Sweet Pea is also a non-stop busy bee. Constant motion.
Had to be in town yesterday morning and when I got home it didn't seem that there was much change in the construction process. I guess there will be days like that, even though the workers had been here all the time working, hammering, sawing, nailing. I just don't see all the things they do. When Mr. Macho got home he saw. He understands the process. Much better than I did.
(Uncle Jay just called for me to have the tub delivered. Today. Yippee!!)
Pics of the day....
The now covered patio. Will have lights and a fan. So excited about this space.
Obligatory full shot. Again.
Porch shot.
Can't really tell - there are three closets there. Three!
Looking into the den from the bedroom. I am loving all the windows.
Bedroom view.
Looking toward back of den. There will be patio doors out to the, yes, porch!
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On a sad note - out of town daughter-in-law's Grandma Louis died yesterday. She has not been well for a while but her sudden death was a bit of a shock. Daughter and I took a shine to Grandma Louise when we were around her during the wedding of Out of Town Son. She had some pizazz. And she, obviously, had a terrific love for her granddaughter.
Happy trails, Louise. Until we meet again!
*****
Today is the one year anniversary of the tornado in Tuscaloosa. One year ago Lauren and I were geared up to watch "The Wedding". I can't believe I am going to post these pics - but here goes. We had the princess gear and we were excited by the Royal Wedding...
Pretty scary, huh?
Anyway. Before the day was over it really did get scary. Daughter sounded like she was fine when I called her during and immediately after the tornado. They hunkered down in the middle of their house. They had been non-stop watching James Spann on the TV. It did not damage her house. Electricity was out all over the town of Tuscaloosa. When a blackout occurs, it also shuts down information. Not knowing what is going on, especially after watching non-stop weather with the likes of James Spann, is one of the worst parts of any post storm event. By the next morning she was not fine. Her land line was out due to electricity outage. Her cell phone was waning. Water was trickling and, perhaps, not safe. In a brief conversation I told her to come to my house. So, she packed up Tucker and headed over. She stayed for a couple of days. She suffered a slight case of post traumatic stress disorder. Who doesn't after your town is destroyed? Then we loaded her car with bottled water and she migrated back home. I think electricity came back on before or shortly after she got home. Water usage was restored. Garbage pick up was spotty. Most all of Tuscaloosa's garbage trucks were damaged or destroyed. She slowly learned of her friend's losses. Her community's losses.
Last night while Skyping -Tucker heard a loud vehicle and thought it might be a siren. Tornado siren. He remembers. Storms can be defining events in a life. I know. Camille. Katrina. I know them both.
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Got to run call the plumbing supply and have my tub delivered. Go out and make this weekend great.
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Later in the morning.....
While talking to sister, Mimi, this morning I realized that my tornado timeline was somewhat inaccurate. Have asked Daughter to give me her timeline. I have copied and pasted her recollections below:
Lauren's school was closed that week, so Andy had met you with Lauren on the morning of the 27th...Wednesday.
Tucker's school decided to close at noon due to the threat of bad weather. We had just had another 'early school day' due to weather on the 15th, so it was a little familiar. Tucker and I got home and watched James and he remembers playing yahtzee. Around 2:00 (I think) there was a big tornado in Cullman. I think I called Angie (thinking she was at work still) to tell her that there was a 'bitch of a tornado in Cullman.' I remember thinking that we had cried wolf (with calling school) and that the weather would miss us.
Andy had been home asleep but he got up to go to Dr. Fernandez's funeral...maybe at 3? When he left I gave him strict instructions to come straight home after the service and to not go to his dad's due to the weather.
Around 5 we started switching between James and WVUA, the TV station that is on campus. We had seen the radar shots of the storm moving in, but it seemed like all of a sudden, here it was on video. We were able to see the huge tornado that looked like it was heading straight for the stadium, which is literally 50 feet from the WVUA studio. At one point, the local weatherman jumped out of the screen to take cover, and in my memory that is when our power cut off. Tucker, Andy and I got in the hall with our pillows. James Spann had mentioned Skyland at one point, but I think we realized it wasn't coming directly for us.
Andy keeps a battery-operated radio, so we had some idea of what was going on, but it was impossible to really understand the scope at first. After the storm had passed, I remember James saying that University Mall and DCH had taken a direct hit. He used a word to describe the damage...I think it was 'leveled.' I remember thinking, 'that cannot be right. Someone is giving him misinformation.'
Of course we had no power, so we foolishly tried to order a pizza. Landlines were spotty and we couldn't get through on the phone (they wouldn't have had power either). I got a few texts, I remember one from Aunt Rhonda, but I couldn't get a text out. I know I talked with y'all immediately after and I think I remember talking with Bob and asking him to text A. Rhonda to let her know that we were okay but my cell wasn't able to send texts.
