Moogie Dodges a Bullet, or a Mortar Round

The tornado warning sirens went off last night. Pepper, the dogs (after we convinced Mysti to come out from under the desk in Pepper's office), and I went downstairs to our "safe place" where we remained for a good thirty minutes as the sirens went off and back on. And off and back on. And off and back on. We're pretty sure the cell passed overhead nearby, but we were spared any damage -- we didn't even get any hail(to the relief of the newly planted plants!). The lights also stayed on -- just a couple of flickers. We lucked out.

The good people some 20 minutes from here didn't, including some of our long-time friends from the National Guard. This is near where their new house used to stand, next door to their son's home. Their new brick house. Both houses are now little more than piles of rubble.

Thank God they weren't physically injured. Many Guard friends, including us, offered them a place to stay, but they went to their daughter's. That's probably for the best. The death toll has been revised down to 14 from 16 (because two people were counted twice), but the Governor expects that number to increase.

Weather experts are speculating that the tornado will be classified as at least an EF3. Pretty powerful. It's so very hard to see all this devastation -- the poor town of Vilonia was wiped out yesterday after re-building following an EF2 that hit in 2011. The emotional toll is heavy -- even on those of us who were spared. All we can do to help right now is to donate money to relief agencies -- State Troopers and the Guard are keeping non-residents out of the hardest hit areas to prevent looting and other wrongdoing by scammers who invariably show up to capitalize on disaster. Or to gawk. Been there.

To lighten up a bit, this is a picture that Younger Daughter posted on Facebook after the all clear -- it's Grandbaby #5, and it's captioned, "Baby's first tornado. It's an Arkansas thing."

Sometimes we just need to hang onto a sense of humor. And to train our kids about storm preparation -- #5 has his flashlight and some fruit snacks.

Welcome home to Tornado Alley, Moogie and Pepper, after 14 years in Hurricaneville. I don't think I'd like to be our neighbor if given a choice -- we seem to be storm magnets.

Party Politics, and Happenings at Moogie's Mansion

I'm really, really glad the political party conventions are over.  We were able to see Ann Romney before the power went out, but missed Paul Ryan and Mitt.  And Eastwood!  We missed Clint Eastwood!  The battery operated radio was all-Isaac, all the time.

Ann Romney was some kind of impressive -- sincere, intelligent, and she didn't insult the intelligence of those listening to her, unlike a certain First Lady who shall remain nameless, and who flexed her muscles behind the podium a lot.

I did watch most of the network coverage of the Democrats.  I know -- why?  That was Pepper's take on the whole thing, but I wanted to see what was being said for myself instead of relying on the media to convey content.

Wanting to hear for myself turned out to be a big mistake when Clinton did his marathon pat-himself-on-the-back speech.  Did the Democrats learn nothing from his performance when nominating Dukakis?  Now maybe you understand why we Arkies used the phrase, "Clinton Time," when he was governor.  He was always late, and always ran over.

It was probably a mistake to watch the Young President, too.  That is the tallest drink of aloof, narcissistic sparkling water I've ever encountered.  Pepper had to leave the room on several occasions to do a little guitar therapy in order to ward off a stroke.  And what a finale!  Splat.  Serves them right for unnecessarily moving the location because of the non-existent "bad weather."

Anyway, now we're in the home stretch and I expect the robo-calls to begin at any minute.  With dread.  Serious dread.

So, what's been happening at Moogie's Mansion since the storm?  We're still waiting on the roofer -- blue tarp is in place, though, as is the downed chimney cap.  Man, that thing made quite a racket when it hit the deck!  Pepper went into manic Captain Ahab mode with painting and door-repairing and more painting.  And yard cleaning.

The city has been pretty overwhelmed in getting the debris picked up.  Isaac was such a slow mover that there was almost as much tree debris as after Katrina -- 54 consecutive hours of sustained winds in excess of at least 40 mph, with gusts at over 90.  But, yesterday (I know!  On a Sunday!) I heard the sound of heavy equipment and this is what I saw:



Yes. I realize that Moogie is very easily entertained on occasion.  (And a guy that doesn't look very much like Andy gave me a hint on Facebook about turning the phone sideways when taking future videos. Thanks, Andy -- and friend!)

Of course, they only picked up the debris that was piled up (by the homeowners, thank you very much), not the stuff that has been bagged.  So, we still have quite an impressive pile of bags littering the curbs.  *sigh*

And, today Moogie did a little money laundering:

Shhh!  Don't tell the authorities!

Birthdays and Hurricanes -- and Cocktails!

Moogie's Mansion is all shuttered up.  It's dark in here!

I spent my 2005 birthday in Little Rock, having evacuated for Katrina.  That's one birthday I'll never forget.

Pepper and I were just strolling down memory lane, trying to recall what we were doing when Hurricane Gustav blew in about this time in 2008. 

He was still running Disaster Management for Entergy back then (as a secondary responsibility to his regular position -- his last billet with Fifth Army was pretty much the same thing, except that the Fifth Army's responsibility for the Northcom region encompassed most of the central portion of the United States instead of just southeast Louisiana;  Entergy had flown him back to Baton Rouge from our evacuation in 2005 to manage the post-Katrina recovery as military liaison.  He apparently did a good job because they kept going back to him for subsequent storms -- and Russel Honore still gets on his last nerve.  Long story.), so he headed to the state EOC (Emergency Operations Center) in Baton Rouge while I loaded the car with a whole lot of stuff, plus three dogs, and set out for Little Rock.  In contraflow, the pace of which made snails look like Speedy Gonzales and his amigos.  The trip that usually takes 7 hours took more like 12, and there were no bathroom stops for the first 7 or 8 hours.  And I saw the remains of an enormous snake on the road, which meant that I had the heebie jeebies for the remainder of the trip.  And I had to walk three cranky dogs when I gassed up in Tallulah.  On my birthday. 

