With all that's been going on here in Alabama both during and after the tornaodes ran rampant through our state, I didn't tell you anything about the Beast's persistence with some of his projects.  Like the planters for the veggies and the arbor he's been intent on building at the end of the desk.  Here's the arbor....but keep in mind that the grape vines for it are still fairly new.  But, I can assure you that they amaze me with how fast they are growing.  He has several varieties because of the need for pollinators.  I know it will end up looking good but....grapes attract wasps and ants.  **Shudder**

At first he was satisfied with the trellises (white objects...there are four of them...one for each grape vine) and envisioned them entwining themselves around the rails of the deck bannister and fence.  But, the more he thought about it, he really hadn't liked it at his brother's house so he came up with the idea of the arbor-trellis that will go up in the air and span the width of the deck.  *Sigh*    I'll take a picture of it later in the summer months and you will get the idea.

I have mentioned the planter boxes he's made for our vegetables but he's still not done.  This picture shows the boxes so far but he's got the wood, soil and weed barrier fabric for a couple more.  We have a long growing season here in Alabama and it's a good thing with the way the Beast has gotten about growing our own veggies.  Anyway, here's a shot of what is going so far.....

Keep in mind that the boxes are much larger than they appear in this photo.  For instance, the long box on the left actually is over 28 feet in length.  He will be adding another 24 feet with just the wood he has.  It takes a full day to fabricate, move and then fill each planter.  We will, however, have a good variety of vegetables going this summer.  I'm already harvesting lettuce (leafy varieties).  What is not in the shot is the rototilled plot on the opposite side of the yard that has the watermelon and cantaloupe plants.  Those are not in boxes but he will be putting each melon on a box to develop and lower the change of pests or rot if we have a lot of rain.

The white trellis is next to one of the boxes as support for the string beans that the damn Beast bought that require lines for them to cling to.  I explicitly told the Beast to ONLY get BUSH type beans.  Well, he did get some of those but he just HAD to get these others, too.  I swear to you, he would have the whole back yard filled and there would be veggie pandemonium if it weren't so hard on him physically.    As we speak, he has his little *greenhouse* going with more seeds in it for the new boxes he hasn't even made yet.  ***Insert eye roll here***  It really does work because he just planted them yesterday and today they are already showing that they will be popping up by tomorrow, I think.  He has the warmer pad that goes underneath the tray plugged into the solar batteries because he has a spot that keeps them out of the way and safe from both the dog and Chewlee. 

We also washed the dog today with a good flea and tick shampoo and then did the flea and tick treatment.  We do it every month all year long here but.....it's only taken four damn years but he finally will stand still for it all.  Of course, today was hot and humid so it probably felt really good to him.  He sure smells a lot better.    Doesn't take long before he starts getting that *doggie* smell from his running and sweating.  But, for a few days, we can enjoy the fact that he smells like the conditioner we use afterward.

Time to go now.  Love you all and thanks for sticking with me while we were without regular electricity.  Be good, be careful and I wish you great weather. 

I've been reading over my notes from that day and I decided I would tell you about the important things from that day.  Well, mostly important things. 

The Beast decided to mow the lawn while he could because we had sunshine instead of the expected rain.  In fact, it allowed the solar batteries to catch up, which was a surprise to us.  They had been very low after the Beast spent several hours watching his NBA playoffs.

The Beast had one of those *DUH!* moments and had planned on charging up the solar batteries with his battery charger.  He said to me that on days like we were expecting (no sunshine), he could recharge the batteries while running the generator!  Wow!  What a concept....LOL

Because a lot of Huntsville still has no electric power, a Ham Radio Club is volunteering to locate or attempt to locate some of the missing by contacting friends and relatives.  Redstone Arsenal is using it to locate their personnel that hasn't checked in with their supervisors.  They've managed to cut down the list of missing quite a bit.

Also, there has been such an outpouring of volunteers that they had to open several locations for them to report to so they could be documented and given ID badges since there are National Guardsmen and women patrolling the severely damaged areas to prevent looting.  They've actually arrested several looters, although people feel like they should just be shot on the spot.  You get a strange mentality when you see someone who would try to take advantage of such a devastating tragedy.  It's a bit like grave robbing and you know the people are scum. 

