

 It lasted through the town of  Dundee, (halfway) but by the time we got the the Windmill it was just cloudy and cooler.  Couldn't have been better weather for walking around.  We toured the outside shops and then the buildings. I did a lot of walking., And if I must say so myself. . . my cane and I did well.   We got Ida  a pink, soft,  bunny/pillow that she wanted.   The boys got sun glasses. 

Brenda wanted to get some hand-made amish quilted table runners  as gifts  for Lina's mother and step-mother. She found some, bought them, but checking the tag when we got in the car to go home, found out they were Made in India.  That's pretty bad. Who wants to get a gift from the Fingerlakes that's made in India?

 Paul noticed a sign for Quilts on his GPS machine. It was a half-mile away.  So we went. What a nice shop/house - set off from the road a bit.  There was a pretty blonde youngish girl (teenager?) running the shop and working on quilts.  She had the most gorgeous quilts and handmade runners, etc. Brenda found two beautiful ones and returned the others to the shop at the Windmill - telling them the reason.  The gal at the W.M.  tried to make things right by saying - the material was from this area.  Brenda thought but didn't say  - yeah. . . from Walmart.   

Shoulda knocked on wood. . .

I woke up this morning to a dry mouth. My thought: CPAP machine water must have dried up.  I looked up at the ceiling fan, the blades were moving slower and slower.  Something's wrong with the fan, I thought.  Oh, gosh.  It still didn't dawn on me that the electricity was out.  I looked at my watch - it was 7:15. The clock registered nothing.

I guess I should have "knocked on wood" yesterday when I wrote about how lucky we were compared with others having weather related problems.  No a/c for us.  Paul got ahold of the power company and the message was that there were 100 homes who were out power and that power should be on by 11 AM.  So - we went out for breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast places - Sugar and Spice. Automatic garage door opener didn't work, but we had the van outside, next to the garage.

 Two of our neighbors have electric generators. One is quite loud - and reminds me of a lawn mower outside.  I heard that one when I awoke. (that was another thing that didn't register correctly for me.  Amazing how the mind works before we awaken.) The other one generator belongs to our good neighbors next door.  On our way out to breakfast, we rolled down the windows as we drove by.  Yes.  It was on. Quite quiet. By the time we got home, power was on.  When we came home,  we rolled down the windows for proof as we drove by.  It was off. 

We took Lue to the airport yesterday afternoon for her flight to Washington, D.C. to see her baby great grandson, three-month old, Robert.  I was pleased to see a picture of Robert and her. According to Jennifer's caption on Facebook,  it was her first time holding him.  Lue was so excited to see him.  She told us at the airport that they better make sure she was sitting down first before they handed him to her as he was quite heavy!   Rightly so.  I remember how it was with Evie.   Lue also told us Jen asked for her to bring a pair of blue pants and a white shirt because they were going to take a four-generation picture and they should all dress alike.  How wonderful!  Sounds like she'll have a wonderful time, and we'll pick her up on her return on Friday. 

Paul got a phone call on his cell from Brenda 9:00 this morning from San Jose Airport.  She questioned why our regular phone wasn't working . . . power outage, of course.   She and Emma were on their way to LaGuardia today and just wanted us to know they were on their way.  We're to pick them up in Middletown tomorrow.

 Suddenly things that were in the near future are upon us!  Where is the time going?  Brenda sent us her "itinerary."  Their month away begins here with us and  ends in Germany.  Eric couldn't be with us here because of business, but will meet them in Middletown the weekend after next and fly to Germany with them.

It'll be good to see Greg and family too.  We look forward to their visit.  We have to wait (impatiently) til Neenee completes Summer Camp (going on this week) before they'll be here.

Corning grandson and his dad were on TV the other night - their Babe Ruth team (his dad was coach) won the championshp!  Grandson pitched the whole game.  Congratulations to them!  We were there Sunday to see them win.  Fantastic game. 

We went to Sharon and Dave's house Monday night to help Dave celebrate his birthday.   His cake had a grouping of four candles and three candles.  That meant he could be 34 or 43.  Guess.  His parents were there too.  We brought watermelon and we all sat outside on the deck.

Son, Bill and daughter-in-law Epril - who will be making her first visit up to NYS - visiting Washington DC, NYC on the way.  Such exciting times.  Bill sent us his two-week itinerary also.  It looks almost like a dream wish.  His is "subject to change".  Good thing, as he goes into such minute details with hours here, hours there.  Due to that - there's bound to be changes.  Bill is a very positive person and he goes with the flow.

Got a phone call from Nancy last night.  She. family and friends are traveling to a park to "camp".  Not sure where, but they're staying in cabins.  They'll be away for a couple of days.  Good for them.

Good thing we don't have any time schedule for much for ourselves as our lives seem to fit around  children and grandchildren schedules.   It doesn't matter. 

We know what's important and what's not.

Let's Give a Round of Applause for. . . .

Air-conditioning and electricity!

All the Southeastern Seaboard has had bad weather - hot and humid -  except us.  It seems early to contend with  that.   I will really knock on wood! It's cool and terrific here.

 Paul has both doors open with the screen doors across and we have beautiful cross-ventilation.  Florida - was surprised last week with lots of  rains, high winds; and the Southern States had such an awful wind/rain storm that they ended up without electricity and 100+ heat.  We've heard from friends and family, and they're all okay.  Good.  The news said that the damage was as bad as a hurricane, but the difference was -  there wasn't any warning. 

The TV news this morning interviewed people without electricity (and thus a/c ing) who said they slept in their much cooler basements.

 That brought back memories - Hey - When I was a teenager, my parents worked, I used to spend whole days in our finished basement,  watching tv, during  heat waves on L.I. (I was a couch potato) We didn't have a/c. except for one - in my parents' bedroom.  Once I remember we ate dinner in there. But I think it was too much of a bother to carry all the food upstairs, set up the bridge table so we didn't do that again.

 They offered me the chance to sleep in their bedroom with them, but I never did because my dad put a big standing fan, trained out to draw out the hot air,  in one of my bedroom two windows.  That way the cooler (?) breeze from the other window  and would gently blow on me.  I never minded sleeping with the fan.

 My folks worked in Mineola, the Nassau County Seat without a/c.. Almost everybody, everywhere,  didn't have air. .    When it got too hot, they just closed the courts and everyone went home.  Cars didn't have a/c. You'd open the side vent windows for a cool breeze while driving.

 One place to keep cool/cold was the movies.  You'd have to bring a sweater because they'd keep it so cold, and after the movie was done and when you came back outside, your skin would keep you cool for about a minute.  But - I think sometimes it feels worse if you're in a/c ing instead of just adjusting to the heat.   When Long Island got hot, it didn't cool down at night very often.   We'd sit outside on lawn chairs with a cool drink and chat with the neighbors.

 Back to now:  The TV crew interviewed one stupid lady.  She had her refrigerator door opened wide to show the tv crew all her spoiled food -  chickens, other items.  Well - lady - if you'd kept the door closed, perhaps they could have lasted longer. 

Both our homes now are fully a/c'd.  Would I like to go back to no a/c?  No sirree.  How spoiled I've gotten.  This is just fine with me.  But -  I still wish for,  and it would be nice,  if we had an electric generator for the infrequent times the power goes out.  Since its infrequent, we seldom think about it.  It would be nice for a/c and my CPAP machine.  Maybe next Christmas.