It turned out that Gustav hit Baton Rouge instead of New Orleans, and Pepper was stuck there.  Then, it tracked up into Arkansas and dumped a walloping amount of rain on me.

And Ike hit a week or so later, so I just stayed in Little Rock. In a house with three people, one bathroom, and four dogs.

Last year, TS Lee hit the weekend after my birthday, while our downstairs air conditioning was out of service.

We've decided that we're tired of celebrating my birthday in the company of hurricanes and tropical storms.

I think we deserved the fancy cheese tray during Cocktails with Isaac yesterday evening.

And , I think I really hope that Entergy doesn't call Pepper back from retirement to do one more round of consequence management, disaster or otherwise!

I think cocktail hour might arrive a little early today.

Change in the Wind at Moogie's Mansion

Did you fear I'd vanished from the face of the Earth?

No such luck, guys. 

The process of Pepper easing into retirement has been anything but easy so far.  Even so, we are both beginning to adjust.

Except for that part about him being in the house. All. Day. Long. 

Every. Day.

Now that he has gotten most all of the home repair projects done, he now spends most of his time sitting in front of the desktop (he had to give his laptop back to the company) while he works on his new gig -- performing and developing labor relations as a contractor.  This last part gives me very little computer time, so I've been following blogs and stuff on the iPad, but I don't have the correct app to allow me to do my own blog posts with pictures and stuff.  Moogie is not very Apple savvy, as Elder Daughter regularly points out.

Fortunately, there is a storm brewing in the Gulf, so that has focused his attention on getting the generator in shape in case (hopefully not!) it is needed in the next several days, and that means I get some quality computer time!  Quality, but apparently not much quantity -- I just heard him pull into the garage, so I'd better get this finished so I can "help" him with this latest project ( read: observe, praise, and troubleshoot). 

I ran across this clever little post at International Liberty this morning and thought I'd share:

"The Difference Between Liberals, Conservatives, and Texans

September 30, 2009 by Dan Mitchell

You’re walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, a dangerous looking man with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, raises the knife, and charges. You are carrying a Glock 40 and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do?
______________________________________________________________________________
Liberal’s Answer:
Well, that’s not enough information to answer the question!
+ Does the man look poor or oppressed?
+ Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack?
+ Could we run away?
+ What does my wife think? What about the kids?
+ Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand?
+ What does the law say about this situation?
+ Does the Glock have an appropriate safety built into it?
+ Why am I carrying a loaded gun and what kind of message does this send to society and my children? Is it possible he’d be happy with just killing me?
+ Does he definitely want to kill me or would he just be content to wound me?
+ If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me?
This is all so confusing! I need to debate this with some friends for a few days to try to come to a conclusion.
______________________________________________________________________________
Conservative’s Answer:
BANG!
______________________________________________________________________________
Texan’s Answer:
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! click (sounds of reloading).
Wife: “Sweetheart, he looks like he’s still moving. What do you kids think?”
Son: “Mom’s right Dad, I saw it too…”
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! click.
Daughter: “Nice grouping, Daddy! Were those the Winchester Silver Tips?”"

I like it! 

I also see a new laptop in our future.

Heading Back to Normal. Sort of.

HVAC guys told us on Friday (the Friday preceding a three-day weekend) that the job will take at least one, if not 2, more days.  That means no AC downstairs (or cooking, other than in the microwave, because it just get too darned hot in the kitchen) until Tuesday at best.  We haven't been able to use the grill because of that little weather incident we've been experiencing.  So, we're approaching normal, but still don't have it in sight.

Lee was a respectable tropical storm, but she minded her manners reasonably well, considering.   She's moving northeast now, leaving behind a squall or two, lots of wind, tons of leaves and limbs strewn about, and lots of water.  I didn't have that gut feeling that she would do a whole lot of damage to Moogie's Mansion because, of course, Moogie's middle name is Lee, and I wouldn't do that to myself.  Neither would any of the other 5 generations in my family with the same name, preceding, or following, me.  I'd hope.

It's getting to be cabin fever time around here.  Bouie hasn't had his typical weekend outings because we're just never quite sure when another band will swing around and zap us with a thunderstorm.  With the AC still out downstairs, we've taken to living upstairs, and he's not quite sure about that either.  The upstairs couch isn't nearly as comfortable as the one in the downstairs TV room.

I also learned that he doesn't particularly care for sweet potato chips.  You should've seen the face he made as he was trying to spit this out!

I always forget how much quieter it is upstairs.  Makes for some sweet sleeping.  As long as it's dark --  those bedrooms are so bright in the daylight!

Guess I'll go put a cocktail in the freezer and maybe watch a little of the West Virginia game.  Sorry for the boring post -- I'm just a little brain-fuzzled.  And still a little light-headed over the Hogs' stomping victory last night over Missouri State.  We figured out how to get the game on ESPN3 on Pepper's laptop, so we had 3 or 4 TVs around the house set on different games and Hogs + LSU in the upstairs TV room.  Wow!  Overload!  I've waited so very long for it!  Wooo Pig Sooooiee!!

Happy Labor Day Eve!