Life at Andy’s

Monday we drove down to Andy’s house.  We stopped in Little Rock at the AFB for Dad to get his ID card renewed.  We wondered why an “indefinite” ID card needed to be renewed; something about a double check to make sure I signed up for Medicare.  We got to Andy’s just in time for dinner (how convenient!).

It’s always fun to be there. They have such good kids… and Kera’s a good cook!

I guess I had not been watching the weather carefully enough.  It turned out Tropical Storm Isaac was heading for New Orleans.  Rebecca was dithering about whether they should evacuate or not.  It was “just” a tropical storm… or maybe a category 1 hurricane.  And she didn’t want to be in the lines and lines of traffic.

We watched the news updates.  They expected it to gain strength. Dan got permission to leave.  And so in the evening they decided to bail out.  They arrived an Andy and Kera’s about 11:30 and dropped off a few kids and a dog… and Rebecca.  The rest went to a hotel.

 Then Isaac toddled along and dumped bunches of rain in New Orleans and crawled up to Vicksburg.  Tuesday and Wednesday the weather was great.  Thursday it rained all day.  We walked the dog in the rain.  He didn’t seem to mind.  He attacked the rain gutters like a bear catching fish. Friday it rained on and off.

Tom had a list of chores to do.  The upstairs bathroom had been drywalled, but needed taping and sanding, then painting. He and Andy installed a vanity, outlets, light fixture, and finally, Kera put tile behind the toilet.  They also fixed a bi-fold door, installed a closet door on the new closet in Nathan’s room, fixed a hole in wall in the kid’s room, mended a broke stair, and fixed the ceiling in the food storage room where they’d taken a strip down for some plumbing thing.

He stayed pretty busy.  Me?  I read books, visited with Rebecca, Kera, and grandkids, went thrift store shopping, weeded the front flower garden (and got bit twice by fire ants) and cut  the hair of almost half a dozen kids.  I did a little work and some seminary stuff.

I forgot my camera, so while this would have been a great photo op… you’ll have to check out Rebecca’s blog to see them.

When we went thrift store shopping, I found a perfect kitchen table.  It’s maple colored pine and just a little wider than our existing one, but it opens up with a leaf in it.  I know it’s just an excuse—but did you know that if you put a hot potato on the wooden surface of a table it will mar the finish?  Like make it milky white instead of nice looking?  So since I did that to our old table the week before we left for Andy’s it seemed fortuitous to buy this new-to-me one for $25.  I also found a big go bag… so now I have no excuse not to get prepared.

Saturday we left after breakfast.  We stopped at the commissary and stocked up on things and continued on home.  The house was fine, the chickens alive, and the beans ready to pick.  First beans of the season.  It’s been so hot they’ve not set fruit.  Last night I had to chase an armadillo out of the garden.  I think we’ll have to get rid of the grubs in order to get rid of the armadillos.

Sunday has been good. We had good meetings.  We are singing great songs in choir.  We only got about 1.7 inches of rain here, but more is predicted later this week.