Monday, March 17, 2008

Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore!

Much fun was had at Girl's Night at Alona's house. Her husband prepared a delicious broccoli cheese soup and a minestrone soup. Yum! He also prepared some amazing stuffed mushrooms so he was immediately forgiven for not making the awesome breadsticks. It is always a pleasure to hang out with friends. My dear husband left early Saturday morning for motorcross racing somewhere in North Carolina. I remember a kiss before I returned to my state of torpor!

tor·por
1. A state of mental or physical inactivity or insensibility.2. Lethargy; apathy. See Synonyms at lethargy.3. The dormant, inactive state of a hibernating animal.

My plan for the day was to do a little homecaring or feathering my nest. As this was accomplished I sat in our living room to enjoy some reading, one of my most favorite pastimes!
Between reading and states of torpor...the wind began to blow ferociously, there was little visibility...at this point I honestly thought I was being attacked by something as hail the size of golf balls began pounding the roof and banging at the windows. Hail was bouncing off the lawn, I was in such a state of astonishment that I did not take any pictures. With electricity flickering and the house shuddering I switched on the television to learn that Elgin had been struck by tornados and I was one of the lucky ones. Roofs were ripped off, houses and cars damaged, trees uprooted and many homes were without electrical power. Our yard has some debris in it, not much though. The news kept reporting more sightings of tornados and a watch was on until 1:00 am or so. Needless to say, when I went to bed I left the television on and hoped we were done with the storms. Michelle called to make sure all was well, she knew I was home alone. My dear husband did call to check on me several times. He and his son were holed up in the RV due to rain.

Sunday morning was bright and beautiful. As I reflected on the storms on Saturday I was grateful for my blessings. Events like this also bring to mind the necessity of being aware of what is happening and having an emergency plan. Do you have an emergency plan? The American Red Cross and other organizations provide free information on every contingency. You can stop by their offices for literature or go online and look at Emergency Preparedness. You owe it to yourself and your family to stay as safe as possible and Be Prepared!!!

4 comments:

Alona said...

I am glad you survivied the storm as well. It was way too close to my house. I missed you at church Sunday.
Oh and thanks for the new word. I am often in a state of torpor and now I have a better word to use for it other then dazed. lol
Thanks for coming over Friday. It is always fun with you around. Oh and I am LOVING the trail mix stuff you brought over. I told the kids the rest is mine and I am not sharing!! LOL

Anonymous said...

Thanks for educating us again! I like new words!

Anonymous said...

Although there was plenty of rain in Myrtle Beach (winds too), the weather was nothing like you all experienced in Lugoff and Elgin. You and Laressa both have reminded me of the importance of emergency preparedness so I'm going to get more serious about it.

By the way, one of my "words of the day" last week was hibernacle, a place where animals go to hibernate. I thought that was the coolest word, and I'm going to use it to describe us during those periods when we want to hunker down and enter our states of torpor in our homes.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday to Carl:-)