Category: General

Wild Weekend of High-pressure Relaxation

This weekend was fun for the kids AND mom and dad. It’s shocking, I know. I’ll give you a few minutes to digest.

Saturday started off slow. we lazily all got showers, dressed, and on the road to Fairview Heights. This has become our annual pilgrimage to get clothes for the kids’ new school year. Usually there are great sales, and Emily loves to shop for anything.

We decided to stop at Olive Garden for lunch (Emily decided really). Erich had pizza, Amaya had spaghetti, and Emily and I both had chicken parmesan. Amaya had about 2 bites of spaghetti and was done. Shortly thereafter she and I went to the car ahead of Emily and Erich. For some reason she just cannot handle being in one spot for any amount of time, and I was not about to let her disturb the whole restaurant.

Kids cheesing for the camera

Once we were outside, Amaya was actually pretty calm as we waited the few minutes for Emily and Erich. Then we were off to find clothes. Shopping turned out to be fairly painless and the kids got a lot of new clothes. As it seemed to be the theme of the day, Amaya and I got to go to the car again while Emily and Erich finished up.

Finally we hopped back on ye ole interstate to head home. Unfortunately I was informed that we HAD to stop by Target. What is it about that place that draws people in? It’s WM, only in red. What’s the big deal? I still don’t get it, but we stopped, picked up some more “stuff” and headed home.

Later in the evening I decided it was time to go to the drive-in. Talladega Nights and Monster House were playing that night. I have to say that Will Ferrell does not disappoint. If you saw Anchorman and were amused, then you should like Talladega as well. It’s not quite as well put together, but it’s good for some laughs. Monster house was a little twisted for little kids, but 10+ should be able to handle it well.

Emily and I were ready to leave after Talladega, but Erich woke up as we were getting ready to pull out. So we had to stay for Monster House. I think we got home at about 1AM.

Sunday we decided to go to the lake. We gathered swimsuits and towels and took off. The kids had fun splashing, playing, and generally being kids. After 2 hours we packed up and headed out. Unfortunately Amaya and I have the mysterious Rend Lake illness that we seem to get every time we go down there. Coughing, sore throat, and generally feeling awful. I guess that’s the price you pay for swimming for free though.

No News

Still working for First Cellular of Southern Illinois owned by Alltel. Still no news on how our jobs will be handled. Everyone says they just wish they new something. I just kind of stand there and listen, because if I say anything at all it would be misconstrued and twisted into something else. Hopefully we get an idea of where our future will lead. I’m both excited and scared for the future of all of our families. I trust they will treat us well.

More pictures of the trees and their damage on the Flickr page. See posts below for the link.

The weekend rocks when you’re at home

After a week away from home, it’s nice to be back. There are still problems. For example you can see through the soffit to the sky, and there appears to be a leak above our door all of a sudden.

Fortunately State Farm has been great since they actually called me back. They haven’t given any static to us about all the issues and damages except they think that my home was livable with only running water. No A/C, no ability to cool food or cook food, no hot water, no lights, but yet they expected us to live here.

That part bugs me, but otherwise they have been very accomodating.

Let there be light… (Said the lineman)

Well, our power is now reconnected. After the still-unknown person came by and fixed our meter loop mast, Ameren sent “Henkel & McCoy” to reconnect the line to the house.

Those poor guys are working 18+ hours per day, and they were still very nice. We joked around a bit while they connected the wiring and one of the guys told me some stories about his experiences. One time he said after hurricane Rita they had to live in their trucks for a week. Then after hurricane Katrina they lived in the trucks for 3 weeks.

I’ve been “roughing it” at my in-laws for a week and thought that was tough (not really). I cannot imagine having to live in a vehicle for 3 weeks far away from home. He said he rarely gets to see his daughter during times like this, and that has to be tough. As much as I complain about Erich and Amaya bugging me, I sure do miss them when they’re not around.

This is my big THANK YOU to all of you linemen, firemen, policemen, and everyone else who have and will help us through this rough spot.

Photos of our great linemen.

Images from Hurricane “Southern Illinois”

I now have images posted on Flickr for all you kids to enjoy. They are the best ones I have at this time. There are many others on one of my phones and on Josh’s camera, but they’re not here yet. As soon as I have them I’ll update.

In my opinion, these photos do not demonstrate how horrible this situation was nor how HUGE these trees were, but they will have to do for now.

http://www.flickr.com/people/dirtvoyles/