Baby, It's HOT Outside!

I'm beginning to believe that I should have moved and raised my children in the mountains.  At least then we could have a definite spring season.  Unfortunately, we jump from 1 1/2 weeks of cool spring weather and jump right into days and days of 90+ degree weather.  Yikes!  I'm afraid to think what the summer of 2011 will hold for us.  And as we all know, hot weather usually lasts throughout much of September.  I'm not happy.  My favorite seasons are fall and spring.  We simply did not really have much of a spring.  I miss you, Spring.  I really do. 

Silence Is Not Golden

This is the third day that I've had laryngitis.  You have no idea how this negatively affects my life.  I pretty much talk all the time.  I'm either humming, singing, or talking.  Really.  Even when I'm alone, there is never silence.  I talk to myself and then I answer myself.  No silence with me.  Until Tuesday. 

I'm sure that Tom is loving this, in a non-sadistic way.  He really loves silence.  If I'm not home, there is no TV, no radio, no humming, no singing.  He could sit in silence all day long and love every second of it.  Have I mentioned that we are polar opposites?

I kept both little grandgirls yesterday.  To get their attention I had to clap my hands, then make them look me in the eyes and I'd whisper.  They whispered back to me.  So funny.  I think they thought I was trying to play the quiet game. 

The one time that I was pleased to not be able to talk was when I answered the phone and it was a fund raiser.  Sorry, no talky.  (I'm supposed to be the Do Not Call List, but I couldn't audibly speak that many words.)

Last night I began with a full-blown head cold.  I never get head colds.  Seems that I should have gotten a cold first, then laryngitis.  It seems backwards that I started out with laryngitis and then I get the cold.  Oh, well. 

I've been alone this entire day.  I haven't spoken but a few words, when the phone rang.  Maybe tomorrow will be a better talking day and hopefully my cold will be better b/c right now I feel awful.  I'll take laryngitis over a bad cold any day!

I AM SO MAD!

If you don't have Charter Communications as your internet/cable tv/phone provider, be glad . . . be very glad.  Charter definitely has a monopoly in my area of the world.  What they need is some good ole competition. Then maybe they would provide reliable service with competent customer service representatives.  Sorry, I'm so "ill" today, but yesterday my blood pressure was out the roof on several different occasions.  Here's a blow-by-blow of the last 36 hours:

Tues. 5/10 

8:00 am - I noticed that our tv and internet was out of service.  But I was in a hurry to get to an appt., so I just hoped it was back on when I returned.

11:00 am - When I got home, I still have no service plus no phone service (We "bundle" with Charter . . . tv/internet/phone.)  I called Charter and talked with a man who said "we'll send someone out and will call your cell phone when service is back."  Great, I thought.  That was easy.

3:30 pm - No service.  Called back and talked with a lady who said, "Repairs have been made.  You should be getting service soon."  I asked, when, since I still have no service.  She said, "It should be up very soon."  Hmmmmmmm.

5:30 pm - No service. I was busy at a friend's house so I asked Tom to call (thought a man's voice might sound more "threatening".  He got a recording saying "there are multiples outages in your area."

6:30 pm - I wasn't satisfied.  I wanted Tom to talk with a person.  I called back and was not a happy camper.  I spoke with John this time and he said "I can find no reports of widespread outages in your area so it must just be your house."  Are ya kidding me, man!  Earlier there WERE multiples outages and apparently mine had already been repaired.  Plus Tom just called and was told of multiple outages

John says he's very sorry, but he can give me an appointment for 1pm on THURSDAY!  I told John that I wasn't jumping on him personally but that I was TICKED!  I said waiting from Tues. til Thurs was unacceptable.  We had no phone to make a 911 call and surely to goodness he could get us bumped up on the list of service calls.  He said, "well maybe there will be some cancellations." I was literally fuming.  My face was red and I could have chewed a bucket of nails.  And this is from one woman who rarely gets mad.  Usually things just run off my back.  Not this time! I told John to make a note on his report that I was furious and very upset.

6:45 pm - I called my good friends/neighbors across the street.  They had been w/o service (they bundle, too) since early Tues morning and they had just gotten service back . . . almost the exact time I called.  Well, I thought, ours will be on very soon.

8:00 pm - NO SERVICE.  So much for NCIS tonight.

8:15 pm - Joy, one raving lunatic at this point, called again to Charter.  Talked with David this time.  He was very nice.  He talked a bunch but I learned very little.  He did say that he put me on a "list" that would get me bumped to an earlier appointment if it came available. 

9:00 pm - Tom & I popped in a DVD to watch.

