I should clarify - it's not that we're 'evacuated', a person's fire plan is to either stay and fight or leave. So on high fire risk days, we go! It's still like an evacuation. So yes, we left again and guess what? Monday a fire breaks out a couple of towns away from where we were staying!! But DH's nephew has everything ready to defend his house so I watched them get their fire plan into action which was to top up their ginormous water tank, check the sprinkler system that's on the roof, fill pails with water and have mops by the pails then put them all around the house so that if a cinder falls you can douse it with a wet mop, change into all cotton clothing which is slower to burn, get wool blankets out to wet and put over yourself... have I missed anything? Oh yeah, then sit on the porch and watch the smoke and wind, listen to the news, and wait to see if the fire spreads our way. To be honest, we would have been safer if we stayed home! But on Monday the big worry was south east of here and, fortunately, nothing happened. Tomorrow, Friday, is another high risk day but I'm not sure if we're going to the nephew's house. Maybe we'll just spend the day at the mall. Then, if something happens in our area we'll go to the nephew's house. I don't know. This is getting very tiresome. I want these fires to stop already but someone told me she heard they were predicting a few more months before it's all settled. MONTHS!! And then yesterday we saw a new plume of smoke in the hills out yonder. So I called 000, our 911, and told the lady that I saw smoke coming from a hilltop but I couldn't tell her the name of the hill top and was just guessing about the area the hilltop was in. She suggested I check the CFA website to see if there was anything written there about the plume but I said it just started as I had been watching the mountains all morning and this one area suddendly started smoking - I called her as soon as I saw the plume of smoke. The lady asked if I saw flames. I said I was too far to see flames so she gave me this xyz number to call and report it. So I call xyz and I'm talking to this guy who seems absolutely clueless as to what to do and eventually suggest a number to call. And guess what number he gves me? xyz... I yelled at him and said that it's his number and asked him if he didn't know his own number. Sheesh. So then he gave me another number and I speak to that person who eventually says she'll transfer me to somebody else who might be able to help. So I'm talking to this lady and she says I've called the wrong number and that I have to call 000. I tell her that's who I started with but they didn't want to know. So this lady asked if I could see flames and I said no and then she said that 000 wouldn't do anything about it until ya saw flames. So I said, "Well, isn't it a bit too late by then? I mean, if you see flames the fire's on ya and you're dead." She was silent. So I then threatened to tell a popular news journalist here about the inefficiency and run around I was receiving and there was a big silence so the lady switched me to someone else and they said a fire truck would come by to have a look. So from when I first called to when the fire dept came was about 1 hour. The fire crew said it was a flare up within contained lines, and really that was what I was trying to find out, if the new fire was in a containment area, or even backburning by the CFA itself, or something new that needed watching. I kinda think it turned into something they needed to watch because after dark we could see trucks up there. I never felt threatened by this fire cuz it really is too far from my place, but it was extremely frustrating that when I reported it, no one seemed to want to respond. Thanks Luvs and Karen. Karen, your arm feeling any better?? LOL SHould probably ask that on 'your' thread. lol Thanks Nona. Why can't Bella write on here? I think that very weird. Glad to hear her son was safe. Well, will fill you in as it happens... or, as I'd prefer, DOESN'T happen. ;-)

Hi Everyone! I have so much weather news I hardly know where to begin. Diane, You're welcome. I was hoping you were watching, especially when they issued the tornado watch. (It was east of me and might have been just south of you.) I've seen one image on our news of a wall cloud trying to drop a funnel over Johnston County, but it never came own to the ground.) Littledog, When we first moved here, we had no cell service, no internet service and could only pick up one TV station (sometimes, but not consistently), so I had to learn to listen to the NWS radio to get my weather. Well, that and I watched the skies a lot. LOL Technology finally arrived here....first they paved our road, then we got dial-up internet (and later even wireless internet service), then a cell tower put in, and finally better TV reception. I now feel like we are practically living in the 21st century here. I try to always watch and post weather updates because I know some of our members have the same types of internet/cell phone/TV access issues we used to have. People may think America is fully wired coast to coast, but I know lots of remote areas right here in OK where cell phone and internet service and TV reception are spotty to nonexistent. I'm glad to know the updates are useful to you, Little Dog. Thanks for the holiday wishes. I think my holidays will be grand, though snowy and windy. (more detail below) CJlambert, I think you're going to have that white Christmas! (Or, at least, my local TV meteorologist thinks so and I believe him.) I watched those storms on radar as often as I could. I spent most of my day hauling tons of jars of pickles, pickled jalapeno peppers, sweet fruit jellies, and spicy pepper jellies out of the root cellar (tornado shelter). Then I wiped the layer of dust off of them, packaged 4 jars to each gift bag, along with tissue paper and curly ribbon, and made DH 45 gift bags to take to his co-workers and employees tomorrow. Today was the day that all the hot summer afternoons of canning paid off because I went "Christmas shopping" in my cellar. LOL Have you ever had thundersnow? (Also known as convective snow showers, I think, if you want to get all technical.) We've had that here a couple of times. It is just like a thunderstorm with thunder and lightning, but with snow instead of rain. We've also had thundersleet before. Oklahoma has the oddest weather! Now, y'all, here's the south-central OK weather update. Today's forecast high of 68 ending up being 74 at our house and 71 at our mesonet station. Those kinds of hotter than expected days ahead of a severe cold front almost always bring us a fast and wicked drop in temps, naturally, since the temperature has so far to fall. Tonight we'll only get down to 39 degrees, and we won't get down to freezing here until late tomorrow afternoon. However, we've been told to expect snow, and probably accumulations of 1-3" on Christmas Eve. We'll also have strong wind, so some blowing snow. Now, I'd love to have a snowy Christmas Eve and/or Christmas Day. Unfortunately, that kind of weather usually keeps our firefighters out working wrecks all day and all night, but we'll just cross our fingers and hope that doesn't happen. So, is the snow going to hit y'all? Will it hit us? Is "my" weatherman cruelly giving me false hopes of a white Christmas? Who the heck knows! So, just in case the snow and wind hit and we lose internet service or power or whatever (not that I think we will, but you never know), I want to wish each and every one of you and your families a happy, merry and splendid Christmas! I hope Santa brings everyone just what they're hoping for. Dawn P.S. Even though the Tulsa NWS Page is not as enhanced as the Norman NWS page, I'm going to link it below so those of you in that area can have a quick look at your own map. Remember that these linked NWS pages update constantly so check them as needed! P.P.S. OK, I linked it and all I can say is "Wow! Y'all sure do have a lot of pretty colors on your map." LOL I hope all of you in the tornado watch area do NOT have any tornadoes or other severe weather. OK, I have to get off the computer for a while and finish those last 8 gift bags before I call it a day. I'll be back later. Here is a link that might be useful: Tulsa NWS Webpage

