We Are Safe!

Hurricane Irene hit us with more wind than rain.  She quickly was downgraded to a Tropical Storm but the winds were still sustained in the upper 50 mile per hour range.  We lost a lot of trees and one member of our ward had a tree go through her shed.  Another member lost shingles off of the their home and one lost the roofing cap of their garage. There was no loss of life but at 10 a.m. Sunday morning we lost power which meant we were without telephone too.  Clyde and I read a talk from the Conference issue and read next weeks lesson for Sunday School.  Then we played a couple of games in which Clyde trounced me in Scrabble - twice!  We do have a battery powered radio, so we were not completely cut.  Just hearing what was going on in the world made easier and time go more quickly.  The interesting thing to me is I could not read.  I read hours every day!  But Sunday I could not concentrate.  It was really weird.  Yesterday, once things calmed down, I was fine and could have read all day.

We have a little two burner camp stove so we were able to have some soup.  We lost milk and some leftovers from our refrigerator but nothing from our freezer.  I packed it with everything I could find that I could fill with water just before the storm.  Sunday morning I cranked it up to the coldest setting.  I actually kept most things fairly cold in refrigerator until yesterday morning but the milk wasn't cold but cool so I didn't dare keep it.

Yesterday morning Clyde and I went out visited about 10 families in the ward because cellphones and landlines were not working.  We were able to see damage firsthand and find out from people that did have cellphones that were working how other members of the ward were doing.  While we were out, our power came on.  We got home about 4 - tired but knowing we had visited with people that needed to be seen and others that knew what was going on.  Plus we saw our home teaching and visiting teaching families.

So all is well.  Except for cleaning out our refrigerator - which was long overdue, there is not damage to us.  We do have ward members that are still without power though and it it looks like it could be this weekend before they do get power.

Hurricane Irene - She's Bearing Down

Irene is still a category 1 because she is so big.  We just now getting the rain and the humidity - even with the air conditioning on it is very oppressive.  That is very unusual for this area.  Ordinarily it is not this humid.  We are bracing ourselves for up to 90 mile an hour wind gusts but sustained winds of between 60-70 miles an hour.  We are still in our apartment.  We are not in an evacuation area so we will just hunker down and ride it through.  I don't know where we would have gone to get a way from this anyway.  With Pam no longer in Pennsylvania, all of our friends are within the arms of the storm. 

I am sure that we will be fine.  There is not church today because of the storm.  All of the weekday anchors and weathermen are handling this because it is such a big deal - including the national media anchors.  Last night there was no other news on the national news stations but Hurricane Irene.  She eclipsed all other news events for 30 minutes. 

We are prepared for the inevitable power outage that will come this.  I am clearing out the refrigerator of things that don't have to be refrigerated or could live without refrigeration for a few hours.  If we do have a power failure I will pull out the eggs and fruits and vegs and add ice to the refrigerator to keep the things in the refrigerator longer. 

In something totally unrelated.  Our neighbor across the hall has lived there almost as long as we have lived in this apartment.  He has been gone most of the week, which is so unusual for him and his precious motorcycle has been left out in the elements.  Yesterday some friends came to get the motorcycle to take it to their garage for the storm.  It turns out Brian has had a massive heart attack and is in a coma in a hospital in Providence.  That leaves your Dad and me the only people in our stairwell to wait out this storm.  I thought I had better let everyone know we are fine in case there were power outages since our landline depends on electricity because of the way it is hooked up through our cable line.  Clyde will go over and use a his second counselors cellphone if the power outage goes on too long.

Hurricane Irene

We are watching Hurricane Irene because she looks like she wants to hit us. Unlike Heather and her family in Okinawa, we are not equipped to hunker down and ride out a storm.  It would cause major property damage and big problems.  So I am sending a request for prayers for Irene to miss us.  Wind and rain we can handle - we get that all the time - but hurricane force winds we cannot.  We live on an island and if our bridges are compromised then we are literally cut-off from the mainland and would have to rely on ferries to get us off and on the island.  I am sure we would be Okay but I just don't want to have to live through the trauma if I don't have too.  Why can't it go to Texas where the rain is needed?   I wouldn't wish a hurricane on them but to let them have some rain would be such a blessing!