They are still urging everyone to keep in contact with neighbors and check on them every day while things are so upset.  We actually have neighbor run over, excited, while the Beast is cutting the front lawn and the lot next to us.  She yells out, *We have electricity!!!!*  to me then runs over to where the Beast finally stops mowing to hear what she has to say.  He drives the mower over to our garage where the generator is running, shuts it down and takes the time to take the wiring off the panel before he throws the main breaker.  Sure enough!  We have electricity.  For how long, we aren't sure because we are still confused as to how we got it when the lines are still down along the highway just a block over.

Sure enough.  We have our electric go off a couple times before it finally stays on just in time for night.  It's so nice to watch the sun go down and have lights on in the house behind us.  I know they had to have worked on re-routing the electric to get us going and I am ever so grateful.  We have, however, developed this habit of keeping lighting, etc. down to a minimum.  Might not be a bad habit to keep.  The Beast wants to start unplugging our coffee maker since we found out how much power it actually requires to keep it going 24 hours a day.  It heats up the water in the reservoir quickly so I told him if he thinks we should, then go for it.  It seems *I* have to remember it since *I* am the one up later than he is.  Okay.  Not a problem.  When I am sure I won't be making a late night pot, I'll just unplug it. 

My mother died at a very young age.  She was only 56.  Worse, from the time of her first scary symptoms to the time she died was just six weeks.  That's hardly time to think about her leaving your life forever.

I often say *Life is short* and I mean it because loss of it can be sudden and shocking.  I miss my mother every single day.  I miss being able to pick up the phone and tell her the latest joke I heard.  I feel a deep sadness that she never got to see or enjoy her great-grandchildren and a few of her grand-children, too.  Mom loved babies and they loved her, too.

She was not a really great mom when I was young.  I wasn't a great teenager, either.  But, as I became a mother and learned a lot about kids not having instructions, we reached an accord and then a friendship.

I learned a lot from my mother growing up, however.  She taught me how to cook, sew, iron and much more.  She was a talented woman and could have entered many fields of work but got married young and had seven children instead.  She was not a really happy woman when she was younger but she was more happy and content at the end years of her life.  She and her mother were very close and I really believe that my grandmother (her mother) died shortly afterward because that was one child too many she had lost and the daughter she was closest to.

Mom loved to play scrabble and she played it all the time with her mother to help keep her mother's mind sharper since she was suffering from what my father laughingly called *Old Timers*.   When Mother's Day rolls around, I always have this area of sadness in my heart that I can't take Mom out to breakfast or lunch and have a few laughs and a couple drinks if that was what she wanted.  I miss being able to have her in my life.

My siblings and I will often talk about some of the things Mom taught us or weird things she would do at times.  I loved to hear her laugh since it seemed to come from deep inside her.  I sometimes get a whiff of the perfume she loved and I think to myself, *Thanks for keeping an eye on me, Mom* because I feel she's never far from any of us kids.  It's not as good as having her around in the flesh but it will have to do.

So, when I say Love your mother while you can, remember......no matter what has passed between you when you were young, she will always be your mother.  No one is perfect.  We all just fumble down life's pathway, doing the best we can and hope for the best.  If you are fortunate enough to have a mother in your life, do something special for her.  A phone call.  A nice breakfast or lunch.  Hell, take her out for a drink if that's what would make her happy (as long as it's JUST a drink or two...LOL). 

And for all of us mothers that also tried our best and just want our kids to be happy, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!

I discovered one thing from this period without electricity.  Little candles go dim if you don't pour off the wax to expose the wick.  It might start out at the tip of a mound but it ends up down in a crater.  I found this out when I was trying to make notes without either the generator or the solar being used.

I have decided that being without electricity for any length of time would be a huge step backwards for us.  Like going back to the Dark Ages.  What would we do about clothes with no factories to make them or even just the fabric?  How many garments do you think you could make with only hand sewing to put the pieces together?  Who cares about jewelry....just give me a store I can go to where I can buy winter or summer clothes that I don't have to weave or sew myself. 

We take so much for granted.  Flour, bread, soup in cans, canned veggies and sauces.  Could we all survive if a major disaster took all our technology away from us for more than a few weeks?  How much do we really know about being *without* and *making do*?  I think that those of us that lived without even half this technology would suddenly become more valuable because we remember what we did in the *before* time.  LOL!  Now that would be funny to me to be valuable just because I am old and *old-fashioned*.  What a thought.

