State Fair!

If you are anything like we are the State Fair means one thing: FOOD! Truly, we go mostly for the food. Chloe has had her "want" in mind for at least a month. Jesse didn't know until she arrived.

Philly cheesesteak

Deep fried cookie dough

Bacon cinnamon roll

We started with Philly cheese steaks and Italian sausages. They were good, but I think there was too much bread to meat for the ratio to be perfect. My opinion though. After wandering the fair at bit, we had our snacks. I had the red velvet Oreos (deep fried of course!), Jesse had a bacon cinnamon roll and Chloe had the deep fried cookie dough. John had our leftovers. lol

We found out yesterday, Jesse won first place in the junior division of home and craft with her earrings. She is her usual understated happy. Chloe has decided to enter home and craft next year and already knows what she is going to make. Exciting!

If you have been to the theatre with us you should recognize this face!

No way! LOL

This little goat followed Chloe for awhile.

And of course there were the games!

We love the fair. It is one special day a year (not that we don't have a lot of those) that we truly can enjoy each other while totally relaxing and just having fun.



Happy birthday, John!

Today is one of those days we enjoy so much. Because it involves cake! LOL With everything going on John practically forgot about his birthday, though, thankfully, he remembered to renew his driver's license.

We took him out to dinner last night (we have plans for today) at San Jose. It was during this trip we discovered one of our roads is now open. They have not finished asphalting the new "bridge" but we can at least to that way be it slow over the gravel. I'm just glad I will not have to take another 40 mile trip to take the trash; once was enough for me. Anyway, John had his favorite: poblano peppers. He was happy.

This morning he opened his presents from the girls.

Hallmark ornament of Steve Austin

Poblano pepper!

The funny part was the pepper. John never quite gets what Chloe makes with her Rainbow Loom, but as soon as this was out of the paper he screamed, "Poblano pepper!" He loved the ornament too, but the girls knew he would. It even plays the theme song. He was a happy man.

If you are wondering how Hank and Winnie are getting along, I think pictures say it best.

Apparently, before this scene, Hank was trying to flip this bed (which is Rosie's bed) without knowing Winnie was napping inside it. I suppose he figured instead of dumping her out he would join her. He hasn't been chasing her aggressively either, just playfully. But she has found a new spot to hide and observe away from him.

 

 

All-in-all, I think life is going well here. John's birthday had a good beginning this morning. It is kind of calming hearing the tinkle of a tiny bell through the house.

Winnie

This post is about Winnie; however, it begins with Hank. Hank loves to play with is food. He is so adorable and simply cracks me up. First of all, we can't put his food dish in the holder because he enjoys tipping over the dish to dump the food. Then he slaps the food across the floor, with his booty in the air and tail just wagging! He loves it.

So that being said, this is why Hank's dish is not where it should be.

Winnie, however, loved his dish being on the floor. Winnie is a night owl. Even with her torn hernia, last night she decided to go for another nightly stroll around the house. She started with Hank's water. This is where she decided to sit while drinking.

The vet's office called and said Winnie came through surgery just fine. We will pick her up this afternoon.

Really need a break

In the last few weeks, we have spent more than I care to think about. My car alone has been in the four digit range (and is now making the same noise as before--don't get me started!). We were told Hank has a cyst that should be removed, but nothing urgent. And there have been a few other things too.

Today, we found out Winnie has a hernia. A very bad hernia that needs immediate surgery. She is going in the morning to have it fixed and she'll be "fixed" too. I just need a break from all the expenditures. I'm trying not to think about all of it too hard. But dang!

We also found out today the pond where the girls and John fish most often breached and fully drained at Fort Jackson. Also, Hwy. 601, south of us, is closed somewhere also. I am not sure if the road is there and needs securing or if it has collapsed.

Venturing out again

Today, we ventured out again. The State Fair changed their turn in dates for Home and Crafts to just today. So, we had to get Jesse's entry to the fair grounds. Getting to the fair grounds was easy. The problem came with going from the fair grounds to the zoo.

John wanted to take the girls to the zoo, since they have been cooped up for a few days and the zoo was going to be open. We were doing well until Huger and Gervais when we had to go right or left. John chose left. I don't know left. And that proved to be obvious. I think it took about twenty minutes to find our way to the zoo, which was three miles, tops, from where we turned. Oh, well. Lesson learned. Remember the old saying, "when you're lost, go right." We sort of forgot that one.

After arriving home, I went back to Porter and turned right. I was hoping to see why the road is closed. Is the road missing? Are there trees down? Honestly, I still don't know why. There is a barricade pretty far away from the second barricade (the plastic netting). There are actually two nets; there is some space between the two, but I just couldn't see what was going on. I did see some DOT workers (I hope they were DOT) and a DOT truck was behind me. So, I still don't know exactly what is going on, just that the road is closed.

A sunny day, but far from over

Today is beautiful! The first day in weeks the sun has shone. The temperature is wonderful and you just want to get out.

Roads are still caving. Where there were no problems with roads yesterday, roads are collapsing today. Not just sidewalks, but the entire road, all the way across, and five to ten feet wide. I believe I mentioned yesterday about Spears Creek Road collapsing. This morning a friend of mine posted on Facebook a second section of that road (all the way across the road) has crumbled, just a few feet above where it collapsed yesterday.

