It has freaking rained all week. And the week before. And my yard is flooded. I can’t plant my tomato plants, mow my grass, or clean my car. GRRR!!! I am so ready for hot hot SUN! The boys are ansy because they are stuck inside, which makes me crazy! (er)
So in a quest to get Starbucks, we were sitting at a light, rain pouring out of the sky, and I was answering questions from my kids on why some clouds make rain and why some don’t, all the while deep in thought about divorce and custody crap.
What do I do? I see the cars in the left turn lane drive out of my peripheral vision and I let go of the brake, rolling into the car in front of me! GRRRR. I didn’t see damage on their car, but the officer said that I popped their tail light and bumper, and maybe scratched my car. GRRR. Now I have a court date and a ticket for driving to closely!!!!
Rain, have I mention that it’s raining? 92, 000 people in Arkansas are out of power, 21K of them here in our county. Of course the schools are closed. All the private schools, most preschools, the college, the beauty college, and all of the school districts within a 45 minute drive. Except one. Yeah one. Oh, yea, it’s the one my kids go to. I didn’t expect them to close though. In the winter when it snows (yeah either a covering or 1-2 inches) EVERYTHING shuts down. Except our school district. Granted, it’s got the most money going in, but damn, they are strict on their closed days!
Of course, if you are one of my Nebraska or Colorado, even Wyoming friends, or anyone else who can functionally drive in a couple feet of snow, you know how ridiculous this is. I understand closing when 95% of the outer roads in this town are flooded. I get that. But really, a covering, even a snow storm of 1-2 inches? Yes, everything closes. Except Wal*Mart. And our school district. And the first sign of snow, make sure you have groceries, because by mid-day the stores will be pack with panic stricten shoppers, hunting and scavenging the empty shelves for bread, milk, water, and batteries. Good grief.
I remember once, I was really sick for several days. It was in sixth grade, because I had that really cool yellow jacket. Yellow and blue, with the awesome hood, and knitted zip-up area. Real cool. Anyways, I walked from our house on Avenue H, all the way to the bus stop at Westmoor elementary. I remember standing there in the cold snowiness. The elementary school teacher came outside and kindly told me that today was a teacher’s day and there was NO school. OMG. I had to walk all the day back home (I don’t think my Mom drove at this time). By the time I trudged through the several feet of snow (not kidding), I was frozen. My Mom made me drink cups and cups of hot tea, until I threw it all up. To this day, I can’t drink tea. Hot tea, cold tea. Sweet tea. If you’ve ever been in the South, you know how they are with their sweet tea. I’m a disgrace. A housewife who can’t make sweet tea.
So, I’m quickly washing my scrubs and will soon go shower, before WE lose power. Remember that tree that fell a while back? It was cut down, but now the one next to it is hanging on the power lines. I really thought of calling in, asking to be low-censused, but I need to work. I’m planning a trip to meet my family is Kansas in October, and need the gas money. My parents and siblings will drive down from Scoblo, and my Dad’s family will drive from Omaha. We’ll have a big pow-wow, lots of Filipino food, a trip to the zoo, and shopping!
Ok, I’m getting side tracked……
See that lower orange spot on the left side of Arkansas (your left, not Arkansas’). Yeah that’s us. And it probably won’t move for a few days. Joy. 35 mph winds. Rain. Maybe 6 inches of it. Rain. Non Stop. Yuck.
Holy Down pour! Can you see the flooding in the street and in our yard? When it rains hard, this is what we get! We’ve lost two BIKES from them being swept in the ‘river’ into the lake.
You can see this tree in the lot in front of us, split into two. It rained about 3pm and they finally cut it down about 10pm. You can see our house past the tree. And yes, I took a picture while driving.
And what does a true Arkansasan and good Mother do after a rain storm? Make your kids pick up all your beer cans that floated down the street!
It was so humid afterward. The Baby is saying, “Mama, no mo’ please!”