I admit I remember the times before there were bathrooms in every apartment (they were in the hallway and were shared), when hot water wasn't something that was available in all apartments.  Heck, not even in some buildings!  We used oil for heat in the winter (and it was awful).  There were no TV's, no pop-up toasters, phone service was shared.  You could, if you were quiet enough, even pick up your phone and listen in on other peoples conversations.  I did that a time or two at my grandmother's house when I was a kid.  My family didn't even get a phone until I was a teenager.  I remember manual typewriters, adding machines and cash registers.  I also remember when you had better know how to count out change if you worked with money.  How about coffee pots that you didn't plug in?  Heck, they weren't even available to the common man....LOL.  Wood stoves and hauling wood up from the basement.  Lots and lots of things we lived without at one time but I sure enjoy having all the *goodies* now.  I prefer life as it is these days to much of what I remember living without as a kid.

The neighbors finally brought back our spare coffee pot.  No idea why they kept it so long.  I know it doesn't keep coffee all that well even though it's a thermal carafe that's brushed steel finish.  It's from our Bunn coffee maker.

The Princess got back about an hour before she had to go to work.  They still had no electricity but she said they were working very close to her so she was hopeful of getting it later in the day or no later than the next day (Monday).  Later, after she picked up Chewlee, she knew she had her electric back and Chewlee was so happy to be going home.  It's not like SHE went without because the Beast kept the TV's and lights running, first with the generator and then with the solar energy while she was here.  She was really good about not going into the fridge all the time like she would usually do to *help herself*.  We discussed what she wanted and then *I* got it.

I keep turning on the news to try to get more information about our local *recovery* but it's sparse.  It's very discouraging to hear the head of TVA here saying that rural areas will more than likely be low on the list to restore power and they didn't anticipate getting to those areas until Wednesday.  *Sigh*  It's Sunday night.  Guess we may have to endure another three, four or even five days of this.

The death count is over 300 now with over 450 people still missing.  That's so sad because the Search teams are still working on many towns, like Tuscaloosa, that were just destroyed.  The Governor and Mayors of the various cities are urging us all to check on our neighbors.  Weather dot com has a *missing* list on their website they are urging people to check and see if you know the wherabouts of anyone on the list.  If so, please report it.  I'm really disappointed that WHNT hasn't been more responsive to keeping us informed as to locations of FEMA reps, places that are serving hot meals, etc. in any places except Huntsville and a few other minor areas.  Even if they just posted it on THEIR website so the information could be passed along to those without electricity, it would be nice.  I heard that some of the local radio stations are reporting some of those things but there's no ONE place that residents can go to, look up their affected area and get the information they need.

One piece of good news was a college girl that had started home just before the tornadoes hit her area was missing but is now found.  Now information on how or where, only that she was found alive and had finally been able to contact her family.

I was exhausted once Chewlee went home.  She has that affect on me.  I'm really beginning to think about the fact that I am taking care of her for five days a week.  Three days it's just for about four hours but it's become 9-10 hours on both Saturday and Sunday.  I love her but I really am having a difficult time dealing with such long hours.  Of course, I haven't charged the Princess for any of this.....I know, I know, I should make her pay SOMETHING.  She DOES take me for granted, I know but what's a family for?  We help where we can.

The sun comes up and it seems like so do we.  The Beast is anxious to get the fridges cooled down from however much they have warmed up during the night.  I don't think it's all that much but we don't have any way to really tell.  I just know the butter stays firm and the milk feels cold.  It's not like we open and close it a lot.  It's not like we have kids living here.     We tried to have the 'lectricity on, as Chewlee calls it, when she is here so she doesn't get scared.  She had become afraid of the dark from the days without electricity after the storms.

Of course, we have also found ourselves going to bed a lot earlier than otherwise because of not having the lights on after dark except for two small lamps.

I decided to do a load of wash once the Beast put the generator on.  I could use the washer but not the dryer due to the amount of energy required.  I have an umbrella stand out back that the Beast installed at the beginning of winter (I know, I told him he was nuts then, too).  It seems like several of the Beast's ideas have paid off now, however. 

I then cooked up a pound of bacon on the grill outside (in a pan on the burner section) and made some eggs to go with it.  I figured the bacon could be used around lunch for some bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches if the Beast turned on the generator so we could toast up some bread.  (He did, BTW).  It still seemed weird to be cooking bacon outdoors without there being a tent set up nearby.  LOL!  I'm hearing what sounds like more and more motorcycles out on the road.  They must be checking out what gas stations have power for gas they need for cars or generators.  The Beast says he saw ATV's in the fields, moving the cows and horses from one field to another.  I told him I've seen that before but I guess he had never noticed when driving in the car.  I have an advantage that way because Chewlee notices EVERYTHING going on and always has to call my attention to it.

