Down Trees, Tornados and Floods - Oh My!

We have had quite an interesting day so far and unfortunately, it's not over. The rain is still pouring down! We had a very windy night last night and there was plenty of evidence this morning when Reed and I headed out for his gymnastics class. We had to turn around once due to a down tree but made it home with no further issues.

When Reed and I left to pick Millie up from school at 1, it started raining harder. We usually get there about 45 minutes early and he plays around in the car and I read. As soon as we got in line, I heard on the radio there was a thunderstorm warning with hail. Great, I was really hoping I would not be sitting in my car, helpless while it was pummeled by hail. There ended up only being a little hail so the car came out unscathed. At 1pm, I put Reed back in his car seat and was ready to start moving to get Millie. Well, we waited...and waited...and waited longer. No kids were being released. Finally, at 1:30, I called a neighbor who I noticed left the car pool line so I thought she might know what was going on. She told me there was a tornado warning (yikes, nice that the station I was listing to didn't bother to mention that) and she said they were not releasing the kids for a while but they were letting the parents in the building. So, I worked my way out of the line, parked and Reed and I ran in the building.

We FINALLY got the all clear that we could leave but then on the way home, the road we take was flooded and everyone was turning around. So, I tried another route and although there was a lot of water on the road, I made it through to the highway. Then there was another road flooded but I made it though that one as well.

I was pretty happy to finally make it home and we all made an executive decision that we would not be trying to make it to tennis later today. Millie is now showing Reed how he should react during a tornado and they are both crouching with their heads down and their hands over their heads. We still have lots of rain coming our way so hopefully Rick can make it home tonight.

Weekly Photo Challenge - Week 6 - Trees/Joy

Joyful trees...interesting. My mind was going all sorts of places for this week's challenge. What makes a tree joyful? How do trees make me joyful?

My first thought when I read this weeks challenge took me to an old photo I had of Millie swinging in the tree swing at my mom's house. She loved this swing and Reed sure loves it now. It's make them joyful.

Then I thought of this photo I took in Cancun, this sure makes me joyful!

Then Rick's project for the weekend came to mind...

Now, some may say this is the opposite of a joyful tree BUT the fate of this cherry tree would have been as fire wood if Rick and I would not have had it sawed into lumber after it fell down of natural causes on the farm. Had we not saved it, it would have ended up like this cherry tree destined for a fiery death heating mom and dad's house.

So I think this would be a joyful tree because wouldn't it rather be my new entertainment center? I think so. And new entertainment centers make me joyful.

But spring is in the air and one thing that made me super joyful was that my dogwood tree has buds on it. This makes me joyful for 2 reasons 1) Duh, it's almost spring and therefore I will awaken from my winter hibernation and 2) I was afraid this tree was dying last year so I was uber joyful to see buds on it this spring!

But, I could not get a good photo because the wind was blowing these little suckers around like hot fire so I was not digging any of the shots.

So, I'm not sure which one I will submit for the challenge but I think I covered a vast array of emotions for a tree and now I will always wonder if the trees I am looking at are joyful or not.

More Reed's Words

Reed's new game is "Dump Hat". He will get the hat from Tado Head (you may know him better as Mr. Potato Head) and then put it on his head where he makes it slide off and I have to catch it. He thinks this is pretty funny and he likes to keep me waiting before he dumps it so I am surprised.

Reed used to refer to Mr. Potato Head as Sweet Tado Head (he loves sweet potatoes) but now it is just Tado Head.

Reed's Words

Reed is still talking up a storm these days, he doesn't miss a thing. And when he tells a story, he is very serious about it. He will whisper if he needs too, his eyes get very animated and he will use his hands and act it out. He gets very into telling us things. I just love to listen to him, he's hilarious. This was a little snippet form this morning.

R - I no want to go to school. (very serious voice)
M - Why not Reed?
R - I just no. want. to. go! I stay here and PLAY with toys at OUR house. (still, very serious)
M - Well, we can play at the house some and then go play at your school.
R - Oh! okay. That's really good finking (thinking) Mommy. Mrs. Margarette misses me and she'll need to snuggle me. (His voice was then very sweet and nice)

Also, after I vacuumed his room yesterday morning he looked around and came running to give me a hug and said..."Ohhh Mommy, fank (thank) you! It's so nice and wonderful in my room!"

Last night he told me..."Mommy, you take me to bed 'cause you are soft."

Happy Birthday Grandpa Owen

Today is my grandpa Owen's birthday. My grandma use to always have a family get together in February to celebrate all the birthday's that month. My grandpa always got a nice big cherry pie of course, since he had to share the day with Mr. Washington.

