Storm Watching, Beginners Luck

Seasoned storm chasers prefer to watch their storms from a distance.

I've always been a sky watcher. I can make stories up in the billowy folds of cloud formations that cross our Nebraska sky and I take cover when the dark clouds blow in with lightning shows that dazzle as much as they sizzle!

A storm chaser I'm not.... but that is something that I would love to do.... from a distance and not underneath em.

I'm sure it is not wise to stand beneath such a close, dangerous looking, impending storm, video tape rolling (of which I tried to post but still photos is all I could get to post) and praying for protection. I'm sure prayer works best when using common sense, right?

I'm grateful that the Lord I was praying to, held back the hail and didn't form those ominous looking clouds into a tornado, to lift the house up and off to OZ. I wonder if anyone else, standing on their porch .... watching, but unlike me, were whisked away when they failed to retreat safely to the basement? If anyone has, they must not have lived to tell about it. And if they were video taping ... well, guess we may never know, huh? Yes, I'm ever so grateful that my foolishness hasn't yet destroyed me.

Angels or storm watching beginners luck?

The calm after the storm. A short rainbow and the sweet, clean, smell after a rain is all that remains after such fury. For us, we had to right a few blown over chairs and reopen windows in the house to a clean, calm breeze. But I began to pray for those whom this storm was on it's way to scare and that they might heed the warning and retreat to safety.

P.S. To those who know me, should you hear of me being whisked away in a storm, keep looking for the camera/video that was surely recording my foolishness.

It's Friday Night And I've No Where To Go

I'm watching HLN on a Friday night, near 9:32 pm, and they are discussing Weiner's Resignation from ... what is he? All I know is that he was sex texting and sending compromising pictures to ... who?

I guess I'm one of those who only remember this issue more due to his name ... Weiner. :) Every time I hear his name, those Oscar Mayer Weiner songs play through my mind. (Yes, there were two versions of the song!)

Showbiz Tonight's, A.J. Hammer, is opening his discussion with some ... well ... it all has to do with the name, Weiner. And, for Mr Hammer, its not the Oscar Mayer Weiner songs that he's reminded of. He seems more focused on, well, things like:

The Big Spin ... Congressman Weiner's News Conference ... Lies, that in truth he finally admits to 'showin his buisness'... Weiner's other package ... He's leaving with a bulging retirement package (which should be interesting to note that Mr Weiner's package could be worth more than a million dollars, and may include an annual pension, a gold plated health care plan, and a capitol hill parking space,) and the climax of the whole scandal? He could possibly be heading to Hollywood!!

What a lucky twit. (No, A.J. Hammer didn't say that on his show. This is my comment.)

Ok, ok, this is not why I decided to post on my blog tonight.

Look at me, sitting here watching TV on a Friday night, alone, with a cold and no where to go ... which is good because of my cold. Even without a cold, though, I'd still be hangin, alone, on a Friday night, my usual mode, in these 'older' years. Alone, sitting and watching TV ... and this would be true, even if my husband wasn't off on a Father's Day ride, this weekend. We seem to migrate towards our own TV's. His in the living room and mine in my office. (We do have our moments when we watch the same program/movie and hang in his living room. But I'm in a self pity moment, sick with a spring cold, sooo ALONE is my wail tonight. Ok?)

It's Friday night and I don't feel like going anywhere. Just took some Nyquil to combat my cough, TV is full of junk and both my cats are hanging close enough to be annoying. This Friday night it is good to be alone and have no where to go ... but to bed to get well!

The question is ... will I be able to sleep without ....

♫♪ OH I WISH I WERE AN OSCAR MAYER WEINER,
THAT IS WHAT I TRULY WANT TO BE. ♫♫
♪♫ CUZ IF I WERE AN OSCAR MAYER WEINER,
EVERYONE WOULD BE IN LOVE WITH ME!♪

♪♪ OH I'M GLAD I'M NOT AN OSCAR MAYER WEINER,
THAT IS WHAT I NEVER WANA BE. ♪♫
♫♪ CUZ IF I WERE AN OSCAR MAYER WEINER,
THERE WOULD SOON BE NOTHING LEFT OF ME. ♫♪♫

♫♫ OH IT'S A SAD DAY FOR NEW YORK'S MR. WEINER,
HE FINALLY TELLS THE TRUTH AND HAS TO LEAVE. ♪♫
♪♪ CUZ SHOWIN EVERYONE HE'S GOT A WEINER,
PROVED HE WASN'T THERE FOR YOU AND ME. ♫

Take a walk with me thru my first day at 58.

Look close and you will see the new black kitten and the matriarch of the cat side of our gang, Mushi, having a stare down at 7 am, my birthday morn, amid the Jade.

Finally, Frieda #2, settles for a snooze while I spend some time in the Lords Word. Is it my imagination, or is there light illuminating off my Bible?

Later in the morning, it's 'Story Time' at the Library. But first, Grandson has to read about Farm Machinery.

Ms. Carolyn has some fun things in 'Story Hour' at our local library. Our normal class of 4-5 preschoolers has grown during the summer session! Takes alot to keep such a crowd of young uns, with an attention span of an ant, involved. Thank you soooo much for your fun time and awesome patience, Ms. Carolyn!