The Beast has been using his scooter to go up to Lowe's and to Walmart now that he knows they are open.  This really upsets Baron because he thinks that scooter is HIS.  He just doesn't understand how the Beast could be driving it anywhere without him.  He made the most pitiful noises when the Beast drove that scooter down the driveway and down the road.  I swear, he was crying.    He whimpered for a long time after the Beast left so that you would have thought his heart was broken.

I found myself getting upset that I couldn't just go online to check on different things as they occurred to me during the day.  In a situation like this, you want to be able to get local news, at least.  And what do I NOT have?  A battery-operated radio.  I know, I know....I should have one but the Beast thought having the weather radio would be enough.  I think he thought it would give us local news along with the weather alerts.

I had several friends on Pogo pop up last night when I was actually able to play a couple games before going to bed.  They were all so worried about not seeing me.  A couple of them live here in Alabama that weren't affected by the tornaodes but they knew we were right in the thick of it.  Two of them had tornadoes touch down within 15 miles of them but they never even lost electricity.  One woman was watching our online chat and said to us, *Oh it couldn't have been all that bad.  You still have electricity.*  I told her I was using solar power and she just said, *OH?  At night?*  I just said she obviously didn't know anything about storing power with solar and I wasn't going to explain it but I told her I hoped people were nice to her if it ever happens in her area instead of being snippy.  I told the girls about what we had heard about our electric not even being worked on until Wednesday and Nana said, *That's the downside of living in the country*. 

Tara texted me to say she was staying in Florida for a few more days since they hadn't started on her road at all yet according to Tonto and the news from the school is that there won't be any until Thursday.    The estimates of when everything is going to be done keeps changing.  Who knows what is going to happen or when.

I woke up with an ankle cramp at 3:30am.  Beast and dog are both restless and dreaming.  Haven't heard the Beast talk in his sleep in years but he's doing it now.  Only not as plainly as he used to do....LOL.  I'm taking the opportunity to charge up my phone using the solar since it doesn't pull a lot of power and the solar is so low.  I sure hate this trying to write by candlelight.  How awful if it was how we still have to do things the same way as the pioneers.  Bless Thomas Edison.  Beast used the new 22 inch Visio TV he picked up at Walmart.  It's a flat screen with a great picture but it sure looks more like a computer monitor to me.  All because it uses less power (good excuse, right?) and he wanted to watch the basketball playoff games on TV.  I went to bed before he did.

The Princess has no school until Thursday they announced, as most of the colleges in affected areas won't either.  I know her; she will be working extra shifts at the restaurant if possible.  Don't know how many substitute jobs will be available for her with this mess.    Of course, it's tough to keep Chewlee entertained so she is probably praying the preschool will be back working on Monday since they will be home on Sunday some time.  Johnnycakes will probably have to be back at work since the plants will more than likely be first in line for electric.  They are biggest employer in area.

I hope the kids have their electricity back when they get home tomorrow.  That will be nice for Chewlee.  I looked at the weather forecast for Monday and they say rain.  That won't bode well for getting our electric back on.  Beast is really pissed at the company we ordered emergency meal supplies from.  They are kind of like those MRE's (Meals, Ready to Eat) you hear about except these you just add hot water to.  We ordered six buckets and I think each bucket has either a week or two weeks worth of meals for four adults.  I just know they were expensive and we should have had them.  We could have used them for the variety, at least. 

Wish we had hot water in the water heater right now but the Beast took a bath so I wouldn't chance taking a shower right now.  Will have to do that in the morning after the Beast runs the generator.  If it does rain on Monday, we will probably need to have some for our showers then.  We are low on gas again so the Beast will be running up on the scooter to fill the smaller containers (I believe they are 2 gals. each) in the morning.  I told the Beast he wouldn't have to run the generator so long if he would just take a solar shower (I bought one for us a few weeks back for just such a possibility) but he just laughed.

On the days I have Chewlee, this blog will more than likely be late. 
Today the Beast had his appointment with his doctor to check out how he was healing after his surgery.  He also got the results from the biopsy of both his bladder tumor and his prostate.  The news was not good.