Wed. 5/11

7:00 am - NO SERVICE

I had errands to run so I got out early and started my day.

10:00 am - NO SERVICE

Decided to make a run to Costco.

10:30 am - As I was unloading my Costco purchases, my cell rang and I recognized Charter's number on my caller ID.  It was a recording saying, "Service has been restored to your home.  If you have service, press 1.  If not, press 2."  Are you kidding me!  How can I press either one.  I'm not at home!  I just stood there thinking if I didn't respond, maybe someone would come on the line and talk with me.  Nope.  The phone went dead.  I immediately called home to see if my home phone worked.  NO SERVICE.  GRRRRR!

So, I called back to Charter as I'm driving home, b/c I wanted to sure they knew I still didn't have service so I would still be on the "bump-up" list. I got a recording that said, "There are multiple outages in your area.  Stay on the line to speak with a representative."  REALLY? 

I talked with a man named Tom.  He said, "I'm seeing no outages in your area."  OH MY GOSH!  At this point, I just want to throw the cell phone out the window so the transfer truck beside me can smash it into a million pieces.  I tried to explain to him (again) what was going on.  He said, "I see that you have an appt. on Thurs at 1pm.  I have openings Thurs. at 8:00 or 10:00."  Good grief!  So, since last night, all of a sudden all these openings happen.  This just doesn't make sense.  If this is true, why didn't someone call if I was on a bump-up list???? Apparently, the supposedly "bump-up" list is just a way to pacify mad customers.

Of course, I take the 8:00 time.

11:15 am - Home from running errands.  I have service.  I actually have service.  I'm so bumfuzzled about this whole ordeal, that I'm not even excited it's back on! 

I'm keeping that 8:00 am appointment Thursday morning.  I still have an unresolved issue with Charter from last fall and they will fix it tomorrow although they don't know it yet.   

Charter's customer service stinks.  The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.  I got different explanations from 5 different people.  I really hope someone who carries weight with Charter will read this blog and realize how unacceptable their customer service is.  And it's not just me  - just ask anyone who uses Charter and you'll find many unhappy people. 

Now let me go be sure that I took my blood pressure medicine today......

It Was A Wild Ride!

For several weeks Tom & I and another couple have been planning a 5-day camping trip to the Georgia mountains.  Our adult kids and grands were joining us later in the week.  Despite the weather reports of "Severe Weather Alert" for that area, we decided to head out early Wednesday morning, 4-27-11, and try to beat the bad weather.  We've camped in rain plenty of times.  We thought if we could get to the campground and set up then we could handle rain.  Here's how our wild ride began:

Wed., April 27
8:00am   We pulled out of our driveway on the way to Moccasin Creek State Park to camp for the first time in our popup camper.  We were so excited!  On the way it rained a little and was very cloudy, but by the time we arrived the weather was nice yet cloudy.  Matt, Abby & Cady had planned on coming that afternoon, but (knowing how frightened Abby is of storms) we insisted they wait until the next morning.  They would be camping in a tent.  Tent + rain + wind just didn't sound like fun.  That was a good call!

We had a great day - cloudy, cool, but very nice.  We began to wonder if we should have told Abby to come on.  We relaxed, walked around the campground, enjoyed the views of the mountain creek and Lake Burton, and we took naps.  After supper, we thought it would be smart to roll up the awning on our popup just in case the wind became strong.  We also put away anything that was light so it wouldn't be blown away.  We talked around the campfire for a couple of hours.

9:00pm   My friend Nancy texted to see what our weather was.  Her son lives in Tuscaloosa so she knew what might be heading in our direction.  I told her that it was calm and no present threat of bad weather, although we were under a tornado watch until 2am.

9:15pm   Abby texted me to say that Alabama was slammed and she was worried about us.

10:00pm   Thunder, lightning and rain began. 

10:30pm   Ranger Brian (here's a SHOUT OUT to the best State Park Ranger!) came to each camp site and said he would drive through using an air horn to warn us to come to the "safe house" if a tornado was approaching.  There was almost continuous lightning.  Not necessarily lightning coming close to the ground, but lightning all around . . and so continuous that is was almost like being in daylight.  (This lasted for almost 2 hours.)

10:35pm   Chad texted me to say serious storms were coming through Georgia with tornadoes and very high wind.  Said it should be getting to us in about 30 minutes.

10:50pm   The air horn sounded and Tom & I made a quick exit to the "safe house" (the laundry room which is in the center of a concrete-block bathhouse - the safest place around.)  We were told large hail, very high winds and a possible tornado were very close.  We were there a short time and suddenly the power went out.  But with the severe lightning and our flashlights, we could see fairly well.

