Packing has come to a stop.  I believe I have everything ready to leave!  Now I just have to get in the car and leave!  I do have a meeting this afternoon with Tony, my brother-in-law, concerning New Horizons and our houses.  After that is finished I may just head for Ohio.  Not sure though.  If I don’t leave tonight then I will leave on Monday Morning.  I will be excited to see David in Waterloo.  I am not sure if I am spending much time in Toronto.  Maybe a day or so.  We will have to wait and see.  I am taking all of my school books and photography books.  Going to try and study a lot while I am away.  I need to make a good grade on my mid-term. 

  While I am packing here…Kristy is packing in Birmingham.  She is leaving for Florida this week.  She has even started a blog!!!!  Imagine that!!!!  Now I can keep up with her.  I am happy about that.  It is hard for me to know what is going on down there…so the blog will CERTAINLY help in that department.  I hope Kristy likes Florida.  Unfortunately, Drew is very sick so she is going to try to mean him back to wellness.  Soooo take care down there Kristy and we will all be thinking about you as you take on this new journey and adventure!  Hopefully Lucy will like the sun and beach.  I am sure she will…the little diva that she is.

  The forecast is for much colder temperatures across Canada.  This might help the fall colors along.  It has been dry across portions of Ontario…so I am not sure just how much color there will be this year.  I guess we shall see!  I would love to photograph some bright colors though.  Camera will be in hand!  The 8-14 day forecast (which can be viewed here) is showing below normal temperature for Kentucky and Illinois!  Works for me.

  Joey is doing much better.  He actually ate real food yesterday…more than once!  So that is good news.  He is taking Daisy to his mothers today.  I guess Daisy will miss me.  🙁  She is in her bed watching me type right now…with a big bone hanging out of her mouth.  lol  She is giving me that "what…what did I do" look that she is famous for.  You can’t help but want to pick her up and hold her.  🙂  I love puppies! 

  TON of rain to our northwest and south overnight.  Some areas picked up 3-6 inches of rainfall.  Incredible.  We only received 0.01" at my house since midnight.  Nothing to write home about there.

  I am having breakfast with Sue and Jack this morning.  I have not seen Jack in a long time!  It will be nice to catch up and hear about their latest adventures and dreams fulfilled.  I think they are living the fast life now…doing what they want when they want!  The way life should be lived.

  Life around here is stable.  That is a good way for life to be.  Being sober for sooooo long has certainly given me a lot more clarity.  Clarity is a good item to have!  Without clarity you seem to lose focus on well EVERYTHING.  🙂  I just wish that I would have been able to get a grip on sobriety a long time ago.  Then again I have no regrets in life because I wouldn’t be who I am today without walking through all the fires.  So there is good and bad that comes out of every decision that we make.  I look back in total awe at this journey and wonder how in the world I ever survived.  There must have been more than a few guardian angels lost along the way.  What a path from point A to Z!  Now I just want to live my life and live it free.  I want to live my dream.  I want to chase snow…photograph snow…photograph storms…work with emergency management…see my family…have fun.  Live life to its fullest – the way life should be lived. 

  I made a cool slideshow of Dylan’s football game last week.  🙂  Still learning to use this software.  You can view it by clicking here. 

CHECK THIS OUT!!!!  RAIN AT MY HOUSE!!!! WOOHOO

 
  2 PM – Rain in Lone Oak!!!!!

Ok well this post has nothing to do with giant marshmallows.  I just wanted to throw that in.  I used to buy those mini-marshmallows when I was a kid (okay well I was an adult but whatever).  I enjoyed eating a few of them…okay all of them – the whole freakin bag.  That is why I don’t buy them anymore.  Sometimes in life it is better that we don’t get the whole bag of marshmallows…but rather just a few.  Speaking of giant marshmallows, I had a dream this morning that Daisy was pregnant.  That is all we need…a bunch of little bubbasparkydaisy’s running around.  Anyway that has nothing to do with the way this Saturday Morning is going so far.

  A great Saturday Morning!  Rain is on radar – AGAIN!  NOW if that rain would just move into MY county!  It seems to get close and then die off.  We did pick up around 0.30" of rain yesterday.  That was much needed rainfall.  So good good on that subject.  BRING IT ON!  That is my thought.

  I am leaving for Canada on Monday or Tuesday.  One or the other.  Flip a coin…draw a straw…pack my bags.  I am driving up again.  I don’t know why.  I guess because I like the freedom of having a car up there without renting one.  I also enjoy the drive.  🙂  I should arrive on Monday Night or Tuesday Night – depending on when I leave. 

  Kristy called last night and she is not feeling well at all.  Hopefully she will get better quickly.  She is going to Florida on Tuesday.  Let me rephrase that…she is moving to Florida on Tuesday.  Lucy is going with her.  Drew is extremely ill.  Kristy is going to help take care of him.  So we send all of our best wishes to Kristy and Drew.  Get better soon!

  Dylan lost his ballgame last night.  🙁  So that is no good.  You can’t win them all though.  I am sure they will regroup and move forward to win the next game!  I ended up not going because Joey was sick still and it was raining. 

  I am supposed to have a meeting with Glenda this afternoon from the Red Cross.  Not sure what we are talking about.  A little bit of everything from the way it sounded.  So I guess I will give her a call when she gets back in town…later this afternoon.

  Tony and I are having a big meeting on Sunday concerning New Horizons and the path forward.  We need to iron out some details on getting some more houses into the fold.  Soooo we are going to look over all the numbers and try to come up with a nice solution to complete phase one of our business plan.

  PACKING FOR CANADA!

 
  Packing for Canada 🙂  Yes those are hoodies!!!  
  Bring on the cold weather!  I am probably leaving on
  Monday.

