Thunderstorm

At 2 a.m. this morning, we got an automated message from a meterologist at one of our Capital City TV stations alerting us to an approaching thunderstorm. I signed up for this $6-a-year service, whereby our home phone and cell phones will be called in case of severe thunderstorms or tornado warnings.

We were alerted that the thunderstorm was due to arrive in our county at 2:30 p.m., and indeed it did, at around 2:35. The wind blew furiously, lightening flashed, thunder cracked, and it rained hard. After a few minutes, Hubbie realized that the six kittens out near the wellhouse must be drowning. So he dressed, put on a coat, and took a basket out to the yard to gather the critters.

Poor things were drenched and shivering when he brought them in. I got a towel, gathered them into it, and rubbed them dry. Soon, they were snuggled warm and content in the towel. Hubbie decided to check and see if he could see the mama cat near the house, and sure enough, she'd found her way to our front door. He brought her in and put her and her brood out in the sunroom, providing a box for the kittens.

Then we went back to bed, figuring the cats would be fine until morning. This morning, Hubbie checked on them, and found the kittens still in the box, but the mama cat was gone...she'd clawed her way through the screen on an open window and was outside somewhere.

So Hubbie moved the kittens to the garage, putting them in an old cabinet drawer. Mama cat tolerated this arrangement through the day, but later this afternoon, she began moving the kittens. We don't know where she's hiding them.

After all the early morning excitement, I naturally had trouble going back to sleep, so I only got three or four hours of shut-eye for the night. Of course, sleep deprivation made me draggy all day.

Still, I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises, but afterward I had only about 30 minutes to get ready to go down to the college to do snapshots of the kids making props for their puppet show. Today, they used paint, and managed to mess up their clothes in the process. Instead of wearing old clothes, some of them wore nice outfits...one even wore her Easter dress, which of course, she stained with paint. I called Hubbie to bring me a bottle of liquid treatment, with which I was able to get most of the stain out. Fortunately, the dress is orange and yellow floral, and she was using orange and yellow paint, so the remaining stain isn't obvious.

After a meatloaf sandwich lunch, Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands...to get a case of dog food at the vet's office, and to pick up a couple of pounds of barbecue. We'd originally meant to get the barbecue for our trip to Michigan, which has now been postponed. But last week, before I knew we'd have to postpone the trip, I promised the Caring Hands Hospice coordinator that I'd contribute a barbecue sandwich meal to a lady who is having a hard time taking care of a terminal (and very difficult) family member. So I went ahead and bought the barbecue, some of which we'll have for supper tomorrow night, and some of which we'll freeze for later use.

I packaged the rest of the barbecue to take with us when we go to the Caring Hands luncheon tomorrow. A staff member will deliver the meal to the lady who needs it. This lady gets no relief from caring for her family member, because he won't let anyone else near him, and he gets agitated if anyone unfamiliar enters the house. So we at Caring hands thought that one way to help the lady is to provide meals for her freezer so that at least she won't have to think about cooking (the family member doesn't eat...I don't know how he gets sustenance).

At 2 p.m., I went back to the college to photograph the middle school kids making props. I was amused to observe a couple of slender young ladies (about to become sixth graders) demonstrating their complete boredom with the workshop. Obviously, they are just too cool to enjoy this infantile event that is so far beneath their dignity.

I was less amused by their undisguised (rolling of eyes) distaste for the floral Easter dress that one of the slightly chubby girls wore. The two girls are doing an excellent job of practicing being snobs. I hope they grow out of it.

Other than uploading the snapshots from the puppet workshop, I didn't do much else this afternoon. Supper was beef hash, made from leftover beef roast and cubed baked potatoes (we'd thought ahead and baked enough potatoes last night for our meatloaf supper, as well as to use tonight in the hash).

Later, we watched a movie I recorded on DVR, "A Near Death Experience," which is a TV-14 film about a woman who can see and talk to dead people, particularly a woman whose husband shot and killed her. The woman has to solve the mystery of why the husband shot his wife. The movie reminds me very much of "The Ghost Whisperer."