I worry about getting out on some of the bridges, that already worried me structurally speaking, because once people start getting out and traffic builds, weight on the bridges build are more bridges going to collapse? I told my Mom last night driving right after Hugo wasn't as scary as being out yesterday seeing all the roads washed away.

We have tried to keep our minds off of everything today. The girls rode their bikes today while John and I walked down the hill. We are also still trying to get Hank and Winnie closer. Rosie just wants to lick Winnie constantly, which Winnie does not really appreciate.

We have left Winnie's crate door open today. Hank has been more relaxed; he would go a bit crazy when he heard the squeak of her door opening. But she still is not adventuring out of her crate unless we take her out. John says she is the calmest cat he has ever seen. I agree...but don't tell him that.

A thousand year flood

A thousand-year flood is what they are calling what has happened to South Carolina over the last four days. They rarely mention we had rain for a solid week-and-a-half before this flood. The ground was already saturated. We, South Carolinians in general, were already tired of feeling like we were living in Seattle. Then it rained some more.

It even rained more today.

Last night Jim Gandy, meteorologist, said we had broken the one-day, two-day and three-day rain records all in this one event. I can believe it! We, our family, has been very lucky thus far. Yesterday morning our power was out for about an hour. Some people have had no power or water for two days now.

Friday, I bought a few food items. Honestly, I didn't think SC would be where it is today so I didn't buy many groceries. Today, we had to venture out to find food. I was nervous. It turns out I had every right to be.

I'll start by explaining something. A few weeks ago, just before my Tupperware party, the SCDOT started tearing up Percival Road. And I mean tearing it up. It was horrible! And that was before the week-and-a-half of rain. Then it became too much. I had to go that way the day after the Tupperware party because Porter Cross Road was closed due to a marathon. I almost hit a pot hole that was 3ft x 2ft and somewhere between 8-12 inches deep in John's Corolla. It would have been the end of the Corolla. Luckily I saw it just in time and no one was coming. That road, by then, was FULL of holes everywhere.  Last Wednesday they finally closed the road to local traffic only. The rain had done too much damage.

Now, you are caught up. When we left the house today, we went in the only direction we knew would be open, Porter Cross Road. We saw the bridge at the volunteer fire department, but it was what was before and after it that really caught our attention. The road just before the bridge has completely washed away. Just after the VFD was a huge tree lying across the road.

So, we turned around and headed toward 601 the other way down Porter. There was another road block. We are not sure what was going on there. It could just be a tree, but I didn't see one. It may be the road is missing there too.

We decided to check out Tower Road (the only other way we know out from our house into town). We knew it would end at Percival, but Percival would be open to local traffic (if it was still there). We were almost to the end when we saw the road was missing there too. Devastating.

Back at the house, we searched Google for another route. We knew of only one more road and we didn't know where it would take us. It took us, in a very round about way, to the other end of Percival that was not closed because of construction and rain (that we knew of). So, off we went.

We did finally make it into town and back with food. Now, we have enough food to last us until the end of the week. And that is the route we'll probably have to take for the next few months. I have no idea how long it will take to build the roads around us, nor do I know where they will be on the priority list.

I am grateful we are safe, our animals are safe, and we have food and water. Others are far less fortunate. And now, damns are breaking all over Richland County. Two damns so far tonight and I believe a third one is being watched very carefully. They believe it will break, just don't know when. So the flooding starts all over again.

Porter Cross Road

Porter Cross Road-different angle

Porter Cross Road-2nd direction in attempt to leave

Tower Road

A rose by any other name

Our beloved new family member has been renamed. Chloe has now decided her name will be Winnie (from Winnie-the-Pooh). John and I like it so much better than Tuna. Jesse is really hoping Winnie does not stay an indoor cat. lol

Hank is doing...better. He is so funny. Whenever we take Winnie out of the crate, Hank is right there wanting to see her. He likes to tug at her fur with his teeth. He used to do that to Rosie, but she stands up to him so he has stopped. Now, he is doing it to Winnie. Last night the little two pound kitten hissed like a big cat when he did it. We are taking baby steps with Hank. I think he'll get there, but it is going to take awhile.

I have been slipping further and further behind with my side of schoolwork. I am hoping I will spend the next two days working on catching up with school; however, with this icky weather I just want to sleep!

Jesse is about to finish "The Last of the Mohicans" and I am about sixteen chapters behind her. I know. I know! That is ridiculous. I also have not created their October spreadsheets showing what work they will do each day. I have a stockpile of math, science, English, Spanish and papers to be graded. It is rather depressing just thinking about it. I WAS DOING SO WELL!

Last Monday we took Chloe's submission to the state fair. Jesse's is due to go this week. Chloe submitted another picture. This one is of a goat. When she turned it in, Mrs. Betsy laughed. She loved the picture. I hope Mrs. Betsy is there when we turn in Jesse's earrings. She should like those too. We did hear that because there were so many student submissions this year that only the finalist will be displayed.

We finally decorated for Halloween today. I had told Chloe we would do it on Thursday, but it didn't happen. And we'll have to decorate outside after all the hurricane rain passes.