6/22 Lots of food with family

I ate at Jan and Tim's last night along with our other sister Jane and family. Today after Mass, Jan, Jane and I went to lunch at Krieger's. Was going to eat a Smart Dog for dinner but Jan invited me over again for dinner. I love going anyway but now that I can bring Gus with me I love going even more. We had salad, spaghetti, and garlic bread made on the grill. Yum.

But I ate too much. Sigh.

Am at home with my little puppy and am finishing laundry. Am also relaxing. Have had a really rough "back" day. Wish it would hurry up and get better.

Took pictures of the flood with my phone as I drove to Jan's. Can't connect the phone to my home computer for some reason, but will do so tomorrow at work and will post.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

6/19 LA Times and a cat

Quincy is on the front page of the LA Times. Check it out:

http://www.latimes.com/includes/sectionfronts/A1.pdf

And I went to my boss's house and picked out one of his 15 kittens. It's a little gray male. A cutie, but very shy. He's in the laundry room and I expect him to stay there for a while. He's got food, water, and a litter box so he should be okay. Gus likes him but the feeling isn't mutual.

6/15 They're gone

Yeah, I'm crying.

I picked up Jan and she went with me to take Quincy and Cookie to their new home. The home is absolutely lovely, which scares me a little bit. I sure hope the girls remember their manners. Their yard is awesome, with a creek a the bottom of it. I just know they are going to be so happy there. And Lesa seems so nice. We didn't get to meet her husband Steve because he was at church.

Lesa recently lost her little Yorkie, so she gave me a soft-sided carrying case which will be perfect for taking Gus in the car. And Joe and Cindy are giving me their crate that Kirby grew out of. That will be perfect for home. This is saving me a lot of money.

I didn't get to pick up Gus today after all because Jan and I went to help with sandbagging. The river is so high. The old bridge is already closed, and the new bridge is now two-way instead of one way. We're hoping the levees hold. They're calling for more rain tonight.

Am going to dinner with my sisters and their husbands for fathers' day. I think I got a pity invitation, but I'm happy for it. Any time I'm not at home being sad is good. :)

I work 12 hours tomorrow, so I can't pick up Gus until Tuesday after work. So it will sure give me something to look forward to.

6/5 Mississippi house

I signed the acceptance letter and faxed it today. So as long as the guy's funding goes through, it looks like the closing will be June 30th, give or take a few days. Although I'm not thrilled--because the price was a steal--I am happy and relieved.

My back was feeling better but I had to give Q three or four baths tonight (I lost count), so I'm not feeling great tonight. Every time Quincy goes outside she heads toward the mud, where the sump pump empties.

Yep, the basement is flooded--still. Sue hope it dries out soon.

Anyway, I'll sleep well tonight knowing my mortgage payments in MS are coming to an end. Hooray.

4/1 No April Fool's joke!

I need to build an ark. Fast. I'm afraid this RV is going to float away soon. Let me start at the beginning.

Woke up at seven. After my shower I drove to Coffee Fusion (near my new home) to check out the coffee and breakfast fare. It was good. Ate a nice breakfast then went to the grocery store to stock up. As I arrived at my car it started raining and my phone rang at the same time.

The rain wasn't bad, so I said hello to my sister, Jan, as I loaded up my car. Sat in the parking lot to chat and the rain started pouring. Finally I started driving when the rain seemed to let up a bit. Got to the drawbridge over the back bay and the rain became a deluge. I was still talking to Jan and finally realized she wasn't there.

I'd been chatting about the downpour and the drawbridge and the back bay and how pretty it all was even though I could barely see, and the whole time we'd been cut off. Called her back and she was laughing. Seems we'd been talking 29 minutes already when cut off. I described the drive and how the roads were getting flooded--different from home where we have storm sewers in the streets. By the time I got to Beach Boulevard the water covered my tires halfway. I started laughing, albeit a bit hysterically.

Finally pulled off Beach and drove a little north on the peninsula to Pass Road. Thought it would be better, but it was worse if anything. Jan was laughing at me because I was still doing this excited, nervous laughter. And was afraid to stop because didn't know if I could start up again. When I got to the RV park it was deep water, but I managed to pull into the park. There was a guy--looked like he was playing in the gutter, something we loved to do as kids. Turns out he was working on clearing a small drain in the road.

My driveway is a tiny bit higher than the road, so it's not badly flooded, and the door to the RV is only about two feet from my car door. Still I got soaked unloading the car, even with an umbrella. I'm so happy to be back in my little nest. I unplugged my computer, but the connection is wireless so am still able to get online. Right now we seem to be in a little lull, but we've had several different thunderstorms pass through so I don't know if it's finished yet. Wow--what an adventure!

Got some bad news from Jan too. One of my nephews is in the hospital. Hopefully he'll go home today. I'd written up all the details and then realized they were private and I wouldn't want to do anything to embarrass him. I'm praying everything turns out okay.