I slept on the couch that night. Andy had to manually open the garage door (no power) to get to work. I have no clue how long it took to get to campus. He had to drive directly through all of the devastation and somehow cobbled out a route.
I remember walking to the mailbox the next morning (Thursday) to try to get cell service to call you. I did get you and I must have known by this point that there was a warning/ban on the water. That, along with no power made my decision to go to Columbus. We saw some of the damage on the way on I59. Warehouses demolished sticks out in my mind. Cars on the side of the road that had been put there by the tornado. I thought the Fun Factory was gone (turns out it wasn't--it was hard to know what you were looking at b/c everything in that area was gone or damaged beyond description).
It was incredible getting to your house and seeing pictures on the computer. In most, I could not get any bearing of what I was looking at. Unreal. I remember feeling like a zombie---getting tired of looking at the pics/info on the computer, trying to do something else, but always ending up back in front of the computer.
The royal wedding was the next morning (Friday). I happened to wake up at 5:00, so I got Lauren out of bed to watch. We came home on Saturday and were able to drive down McFarland. Later that afternoon, we loaded up the van with clothes, etc. that we had been planning to sell in a yard sale. The Red Cross that had set up at Bowers Park wasn't even taking clothes any more at that point, so we drove it to a (what used to be a) Church on Hargrove Road and dropped it off. That is around the Forest Lake area, so again we got to see a lot of the destruction fairly quickly.
Resumed work/school on Monday. For at least a week many of the roads off of McFarland were closed, so the traffic was slow going getting in to work.
Tucker's school decided to close at noon due to the threat of bad weather. We had just had another 'early school day' due to weather on the 15th, so it was a little familiar. Tucker and I got home and watched James and he remembers playing yahtzee. Around 2:00 (I think) there was a big tornado in Cullman. I think I called Angie (thinking she was at work still) to tell her that there was a 'bitch of a tornado in Cullman.' I remember thinking that we had cried wolf (with calling school) and that the weather would miss us.
Andy had been home asleep but he got up to go to Dr. Fernandez's funeral...maybe at 3? When he left I gave him strict instructions to come straight home after the service and to not go to his dad's due to the weather.
Around 5 we started switching between James and WVUA, the TV station that is on campus. We had seen the radar shots of the storm moving in, but it seemed like all of a sudden, here it was on video. We were able to see the huge tornado that looked like it was heading straight for the stadium, which is literally 50 feet from the WVUA studio. At one point, the local weatherman jumped out of the screen to take cover, and in my memory that is when our power cut off. Tucker, Andy and I got in the hall with our pillows. James Spann had mentioned Skyland at one point, but I think we realized it wasn't coming directly for us.
Andy keeps a battery-operated radio, so we had some idea of what was going on, but it was impossible to really understand the scope at first. After the storm had passed, I remember James saying that University Mall and DCH had taken a direct hit. He used a word to describe the damage...I think it was 'leveled.' I remember thinking, 'that cannot be right. Someone is giving him misinformation.'
Of course we had no power, so we foolishly tried to order a pizza. Landlines were spotty and we couldn't get through on the phone (they wouldn't have had power either). I got a few texts, I remember one from Aunt Rhonda, but I couldn't get a text out. I know I talked with y'all immediately after and I think I remember talking with Bob and asking him to text A. Rhonda to let her know that we were okay but my cell wasn't able to send texts.
I slept on the couch that night. Andy had to manually open the garage door (no power) to get to work. I have no clue how long it took to get to campus. He had to drive directly through all of the devastation and somehow cobbled out a route.
I remember walking to the mailbox the next morning (Thursday) to try to get cell service to call you. I did get you and I must have known by this point that there was a warning/ban on the water. That, along with no power made my decision to go to Columbus. We saw some of the damage on the way on I59. Warehouses demolished sticks out in my mind. Cars on the side of the road that had been put there by the tornado. I thought the Fun Factory was gone (turns out it wasn't--it was hard to know what you were looking at b/c everything in that area was gone or damaged beyond description).
It was incredible getting to your house and seeing pictures on the computer. In most, I could not get any bearing of what I was looking at. Unreal. I remember feeling like a zombie---getting tired of looking at the pics/info on the computer, trying to do something else, but always ending up back in front of the computer.
The royal wedding was the next morning (Friday). I happened to wake up at 5:00, so I got Lauren out of bed to watch. We came home on Saturday and were able to drive down McFarland. Later that afternoon, we loaded up the van with clothes, etc. that we had been planning to sell in a yard sale. The Red Cross that had set up at Bowers Park wasn't even taking clothes any more at that point, so we drove it to a (what used to be a) Church on Hargrove Road and dropped it off. That is around the Forest Lake area, so again we got to see a lot of the destruction fairly quickly.
Resumed work/school on Monday. For at least a week many of the roads off of McFarland were closed, so the traffic was slow going getting in to work.
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