darth vader s.o.s.

Clyde sent this Darth Vader picture to me today and I thought that it was kinda funny.

I have been busy as a bee sewing up some of the necessary clothes for the upcoming trek. I must admit that I am less than thrilled about a few aspects of the planning process and events for the trek. I must get into my head all the positives about going...a few days with Clyde, sleeping in tents, eating dutch-oven prepared food, pooping in the woods, and getting to have the Pioneer experience. I have done some research on the era and am just trying to prepare myself emotionally for those 3 days. I have compiled lists upon lists of the necessities that will be required to take along with us. I am trying to think of anything and everything for EVERY situation so that we are ready. Clyde is alot better @ adventures like this than I am. I am a planner, and am uncomfortable with 'going w/ the flow' in nearly all instances. Pray for us!



After I typed out my LONG post on the most recent weather adventures of last week and posted it, I realized that I posted it to the wrong blog. I have a separate crafty blog thing, that I do not maintain as often as this one. I was so bummed. I tried to copy/paste it to this one, but no luck. I think that I am still blog challenged. Anyway this is it from my other blog. Happy reading.

not so quiet on the eastern front

Holy crow did the sky open last night. We had a 40% chance of rain and let me tell you, it dumped on the Emerald City. There was flooding. We are lucky to have the brown house up on a hill (not fun to mow...my poor Clyde) but good for the rain flow. It was raining so hard that we even lost power for 5+ hours. When it was time to leave for church, we ran to get into yellow and made it as far as the end of the street. The rain was coming down really hard. I turned around and headed back to the brown house and there we waited for about 10 minutes, until there was a slight break in the rain. We made it safe and sound to the last pack mtg. for the summer. (Even the church, we lost power for about 30 seconds.)
The scouts practiced tying more knots and lashings. I love how Josh really gets into it and concentrates so hard on the task @ hand.

The younger scouts put on a skit for us. We were asked to take out my sisters dog, so after church, we headed to her place. They still had power. We fed and pottied their dog and raced home. (Well, we were being safe, so not really racing.) Still no power. It was funny to hear the Wardlings asked about fans and the refrigerator. Our kids sleep with fans on for the noise and Josh said that we just needed to go buy a new fan. We laughed and tried to explain that our fans work just fine, when there is electricity and we had none. The Libby asked about the refrigerator working. Again, it was just funny. One of our neighbors stopped by to check on us, while another one broke out their generator. Clyde started a movie on the laptop and by the time that the Wardlings had quieted down, the movie started and the power came back on. We learned alot about preparedness...1- make sure all cell phones are charged...@ all times. 2- have plenty of candles, flashlights, batteries, lanterns etc. c- have ice in the big freezer to help preserve the food in it. 4- have stuff to do with kids. 5- we need a rain barrel. I also thought that we really need some type of sand bags for the back of our house. We also come to the conclusion that we'd rather be without power in the cold than in the heat. At least in the cold, we can just add clothing to stay warm, but when your hot, your HOT and SWEATY here in the south.

I was so worried about my wee garden during the absolute down pour of rain. About 30 minutes into the rain, the water was puddled in the garden beds. I ran to get our tarps to cover them. Jacob didn't understand why I did it, so this morning I told him it was to preserve the food that we are growing for our family. It made me think of all the farmers that have lost crops due to storms. Luckily our garden is small and we have time left to replant. Plus the plants were just beginning to sprout, so nothing really would be lost. However if it were later in the season, we'd be in bad shape. Clyde and I were soaked to the skin after putting tarps over the garden. I really appreciated Clyde's help in covering them up. The rain was cold. He even went out while we were @ church to empty the tarps. What a sweetie! He said that the rain puddles in the tarp went up to his wrist. This was 1 bed this morning. Two of the tomato plants looked squished, so I tied them up. They weren't broken. The ocre is coming in nicely and again I am glad that they are just sprouting, otherwise the water in the tarp would have flattened the plants.
We are due for 2 more days of rain. I'd say the drought was over.