Good Friday all, TGIF!! This has been a long week at work. I have been filling in for two who are on vacation for the month of August and I have been juggling. One more tough week and it will seem like I am on vacation at work when they return to doing their job!! Donna, your project sounds fun! Did you do the design work yourself or have someone help you? I love remodeling projects! Jan, don't be so hard on yourself! We are allowed to be as long-winded as we want here without judgment! What did you and DH do for your anniversary? Patty, good to see you here. I miss you since you went over to Facebook! Hope your meds are doing their job. Please don't stay gone for so long! Marci, sounds like you should be thinking about retiring! I really hope this school year goes well for you. When I am stressing I try to remember my favorite mantra "Be here now" it reminds me that I need to focus on the right now and not on one minute from now or one minute ago, etc. The other thing I do when I am obsessing is something our good friend Raeanne told me once: "Throw your troubles to the ground and let your spirit soar" These sound simple but for me they really work. Try it. Now!! LOL Let your beautiful spirit soar today! Raeanne, I am thinking of you. Good luck tomorrow I know it's going to be a smashing success! I hope we get another youtube of the event - especially the horse-drawn wagon. QOD: What are your weekend plans? We may have Bill affects here so I am kind of praying for some rain so I can stay inside and get some housework done! Also, I will be making a batch of my zucchini relish.

The weather was indeed perfect, albeit hot and humid for such a meeting. Saratoga is a lovely, small and old city with lovely architecture. I was right at home with the horse statues that lined the lovely main boulevard called Broadway! Saratoga as you may know is home to some very elite horse racing, amoung other things. Raeanne and I met early and perused the shops before meeting DeeMarie. I spotted Raeanne immediately at our meeting place. Her hair is done in a modern cut that kicks out in a playful way! I love the color and style Raeanne, it's so you! Her eyes are still a beautiful and brillant blue! After shopping we went to the meeting place for Dee but she wasn't there so we proceeded to the restaurant meeting place. As we were crossing the street I could see a woman waving in our general direction and I knew at once it was DeeMarie!! How wonderful that she spotted us and I felt so special that as I waved, she waved back. It was a fun exchange. So it was there at the restaurant that I meet our wonderful DeeMarie. She has the most wonderful and expressive big brown eyes and I knew at once that I had a wonderful and caring friend for life! It's amazing at how we women, and man, communicate and have become such fast friends! We shared a wonderful lunch. Okay, Dee and Raeanne did. I had the luck to order one of the worst things I have ever had and it was ironic a because everyone else had a wonderful meal before them...........figures. We shared a bottle of lovely white wine alfresco which was really good against the heat of the day! After lunch we went to our card reading................boy was that enlightening!! This woman had a great deal to tell me that was very accurate!! She is a gifted woman and I think we all came away with some new info!! Then we toured the shops of Broadway, Saragoga Springs, NY. It was fun, fun, fun but way too short a time. I had to depart by 3:30-4:00 to be back in time to feed my steeds.................I could have stayed and talked all night! I had a lovely ride home full of fond memories of my time with my sisters. Ladies and gent, we must find a way for more of us to have this meeting and connection! BJ, I am sure that Las Vegas is too far for some but we sure should try to all connect.............it's so much fun. Thank you DeeMarie and Raeanne for a very special day.