Tornado Watch

Right now several counties in Central North Carolina are under tornado watch and/or flash food alerts.

I have to say, of all the "natural disasters", I hate tornadoes more than anything else, and, yes, this includes earthquakes!

First off, there is just general confusion regarding tornadoes. Tornado watch? Tornado warning? Which is more severe? If there is a watch, what should you do? Ditto warning?

Well, since we're in "watch" mood right now (in Wake county, not Durham but we live close to the Wake county border so I pay attention to Wake also) I decided I'd better figure out the difference!

Watch means conditions are ripe for a potential tornado. Doesn't that seem strange that in mid-December in North Carolina we'd have tornado like conditions? I always thought of tornadoes as a "summer" hazard. But, here it is, raining, thunderstorms, strong winds, and it is going to be 70 degrees.

So, what do you do in "watch"? Pretty much what the word indicates; watch and pay attention! For me this means keep the Internet up and on the local weather site, sign up for weather alerts and check email frequently AND (the worst for me) turn on the radio (this because I'm forced now to listen to all the damn commercials and inane chatter).

Warning means a tornado has actually been spotted in the area. This is pretty serious and if there is a warning anywhere in the vicinity of your county, the best thing to do is high-tail it to a room in your house with no windows (basement would be best but we don't have one of those). Oh, and try to corral all the pets and get them in there with you, too. And, hope and hope and hope your loved ones are safe.

So far, no warnings, just watches. But, they could turn into warnings pretty quickly.

Do I jump in the shower now? I really need to!

Ok, why do I hate tornadoes more than anything else? Exactly because of what I am going through. You know enough to be freaked out but not enough to know when and/ where one might touch ground. Or, what direction it will go once it does.

Earthquakes, well, you just don't know so you can't be overly freaked out unless you just want to be freaked out every second of every day of your life; people like this should not live in California!

Hurricanes you have sufficient notice to "prepare" and are usually a bit more traceable. Not that the damage is any less severe, of course.

I vividly recall being about three and there being a tornado sighting in our town. We did not have a basement so we ran down the street to a neighbor's house who did. I don't know where my Father was (probably at work because it was in the middle of the afternoon) but my mom was there holding my sister and me by the hand. It was so windy that I was literally blowing out behind her as she ran.

The other time my mom was also in attendance. This was right after the Indy 500 in May 2004. The sirens started going off while we were walking from the track to the RV. I was with mom and said, "What's that?" to which she replied, "Oh, that means there is a tornado in the area". She said it calm as you please; probably so that I wouldn't freak out.

We got to the RV where the rest of our gang was waiting for us. Everyone was freaked out while mom handed us pillows to clasp to our heads if one did land (a fat lot of good it would have done us had one actually struck the RV; that RV is big but not THAT big!) while cheerily saying, "Here! These are for you head! Now, who wants some meatloaf?" as my brother and I looked incredulously at each other.

So, yeah. Hate tornadoes, whether it be watch, warning or actual threats.

Maybe I'd best go make some meatloaf!

Mrs. B

Defining Good

I initially put that picture on my Blog yesterday (and on Face Book) because I thought it was "cute"; tongue in cheek, as in; "Hey, Santa...naughty can be good, right?" But, the two comments I rec'd made me think about how much the word "good" is used in our language (and probably all languages but I'm not sure if perhaps English tends to use the same word to use many things more than other languages). Add to this that people's individual definition of "good" varies significantly and you have an almost infinite range of "good".

So, to close out the discussion on good, here is Wikipeida's summation of the word and its usages:

Good
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Good or goods may refer to-
as an adjective
expressing usefulness (of objects, "good for")
expressing expertise (of persons, "good at")
expressing morality or altruism (of persons)
as an uncountable noun
Good and evil, in religion, ethics, and philosophy
Form of the Good in Platonic philosophy
as a countable noun
Ethic or philosophic good, an object with ethic or philosophic value
Good (economics), an object or service
a surname, see Good (surname)
In art and popular culture:
Good (song), a song by Better Than Ezra
Good (Goodshirt album), the 2001 album by the New Zealand band Goodshirt
Good (Morphine album), the 1992 nooby by the American band Morphine (What is a "nooby"?)
Good Entertainment
Good Looking Records
GOOD Music, Kanye West's hip hop and R&B record label
Good Records
Good Time Records
Good (film), a 2008 film starring Viggo Mortensen (Hmmm...don't remember seeing this one; perhaps it was not so good after all!)
In company or brand names
GOOD Magazine
Good Technology, a company which sells Push e-mail products for mobile phones
Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS)

Hey! They forgot "Good Times"! That is why I've honored the show with a picture on my Blog!

Mrs. B

Dear Santa

Putting Up The Tree

We got the tree Saturday and put it up yesterday afternoon. We decided, after careful consideration, to only put non-breakable ornaments on the tree this year. Because of this and because we got a smaller tree (on purpose so it would fit in the space in the family room), our tree looks a bit different this year! But, it's still very pretty and it's nice to be able to see it from the kitchen.

Pete and Lily, so far, have not done much damage. They did get one of their toys behind the tree this morning and knocked the lamp off the ledge jumping down behind the tree. But, that's it. So far.

Here are a few pictures of our tree decorating party yesterday!

Mrs. B

One of Pete's fav spots to hang out

Getting started

Lily plays with tissue

Pete hones in on the action (while Clyde keeps "watch"!)

Cats in boxes
Time for a bath...tongues galore

Lucy watches and emulates the tongue action

The finished product

Nice and relaxed Mr. B
Lucy wearing her Christmas collar

Lily thinks about doing a no no (getting up on the counter)

HOT FLASHES HAVE RETURNED!!!!!

