yIKE's

For awhile, it looked like Ike was going to head right across us, as did Gustav. But a cold front pushed Ike RAPIDLY across Arkansas last night. Still, we started out with rain and winds from the east, which switched over to the west during the night. The winds howled and shrieked here, and the house moaned and groaned and whimpered. How horrible it must have been for the folks who actually got hit by the hurricane. I am in the very corner of NW Arkansas- far, far inland.

Due to the winds, we no longer have the chinaberry-pear tree. It will now be just a chinaberry tree. The pear tree snapped off about five feet from the ground... missing the house by just under five feet.
Hey, I can reach all the pears now! We got at least two inches of rain, I know. The dog water pans are two inches deep, and were empty last night. They are flowed over now.

The dogs were well behaved yesterday, and stood inside while I dried them off when I got home from work. They didn't like me telling them stay off the beds! But they obeyed, at least until they were dry. I let them out during a lull in the storms- it was lightly raining, and they did their business. Less than an hour later, the winds and rains started again.. as did Jaffa scratching to get out. So I let him out. He charged down the steps, carried by momentum a good six feet into the yard. He stopped, shook his fur, tucked his tail and decided he really didn't need to go out after all. Drover watched him from the doorway- maybe he IS the smart one! (Note to children: This does NOT mean I LIKE them.)

Even with the rain during the day yesterday, it was hot and muggy. Like breathing soup. Like visiting the coast. The cold front has made it a delightful 58* here this morning. Feels warmer due to the humidity- but very autumnish. Unless the weather looks very bad tomorrow, Tom and the boys will head home in the morning. It is going to be a humid 89* there today- I gloat.

Well, time for me to get my green shirt on and settle the TSD on their chains. I have been re-setting the store displays from summer to winter items. That is the fun part of my job. I got to set out FAUNCY windshield wipers yesterday. Bosch's "Revolutionary Totally New Design In Windshield Wipers!" And they will only set a person back about $20 per wiper. While we sold out of several sizes of cheap wiper blades yesterday, we didn't sell a single one from new display.

What a surprise.
Have a great day today, and stay safe, wherever you are!

PS, Laurie, please leave me a note on how you guys fared the storms- you got both Gustav and Ike worse than we did, I think.