Ok, it was a blast 98% of the time. The weather didn’t agree with us all the time! Darn it! I can’t say I remember much, but if you were there, remind me!
Our family got there Thursday afternoon. We set up and swam for a bit. Molly (Mike’s Mom) came out, as did Flip and Em. Around 6:30-7ish, the Crew showed up. Two cars, 8 people, 100 million things to carry! ACK! But it worked out and the cars were unloaded quickly. It got dark quickly, and they guys ended up setting up the 3 room tent pretty much in the dark, not to mention the air mattresses, etc. We grilled some burgers (and hot dogs?). Around 2 am the wind picked up, to the point that my kids were up and screaming because they were scared. All the grown ups were out, making sure nothing got blown away. Mike had a beer at 3 am.
Let me back up and tell you what we had. On the point, there were four campsites, 51, 52, 53 and 54. We had 52 for four nights, and 53 for the first two nights. Park rules state that only 2 tents per site allowed. Hello, we have 17 people! The first night we only had 3 tents (our double dome, the house tent, and the girl’s tent). In 51 there were two teen age looking couples, and 54 was empty. 51 left on friday am, no one showed up til the evening, and they said their sister had the campsite but was unable to come, so they were just having a picnic. It wasn’t until Saturday late night that someone came into 53. So pretty much, we had the place to ourselves all weekend!
Ok, friday am, we woke, drank beer, ate cold breakfast and went for a swim. Sometime around the afternoon it rained (can I be any more vague?) then we went on the boat. We went down by the spillway, where the water was nice and smooth! We wore our life jackets as diapers, held our beers and floated! Flip, Beth, and Jarrod took turns wakeboarding, and they all rocked! That night we made ribs (OMG YUM, my hubbie is awesome on the grill!) and drank beer (seeing a theme here?). I think we broke open the wine bottle too. Oh and the captain, and the vodka, and more beer.
Saturday, more of the same, eating, drinking, smoking, swimming. Unfortunately, it rained for about 4 hours. NON stop. UGH. My kids drove me nuts in the tent. Everyone’s child did. We drank beer to compensate. Finally around 8pm, it stopped! Mike grilled some awesome pork chops and steaks. We were right across the cove from where they were setting off the fireworks. They were so sweet. It was beautiful across the lake, and the view was spectacular. About this time, we opened two more bottles of wine. And drank.
Sunday, we were exhausted. After eating, drinking, and swimming, we all decided to pack up and not stay another night (wimps huh).
I would guess that we went through about 50 bags of ice, 3 large bottles of wine, at least 2 cartons of cigs, a gallon of captain’s, and maybe 10 30 packs of beer? if not more?!? I’ll have to ask Mike for an official count.
Funny thing my hubby said, which completes the story of the weekend, “I ain’t quit drinkin since I started!”
Yeah buddy! Other memories:
lol, oh and the DAYLIGHT game was pretty funny too!
Beer me!
Timmy called everyone a Poopyhead, and then laughed his head off. Too cute!
ETA: Check out the pics HERE ETA: Check out the pics HERE ETA: Check out the pics HERE
ETA: Check out the pics HERE ETA: Check out the pics HERE ETA: Check out the pics HERE
ETA: I didn’t have my camera (freaking thing is broken), so I didn’t get as many pics as I would’ve liked! But I ganked (my new word) many of these from Joey! Keepin’ it f’real!
ETA: I will have more pics from Dan Dan the Weatherman, AKA DJ Dan, AKA American Beauty Dan, the picture takin’ fool!
Last week, we had three massive storms come through, flooding our yard. It’s still wet and muddy.
Yesterday we had beautiful 80 degree weather, we hung out on the boat ~ in our swim suits! Of course the water was cold, but we still dangled out feet.
Well, it freaking rains again tonight. The Man’s first tball practice was rained out, so they practiced indoors. Here’s a few pics of our rain flooded yard, and a few friends.
