November 21, 2013
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This and That
We got some major storms recently. The winds were unbelievable. Somewhere I heard that they punched in at about 130 to 140 miles per hour. Some of the farm homes on the outskirts of the city were damaged and the silos looked crushed from above, like as though a huge boulder had landed on them. Fortunately no one was hurt. We lost power for almost all day. Mohamed was in St. Louis, and I was alone at home listening to the howling wind. It was eerie. I had all the candles out in each room, and knew that I will have to make do with cereals and milk for dinner. The home is all electric. Couldn't go out anywhere, because the garage door was down, and the power was gone. I stayed in my robe all day. kind of felt good. The power was restored about four in the afternoon. I just kept reading my book "The Gold Finch". A good book. A big thank you to friends who were kind and wanted to know how I fared with the storms, and sent me such sweet emails.
Dave had his appointment with the oncologist today. His liver enzymes are normal. The pain is improving. Had a PSA done today, and I am praying that it is down. It was very high in September. His therapy continues, and the oncologist seems to be encouraged by Dave's physical condition. I thank each one of you most sincerely for your prayers and good wishes. I pray that he will continue to improve now.
Shelley and the boys along with Sayeed are leaving for Elburn tomorrow, a western suburb of Chicago, for Thanksgiving. Sayeed has a Board Of Education conference there on Thursday and Friday. He returns here on Sunday night, and then goes back up on Wednesday to spend the holiday there. Shelley's mother is wonderful with the decorations. Every thing is so beautifully done. I am glad the boys will have a good time there. Saadi and Dave want us to go with them to the Country Club for the Thanksgiving brunch. We have resigned our membership there after almost thirty years of being members. We thought it was getting so expensive, especially in winter when Mohamed couldn't play golf for so many months. I am very happy with the decision.
The pond is closed and there is a huge mound of top soil with some bushes of mums. Come spring I will have to get some roses and hydrangeas and rhododendrons planted there. Todd the groundskeeper was so happy to see the pond closed, he gave Mohamed a high-five! He says that he didn't see that I was standing right there. He lies. He was just happy that he didn't have to winterize it and get all the fallen leaves out of it and have to cover it with the mesh and all that nonsense. Any way, I think it was a good move too. I just feel bad. I loved that waterfall and the beautiful Koi and the lotus and water lilies. Oh well!
Have a good rest of the week. As always, thank you for the kind thoughts and the prayers. Please keep them coming for Dave and his family. Blessings to all of you.
Andrew LOVES to hide under my desk when he plays hide and seek with Baba.
The next two shots are of the sky soon after the storm on Sunday.
Comments (20)
Very encouraging news concerning Dave! I'll continue my prayers. So many people are still without power in our area - the say they should all be up and running by tomorrow night, just in time for the next snow. We had some damage in town but nothing like south and west of us. Glad you kept occupied and warm! I'm still a little sad to hear about the pond but I know you will turn it into a little paradise come spring!
That sounds like great news for Dave -- I hope the PSA is down, and that he continues to feel better. And it makes sense to discontinue your country club membership -- I gather that Dave and Saadia are members, and I hope you'll all be able to go there for Thanksgiving. I hope you were able to find a home for the koi -- I'm sure your garden will be beautiful without the pond, once you get it replanted in the spring.
Having been away from Xanga until recently, I didn't know of your son-in-law's travails. I will certainly keep him in my prayers.
It was probably just as well that you stayed put last weekend, but most garage doors have a manual pulley, which allows one to just yank on the rope and release the door. Of course, then it's a matter of pushing the door up by hand, as well.
I'm so glad the storm missed you. It went by us very quickly. We were all in the basement, just in case. A tornado touched down about 12 miles south of us. Lots of damage to buildings, but no one injured as far as I know. Glad to hear that Dave is doing better. My daughter had her hip replacement surgery today. It was successful, as far as we know. She was still asleep when I went to visit her today. I'll go again tomorrow morning. Her husband is staying with her.
Glad to hear you're okay! And I'm happy to hear that Dave is doing better. Hope you have a good holiday. <3
hope Dave's test is lower. They say we can't go by it but we have been for years and years.
that is so cute.BaBa is daddy? or grandpa?
Pretty skies
You had some tough weather over there. I'm glad you and your family were all safe.
Blessings to Dave. I pray he continues to do well.
When the power is out, if you need to open the garage, you can pull down on the little rope. The door should open easily because the springs carry the weight.
Alicia sends her greetings from Colombia. I'll be joining her next week.
OH! I am so glad to hear the news about Dave!
I continue to pray for him!
I'm so happy to hear you were safe during those storms! That sounds so scary!
Andrew is adorable! Hiding under desks is fun!
I wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving and safe travels for those going to Chicago!
LOVE and HUGS!!!
That little guy is so darling I am glad Dave is doing well I have a good feeling that all will be good...I for one just love when Gods plan comes together
Good news about Dave, being healthy to start with is so important!
I'm glad you weathered the storm too, and now if I ever get a garage door and the power goes out I'll know what to do
I'd miss the pond too, but looking forward to the spring is not so bad either!
Have a great Thanksgiving, will you go to the country club with Dave and Sayeed?
I am thanking God for keeping you and your family safe from the awful storms. My family members and friends were safe, too.
I am also so very thankful for the great report on Dave. I shall continue with prayers for him and the rest of the family.
I love the pictures! Kids like to crawl under things to hide! Beautiful sky post-storm.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving brunch with your menfolk.
Love & prayers ... Carolyn
Have a great Thanksgiving, Zakiah. So glad Dave is improving. We're fine here (my thumb's improved to the point that I'm allowed to take the brace off for four hours a day, and it should be completely well by the end of the year, or so Sally the Expert tells me). Barbara sends her love and prayers for Dave, as do I.
Hope Dave makes a full recovery - it sounds like things are going well for him. Thanks for keeping in touch - hope you're healthy and happy.
Yes his health is improving. Thank you for your kind thoughts.
RYC: As for the font size. Here is what one of my Xanga friends suggested:
"The answer is CSS....ah haha that is a programming term, but don’t let it scare you. I am going to give you one small method in it.
(btw everyone else is welcome to use this)
I. First, write and edit your blog in the usual way.
II. The xanga editor has a TEXT tab and a VISUAL tab. Select the TEXT tab.
III. At the very top of your post, insert
IV. At the end, insert
FINISHED!
Of course it is possible to set the specs for font, font weight, text-align, etc. You can set the size as, really anything, 12pt, 14pt, 26pt, … so good luck."
But, I found another way.
I type my post in my Word program on my computer. There I can change the font size. Then I copy and paste what I wrote into Xanga...on the Xanga page where I put a "new post". It seems to work well.
Does that make any sense?
HUGS!!!
This last post I posted, I copied and pasted from my documents on Word. I am not sure the font was all that different, even though in the document itself when I was typing, it looked good. Shall keep on trying. Thanks for the heads up on that.
It's sad to see the pond go. It's given you so much joy and pleasure. I hope the fish will have another home somewhere. But I think you're right - it's the right thing to do given the amount of maintenance.
I have no words to tell you how sorry I feel that the pond is gone. But the Koi have a very nice home, another physician who has a nice pond it seems,(the grounds person was telling me) and I am sure they will be happy there. I shall miss my water plants a lot. And you are right. Too much of maintenance and since my knee surgery, most of the burden fell on Mohamed's shoulder. Hopefully Spring will bring a lot of color to that part of the garden in the back.
we often experience power outage here. the government regulates the rotation of such event for many areas. but we have a diesel powered generator at home, so when the power is out, we would turn it on. but no storms.
It's the same in India and Pakistan.
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