I Will Never Take Hot Showers For Granted Again!!!

 

 Hello,

 Just a quick update so I wanted to post while I can. I am waiting for some calls to come in and I have 2 that I have to make today. It has been so crazy here but all of the snow has melted thankfully and we have water but very low water pressure as they are filling up our reservoir before they can turn the water up to normal.

 We are under a boil water ban and we have ran out of bottled water to drink and none of the stores have any in stock at the moment. The ones that did have water had to put a 2 case limit and one place has bottled water but not spring water and even tho we really don't like to drink the other bottled waters, at this point if we can get drinking water we will get what is available. 

 So speaking of water, I was able to take a hot shower last night. The pressure was low but OHHH it was so wonderful. I will not ever take having a hot shower for granted again. I really wish our water pressure would return to normal so that the next time I get a chance to have my shower that I can have the water pressure with it but once again I will take what ever I can get with no complaints and be Thankful.

 I am a very worried mother right now. My son Matthew is in the hospital. Last week he was told that he had strep throat and he got a shot of antibiotics but he started running a high fever while in Louisiana and so we got a call from him where he had been admitted to the hospital and they were doing a spinal tap to check for meningitis. He doesn't have his phone charger so we couldn't talk long as he needed his battery power until he can get his charger.

 This is one of those stranger than fiction stories.

 Matthew was caught in this massive snow storm and he stopped at one of the casinos in Louisiana so he could park his truck because it was getting unsafe to be on the road. He hoped that they had rooms available as he was really needing a shower as well. But if not he could just sleep in his truck. I never found out if he was able to get a room or not. I forgot to even ask the day that I talked with him.

 He went inside and decided to get something to eat and as it was a buffet he walked up to the buffet line and he recognized the man in front of him. That man turned out to be his dad! So how strange is that??? That has happened to Matthew twice now.

 The first time that it happened was a few years ago when he was working for the railroad. He was driving to his next job site and he recognized the voice of the trucker on the CB radio. He pulled up next to the truck and asked the driver if he was so and so and the man replied "Who wants to know?" and Matt said "Your son wants to know." Matthew pulled up along side of him and said stop at the next exit.

 My kids don't have a great relationship with their father for one reason or another. They have gone years without speaking to him and it works both ways. Sometimes he will send the boys a birthday card but he will not send the girls one at all and the last time he sent a card to Nathan and to Matthew but skipped Jonathan, Karyn and Laurie. But back to my story Matthew and his dad were able to spend an hour or so together that day. 

 Anyway this time I am thankful that his dad was at the same casino and that his dad was able to get him to the hospital. He is supposed to be taking Matthew his phone charger so I am hoping to receive some news soon. I have been so worried since last night. Today's phone call hasn't helped my nerves either. I didn't get to talk to him but maybe 5 minutes if that long. 

 Well I guess that this is about all of the news that I have so far so I will close for now and talk to everyone later. Please be careful and as always wear your masks and social distance and I am sending lots of virtual hugs... Oh, Paddington Hi girl! I wish that you could have sent me water too lol. It is the thought that counts and I am thinking of you too. Take care of you and that awesome family of yours. 

 Steve, this snow storm was crazy as heck. We are just thankful that we had everything that we needed to see us thru the hard days and even longer nights. Nathan was totally our Knight in shining armor. We slept in shifts but he Bless his heart slept more in the day so he could stay up thru the night. Many times letting me and Karyn sleep for longer periods of time. Funny thing is that my insomnia did not hit me lol. Any other time I would have been up all night from just having the insomnia hit me. This time I was actually able to sleep!

 Miss Edna, I just tried calling you. I hope that all is going good for you. I have been worried about that storm heading your way. Call me when you can... BB

Snowed In

 

 It is super cold out. I am hoping that I am posting the right picture of my neighbors roof edge and icicles. This is day 5 of our adventure and it is really has been a adventure for millions of people. One that millions of people are not prepared for and does not want to ever repeat again.