His tumor was of a particularly virulent type and it WILL return.  He will be getting a type of chemo that's a bit different.  They will be filling his bladder with a live virus and must hold it for an hour in his bladder.  This is not an easy task since the urge to pee is going to be very strong.   For three hours afterward, he will be told it is best to pee sitting down to avoid spreading the virus around that may linger in the bladder.  Then the toilet and surrounding area needs to be thoroughly disinfected with bleach and a mask must be worn to prevent inhaling any of the virus, which is a form of TB, I believe I was told.

Just how that virus will help prolong the next tumor escapes me but one must trust that the doctors know what they are doing.  My kids are having fits of worry over all this and who can blame them.  He has only started to be a halfway decent person to them in the years since his strokes.  I understand the feeling.

But, any prayers would be appreciated.  Like Tara says, the Beast may not believe much in prayer but she doesn't care.  She and her sons just grabbed his hands and said a prayer for him.  I saw him bow his head so he's not fooling anyone.  He just doesn't believe in organized religious groups but he DOES believe in God.  Me?  I have always believed in a loving God.  I also believe in miracles.  Look at how long the Beast has lived after having a severe stroke and then a minor one five months later.  His doctors gave him five years before he would have a stroke that would kill him.  Here it is, 10 years later and he's still going strong.  He may not be 100% but he does very well considering.    If that's not a small miracle, I don't know what is.  Miracles take place all around us every day but we don't notice some of them because they are small or very personal.  Think about it.  I'm sure you know of an incident or two that could fill the bill.

The Princess and Johnnycakes decided they were going to go to Gatlinburg, TN if the Princess's work hadn't gotten electricity by Friday morning.  They were going to check when they woke up in the morning and then head to TN if the news was what they expected from all the damage reported. 

I was glad because that would mean I wouldn't have to worry about them.  That only left Tara and her boys but I knew how independent she is and that she would manage.  I was going to call her and check on how they were doing in the morning.

I sat at my desk and wrote a few things that occurred to me.  You spend a lot of time with yourself in the dark...well, almost dark.  I plugged my lamp into the inverter (solar powered) so I could have a little light to write.  I thought about the pioneers and kids trying to study after their chores were done.  Most of it was probably done by candlelight since kerosene for the lanterns would have been a precious commodity and saved only for times when light was important.  Perhaps when farm animals were having their calves or colts or whatever.  Or when company called and you were entertaining.  Earlier I had a couple of my Christmas candles that I dug out and was using them to provide the light while I wrote.  It really wasn't good light to write by.

We have found out what real dark is these past couple of days.  Even the house has become hazardous to try to make your way around without a flashlight or candle.  You think you know where things are.  Ha! Ha!  Just try it.  Or, better yet, tie something over your eyes and try to go from the middle of one room into another.  Makes you appreciate your sight and discover how amazing it is that blind people can maneuver around their homes and even outdoors in what has to be a scary world.  At least, it would be to me.

Sound really carries at night.   It's not just the reduced traffic on the road.  It's more like the whole world is sleeping and you can hear the people turn over in their beds.  Or when they get up to use the bathroom.  Very strange.

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DAY 3 (Day 2 of *recovery*)

After doing my normal making the bed up and clearing off the table in the kitchen that the Beast manages to crap up quickly, I decided to sit outside in the nice weather once the Beast shut down the generator.  I think I am going to push the Beast to wire it up directly to the electric panel.  When we have to change from one (generator) to the other (solar) it means I have the lamp, satellite modem, the modem for the Beast's computer, my computer and monitor and the TV.  Six things I have managed to put on one strip so that it's not as big a deal once we agreed on what would be able to be used on the solar inverter.  It's a good thing the first inverter that came with the solar panels took a crap before the tornadoes hit.  I wouldn't want to even try to find a replacement now. 

I got a little tan sitting outside but couldn't shake how sick I was feeling.  The Beast pulled down this big container of whey that he had stored with our *emergency supplies*.  We aren't eating very well due to the fact that we can't use our oven or regular stove.  We are avoiding opening the fridge as much as we can, too.  I can't do a slow cook meal since we don't have anything we want to drain (solar) or generator.  The Beast is keeping a close eye on the solar in case we run out of gas for the generator.  We will have to use it just for the fridges (ours and neighbors).  If we manage to keep generator filled with gas until 8 or so at night when we want to bring the fridges down to temperature for the night, I get to use the solar for computer time.  Problem is, it's usually kind of low and we really don't have the hang of it just yet as far as running time so I hate to get online and end up having everything quit on me suddenly. 

