And speaking of the weather...

"What may have been a tornado twisted trees, damaged an airplane hangar and other buildings in Allen's Kitty Hawk Estates."

~Foxnews.com


That's 2 blocks away from us. I'm not sure what woke me up this morning, if it was the house shaking, the door opening because of it, the speed-dial thunder flashes, the tornado warning siren or this



But all of the above happened around 04.03 this morning. We lost some roof shingles, and some of the netting in the greenhouse has come down again. Besides that, the sat dish twisted but stayed on the roof, and both garbage containers blew over. Oddly enough, all of my little garden pots and things stayed upright and in their place.

They say the neighbourhood behind us has some pretty good damage, as of course the little airfield. The Airport in Addisson had some mayor damage, roofs blown off buildings and the like. The office there was out of power all day, so they came over here to print a few things.

I got lucky and our building crew picked up most things outside, so now heavy yard work or picking up trash for me today. On a side note, both the Elementary and the High School lost power.

We're still standing.... even though a few other things like the corn in the field next to us isn't....

More water.

Although this time not coming from the sky... no...... the horse tromped all over the yard where the new water line was dug in (why wouldn't he? it's the soft patch?) and broke the T-joint that was put in for the water to his drinking spot. Water was bubbling up from the ground, and judging by the wetness of the entire field, it's been going for a while. And it's not fixed.

The Great Lakes of North Texas

Looking at this blog, you'd think it always rains here. Nothing is less true, I just don't blog that often.

Lately, we've been lucky that it hasn't been below freezing. Or unlucky. Depends on how you look at it. Masses of open water could be a nice source of income a la IJsvermaak, but somehow I don't think it would be as successful over here. Anyway, Lucky we are.

We're on a hill. A decent one too, so I discovered during my warm-up run the other day. Uphill does warm you up, so it's all good and I can almost sit down without aid again. So, a hill. Contrary to popular belief, water does not seem to run down this particular hill. The hill is also made of clay soil. So when I got here 10 days ago, there were a few "puddles" because it had been raining for a bit. This weekend, we finally dried out. Yesterday, it rained. All day.

Check out our Great Lakes

On checkered fabric, podcasts and the amazing punnik.

Howdy!

Last night was fun but weird. We went for a drink with a friend. Even though it was a Wednesday night, there is nothing much weird about it. The friend bit was. How odd is it to be thousands of miles from your 'other' home and sitting in some pretend bar, drinking with a lad you've known since he was a 14 yr old shaven-headed raver wearing bad training suits as a fashion statement. In spite of the weirdness, it was indeed a bunch of fun, and if his work changes this way more often, more drinks and nights out should be enjoyed. Too bad Lamieke couldn't be there this time, but surely there will be another chance one day. Hope it didn't hurt too bad to get up that early this morning, Godwin....

On the subject of checkered fabrics, Nell you will have to remain in the dark for a while longer yet. Suffice to say that I like my new and first sewing machine a lot. The automatic light, thread cutter, relative quietude and suppleness are a great treat after mom's old and loyal machine.

While I'm working down the list that is suggested by the title of this piece, I must commetn on the wonderfulness of the invention of the podcast. Yes, I know who was voted party leader for the PvdA. I heard it on the radio! I'm all bewildered about the goings on at Radio Bergeijk, with our broadcasters being paria'ed and all that funky stuff.

I might as well go on with the amazing Punnik. Amazing, because amazingly enough, it seems to be a bead that didn't get brought to baffle the natives. Or maybe it was, and they weren't impressed. Nevertheless, no on around here seems to have ever heard of it, or seen one, no less knows what in the Good Lords' [plural, wouldn't want to offend any of them] Name this weird circular piece of wood with a hole down the middle as if cut with an apple core thingy, and with bow-like metal bits sticking out the top. I felt a little like the first explorer hitting a foreign shore, showing bits of mirrored glass to the natives to which the aptly respond with ooh's and aaah's. Many puzzled looks remained after my explanation which included visual aids, but I blaim that on them, not me. WIth me being infallible, it can't be my fault, you see?

Anyroad, must return to 4th grade homework support, and saving my furniture from (more) lemonade stains. Though I wish she'd start reading in silence instead of reading an entire comic out loud, while mispronouncing every other word. One's allowed a few dreams, right?

Btw, don't forget my birthday tomorrow. I get to talk to exterminators, and do laundry! Huzzah!!!

Judith, scratching away the days until old age sets in and bugs no longer enjoy drinking her blood.

Bgosh! I learned something new today!

Ok, I know it will turn out that anyone/everyone paying attention to this knows about what I found out, only today. As this little nugget of information was absent during my educational years, I had to wait until Wikipedia led me to it.

Pray tell, I hear you ask through the informational highway. Not really, but I've upped the suspense with another sentence, and that makes me giggle. Well, hang on to your chairs, here comes!

Þ

uhm yes. Þ.

It is called "Thorn" and it's anlgo-saxon-icelandic and used in rhunic times right up until this day. Isn't that a wonderful thing?

It has the sound of either a Voiceless dental fricative, like th as in the English word thick, or a voiced dental fricative, like th as in the English word the.

And you know what? I actually know what they mean by that. Who would've thought that particular course would ever come in handy?

A slightly more knowledgeable me says Hi. Goodnight!

Long time, no see, no comment

Nothing to tell really. Nothing happened, not to me, with me or about me. Lots of maybes. I may be moving country this year, or I may not. Who knows. I don't. I may have to finally pick something to do, or I may just become a boring housewife with nothing to do but go shopping or something. Maybe I'll be one of those that only do yoga or sunbathing or get wrinkled really young because of being in the hottub all day long.

Well, not that we have one, or a tub I would put anything but my feet in, and only if slippered. In a manner of speaking. Be a Lady of Leisure. Only I'm not much of a lady, and I'm very bad at doing just the leisure part. See, I'm starting to get fed up with these walls. Oddly enough. It's a strange thing. Some people, and I'm pointing at a certain Swede, would love to sit on a couch, catch up on a movie or two, chat online with likeminded slackers. It's because, for once, they'd like a bit of nothingness. But, as with chocolate, whipped cream and sunrays, too much of a good thing is still too much.

So, if you're looking for an over-qualified, bored-to-the-point-where-braintechnicians-would-get-worried-about-the-
lack-of-activity, broke and bordering on the verge of self-appointed loathing and mock-depression, don't look here. To quote another would-be slacker, I really CBA.

You'd think...

... she'd be wiser as she got older. No such thing in my book[s]. I'm doing it again, only slightly different this time.

Go look at www.scriptfrenzy.org to find out what I'm on about. In the mean time, don't disturb me unless you have some great plot line or character to add. Well. Make that nay character or plot line. No such fish in the river of inspiration to be caught at the moment.

I'll try not to break a leg.

[FADE OUT]