Tikatu's Travels Through Time

Yeah, for the first time this winter, it's snowing here in SC. We've had rain for the past three days; good steady rain, the kind that soaks deep into the ground and sticks. Today, though some of that rain was mixed with sleet, leaving little grains of ice on our "new" side porch (the old fort from the backyard, almost gutted and moved to the side door). Then it began to mix with snow, and turn over to snow completely around 5 p.m.. So very good to see after such a snowless winter. We've even had thunder with this: thundersnow is pretty rare no matter where you go.

Looks like about an inch so far, with an accumlation of 3 to 6 inches possible by the time the storm pulls out - a least, that's what the weather authorities say. And since this is evening, and the temperature will only go down, it shouldn't melt right away, as it did for my friend from Alabama. She says that her snow is all gone. The kids are looking forward to having a day off from school. It's Hubby's first week of annual leave, so he doesn't have to worry about work at all.

Yikes! Something just hit the roof. The Girl is going out to check, taking Lacey out with her so the dog can do her business - if she will. Sometimes she's a really prissy dog about doing her business in the weather. She's been growling and giving little "woofs" at the kids next door playing in the snow. The noise of whatever it was scared Cotton, who hid under my desk. She has now come out and is watching the snow fall through my door. I offered to let her out, but she took a couple of sniffs and decided that warm and dry was better than cold and wet.

The Girl is back now; says she didn't see anything, even with a flashlight. Things that fall on the roof tend to sound louder than they should. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a clump of mistletoe from our oak tree.

I have to admit, I really miss the snow at times. But the fact that we don't have it very often makes it easier to appreciate when it does arrive.

( picspam! )

Now, I know after reading this, you Northerners will say, "Pfffft! That's nothing!" but for the South, this is something!

When I started writing this, the temperature was at 19°F with a wind chill factor bringing the temperature down to 6° F. For my European friends, that's -7°C, with a wind chill factor of -14°C.

Yeah. 6°.

That's bitterly cold down here.

No snow, just wind and sun. The mountains got snow, and I think some of the center of the state did, too. We took the kids to school instead of letting them wait for the bus. Inside the house it's 58°, and the heater is struggling to get us up to the programmed 64°. The Hubby says that it's better than 19°! Which is true, but still! It's going to make showering a bit on the chilly side. I think I might do some baking to help warm the house up!

Since Hubby is home, he's trying to find a way to get our HDTV antenna to catch the most signals. Right now, we get half the channels we did with our simple broadcast TV. But stations more than, say, 10 miles away, nothing. No channel 7 (which is out of Spartanburg and has the Girl's favorite, NCIS), or channel 13 (which is out of Ashville). No channel 62 (which is affiliated with channel 7)... Hubby is getting the idea that this HDTV isn't all it's cracked up to be! And that we might need an outdoor antenna if we want to watch the stations that we're used to. At least he'll have better weather to put it up with if we get it for next week: it's supposed to be in the mid to upper 60s by his next day off--which is Monday!

Well, as I wrap this up, we're at 25° and the windchill is 16°. A veritable heat wave! </sarcasm>

Outside my door is the most heavenly sound I've ever heard: rain pouring down from the sky. There' s a little thunder in the background, but the rain has turned the street white, as if it were foggy out. It started around noon, rained hard for about five or ten minutes, and just a little bit ago, the sky let loose!

We have needed this so very, very badly. Just this morning, on the way back from taking Hubby to work so I could have the car, I heard a PSA from the water system, asking people to take 5-minute showers. We're taking them every other day as it is in our house.

Oooh! Thunder's a little closer now, though I haven't seen any lightning. And the rain is easing a bit. It could rain like this, steady but not a downpour, for a couple of days and I don't think I'd mind. Not at this point. I think Lacey's spooked, and I know it was the rain that drove Tika and Cotton inside (where the other idiot furballs are, I don't know).

Yeah, I feel bad for the residents of FL; they got hit hard by this storm, harder than expected. But for us up here in this little corner of SC, Fay is an long-awaited answer to prayer.

I look back over the past week or so and I see that I've done a LOT of work in writing. Mr. Sunshine, then my Brains chapter of Burning Muses, which was supposed to be a one-shot for the fanfics.org challenge. Then two more chapters of Burning Muses, working on Chapter 11 of Turnabout, and last but not least, my second challenge fic, Lucky Dog. I've barely had time to keep up with my RP sites, but I did start off chapter three at IR:TNP and did three posts at CIR's Thunderbar. I need to update at Thunderfan today sometime. My mind is just too busy right now.

Hurricane Ivan "The Terrible" is now history and we were spared a lot of its wrath. Just rain and heavy winds hit this area. My driveway is full of downed leaves, small branches, and mistletoe. Maybe hubby will have a chance to clean it up today when he gets home. And he'd better come home right away, too.

The clearing up of the weather has meant an easing of my neuropathic pain as well, today my feet are basically just numb. I'm a bit worried about my folks; they're in the Bahamas on a cruise of all things and Hurricane Jeanne (or tropical storm Jeanne; like any woman, she can't make up her mind) is supposed to be in the area. I hope their trip isn't ruined. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing for them since they are getting up in years and their health is deteriorating. I really hope they take lots of pictures so that Mom will remember it.

Two boys gone out and it's just me and the girl for the next hour or so. Then son #1 should be coming home from his sleepover, and son #2 from neighborhood Bible club. I just might take a nap.

Talked Dragonlady into bfast at Burger King and then dessert at Dunkin' Donuts. I got my coffee there and dumped it into my travel mug, which I had prepared with an inch and a half of vanilla hazelnut creamer. Heavenly! Add two super-sweet creme-filled donuts to it, and it's perfect!

After talking about things serious and silly with her, I headed out to my friend Carolyn's house. She's taking over for me in Awana, and needed to ask all kinds of questions, mostly about setting up the girls into their color teams. They had 44 girls on the first night!! Wow! I was shocked!

Helped her out, ate lunch there, and then headed back for the car lines. All this time, I'm feeling good because it's raining out. The front had arrived and with it's arrival my feet stopped their constant burning. I am, however, dreading the arrival of Hurricane Frances, scheduled to hit this area around Tuesday (barring any course changes). I hate being a human barometer.

Worked a little more on Turnabout. Nearly have chapter 10 done! Woo hoo! Can't wait to get this one posted.