So, a year and a half ago, my hot flashes and mood swings were so entirely out of control that I (we) decided that it would be best to go onto some sort or hormone replacement therapy. After talking to my most excellent OB GYN, we decided that a low grade birth control pill would be the best option.

The thing is, there were other (not terrible but not pleasant) side-effects of being back on "The Pill". About three weeks ago, I (we) elected to go off the pill for these reasons.

Week one was "ok".

Week two, well, Mrs. B's moods got a bit iffy.

Week three (this past week) was better mood-wise (in general; there were some family drama issues that I may have freaked out over more than I would have two months ago) but, man oh man oh man, the HOT FLASHES have returned in FULL FORCE!

One of these entries I will have to try and describe what these damn you know what things feel like when they come on!

"I'm hot!" I will complain to Mr. B several times during the night, throwing off those (why did the FU$$ did I put them on!) flannel sheets. Shoving Lucy off the bed because she wants to cuddle right up next to me. Throw off any clothing I might have left on earlier (because I was cold then).

Then, maybe 10 minutes later, I AM FREEZING! I will tell Mr. B to go turn up the heat.

He sighs. I sigh.

Repeat. Repeat.

While visiting with family last night, I told this tale to which dad rolled his eyes, looked at mom and intoned, "I do NOT miss this!"

BTW, Pete and Lily (Repete) don't bug me yet. But, they have taken to jumping up onto the bed and biting Mr. B's hand/arm/fingers; whatever, as he idly pets them. But, they are just kittens and into kitten antics.

Man, aren't I too young for this? I am only (almost) 45!

But, my overall concern is for my health (for the most part) and I figure some moody behavior and hot flashes is better than a few alternatives.

Mrs. B

Our California Adventure Part Three

I am picking up where I left off (guess I've been a bit distracted by the arrival of Pete and Lily, Thanksgiving and the impending Holiday Pops concert tomorrow night!)

Mrs. B

Seeing Kathy (and her folks) after about a twenty-three year hiatus was certainly something. Kathy is about the same; just older (who isn't?) Her two children, Emma and Michael (twins) are adorable (two years old this past April). Mikey is definitely the braver of the two; when we walked in the front door, he thumped his chest and announced, "I'm MIKEY!" Later, he confidently informed me that he had on blue shoes. Emma, although not as talkative initially, warmed up to me later and walked me through her baby book while we were visiting at her Grandpa and Grandma's (Kathy's parents). She explained each picture with something like, "This is baby Emma wearing sunglasses" or (if her brother happened to be in the picture), "This is baby Mikey eating pancakes".

Kathy's husband Kurt, whom I barely remembered, is in the National Guard and was quite chatty! They suggested we eat at a restaurant in Tierrasanta called Andiamo's. It was pretty good and we closed the place down (at lunch time) yakking away.

After we took a few pictures in their backyard, we then went over to her mom and dad's. They live in the same house they lived in when we all first moved to Tierrasanta (which happens to be next door to "our" house on Antigua Blvd.) They've done quite a bit to their house to keep it modern (their kitchen is absolutely to die for). Sadly, the folks that bought our house from mom and dad haven't done "a damn thing and it's a damn shame", or so growled Mr. S (Kathy's dad). BTW, he used to scare the crap out of me when I was a kid. Now, he's just a nice old dude. Funny how that works, huh?

It's too bad we couldn't spend more time together; I didn't get nearly enough "alone" time with Kathy to find out more about her past 23 years. Let's hope it's not another 23 years before we get together again.

Last night we stayed in at the resort and ate left-over steak (which Mark made into sandwiches); talked to Peri to confirm that they will be here Friday at 3:00 pm and had our evening cigar (ok, we are on vacation which is the ONLY reason I am allowing myself to smoke a cigar every night). We started to watch a movie about the early days of football called "Leatherheads" but I gave up the ghost fairly early into it.

Today we drove to San Clemente to meet Vesna (one of my TRW buddies) for lunch at a restaurant called The Fisherman's, which was located right on the pier. She looks great and it was wonderful to catch up with her (and for her to meet Mark). Her husband Gary is now working at IBM doing something somewhat similar to what Mark did for them at one point. Her two kids are 13 and almost 7 now. Wow, times flies, doesn't it?

Now we are back at the resort sitting in the sun out on our balcony. It's warm! I'm not sure what we'll do later on tonight; we were going to meet Kathleen for dinner but she is not feeling well. Maybe we'll walk down and check out the Lawrence Welk museum in the lobby of the theatre and have dinner at the only restaurant that is on site.

So far we've been having an easy going relaxed time, even though we've actually been doing quite a bit!

Tomorrow, we'll drive up to Redondo Beach to see Debbie and Pam.

Stating the Obvious...I Mean, Like, OMG! Duh!

While on line yesterday a brief snippet on Yahoo caught my eye, it went something like this:

"Victoria's Secret Models Admit to Diet and Exerise"

So, what? Did the rest of the world really believe that they look that good from sitting around on their butts and stuffing their faces?

And, another thing, why the "admit" part; as if there is something wrong with dieting (within reason, of course) and exercise (also within reason; I've known a few folks in my life that were a tad obsessed with exercising).

I suppose some of this might be a result of the whole to-do over some models being way too thin and, likely, anorexic. Ok, that's not cool and that is dieting to an extreme.

But, the way this "article" was written implied that we've all been bamboozled to believe that these beautiful gals with their hot bodies are so just from the grace of God and their parents' genes.

And, they are here to let us in on the "secret"!

Gee, thanks, Victoria.

What's next? Models admit to breast implants?

Mrs. B