 We have been without power since late Monday night. We got power back on after 80 hours plus a few more. Nathan stopped counting how many hours in total because it wasn't on  constantly as it would come on and go off.

 It all had to do with a power grid that is rather hard to explain. The way that I understand it is that they were going to do a roll out like 45 minutes on and 15 minutes off. They do this in the summer time as a controlled measure to avoid massive outages by shutting the power off at certain times of the day in places that have these smart thermostats. 

 When we lived in the apartments (Ridge Point and San Paloma) they did this. It was fine because it was usually cool enough that we didn't even notice it. By the time it was getting warm in the apartment it was coming right back on. It didn't interfere with our tv's or other things, It just shut off our air conditioning for 15 minutes each day so that it wouldn't cause blackouts like it did in California.

 But as they were taking us off line they were actually trying to take the big establishments off line and OOOp's... it caused Texas to fall off of the grid completely. One of the news stations said that we were minutes to seconds from a total catastrophe. One where we could have suffered months of no power.

  Then to have topped it off yesterday morning (Early) they took our water off line supposedly to protect our Nuclear and Power Plants. So long story short we have no water. The boys have been shoveling snow to melt down so that we can have water to flush the toilet with but it is melting so fast that today will be the last day of that. 

 I am sorry that this is so short but it is almost supper time.. I mean choose our can night lol. Thankfully we have soups and crackers and things to make sandwiches with. I think that I spotted a can of chili in the cupboard. If not I am sure that I can find something that I can eat. One good thing is that we do stock up when we go to the store. I had one of those Mac and Cheese cups for lunch today so I do have some options.

 Take care to all and to all a good night... BB

The Ten Of Wands

 I'm sorry that this photo is slightly blurry. I am going to see if Karyn can take a photo that is less blurry with her Iphone.

Hi,

 I really hope that everyone is staying warm and that everyone is staying well. I haven't fallen off of the planet but I have been trying to get things lined up for the move to Reno and it is taking me a lot longer than I thought that it would.

So the Wands in Taro mean a lot of different things. From new ideas, growth, creativity to being constructive in confidence, determination, and strength that we need for everything that comes with life. As we grow so do our responsibilities and the higher that we go in the Wands the harder that we need the other wands to be able to succeed.

 Take a look at the Ten Of Wands once more and what stands out for you?  It seems that I have been pulling Wands from my deck all month long and today as I looked at the other cards in my deck and then the last of the Minor Arcana I really looked at the card and I saw why I have been so all over the place. And why am I NOT surprised that I have been drawing Wands lately and I am emotionally all over the place and so damn depressed. 

 Look at her, she is carrying a very heavy burden and she is struggling to climb that damn steep hill and even her little familiar is hanging on for dear life. 

 While the Wands are a great set of Minor Arcana there are so many variables. From the wonderful to the other things that bring the not so wonderful things.  Like her familiar I feel like I am just barely hanging on. 

 I have had some sad sad sad news in recent days, I am really worried about my kidney and the news that I will receive from my doctor in the morning when he and I have a telemedicine visit. I have had a raging UTI infection. I only had a couple of the antibiotics that my doctor called in for me on Sunday  until I went in for labs on Monday and my lab guy called late yesterday and said no signs of a UTI but that I have lots of protein in my urine which is really bad. It just means that my kidney disease is worse and Karyn is afraid that I am going to have to go on dialysis. He said if my labs didn't look any better this month then I was going to need a kidney biopsy. I will know what he says in the morning. I have been nervous about it for a few weeks now. 

 The good news is that my kids Laurie, David and my grandkids surprised me the other night. I haven't gotten to spend any real time with them just yet because they are looking for a house and they tried to call me yesterday but I was in the shower and Karyn said that she forgot to tell me until last night. They are having phone problems. We are having internet problems. So I guess that evens us out a little bit but she is supposed to come tomorrow and maybe bring the kids. 

 I am really tired and so I am going to get off of here. Take care and stay safe until nextime... BB