The Beast decided to go ahead and wire up the generator directly to electric panel.  He threw the main switch so there couldn't be any feedback to anyone working on the lines and wired up a couple rooms, including the guest bathroom so Chewlee could have light when she goes potty (and she's not here, of course).  We can plug in our coffee pot like normal, the fridge is plugged into the wall once again.  We just can't use the stove or oven.  He has to undo the kitchen area and my room to heat up the water in the hot water tank but what a treat to take a hot shower!  I took one and ended up going to bed early because I was dizzy and nauseous.

I heard the Beast come back into the house (I hadn't heard him leave) and I got up to see where he had gone.  Turns out Walmart was open so he got some milk (we were low on it so I was glad), some fresh bread (incredibly fresh!  ) and the wonderful man picked up my prescriptions.  He figured I needed my meds and that was why I was so sick.  I think he was right.  I was very, very grateful for his thoughtfulness.  It's not a thing I take for granted with him.

More bad news on the restoration of our electric.  The Beast was watching an update from TVA.  Rurual areas won't be wonked on until Wednesday, they said.  That means we will be without electric for 8 days or more.  At least we won't be without water.  They said they were able to reroute enough electric to sustain them all but some mountainous areas where the water had to be pumped UP would have low water pressure for a while.  Good news, bad news.  What can you expect under these circumstances?  We, at least, have an undamaged home around us.

Found out that Tara and the boys made the trip down to Tara's dad and brother's homes since they had been invited to stay until their electric was back on.  Tara thought about it for maybe two seconds and decided to go.  The Princess was supposed to inform me of this but she had so many problems of her own to worry about between work and school and Chewlee, she just forgot.  I was glad because now we only had US to worry about. 

I took my meds and went back to bed.  The Beast was watching a basketball game using the solar since I wasn't online.  I never heard him come in.

**NOTE:  I forgot to mention that between the second tornado hitting this area and the last one, Tara and I had finally connected and I found out that she and the boys were fine and the house undamaged.  It had missed being hit by 5 houses!    She said it had torn up the National Guard Armory and all around her.  The tornado that had hit first thing in the morning had skirted in back of her house up on the hill and then down the road.  There were lines and trees everywhere.  Tonto and the boys were helping neighbors get trees and debris off vehicles and trying to clear a pathway so they could even get out of the neighborhood somehow.  They thought they had enough ice but the electric company told them to figure on 5-6 days without electric.  About then we knew we were probably all going to suffer without it for a while.
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Day Two but Day One of the *Recovery* as the television was calling it made me laugh.  The sights of all the areas that were leveled and just looking like they were garbage dumps was enough to give you heaves when you realized that was people's lives and homes in those piles of rubble.  We lost all our local stations but the weather channel (and that damned Jim Cantrell) is doing a really great job of reporting and letting us know what is going on.  When the Beast finally dragged the generator out of the barn, I was glad but....now the problem was going to be gas for it.  It's a BIG generator and really was bought to run the AC of our house in Florida if a hurricane knocked out our electric.  The Beast can't handle heat since his strokes, remember.

We have electric cords all over the place so that we can plug in the fridge and our next door neighbors, too.  We can at least run it for an hour here and there so our food stays cold and we don't get much spoilage...we hope.  No clue how the freezer will keep but we will find out.....the hard way.

We found out the cell towers are affected by all this damage, too.  Sometimes we get through, sometimes we don't.  The Beast and I took a walk around the area to check on neighbors.  Found out one was picked up by their kids since the father is disabled, another headed for Atlanta to stay until we get electric back.  At least their two yappy dogs won't be making us all crazy at night...again.  The family with three young kids are going to try to make it a *camping* trip with their kids except that they will be able to sleep in their own beds at night.  They had put their pool up just a few days ago so the kids can keep entertained at least.  The Beast told them to let us know if they need anything but they think they are set.

I was shocked to see the damage on the other side of the circle.  The Beast had told me about the broken tree tops but what a shock to see it up close.  I was worried about the gal with the horse farm at the end of the road but the Beast had already checked on her and they escaped damage to the house and barns, too.

The Beast put the generator on and hooked up the TV so Chewlee could watch some cartoons for a while.  She is happy.  She told me that she knew how to fix our house so it wouldn't be broken.....Papa has to go get some batteries and that will fix it!  She is so funny.