Tuesday Trivia

Those who know me well, know I am a marvel with trivial information.  I thought I would share some of my wealth of trivial knowledge with you on occasion on Tuesdays.  So here goes.

My brother, sister and I grew up as children in the US Army.  We were dependents but more affectionately known as Army BRATS.  For the longest time I wondered what BRAT meant and then I found out.  It is actually quite funny because it doesn't fit.  It stands for British Regiment Attached Traveler.  Apparently this term has been used so long in English speaking military groups that people had forgotten what it stood for and so it slid from the British culture into the US culture without a thought.  I know that people that grow up as military BRATS tend to be a loyal group and we really are kind of our own sub-culture.  It has been almost 40 years since I lived that life style and yet I still understand the thought processes of our young people that come through our ward, their fears and how they know they have to sink or swim every duty station.  Not everyone understands a BRAT.  But for some reason BRATS understand each other in a way no one else can.

Memory Monday

I have been debating for a while about doing a weekly 'Memory Monday' and maybe it will be.  But, this memory has just been rolling around in my head for the last few days so I thought I would post it. 

I was very good at pushing my mother's and my Grandma Brugger's buttons when I was young.  I knew just how to send both of them into a dither.  I didn't do it often but I would pick my moments and cause chaos - at least in their well ordered world.  Marianne caught onto me probably when she was 2 but no one listened to her.  I am ashamed to say that quite frequently I would upstage her but I have to say once I realized I was doing it I tried to stop (at least to upstage her).  Then things would naturally upstage her events and I would feel crushed.  I think by that point we both realized I wasn't doing it on purpose but then I was married, so I think she understood.  More about that in future blogs.

When you are eight-years-old in our Church, you are baptized in as a member.  This is our age of accountability.  The morning of my baptism, my mother and grandmother were getting things ready for the big to-do afterwards and I came in and announced I didn't think I wanted to be baptized.  They both turned around and looked at me like I had just robbed a bank.  I was sent to my room to pray until I was ready to be baptized.  The only reason I made the announcement was I wanted to see what they would say!  I had every intention of being baptized.  So I went to me room and read some books, played with my dolls and messed around.  Just before we were to leave, I was still in my pajamas and my dad came in.  He asked if I was ready.  I remember thinking, "Daddy, do I look ready?!"  but being the respectful child that I was I said, "No".  He said I had better hurry and get dressed so we could go - so I did.  He never mentioned what I had said downstairs or that I obviously had not been praying.  I was baptized and confirmed and came home to have lots of friends coming over. 

I think this all came up because there is a little girl in our ward that is getting baptized and she keeps asking does she have too.  Her mother was just horrified when her daughter first asked the missionaries that question and came and asked me what to do.  I told her what I had done.  Yesterday was their last day in the ward.  She said her daughter usually tells people she is getting baptized but on occasion she asks her parents does she have too.  This little sweetheart isn't doing it to get a rise out her parents, I think she might be afraid.  But me being a pill as a child - made this mother feel better.

I Won!

Today I went to get my hair cut - like I do about every 4 or 5 weeks.  I walked in and Mariana, my hairdresser said, "You are hard to get hold of."  I said I saw that she had called but my husband didn't click over because he was on a long distance phone call.  Mariana laughed and told me I had won!  I stared at her for a minute and said, "Won what?"  It turns about that before we went on our trip to Utah, I had allowed my name to be put in a drawing for 9 free hair cuts or a free hair cut every 6 weeks for a year.  So for the next year I will be getting my hair cut for free!  It only adds a week to my wait between hair cuts so I should be fine.  Mariana and I were thinking I should lengthen out my time between visits anyway because my hair isn't growing as fast as it was.  Now I am rambling.  So life is good!

