sorry there hasn't been a part two yet ... we've been sans power since lunchtime on thursday.
thursday morning the kids and i got up, headed to the library, headed to the grocery store, then came home to eat a quick bite of lunch before heading to a play date. i put away all the groceries, made the kids some soup, everyone ate and i cleaned the kitchen, then noticed that the sky looked really, really dark.
i went online to check radar and noticed a small but intense band of red heading straight for us, so i called my friend traci and told her i might try to come early and beat the rain. the kids and i all visited the bathroom, and before we could flush there was the sound of hail. and rain. lots of rain.
then the lights flickered. i called marc (who was in wisconsin) to see where he keeps the huge mag light, and no sooner had i hung up then the lights were out. the kids already had their flashlights, so i hustled them into the laundry room with flashlights and game boys while i rounded up other flashlights and shoes. at this point, the sirens were going off, the rain had stopped, the wind was still and the sky was a black-green.
by the time i reached the basement, the wind and rain were horizontal and debris was flying. now, i'm a total weather junkie. my dream in life is to someday chase tornadoes. but when you're home alone with two kids, the last thing you want is for your house to blow away. i was actually a little scared. and henry, bless his little heart ... i got back into the laundry room and he said, "i think harper wants to say a prayer." harper, eh? okay.
within half an hour, it was over. i figured we might as well head to traci's ... if the neighborhood was without power, we might as well deal with it together and let the kids play. as we drove the six blocks to their house, i saw numerous huge branches down, two power line poles down, and several trees blown over. crazy. the boys immediately headed upstairs to play with legos, and harp took off with traci's daughter to play with make-up ... the result: adorable.
marc got home that night after the kids went to bed ... he was a little concerned since he couldn't reach me for hours, and the last conversation we had was cut off as i was telling him that it was getting pretty black. he was amazed by the amount of debris in our yard, including a bird-worth of feathers, but no bird. a mystery to this day.
all i can think is that there was some cartoon moment of a bird being hurled through the air, smacking into the tree, feathers flying, and the bird lying on the ground with stars and kitties circling his head.
friday came around, and it was 100 degrees with heat index. and no power. the kids and i spent the day at the pool, until marc called around 2 p.m. and said we should probably bite the bullet and get a generator. so off to home depot we went. $700 later, our fridge was again running. sigh. my bathroom keeps getting further away.
we took the kids to jw tumbles for a kids' night out, so they could play in a/c and we could eat dinner in peace, but as we were walking the halls of the galleria after dinner, we noticed the sky again looking ominous. i looked at marc and said, "all the windows are open ..." so we picked up the kids, headed home, closed the windows, and set up camp in the basement, which was a good 30 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. then i went upstairs to watch the weather while marc listened to the long list of watches and warnings on his ham radio (i HAVE mentioned before that he's a geek, right?). talk about a seriously cool sky ...
and then ...
luckily, it was just rain, thunder, lightning.
the kids were asleep almost immediately, but marc and i couldn't quite make it there. then, at 11 p.m. ... lights! we went upstairs, debated what to do with the kids for about five minutes, then decided to bring them up to their rooms and get the fans on. so we hauled them up, tucked them in, got the fans on, fixed the clocks, marc unplugged the fridge from the generator ... and zap: transformer blew. no more power.
huh.
and at that point we said screw it.
and off it stayed until 10:30 this morning.
such an adventure. and if there's ever another adventure, we now are equipped with power. i almost hope there's another adventure ... i'm not sure we got our money's worth out of the generator yet.
regardless, i'm back online and will get to part two by monday!!
Whoa! That is some SERIOUS weather!
Happy you are all okay & cool that you had some adventures out too!
I am a total WUSS when it comes to stormy weather! LoL.
Posted by: alex hardy | 12 July 2008 at 04:00 PM
Whoa...seriously cool skies aside, I'm glad that you're all OK. Sorry about your bathroom.
Posted by: Shelly | 12 July 2008 at 07:18 PM
Congrats on being the proud owner of a new generator. It's not quite a new bathroom, but I've heard they can really come in handy.
Glad everyone is safe.
Posted by: Barb N. | 12 July 2008 at 11:39 PM
I am glad you guys are all OK, I was at Achivers at the MOA for the night storm. I wished I could be stuck there just for a few days.
Posted by: Suzy | 13 July 2008 at 11:12 PM