I plugged my TV into solar so I could watch the news (still on weather channel for that)  It's an incredible death toll so far and it's just one day after!  36 dead in Tuscaloosa so far.  Other areas, still counting.  2 here, 5 there.  Long lines at gas stations that have managed to get their pumps working.  TVA says that we have over 300,000 people just in the Albertville/Guntersville/Boaz/Ahab area without electricity.  Tonto drove up to Ahab and says it's really not there any more.    He was nauseous over what he saw and who can blame him.

The weatherman reported grapefruit sized hail in Birmingham yesterday and said that, in his whole 30 years as a weatherman, he had never seen hail anywhere near that size before.  I can imagine what damage that alone could do without the tornadoes.  Chewlee fell asleep a little after her nap time when I lay down with her.  She cuddled up to me and was instantly asleep, poor thing.  Later, when she woke up, she came up like a shot and kept saying she was *trapped*.  It took her a few minutes to really wake up but I held her until she felt *safe* again.  I wonder if she had a flashback to the last tornado that hit when she and the Princess were trapped in that friend's apartment?

So far 120 dead in Alabama alone.  It's a terrible way to distinguish our state in terms of severity of the storms that hit but, good lord....they say 50 alone hit in our state.  50???? I have a stomach ache thinking about that.

I saw pictures of some of the tornadoes that actually spawned other, smaller tornadoes out of it!  I think that's what hit on either side of our area.  Incredible things, tornadoes are.

Chewlee had told her mother (I found this out later) that she wanted to come to our house because our TV wasn't broken.  Papa had bought batteries to fix it but he didn't get enough to fix the whole house yet.  Beast and I discussed his setting up the generator directly to the power panel so we wouldn't be tripping over all the various electrical cords.  We wouldn't be able to get everything working (like the stove) but we could keep the fridge going and actually use the coffee maker and the small microwave he bought, too.  At least Chewlee could have her *noodles* (chicken noodle soup) a lot faster.  She gets really cranky when she's hungry.  However, she found out she liked Papa's hamburgers he made on the grill IF I let her salt it after I cut it up for her.  She was very careful with the salt (I was watching) and then she took the pieces and laid them along her bread and ate it like it was a taco. 

Next door neighbor brought over some gas to help out since we are keeping his fridge cold for them.  Beast said he's going to make a trip to Oneonta tomorrow to get some gas for us and fill up the car while he's there.  Darn thing is almost empty.  I KNEW I should have filled it the day the Beast had his surgery.  Was that only three days ago?????

The Princess went to Birmingham area with her boss to work.  They actually had gotten electric up and running and they felt people would need some food available even if it was just for a few hours.  Shows you that the big cities get priority.  At least their store there wasn't destroyed as many were.  The Princess borrowed my charger so she could charge up her cell phone while she was there. 

I kept my desk light on in my room even when the Beast shut down the generator so Chewlee wasn't afraid.  She fell asleep in my recliner and the Princess hated to wake her up when she carried her out to the car to go home.  The poor baby really wanted to take a bath but there wasn't enough hot water to do that today.  If I have her tomorrow, the Beast says he will heat up the tank with the generator after he brings the fridges to temperature.  That is, IF he finds gas.

We are still waiting for Walmart to reopen.  You know that they will be one of the first ones the power company gets going mainly because it's the primary store for groceries in this area.  I need my prescriptions, especially my diabetes medication.  I'm watching what I am eating but know I need those pills.  That'll teach me to wait until the last minute to order them.  I could have done it a few days earlier but got too darn lazy and I was too worried about the Beast's upcoming surgery.

One good thing about all this *activity* with turning on the generator, turning the solar on and off, etc. is the Beast hasn't really had time to complain about any pain.  I DID ask him but he said just the first day was kind of bad but not since.  I'm so grateful for that.  I would not have managed as well without him being functional. 

Oh lord, what now?  There is the possibility that we may have our water cut off due to the pumps not being able to be used at the water plants.  Have to clean and fill up the tubs and other containers just in case.  We need to be able to flush AND I refuse not to have enough water for coffee.  At least the Princess was able to locate two gallons of water for us.  THAT will be strictly for our meds and our coffee. 

