Judie

Jim was in the Navy. 10 years active duty and 22 years as a reservist... 32 years total. I think if you cut the man he would have salt water in his veins! He loved the Navy! He loved going to sea. I think he would still go if they would take him back in. Jim's career outside the Navy was Electronics... He was the manufacturing manager of an electronics plant here in Joplin until he retired. Now he can play with his "navy stuff" all he wants.. making plans and working out the details for the reunions. We generally have somewhere between 80 and 100 come to a reunion, and we have about 400+ in the association. no merchant seaman here, just another 'old salt'.. Bet they could find lots to talk about anyway, what do you think?

Judie

Tanyal, are there any of the fires close to you.. Texas has just about burned up this summer hasn't it? I hope you're not close..

TanyaL

Ralph's last job for the Navy was as a Port Engineer. He worked at Oakland and Mare Island, then for a short while up at Seattle. He was in charge of the repairs, dry docking, etc for USS Shasta, Kiska, Mauna Kea, Pyro and Mt. Hood. He really loved it. He retired and we moved to Texas. His health is pretty bad.

The neatest fire is about 20 miles away. We are on the NW side of Lake Whitney and the fire is just to the SE of the dam. Everything is just dry tender. It would really be nice if a storm system came up the gulf and rained all over Texas. The fires down around Austin must be a scene from hell. We're covered by insurance but sure hope we don't have to use it.

Judie

I hope you don't have to use your insurance either.. Even full replacement coverage is not what you think it is when you have to use it.. There are a lot of surprises waiting for those of us who have never been in a disaster before. I've learned more than I ever cared to know!

I grew up in Southern California.. lots of big forest fires there. Fires are very scary, they can shift and change in the blink of an eye. The only time you dare relax is if they are contained in a well thought out place that they are supposed to be.. Like a fireplace, or a bbq.. and if one hits there is nothing left, it is very sad. Even tornados leave some things to pick up.. may not be much, but usually there is something or another.

TanyaL

I was in Reno once when the area between Reno and Lake Tahoe was all ablaze. In that fire the trees looked like Roman candles. This blaze in our area has not been hot enough to start the trees burning. It went through the grass and scrub brush and left the trees. We have 25 fire departments called out. Fortunately the wind died down and the temperature is lower. I think there have been 7 houses lost but the fire is almost all contained now. The whole area is in cedar trees so it is a real blessing from God that circumstances weren't so bad that the trees ignited. It would have probably burned for miles and right thru a couple of towns. Hope some quilting is on your schedule today.

Judie

I have seen pines explode in flames.. it's something you never forget. The whole tree just bursts into flames at once.. and the roar is deafening. It's very scary. I'm glad the fire has slowed. I always feel so sorry for those caught in such a terrible thing, even the animals suffer so. We have no birds here to wake us up in the mornings.. no birds sing outside our windows now.. We have no trees here, so we have no birds. We have no squirrels or ground squirrels.. I haven't seen anything wild in this area. Very sad.. I love to listen to the birds wake up.

I spent the day out at the George Washington Carver National Monument. Every year at this time they have this big wonderful day to celebrate his birthday.. They have all sorts of craft people, dressed in costume, doing all the things that they did in those early days. He lived from 1864 to 1943 and was an amazing man. So they had all sorts of activites for kids, dipping candles, weaving baskets, growing gardens, identifying birds and animals.. Singing and dancing.. games kids played.. like gunny sack graces, and some sort of hoop toss off of rods, many others.. how to gather honey.. and of course quilting.. I sat at a quilt frame all day with some of my friends laughing and having a grand time.. We quilted by hand all day long.. it was the most perfect day. I'm hoping more of those will be coming along. I hope your day was as good!

TanyaL

Sounds like a really wonderful day. I hadn't considered the effect of the tornado on your flora and fauna. I wonder how long the recovery time will be.

My husband had one of his rare feeling good days and suggested we go to the Hancock's sale. It's about 60 miles to the nearest store and I had been needing to get some sheer poly/cotton to make a slip to go under a christening dress. We had a good time, but I have absolutely never seen so many rows of absolutely UGLY bolts of fleece in all my life. I can't imagine what the designers had in mind for this fabric. I bought 2 yards of lilac to make a robe for my GD. It's her favorite color. Picked up some Christmas fabric for gifts and some black denim with gold fleur de lis embroidered on it for a gift(2 sofa pillows). Nothing for quilting. At another shop found some little size 0 lace trimmed socks to go with the christening dress. Prices have really gone up!

I think I'll make coordinating placemats and napkins in the Christmas fabrics, quilt the mats. Got to get better organized and do some work on my quilt. It's supposed to be a Christmas gift also. LOL Have a good day.

carolaug

I store my ruler and a few other items in an old computer case that has wheels. I do not zip up on of the areas for the long rulers. I store my cutting mats and the one ruler that I use all the time under my coach. Its wonderful...I also put my yard stick under the coach. I could put alot more but I want to keep it neat so that its easy for me to use and two seconds to pull out fromt the coach and of course back under.

Judie

HI Carol. I used to store my knitting things under the couch, also a quilting hoop. I had one of those zipped cases that had all the pieces to put together nearly any size of knitting needle, and my current favorite books under there.. They were all ruined. You'd think a couch would protect them, nope. I have a very old, heavy hide-a-bed that was given to us, I can't squeeze my fingers under it.. I think I run into the "bed" under there.. Good place though.. I may use it again some time. Thanks!

bearisgray

I'm speechless!

How people carry on after losing all - or almost all - of their stuff - in a disaster always amazes me.