Tuesday update, part two (on Saturday)

My sisters are coming , my sisters are coming!  So I want to finish my "Tuesday update" before I have another slew of pictures and stories to post.  

I left off with Dick and I on the way home Saturday in the Penske truck.  We went to Anthony and Lori's first because that's where our car was.  We left the truck there overnight.  No need to park it at our house and start rumors, haha!

Sunday morning came soon enough!  At Fillmore I had the unfortunate surprise of finding out that my flute player was sick and wouldn't be there.  So that called for some quick changes in plans.  The choir did a new (to us) song, Hillsong's God Is Great.  It's an arrangement of the song that I had made for my middle school choir at Manheim Christian the last year I taught.  We did it at the Junior High Choral Festival.  It was not a familiar song to my Fillmore choir, but we've been working on it off and on ever since Christmas.  There were a lot of choir members missing on Sunday and I would never have chosen to do it if I had known that would be the case, but they did a fantastic job!  I decided that these guys can do anything!  We had only one soprano!  But it was okay, because there are a number of places in my arrangement of it where the men have the melody.  So it all worked out.  One of our "fans" - a woman in her 80's told me she loved it, that she and her friend were bouncing in their seats, hahaha!  

Then we went to Calvary for their 10:30 service (always good!), and afterward we went to lunch at Home D Pizzeria with Anthony and Lori.  Here's the difference between these two boys.....

Hunter loves to stuff his face.

Austin would rather assemble a big grasshopper!  It's a smart idea to have something for him to work on so everybody else can eat in peace.

Greek pizza.  YUM !!

After lunch we went to Anthony and Lori's to unload the things they were getting from Jeremy, then we came here to unload our stuff.  

I looked around in dismay wondering how I was ever going to get this place looking decent before my sister weekend.  As it turned out, Dick had an unexpected day off this week when there was a big power outage in our area, so he had more time than expected to do some things like take our old guest room mattress and box spring to the dump, take some things to his shed.  We've saving our old king mattress for a young couple in the area who have twin babies and are moving soon.  Anthony and Dick took that to Anthony's barn temporarily.  

On Monday morning it was warm and I got busy on my annual porch furniture scrubbing/bleaching ordeal.  I had visions of my sisters and I enjoying coffee on the porch, but alas, the weather forecast for this weekend has just gotten more and more sad - cold and rainy.  Same as last year when they were here, also in May!!  What is up with these crazy cold weekends in MAY??  Last weekend it was HOT!!  Oh well, at least my porch looks pretty now.

On Monday afternoon as I was driving over to Anthony and Lori's place with the food I had prepared I was surprised by the thick clouds and strong winds.  I heard on the radio that there were tornado watches!  While I was at their place it seemed to become less windy and dark, so I went to my piano students' home as I usually do on Mondays.  I was about halfway through the second child's lesson when he looked out the window and stopped playing.  It looked like a whiteout!!  The rain was blowing sideways!  There are many trees in their neighborhood, so of course they told me to stay at their house till the storm was past.  As I was on my way home later Dick called me and said he came across a downed tree on his way home and was helping someone to move it aside and also waiting till official help arrived.  So I went home a different way.  

Storms continued throughout the evening.  Half our community lost power, but we were lucky to be in the half that did not!  In fact, the dividing line was our street!  Our side had power, the other side did not.  However, our cable and internet were out.  It was the next day that Dick got to work and found out there was no power and was sent home.  Anthony and Lori were without power until Wednesday!  They also had a downed tree on their private road and couldn't go anywhere till that was removed.  I took this picture of it yesterday, because it was typical of the other pictures and videos I have seen - the tops of trees blown right off!

On Tuesday I had a dentist appointment (of course, they had power - unfortunately, haha), then went to Walmart for a few things afterward.  As I was ready to back out of my parking spot I noticed an elderly woman two spots away also backing out of her space, so I pulled back in and waited while she took forever to back out and leave.  I'm glad she took forever, because just a few minutes later I was driving through an area where there is always a constant flow of traffic, and there in front of me was a downed tree the whole way across the road.   There was an oncoming car stopped on the other side of it.  I think we probably were both thinking the same thing - this tree must have just fallen and we could have been under it!!!  Soon there were cars backed up behind both of us.  There are wide shoulders in that area, so we all began the process of turning around, As I drove away I noticed a policeman approaching with his lights blinking, so I knew it would be taken care of.  I was feeling very, very thankful as I drove home. 

We had heavy rain again yesterday (Friday) morning and again our community has a "lake" where there is usually a lawn!

At least my rosebush is flourishing with all this rain!

Well, I gotta run!!   Mary Ellen and Doris are on their way from Lancaster County.  This is their annual visit to my house.  In July all six of us sisters will get together at my brother's house for a weekend.  Can't wait!!