On Saturday evening, St. John's in Starlight had a mass for the Owen family and I was glad I was able to go. We got there a few minutes early so I wanted to get some photos in the cemetery before mass started.

Grandpa - Nelson Reed

Grandma - Mary Elizabeth

Uncle David and Cousin David

Best. Purchase. Ever

I was only about 4 but I remember one afternoon mom and dad had their Euchre friends over and while mom was showing the ladies our new deck, dad was showing the guys his new hydraulic wood splitter. At the time I was more excited about the deck because we now had a door from the house that didn't drop 2 feet down to the ground and I could actually use it. But, looking back now, the wood splitter served me much better; I have never swung an ax. This purchase also gave me my first purpose on the farm other than trying to find dad when supper was ready and getting the mail and paper: I was the operator of this new piece of equipment.

Considering Dad, Papo (my dad's dad) and I used to split wood for hours at a time during the winter...day after day after day...I always challenged myself to a little game with it to keep me from falling asleep at the lever. My goal was to make sure Dad and Papo never had to wait on me, I did not want to be the one that slowed this operation down. So I would look to see what piece they were getting ready to load and I would try my best to not let the hydraulic block go back any further than it had to for that piece to fit. That way we didn't have to wait for it to come back forward to push the log into the wedge. Of course, at the same time making sure it was back far enough that the piece fit and neither of them lost a finger in the process. This also meant that I didn't want the block to get any closer to the wedge than necessary so that the block was out of the way by the time they had the next piece ready to load. I am sure Papo and my dad never knew how complicated I made this simple task at that young age but to me, it was life and death.

I always liked splitting wood, I still do. My dad had a tree he was working on this weekend while I was in Indiana so we split a trailer full. I wish Millie could have been with us because she is the right age to start operating the splitter but she was with Rick visiting his parents. Maybe next time she can get in on all this fun.

At least we had Rosco running around like an idiot, stealing wood out of the pile and eating it while we were working.

Weekly Photo Challenge - Week 5 - Candles

This was taken at my parent's church in Starlight, Indiana this weekend. I had actually forgotten about the candle challenge but took the camera to church to get a few photos of my grandparent's headstones. I didn't want to leave the camera in the car since dad never locks it so I took it in mass with me. As I was sitting there I noticed all the candles on the alter burning and remembered the challenge. But, us Catholics high tail it out of mass so quick that they blew out the alter candles before the priest was at the back of church. So, I used these prayer candles instead.

I didn't quite capture what I was after but they turned out good enough I guess.

Canon f/4.5 1/15 sec. ISO-800 40mm no flash

My Little Farmer

My e-mail from my mom today...

Reed has had a busy morning here on the farm. He helped unload a fertilizer shipment. You should hear him say the word "fertilizer". Really cute. He also got to watch the demolition of Sharon's outbuildings all morning. I am so glad the weather is nice enough to be outside. He broke my heart today when I called him "my little Reed"...and he said...I AM NOT YOUR LITTLE REED. I am a big guy!!. Yes, I guess he is growing up. Maybe you should have another one?

Love, Mammy

Awww, I miss my little Reed, we get to go up and get him in 2 days. I think he may not want to come back with us. Isn't my mom funny..."have another one"...she cracks me up!

Reed The Wood Splitter

Reed is still in Indiana with my mom and dad. Mom sent me a few photos this evening of their busy day splitting wood. Seems that Reed was a champ and helped them for about 2 1/2 hours. Here is mom's note:

Reed was busy today helping us split wood. He was so good. 1 and a half hours before lunch and nap, and another hour after lunch and nap. He patiently watched from a short distance either in the buggy or on a tractor seat. He should sleep good tonight. I know I will.
Love, Mammy

WonderWorks

While Reed is vacationing in Indiana for a few weeks having the time of his life with my mom and dad, Rick and I took Millie to WonderWorks in Pigeon Forge today. None of us had been but we did discover that Millie was just about the perfect age for it. Any younger and I don't think it would have been much fun so it was nice that Reed was not with us on this adventure.

Since the building that this adventure is in was blown to Pigeon Forge from the Bermuda Triangle during a tornado, it is upside down...and kind of smashed up. Fortunately, they had an inversion tunnel you had to walk through that flipped you upside down so you didn't have to walk on the ceiling the whole time. I do have to admit, while walking through the so called inversion tunnel, which was just a tunnel of lights spinning all around you, I did fall down 3 times. There was a rail so I didn't actually fall but I would have. After we walked through, Rick assured me that the ground was not moving. I asked if he was sure but by the look on his face, it seemed best to not push the issue.

Although there were very many neat things to do and see, I liked the ropes course best. I wasn't sure how Millie would do but I was pretty sure she would be able to do it. This ropes course consisted of 4 stories of ropes and bridges that were 50 feet tall at the top.