It's Been Too Long

I haven't blogged in forever and now I am frantically trying to get ready to teach seminary.  I thought I would be starting the last week of August but one of my High Schools doesn't start school until after Labor Day.  So we are not starting Sept 12.  I will have to hustle to get the material in if we have snow days this year.  On the other hand they only have the week of the 24th of December off for Christmas Break this year - they start back to school the Monday after New Years!  It is insane but then they get Winter Break in February and at Easter they get Spring Break.  Why one week breaks are better than a big 2 week break at one time is beyond me.  We are still planning on going to Texas so I will just find a substitute.  Sometimes family comes first.

The last couple of weeks have been so busy and yet I feel like I have nothing to show for it.  I feel like a hamster on a squirrel wheel - running all the time and getting nowhere.  It is really a frustrating feeling.  Yesterday morning for the first time, I finally felt like I had time for me and because of that I was able to concentrate on my prayers and scripture reading.  Maybe that is what needed to happen.  I have been doing that but not as well as should have.  I feel calmer today than I have for some time and that is probably why.  It is interesting how something as simple as the scriptures and prayer can put peace and calm back in your life.  As I look back, I am not even sure why I was feeling so frantic.  Oh well.  Life is good.  I know the Lord loves us and His hand is in our life.  I wish there were times He would let me dictate my life instead of Him.  However every time I think I know better - there has been a reason that the Lord has intervened.  So I really am grateful that the Lord's hand is so strongly in my life and the life of my husbands.

More From the 4th of July

For some reason I have to be typing into my blog before it lets me post pictures.  Let's see what we have today?!

This my dad and Doreen with my sister, Marianne and her husband Frank and Clyde an me.  We all look tired except Marianne and it had been at her house!  We had such a good time.  I think this the closest we have come to a family picture since we got family we had a family picture at my wedding.  Wow!

On a Happier Note

On a happier note - I don't have to get new glasses.  My eyesight has not changed in 2 years.  However I might have to get my eyelids lifted because they have gotten so droopy that they are hindering my night-time driving and my tear production.

Here are some of the pictures with the 'grandparents' on the 4th of the July.  Like I said - we didn't help much but you can tell how much fun we were having.  It was such a fun day.  My favorite is Dutch taking pictures with his 'camera' in the background of the first two pictures.  My dream - to one day get a picture of all of my grandchildren together one day.  A family picture with every one in it is also a dream but I am not holding my breath.  The last time that happened was at Heather's wedding.  There weren't very many of us then.  It almost happened in Vegas but Heather was pregnant with Evie and Brandon was gone - so it wouldn't take long to be outdated though it is one of my favorite pictures.  Personalities are still much the same in the grandchildren.

An Interesting Day

Yesterday, I had my day all planned.  I was going to go and watch a telebroadcast from Salt Lake for Seminary and Institute Teachers at noon and then get the apt. in shape.  I had a rough night because of a cough and sore throat (from a Rx I take that I can't wait to change at the end of Aug.) so my morning had been a bit slow.  Out of nowhere I got a call from Clyde's boss that she was picking me up to take me to Emergency Room because Clyde had been having some chest pain.  Because Clyde office is by the Naval Clinic, they had called a Code Blue and were taking him in an Ambulance.  Bev came and picked me up and Will, Clyde's associate at work, brought the car to the hospital.  After 4+ hours in the Emergency Room, it was decided that there had been no heart attack but they are still concerned.  This is the second time in 2 weeks he has had an episode like this.  Friday Clyde goes to a cardiologist for a stress test and maybe then we can start to get some answers.  I will not even start to speculate.  I haven't spoken with my father yet, so I haven't been able to get his take on this.  I will hopefully be speaking to him today.  Clyde went to work this morning as usual.  He is a little embarrassed because of the fuss made over him yesterday but other than that he is fine.

As for my telebroadcast - I was able to go early last evening and listen to Elder Bednar.  It was incredible and I am so glad that I pushed and went, even though I was so tired from sitting and waiting all day.  Of course I learned so much from the talks given and I am even more excited about teaching seminary now.