  Okay I am almost packed.  I still have to get my camera equipment together…along with my school books.  I also need to get my computer stuff packed.  I at least have my clothes packed!  It is a start.  We have picked up 0.75" of rain!!!  More on the way!!!

  So, if you didn’t notice…when I update the web-page the newest post will show up at the very top (even when I update during the day).  🙂 

  Joey is still pretty sick.  He is in some pain.  I figured today would be worse than yesterday and it is.  David sent some BEAUTIFUL flowers!  The room smells nice now (not that it didn’t before) 😛  lol  Anyway…hopefully Joey will feel better tomorrow.

  Looks like I will be leaving for Canada on Tuesday/Wednesday (that is the current plan).  I will be gone for a couple of weeks.  Maybe I will experience some COOLER weather in Canada!  If I pray real hard and do a snow dance I might even be able to track some snow down.  That would be a long shot though!  But you never know!!!

  The family is in the midst of making plans to go to attend the Disney Christmas festival in 2008.  Deena has wanted to do this for YEARS.  We finally said "let’s just do it".  So we are working on all the details.  Those who have attended the event, say you need to plan at least one year in advance!  It will be a madhouse but the celebrations are supposed to be beautiful.  There have been several television shows about the event.

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A large area of showers and thunderstorms is approaching the region from Missouri.  Throughout today new storms should develop and move east/northeast.  This will bring heavy rainfall to at least a portion of the Tri-State Area!  We need the rain…so bring it on!  There will also be a slight risk of severe thunderstorms.   For those interested in weather – don’t forget I have my new weather journal site up and running.

Paducah, NWS – Radar at 11 a.m.

You can view real-time radar by visiting www.paducahweather.net or your local National Weather Service Site.

  There are strange drops falling outside my window this morning.  I am not sure what to make of this.  Upon closer inspection it appears that WATER is falling from the sky.  I know it is hard to believe.  I checked my sprinklers and they are OFF.  This must be what is called rain.  I have grabbed my meteorology books and poured through them all morning – yes this is RAIN.  A rare watery substance that falls from clouds to the earth below.  Don’t panic people this is considered NORMAL in some parts of the country.  Try to stay calm!

  Joey had his wisdom teeth out this morning.  He has now turned back into a little kid – mumbling incoherent sentences, half out of it, stumbling from the car to the house.  He has a bandage wrapped completely around his head with ice packs on both sides.  I would take a picture but I promised him I wouldn’t (at least for now).  🙂  He is currently asleep or trying to rest.  I guess I will be taking care of him for the next day or so.

Living in Massac County, Illinois – on top of a hill…

  When I was a little boy, I lived on top of a nice hill in Massac County.  From this hill you could see the surrounding countryside.  Mile after mile of fields, hills, houses, and roads.  Perhaps this is one reason that I am so interested in weather today.  That and the big blizzards of the late 1970s!  I was just a kid when those snowstorms pummeled the Ohio Valley.  Even though I was young I will never forget them.  Snowdrifts were up and over my head!  It was a kids fantasy come true.  No school for over a week.  More snow than a kid knew what to do with.  Trapped in our house unable to get down the snow covered lane.  It was a winter wonderland gone wild. 

  In bad weather living on top of a hill is the best, you can see the storms coming and going.  The storms would blow in and shake the house with their ferocious winds.  I would peer up over the ledge of the window, in my sisters bedroom where we took shelter, and watch the tree in the front yard whipping back and fourth.  You could feel the wind on the house.  I felt scared and excited at the same time.  I loved storms.  I have no idea why I loved storms…I just loved them.  I loved to watch the lightning late at night while sitting out on the front porch.  The warm breeze blowing in my face, the distant rumble of thunder, the sound of rain approaching through the cornfields.  All of this helped spark my interested in meteorology.   Perhaps one day I can find another hill like that.  A place to watch the sun setting in the west…and rising in the east. 

  Welcome! This is the new look. I have been trying to learn WordPress for some time now. Tony, my brother-in-law, has loaded the software onto the server and I believe we are ready to make the transition.   Hopefully the transition will be a smooth one. You will now be able to leave comments under each post. I know that is scary! You don’t even have to leave your name!  You will still be able to review back pages and I will leave the old pages unchanged.  It will probably take me a little bit of time to get used to all of this as well. So be patient and suggestions are always welcome.

  Kristy has made contact with us.  Drew (her boyfriends) mother was in a serious car accident last week.  Kristy went to help take care of her.  Drew is also very sick.  Not sure what is going on but it may have something to do with his military service in Iraq.  Kristy said she is going to keep me posted.  It sounds like Lucy and Kristy will be moving to Florida next month.  🙂  We wish them well!  Let the adventure begin.

  Dylan has another ballgame on Friday Night. I am going to take photographs, of course. I have never had much luck with sports photography but the last batch turned out well (or at least I thought they did).   I did some reading on how to photograph sports action. I did learn a few tips. My biggest issue is when it gets dark. I am using a fast lens though. I just need to keep learning!

  Joey is having his wisdom teeth out on Thursday. He is so excited. Not.  I might be leaving for Canada next week.  Some uncertainty surrounds all of that.  There is A LOT going on right now.  There is a chance for a snowstorm next week in Canada!  I might just have to make my way up there and photography it!  My first snow chase for the season?  Stay tuned!  🙂  A bit early for that…you never know though!

  Could this be the beginning of change for our hot and humid weather?  The satellite image below shows a hurricane moving into Mexico, a cold front approaching from the Rockies, and an upper level low pressure area over Oklahoma.  All of this could be the first signals of significant change across our region.  Rain chances will be increasing over the next few days.  Let’s all hope that this will finally be the beginning of the end of the drought.  So far the rain keeps drying up as it moves into Western Kentucky.