We took our snack time after 'Story Time' at one of Ogallala's city parks. Well ... I guess I snacked and grandchildren played ... and found lost cell phones. :)

Fast forward, thru nap time and working in the garden, to a Harley ride around Lake Mac (more than 50 miles) to feast on barbecue at the new Texas Roadhouse Barbecue joint just East off Martin Bay.

We took off down the highway from my husbands place (south side of Lake Mac) and rode towards Lewellen first, to scope out the rising flood inflows on the North Platte River. The sandhills have doned my favorite color ... Green!

Yes, I know this picture is a mite blurry. But if ya look to the bottom of the pic, you'll catch HOW I take many of my pictures off the back of my husbands Harley. :)

Notice the ripple indicating a fast in flow? Not normally that fast of a current for this North Platte River flow. Guess I shoulda given ya some before pictures to compare, huh? Also, wish I would have made Ron stop the bike and took pictures of how close the water was from, or to, the bottom of the Lewellen bridge.

Oh the peace of it all!! Doesn't look like flooding, does it? Seems to me like we are making a much to do about something that seems so part of the ebb and flow of life. If one builds next to a river, one has just invited the river to visit them from time to time. Regardless, if I had water in my basement, or my homestead was under water, it would be a MUCH TO DO! As it is, my flooded basements have been of another kind ... but that isn't our present journey, is it?

After a meal of pulled pork on a smothered baked potato and 2 glasses of gifted Chardonnay by my husbands work comrades and warm birthday wishes by most all the staff and patrons in the resturant ... ok, maybe the warmth was more due to those two glasses of wine ... we headed home in the sunset of the dawning of my 58th year.

I made my husband pull over on the highway to take the first shot of what we Ogallala natives call the 'slab' ... the very 'slab' that my son had to paint, years ago, and first to lay claim to the 'Leave Only Your Footprints' blue and white logo. This is the first time in several years the water in the lake has been high enough to surround the 'slab'.

The earlier years, in my youth, the 'slab' (without it's blue/white decor) was a favorite place to soak the sun and jump off of into water that was deep enough not to injure. At 58 now, I feel too old to be able to climb up on that 'slab', let alone jump off like I did in those younger years.

Yep, had to have a picture posted here in my blog since this 'slab' is part of my 58 year history!

Note: the second picture was taken from the back of the moving Harley, as were all the pictures that follow.

I'd like to thank all of you who sent me birthday greetings via card, or a homemade card (my lil Ryenn made for me ♥), those Facebook greetings, cell phone notes, all the wonderful calls, or just a thot, even. I've thanked my husband for the wonderfully relaxing putt around Lake Mac and some good food. Thank you, Fuzz, for taking all the kids so I could go on that Harley putt with Ron! Thank you, John and Billie, for my gift card! My daughter's gift of the most beautiful roses overwhelmed me! Thank you all!!

I am soooo blessed and feel soooo loved. Thank you. And Thank You, my Lord!!

58!! Whoda thot I'd make it!!! I'm looking forward to a big bash on my 60th!!! I'm talking big time barbecue, a poker run and maybe a band in the ole' man's man cave? 60 is young. Right? Well, two years to plan. Anyway, ... 58!! Wow ♥

What Is It Like To Be 58?

What is it like to be 58? Ask me when 59 rolls in next year. :)

I consider it a miracle to have journeyed this far. Hm .. seems my Lord has plans for me here yet, or maybe ... I'm granted this time to enjoy the gift of grandchildren, or maybe I need to stop questioning and live in the miracle. ♥

The Day After The End

The biggest surprise about not going in the Rapture yesterday? Everyone I thought had a guaranteed ticket on the Rapture bus are all still here. Should I be worried?

And The World As We Know It Is About To End?

Billboards in California are blasting that tomorrow at 6 pm the world will end! What?! What happened to December 21, 2012 being the official end to the world? I am sooooooo confused!

Well, I don't know what to believe. I read in God's Word that no one will know the hour or the day when the world will end ... or rather when Christ will come to take those He claims. I believe in a God of awesome wonder that has plucked me from the darkest place and given me hope that I can be more than I ever dreamed I could be by myself. Alone I am nothing. God is my only hope. But even though I cling to God ... I fear the unknown.

So what!
What if tomorrow is our last day?
What will you, or I, be doing?
Think!!
What if tomorrow was the last day of your life as you know it?
What will you do?
What will I do?
What is after ... what is beyond the end?

All My Life Is Making The Turns

My life is taking a turn,
A new age I embark as I near 60.
These wrinkles did warn me,
That youth had gone and left me.
We all know things don't last,
Not youth,
Nor our twenties, thirties and on.
Such is the road we all travel on,
Change is the only thing to rely on.
From the babe in Mother's arms,
To the babe of my motorcycle man,
To the babe of our Lord and Saviour Man,
Where life began and is given back again.
Trading in my young, plumb, healthy flesh,
For some wrinkles and the full mind.
Yes, full! So full, I forget all the time,
Especially when a mirror I find,
And see a stranger looking back at me.
Hard to believe I'm two from 60!
Only the Lord could have brought me,
Through my life and all the wrong turns.
Here's hoping this last turn,
Will be mostly right in my final walk,
And full of friends that share the walk,
And the wrinkles,
And the hard times amid the giggles.
Life is like that,
A full life is just that,
Paths that twist and adjourn,
Change, a constant in all the turns.