GAME CALLED FOR LIGHTNING

That's what the umps said, and A-Ron's baseball game was over! Just like that!

The score was 7-7 with A-Ron responsible for one of those runs. Coach Noodle wasn't too happy that the ump called the game. No siree......he would have preferred seeing Grandma J fry to a crisp sitting in the bleachers made out of aluminum.

The thunder and Lightning was nonstop, but we didn't get the baseball size hail like some neighboring towns. Grandma J went outside to take a few shots of her apartment in the night after the rain subsided a bit. With the temperature at 90, and the humidity at 79, it's like a sauna. Here is a picture of my new apartment at night....for those who asked.

You can see the lack of front yard, making it easy for future fellow senior citizens to drive their car right through Grandma J's living room window. Actually, windows in order...first two living room, then 1st bedroom. The next building, barely in the picture is a bank of garages....grandma J grabbed the first one for a price.







Don't you love the blinding flood lights? Luckily that aren't that bright in real life! This is a view from the far end of Grandma J's apartment. That corner room is the first bedroom with lots of windows on two sides. Beyond that, the two windows are bedroom #2. That garage door is Grandma J's garage. It's only a single car garage, because Grandma J's car is single.....duh!

Here is a view from Grandma J's back patio. Can we all agree that this is a really nice backyard? The leasing office didn't want Grandma J to pick this particular building or apartment because the landscaping wasn't in yet....but Grandma J is no one's fool. There are very few garages...like one for every ten apartments...and she wanted one, and it had to be next to her apartment, not "within walking distance". Because, helloooooo, just exactly how far is walking distance anyway?

These are empty apartments across from Grandma J's apartment, and they are not quite finished yet. Grandma J is fine with that because she knows for a fact that the construction guys who show up every morning are much more pleasing to the eyes than any future tenants. It's starting to rain again, see those drops on the concrete? How about the ones on Grandma J's camera lens?

Tomorrow morning the cable guy is coming to put a "drop outlet" on a different wall, because not everyone wants their TV on the same wall. Yes, in case you were wondering, this is the same cable guy who was supposed to come today.

ARMAGEDDON

better known as Texas Thunder/Tornado Storms

I don't mean to sound like a complete baby but I am. If you hate whiners, fair warning, leave now and go read something funny or intellectually funny, or have a glass of wine. Here in Central Texas we are into our second night of severe weather like nothing I'm used to. I love a good downpour with thunder and lightning....California style. You know, where you sit on your covered patio with a beverage and watch the light show, or you bake cookies and have some cocoa as you bundle up by a fire. Cause in California it never rains between May and October period. That means it's usually chili out. Here in Texas, heavy, continuous rain turns your home into a friggin' sauna, because it rains like this when it's already hot and humid.

Last night I was enjoying a nice rain until my whole place lit up like Christmas. I could see a light show on the three sides of my apartment that have windows, and the whole place shook from the thunder. It blew the rain so hard against my windows, I thought they where going to blow in. During one of the burst of thunder and lightning, the power went out, and I saw my PC monitor flash brightly. When the power came back on, I rebooted, then turned off my PC. Then I got the TV working again because the all three remote has to be re-set and you have to push several buttons at once. I finally decide to go to bed at around eleven and watch TV, because all the local station had live, continuous weather reports.

All of a sudden, at around one in the morning, I hear an air raid blaring from my TV with a man's deep voice telling me to go to a safe place and take cover. Holy mother of all things Sacred!! I thought it was the end of the world for me and other cry babies.

OK, I know the drill, because if anything, I'm always prepared. In CA I had an emergency duffel bag with food, water, flashlights, blah, blah at work in case of an earthquake (which I'm not afraid of). So, with my heart racing, I pull the mattress pad and cover off my bed and drag it into my walk-in closet. My safe place...interior room with no windows.

I threw some clothes on, something that won't wrinkle or crumble too badly. Because really? I don't want to be one of the lucky survivors who gets interviewed by the local media, amidst the rubble and ruins in her nightgown. I always feel so sorry for them. I find my battery operated lantern, bottled water and my stash.

I turn my TV volume up full blast because if I'm awake, my gardening neighbor isn't sleeping either I have to hear the weather report as I die from within the bunker, my safe place. I didn't sleep a wink all night. I was so hot that I left the bunker to turn the air conditioning temp lower. Right around six, I heard the loud blaring of the siren again, the man said a tornado was likely to touch down in my 'hood within the next fifteen minutes. From the safety of my bunker, I called my daughter to make sure she was awake too to let her know because the storm was heading her way after it wiped me out. Of course, I did live to tell about it. But then tonight rolled around and it was the same scenario. The bad part was my good friends Cortney and Briana where getting the brunt of it. As I type this, we still have tornado warnings, but the storm seems to be calmer than last night. I'm staying up until it's gone because there's nothing like falling asleep when your about to die.

I made a pot of coffee to see me through til morning. If I do say so my self, I'm a real trooper. Don't you think?