10:56pm   I received a text from Chad that he and Michelle were praying for us. . . . that was my last message from home and, oh, what a sweet message it was.

11:00pm   It begin to hail briefly.  Then we distinctly heard the loud "freight train" sound.  I had heard my first tornado!  Tom & Lynn were standing on the porch of the safe house and, b/c it was so bright outside with the lightning, they actually saw the huge tornado go from one side of the lake to the other.  We felt very  high winds and saw what I describe as a tornado-like spin of rain with very heavy wind that came from the lake and into the campground.  It was very odd.  Unfortunately, at this point cell service was out.  My children tried texting me several times asking if we were ok but I couldn't receive the texts nor could I let them know we were fine.

Ranger Brian and/or the camp hosts came by the safe house about every 15 minutes to keep us abreast of the weather.  Storms kept coming and we continued to wait it out in the house until 1:30am.  The ranger said there could be more air horn warnings throughout the night, if necessary.  When we returned to our popup, the rain became heavier by the minute.  It was the worst rain storm I've every heard - torrential!  (At some point Elizabeth stepped outside her camper and water was up to her ankle.)  I'm happy to report that our new camper does NOT leak!!

2:30am   I had drifted into sleep during all the heavy rain, and was suddenly awakened by something falling.  I looked across and saw that one of the support bars of the ceiling over one bed area had fallen.  I first thought it was due to heavy wind.  Tom went outside and discovered that a huge limb had fallen on that part of the popup causing the support bar to fall.  Thankfully, there was no damage to the camper.  (However, we did discover hail damage today on the hard shell top.)  We began to monitor the creek which was just feet from the camper.  We weren't sure if this creek was prone to flooding or not.  It seemed to be rising but not alarmingly high.  (We learned today that this creek can handle 16-18 inches of rain before fear of flooding.  Wish we had known that during the storm.)

4:00am   Some time after this hour the storm passed and we were able to sleep until morning.

When I awoke, I wanted so badly to find a phone to let my family know that we were safe.  One direction out of the campground was closed for 2-3 days.  So we headed out the other direction.  We drove for about 10 minutes and came upon another road block because of downed power lines.  We asked the state trooper where we might find a phone.  He pointed to a Fire Department to our left.  A nice man allowed us to call home.  I heard the near panic then complete relief when Abby answered the phone and heard my voice.  They all were so worried.

Later we walked to the pier at the campground and we were able to see some of the damage from the storm.  But it wasn't until yesterday that we were able to drive around the bend from the campground and see the total devastation.  Words cannot describe what we saw.

On Thursday afternoon we witnessed the rescue of an injured woman.  Apparently, she lived in one of the lake houses and had a back injury.  She was taken by boat to the landing next to our campground then she was airlifted by helicopter.  We heard that there were 2 fatalities from the lake area.  The lake homes are mostly summer homes and most were vacant when the storm hit.  If this had been the middle of the summer, there would have been many, many fatalities.

When asked how I handled the moments just before and during the tornado threat, I can honestly say that I was as peaceful as I could be.  A true God thing.  The only moment when my stomach turned upside down was when I realized that Chad was awake and monitoring the storm.  He knew the imminent danger.  He knew that we might be in harms way.  I was worried about him and our other children worrying about us.  Other that that moment, I was totally calm.  And, thinking back, not one person in that building was outwardly upset.  I truly believe there were many, many prayers going up from that building, but also from family and friends miles and miles away.  I now realize that we could have very easily been in the path of the tornado.  It was 1/2 mile or less away from us.  It doesn't do any good to think "what if", because we were spared.  I love my family and I love my Lord.  When He's ready to take me, I'll gladly follow.  And apparently, I won't go crying, fighting and screaming!

By the way:  The rest of the camping experience was terrific.  All the kids, spouses and grands came.  We had a wonderful time!

       This house was within walking distance from the campground.

   Dozens of homes were totally obliterated; nothing left but lumber scattered over the mountainside.

       This creek was outside our back window.

      The family waiting on hamburgers & hotdogs.

         Abby (and "Emily") swinging.

     The playground was right on the lake.  Beautiful.

      Cady, swinging.

         Crosby, 1, and daddy Chad.

        Chad, Crosby & Michelle

   Next to the campground was a trout farm. The grands loved it.

The little girls slept with me one night.  I was sandwiched between two cuties!

 Miss Hollywood, Cady!                                                  

  Miss Hollywood, Brie!                                                        

The Dude, Crosby!