For more information on the drought in the state, than a person can really stand :) , I would recommend subscribing to the OCS Mesonet Ticker. Send an email to this address.... ticker@mesonet.org ... and you will become subscibed to a daily email from Gary McManus, our state climatologist. Its filled with data on rainfall, drought, and the weather in general. And Gary presents this in an entertaining way. Im gonna try to copy and paste today's email, so maybe it will provide an idea of what Gary does .... ========================================================== MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... April 8, 2014 April 8, 2014 April 8, 2014 April 8, 2014 Whither tornadoes? The folks at the Norman NWS office sent us pretty interesting today concerning the dearth of severe weather we've seen since last year, tornadoes in particular. I'll just shamelessly cut and paste what they sent me. Lazy? I prefer "practical." Keep in mind this info is strictly for the NWS Norman forecast office, so it does not hold true for the entire state (I've adjusted the dates to account for today as well). - The last tornado warning we issued was at 810pm on Friday, May 31, 2013. It expired at 900pm. - If we get through today, April 8th, this will be day 312 without a tornado warning - The previous longest streak was 293 days - June 1, 1990 to March 20, 1991 We talked about this previously, and since then, there still hasn't been a tornado touch down (at least a reported tornado) in the state since August 7, 2013. If we count today, that brings the consecutive day total to 244 days. That still ranks as the third longest period on record, at least dating back to 1950 when accurate statistics began, but we're quickly closing in on #2 (248 days from 7/16/1990- 3/20/1991). This info also comes from the NWS Norman office, but this data is for the entire state. -***- Top-10 Consecutive Day Streaks in Oklahoma Without A Reported Tornado Rank Days Period 1. 292 05/17/2003 - 03/03/2004 2. 248 07/16/1990 - 03/20/1991 3. 244 08/08/2013 - 04/08/2014 4. 234 07/04/1976 - 02/22/1977 5. 220 08/24/1977 - 03/31/1978 6. 200 08/08/1955 - 02/23/1956 7. 193 09/06/1978 - 03/17/1979 8. 189 10/11/1969 - 04/17/1970 9. 188 09/27/1967 - 04/01/1968 10.(t) 187 08/16/1952 - 02/18/1953 08/29/1962 - 03/03/1963 09/22/2006 - 03/27/2007 -****- If we can make it to Sunday, the current streak will move into second place. Right now (AHEM!), that appears to be a decent bet. There will be a chance for some storms this weekend, apparently, but I can't see too many forecasters gearing up for any bigtime severe weather event. BUT, it is April and so things can sometimes pop up (or pop down, in this case) unexpectedly. Here's a bit of info from our friends across the hall at the Norman NWS office. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140408/nws-norman.jpg "MANY HAVE ASKED ABOUT SEVERE WEATHER CHANCES. THE ANSWER... IT IS STILL TOO FAR OUT TO MAKE ANY CONFIDENT DECISION OF ANY VALUE WRT SEVERE WEATHER. WITH DIFFERING SOLUTIONS... AN EXACT ANSWER IS NON-EXISTENT. AS WITH EVERY FORECAST... CONTINUE TO CHECK BACK AS WE GET CLOSER TO THE WEEKEND FOR UPDATES AS GUIDANCE IMPROVES AND CONFIDENCE INCREASES. WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW IS BE PREPARED... NOT JUST FOR THE WEEKEND... BUT ALWAYS." And from our friends across the, uhhhhh, state, up in the Tulsa NWS office. They're screaming it just like Norman, so they must be serious. "THE CHANCES OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS RETURN SATURDAY NIGHT AND CONTINUE ON SUNDAY AS A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE REGION SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY NIGHT. THERE ARE EARLY INDICATIONS THAT THE STORMS ON SUNDAY COULD BE STRONG TO SEVERE. THE SHOWERS WILL END ON MONDAY AS THE STORM SYSTEM DEPARTS TO THE EAST." With that possible threat of storms comes rain, which is needed more and more each day as the sun climbs higher into the sky along with water stress. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140408/7day-rainfall-forecast.gif More important also because the state needs the moisture to start greening up so we can start to reduce some of this fire danger we see every few days (for days at a time as well). The Amarillo NWS office, which has gotten accustomed to high fire danger these days, is apparently so happy to have a day without blowing dust they're going with a nice "Little House on the Mesas" theme today. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140408/nws-amarillo.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140408/nws-norman-fire1.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140408/nws-norman-fire2.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140408/nws-tulsa-fire.png Nevertheless, much of the Oklahoma Panhandle is under a Fire Weather Watch for today. Plus, I'll bet they get blowing dust anyway. By the way, if we want to beat that top tornado-less streak of 292 days, we'll have to make it until May 27th. Make it so. Gary McManus State Climatologist Oklahoma Climatological Survey (405) 325-2253 gmcmanus@mesonet.org April 8 in Mesonet History*: Record Maximum 94 F at ALTU in 2011 Record Minimum 17 F at JAYX in 2007 Record Rainfall 3.22" at BIXB in 2008 * - Mesonet History = since 1994 ================================================== The OCS/Mesonet Ticker http://ticker.mesonet.org/ To subscribe or unsubscribe from the Ticker or for questions about the Ticker or its content Phone or Email the Ticker Manager at OCS Phone: 405-325-2253 Email: ticker@mesonet.org --------------------------------------------------- -C- Copyright 2014 Oklahoma Climatological Survey ===================================================

I'm so sorry for your loss. What a beautiful sight it must have been to see that orange butterfly. When DH's great aunt passed away last autumn, we stayed at her home for the weekend for the funeral. MIL & FIL stayed in her room. MIL awoke the morning of the funeral early(very unusual to be up before FIL,) and watched a small white butterfly flit around. She thought it odd that a butterfly would have found it's way indoors. It hovered over CG's great aunt's desk side drawer. MIL got up to let the butterfly out of the house. When she got up and put her glasses on, the butterfly was gone. She opened the desk drawer and there was a note from CG's great aunt to her niece & nephews. The gist of the note was, "Follow the will & don't fight over my stuff."

JMHO, but, if you are going for "beachy" and "cottagey", I think I would do white beadboard versus subway tiles. I LOVE, LOVE subway tiles, but with your description, I'm just thinking beadboard would be lovely. If you are retiling the entire shower, I think that subways in there with a few deco tiles and clear glass shower doors would be very attractive. If you want to keep everything crisp and clean, I would but a 2" white hex tile on the floor. acountryfarm has some lovely showers with deco tiles. You can scroll down in this thread to see some pictures.

Yep, I found out that locks mean nothing. He had a flat metal bar that you slide down through the window until it hits the lock, which unlocks manual locks. For my power locks, he used a wedge at the top of the window to make space for a metal wire contraption to slide through, which he manipulated until it reached my door handle, hooked it, gave it a twist, and it pulled the handle up, opening the door. It took seconds to use both. He thought it was a manual lock at first. He was very personable like all TJ employees, otherwise I might be suspicious.