An accurate forecast would be nice

(This is pretty long, but my whole purpose in starting to blog was to get back to journaling. If you don't want to read it, my feelings won't be hurt! : ) )

OK...I know that meteorologists tell us that anything beyond a 36 hour window is usually just guestimation, but goodness! All of last week showed the Logan area sunny with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms, some severe. I can live with that. This is, after all, Alabama, and that is pretty much par for the course here at this time of year. On our way up Friday (John did get off early, so we did get an earlier start) I checked the forecast again. Instead of it showing sunshine, it showed storms. Huh? When did that happen? I guess they did get it somewhat accurate because it stormed during the AM hours and cleared up during the PM hours. They just didn't get it accurate until about 12 hours before.

When we got to Crane Hill, the weather seemed okay, so John decided to get the boat and bring it around. I dropped him off and headed to the trailer. On my way, it began to sprinkle. John had beaten me by just a few minutes. He had just gotten the boat docked and secured, and he'd walked up when the thunder started. And then the wind started. Oh my goodness! The wind was FIERCE! If we'd been 10 minutes later getting to the launch, he'd have been out on the lake with all that wind.

We unloaded the truck, sat on the porch, and watched it storm. I really love watching the storms over the lake. It is such a sensory experience with the rumble of the thunder, the rain on the tin roof, the wind chimes as the wind blows through them. Then there is the feel of the wind, and occasionally the rain as it blows through the screen, on my skin. The smell of the rain is so fresh and clean. Finally, there is the lightning as it lights up the sky.

I was wakened at 6:00 Saturday morning to the boom of more thunder and then the rain. So much for getting up early and doing the yard work. We got up about 8 and John made us delicious Western omelets for breakfast. By the time we finished eating, the storm had passed over, so we did get out and cut up the tree that had fallen.

We thought it was just a limb, but it turned out that it was the cowcumber tree that had caught the oak tree that fell last year. We knew it needed to come down, but it looked like it would fall on the back porch if we just cut it. John wanted to wait until he had somebody (read that as a MAN) who could help him. Fortunately, nature took care of it for us, and just like the oak last year, it barely missed the trailer. Had it fallen another three feet to the right, we'd have had to rebuild the porch. He got it cut up, and I dragged off the limbs. At some time during that, I tweaked my ankle. Ouch!

After getting that done, we stopped for a bite to eat before tackling the logs that had washed up. We had hoped we'd be able to take the one closest to the water and just shove it back out. HA! It weighed a ton, so John had to cut it as well. Between dragging limbs and tossing them down the embankment, shoving pieces of logs into the water, and carrying other pieces of logs to the "to be burned" pile, my back and calves were killing me! Add the tweaked ankle, and I've done a LOT of complaining. LOL (Getting old stinks!!!!!) I don't mind a hard day's work though. I feel so good when I see what has been accomplished.

Since we were finally finished with some of the work we'd planned on doing, we showered (because we STUNK!!!!) and rode over to Ron and Cindy's. A few weeks back when John and I spent the day in Birmingham, we had stopped at a neat shop that had all kinds of lake-related decor. One of the things we saw as an old ski that had had hooks put on it so that it could be used as a coat rack (or whatever.) When we cleaned out the boat house in the fall, we found an old pair of kid's skis. We put them aside, thinking we'd use them in some way later on. When we saw the skis in the shop, we knew what we would do with our old skis. So, we got hooks and during our lunch break Saturday, John created our own ski-rack. We took one of them to Ron and Cindy, and we hung ours on the porch to use for towels and/or life jackets when we come up from the lake. I took pictures. I'll post them later so you can see our handiwork. :)

After dinner, we decided to take a ride. It was SO nice...finally!!! I wish I had had my camera because the sky was beautiful. Of course, it would have been funny to capture Ron as he fell into the lake.

We were just cruising along when I realized that I needed to pee. Badly. But I thought I could wait, so I didn't say anything for about 10 minutes. John still just kept cruising along, so about 10 minutes later, I told him he HAD to speed up! (Keep in mind that speeding up in a boat means hitting the wake of other boats harder...) We got back to Ron and Cindy's, and Ron was going to jump from the boat to the dock. It would have been fine except that the boat moved away from the dock about the time he jumped. Cindy and I both jumped up to try to grab him, I peed on myself, and he got wet anyway. Yeah...and none of us were drunk! Anyway, we dropped them off and headed home.

We woke up again to storms yesterday, so we snuggled in and slept until about 9. John again did his magic for breakfast. This time he made his scrumptious cheese grits, fried eggs, and bacon. Apparently, when he was a young bachelor and they all hung out at the lake, he was famous for his cheese grits. Whenever the pre-me crew gets together and starts talking about those early days, somebody mentions John's grits. :) About the time we finished breakfast (well, it was more like brunch) the power went off and didn't come back on until about 3. A good day for napping. :) The storm finally passed around noon, and it began to clear. Of course it would...we had to come home!

We did the minimal straightening since it was already later, loaded up, and John headed back around to Arrowhead with the boat. I met him there, we hooked up the trailer, loaded the boat, put it in storage and headed home. So much for playtime this weekend. :(

It was a weekend of firsts for me. I drove the boat over to R & C's Saturday, and I backed the trailer down the launch yesterday. I had tried to back the trailer the last time we were up, but I got frustrated and gave up. I was determined that I was going to get it this time, and I did. And it didn't take forever. I haven't gotten brave enough to pull the trailer WITH the boat yet, but I will. :)

I guess that's about it. (I've got to quit ending my posts that way!) I need to get my butt in gear and clean house. I'm having a Pampered Chef party tomorrow night, and I always spaz out whenever I'm having anything here because I want the house to look perfect. And what am I doing? Sitting here writing this post. I do have all day, all night, and most of tomorrow if I need it. The house isn't that dirty, so it really won't take forever. I just hate being stuck inside when it is a gorgeous day outside! Oh well!

Have a GREAT day!

Love,