I turned on the weather radio, which meant I had to put the batteries in since our electric went out with about two minutes into the wind gusts.  I don't keep the batteries in all the time because you can't really turn off the radio at all if they are in.  I know, I know....the whole idea is that we get warned all year long since tornadoes have no real *season* and have occurred during every month of the year.  But, I hate it going off during the night just because there's upper circulation, not even any real sighting.  But, I digress.

It was relatively calm for a while and we sat just talking quietly, wondering how long this outage would last and how much damage there would be.  I kept going out and checking the sky.  The color of it indicated it was definitely tornado weather, including the cloud formation and the way the clouds were circulating.  Scary.The Beast decided we should be watching the weather on TV so we set up our TV's so we could track the storms using solar power.

The Princess was at work, I knew and I soon got a call from the preschool that they were closing at 2pm because they had lost power.  I knew they had it earlier in the day because that was why the Princess had taken Chewlee to school that morning when they had lost power at home.  I watched the weather and thought about the drive and hoped I would get there before the next set of storms hit us.  I had planned on picking up Chewlee early anyway but not quite that early.  Chewlee was happy to see me but was almost as shocked as I was on our drive home at all the trees we saw that were down and the two power poles close to the house that took out our electric.  A huge section of tree had been broken off and laid right across that.  As you looked up and down the road, it was obvious that a small tornado had come down the road and hit here and there.  Wires, fencing, trees uprooted, some unknown debris was scattered everywhere.  I had to zig and zag to get home and put the car in the garage.  I don't know why I felt safer once the doors were shut because I know that our homes, with their ventilated crawl spaces underneath are little better than a trailer with a tornado rolling around.

I was really scared having Chewlee there with us but kept her by me.  The Beast had taken the dog out for a run while we had that short break and found trees on the opposite side of our circle here that had been broken in two about halfway up.  Most of those trees were 50-60 feet tall.   

We heard the news about Tuscaloosa being totally destroyed and my heart just sank and felt so sorry for everyone there.  It was a nice college town, albeit an older one and there were families that had lived there for several generations.  Even early reports had many dead and injured.

When the second storm hit, Chewlee was in my lap and wanted me to hold her tight.  She told me she didn't like the storm.  We could hear the sirens going and I held Chewlee while I looked out the windows to see what I could see, if anything.  Human nature, I guess.  Not really good thinking but I was ready to dart into our walk-in closet with her in a heart beat.  When the hail started coming down, THEN I got worried.  That's a sure indication of being somewhere close to a tornado and I headed towards the closet as the radio kept warning that a tornado was seen in our area.  I got so tired of hearing that sound by the end of the night, I can't even begin to tell you.

Guess you can't even trust the EMA and TVA with their forecasts.  I almost fell over when our neighbor came running over to say, *WE'VE GOT ELECTRIC!!!!*  The Beast has thrown off the main circuit for our house when he wired it up to the generator so he had to take that all off and then throw the breaker so we got our electric flooding back into the house.  Of course, it has been on, then off, then on again as they are re-routing power through various areas, locating problems, etc.  BUT....we had been led to believe that they wouldn't even start on our area until Wednesday.  Thank you TVA and everyone else involved.  I am sooooooo tired of short bursts of power from the generator and/or solar.  It's not like it can be started up and run all day long.  A half hour here, a half hour there....and I might be able to be online at night on solar IF we haven't had to entertain Chewlee. 

The Beast wants to celebrate by taking me out to dinner and I'm all for it.  I'm going to get something indulgent.....something I can't or won't make at home.    I may look like death warmed over due to not being able to blow dry my hair for the past six days but, hey, do I care?  I do not!  We are not alone.

I will work on trying to decipher my 16 pages of notes and give you some perspective on what we know it was like for us and a few others.  I don't know anyone that lost everything or had a family member die and I am grateful for that.  I also have a few insights I want to share that occurred to me while all this was going on.  Some were funny, others were kind of....well, interesting.

I refused to do a 3pm *early bird* because the Beast skipped lunch.  I made him some soup IN MY MICROWAVE..and we will do a more normal 5pm.  I plan on bringing home leftovers that I will pick on while I am working on the next couple of blogs.  I also think I may blog earlier in the day than I used to.  I was thinking like..8 or 9pm Central time.  What do you think?  I would really like to know.

I want to thank Bratfink from the bottom of my heart for helping me out during this disaster.  Thank you for your prayers and for continuing to check out what was going on.  I do have more on what happened, including the fact that over 150 tornadoes hit OUR STATE ALONE!    A most incredible claim to fame and a tragic one.