On our way up the first set of stairs there was a bottle neck of teenagers in front of us and half of them decided they were too scared to even cross the first rope. So, once we got those pansies out of the way, Millie was ready to go. She crossed the first station with ease and I knew from there on out, we were good to go. We did most of them on the first level and she said she wanted to go up further. I was surprised she was able to do some of them because her height and lack of leg span was definitely a handicap for her. I ended up coming down a few minutes before they did so I could get a photo. These photos are of her on the last crossing before they came down. That was just 1 story up, there were 3 more higher than that and she did them all!

She wasn't too sure about laying on the bed of nails but she was tough. They were really sharp!

She thought this bathroom was hilarious. It had a big glass window you can see right through. It's a real bathroom. Just don't forget to lock the door because when you lock it, all the glass windows turn frosted. Tricky!

We had a great time and I didn't think we were ever going to convince her to leave.

Weather Girl

Millie's class is learning about weather right now and they had a little paper they were supposed to complete. They were supposed to draw a picture of their favorite kind of weather and then write 2 sentences about it. Well, I decided that wasn't challenging enough for Millie so we stepped it up a notch. I bought a weather station at our local school supply store (I could really go nuts in that place and I do sometimes) and Millie and I put it together today. She loved it and she enjoyed reading the instructions and following the directions to put it together.

We have not completed the report yet but we made an outline and this is what she said about each photo.

This is my new weather station. My mom and I put it together.



These pieces will make my weather station.



This shows the temperature, it is called a thermometer.

This is a wind vane. It shows which way the wind is blowing. On top is a compass.



This is an anemometer. It spins and shows you how hard the wind blows.



This is a rain gauge. A rain gauge shows how much rain you have. It holds the rain until you dump it out.



Then she wanted to add a page about the 5 senses so we made a list and will put it on another page.

See - Rain, snow, blowing wind, clouds, lightning, rainbow and tornado
Touch - Snow, rain, temperature, wind
Hear - Rain, wind, thunder, tornado
Taste - Snow and rain
Smell - Rain (just a little bit)

Weekly Photo Challenge - Week 4 - Texture

The theme of Texture could be really easy or really hard depending on your perspective. Texture is everywhere, of course, so it is easy to find but to make it interesting is the tricky part. Here were some of my Texture shots.

The shot I ended up going with was a combination of 2 of the tennis shots. Looking back, it would have been nice to have 3 with one being a shot of a racket but too late for that I guess.

Bananagrams!

Millie and I love Bananagrams! Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lyndsie bought Millie her own set for Christmas (or was it Brian and Hannah? Opps, I forget). Well, all 4 of them play it all the time and I hated the game at first. I was terrible, I can't spell and my brain just could not do it. Then it clicked on New Year's Eve and now I can hold my own. Millie was getting frustrated though because it is made for older folks. But, we found a way that Millie and Reed can play and now they all enjoy it.

Instead of making it a race, like you are supposed to, we just turn them all face up and make any words we can. Millie can do that and it challenges her to spell and Reed gets to keep a tile if he can tell us what letter it is and he stacks them all up until they fall over. He now knows all of his capital letters and some lowercase letters.

Here is the puzzle Millie made. She is doing great in school and just got invited to participated in their Accelerated Reader Program which is usually just for first grade and older. We will also look at her list of spelling words and she has to see if she can use all of her spelling words to make a puzzle.

Here is the puzzle I made while we were watching the Superbowl.

Whoopi Pies

Rick decided to make Whoopie Pies yesterday and the kids enjoyed "helping". I had never heard of them but based on his description, they sounded pretty yummy. Click HERE for the recipe he followed.

I was told to leave when they started making them because I was just in the way. Then I was called back down to take pictures but then Millie quickly told me to leave when I told them to stop eating all the batter and marshmallow cream filling.

Rick's ended up being about 4-5 inches in diameter. I think one would have been enough for all 5 of us (my mom was visiting) to share. They were really sweet and really big...and really yummy.

And I know the photo above is terribly blurry but my battery died right after I took it and I could not take another. And then we ate them. So sad. And to give size perspective, they are in a 9x13 inch casserole dish.

Weekly Photo Challenge - Week 3 - Sand

I was a little less than thrilled with this week's theme due to the fact that it was entirely too cold to go out and find sand in February. So, I got creative again and dug some sandpaper out of my craft supplies and tried to set up a scene with Reed's tool box. I could NOT get the composition right, it just was not coming out the way I wanted it to. So finally I just took the photo and called it quits.

I would have much rather submitted something cool, like one of these. But the purpose of the challenge is to challenge you to get out and take the photo so that's what I did. But now I feel the need to go on a nice beachy vacation.