GinnyAnn....glad you're feeling a bit better.

I'm watching Al Roker now and it sounds like the wind is going to be the big thing along with the storm surge.

And, there's another one, Jose, coming behind this. 

It looks like Ga, TN, and KY will now get it as well.

jane

Prayers for the state of Florida...CC

Absolutely right, Darlene.

Beautiful morning here in NE Iowa.   Not much planned beyond the usual chores for Saturday. 

Stay safe our Southern Buddies.  I know you're all listening to the weather reports and are prepared to do what you need to.


Jane

Looks like Irma is heading my way.  Rain predicted beginning Monday night.  We're starting to get some evacuees here.  What a monster!

We're getting evacuees here, too.  Auburn is playing football up at Clemson tonight and so the motels are pretty free of football fans and plenty of evacuees have already arrived. 

Anne and Richard have made reservations at a motel toward the west coast for Monday through the storm, but I really think they should have come up here or at least over into Georgia.  During the last hurricane they stayed at this same motel, but I think this storm will be much, much worse.  Richard's vision is so poor now that he doesn't really drive other than down to their club house--about 2 blocks away.  I understand why Anne doesn't want to face the traffic on 1-10 and 1-75 as it looks terrible already on the news channels.  I am very worried about them and also nephew Chris who is boarding up his windows, but is only a block and a half from the beach.  I think the flooding will inundate his home.

I've been out to walk and plan to start watching football and doing laundry.  Lots of good games on today.  Some will be played in the rain.

Mary, will you stay in place or go to one of your daughters--isn't one of them still in Kentucky?  Take care!

Jane, have a good weekend and may all your teams win their games.

Hi Darlene.  I'm glad you and your family were safe from Harvey. 

GinnyAnn, I'm glad to hear you are feeling some better.  Take care!

Marilyn, I'm glad to hear that Keith is doing better with the Aricept.  I've been taking it since leaving the hospital last summer--and I'm not sure I need it now, my long term memory is great, but I do have problems with my short-term memory. Tim writes lots on my daily calendar to remind me of times, etc.   That helps me.

Sharon, yesterday WAS a good bridge day.  I had good cards and good partners.  The members of this Thursday bridge group are better players than most of the Wednesday group, although some of them are good, too.   It's fun to play when you get good cards and your partners understand your bids!  I hope you have good weather for your trip--I know you'll enjoy seeing your friends.  Probably lots of changes, though. 

Have a good day, Buddies, and I hope your football teams win their games.  (I'm hoping for Auburn over Clemson, but won't be too upset if Clemson wins as Bill got his PhD there on scholarship!).

Sue

Sue, the storm won't have a great impact here - probably just several days of rain and some wind.  It should be just a tropical low by the time it gets this far north. Nothing I'd need to leave for.  My granddaughter Sarah and her sweetie, Carson, are in upstate South Carolina since their evacuation from Bluffton.  But they'll be at the Clemson/Auburn game - Carson is a Clemson graduate.    I hope all goes well with your sister and her family.

Yes, Sue, prayers for Anne and husband and Chris.  I have a niece in Tampa and 2 nieces and a nephew in Tallahassee, so sure keeping an eye on them too.  Lots of evacuees here in Charlotte. All the downtown hotels full and a good many of the others too.  Glad your bridge was good.

Marilyn, I'm so glad to hear that the Aricept is helping Keith.  Has he agreed to do the wills, etc yet?

Mary, I'm sure you will be okay, but plan to stay in and dry! 

Ginny, glad you're a little better.

I am feeling so much better since I went back to my oral diclofenac and off of the gel.  The gel helped my knee some but not enough to make up for the pain in my back and the rest of my body.  Between fibro, arthritis, back & knee problems, I'm a mess!  Thank you God for Tramadol when I need it.

I have my suitcase about 3/4 packed, but need to organize my meds, jewelry, purses, etc. I'm amazed at how much I can get in my bag.

I have probably forgotten someone's comments, but know that I'm thinking of you all anyway.  Sharon

Sherry, no Keith has not agreed to do the will nor the living will, His advanced directive either. he frustrates me no end when he absolutely refuses to cooperate.

We have made our weekly Walmart run and I have taken freckles for one walk so far.

Marilyn, can you threaten him with not baking for him or driving him until he does it?  It really is so important with his condition. I know that is not kind, but neither is his stubbornness!

I've been out to SS and church and will return to church at 3:30 for our annual kick off tea for the beginning of our Circle meetings.  While I was at church, Tim came by, moved my garbage can to stand under the eave of my house in a more protected place, took my wrought iron patio furniture apart and stored it flat on the deck--he'd already moved my umbrella and table into the utility room on Friday when we came home from Kroger.  I picked up limbs and put them on the curb yesterday and hope the trash men come early and take them away or they will become missiles, but hopefully won't blow back up my small hill where the house is. 

Not much else to report.  I haven't heard from Anne and Richard and imagine they don't have phone service at the motel where they have moved until the hurricane passes them.  It seems to be going up on the west side of Florida, primarily.  They will still get it on the east where they live, but hopefully not so fiercely. 

Watch out for the storm and be careful.
Sue

Sue, hope you don't get too much of Irma.  We're due to get rain and wind sometime tomorrow.  I won't go to bridge if we're getting wind and rain tomorrow night.  Don't want to be driving in it.  I've been glued to the TV all day.  What an incredible  weather event.  I think my friends in Houston who were flooded out from Harvey are going to move to a senior complex after all.  They're probably going to raze their house and give the lot to their granddaughter and fiancée to build on someday.  Sounds like a great idea to me.

Stay safe wherever you are, Buddies!

Stay safe, Sue and Mary.

Mary...that move and razing the house sounds like a wise decision.  I cannot imagine trying to rehab a house soaked through to the studs and all the muck and critters in those waters.  It makes me shudder to even think of the damage and smell, etc.

Sharon...safe traveling to your reunion.

Marilyn....hope you can breathe better now....although it doesn't sound as if the fires have diminished much.

Darlene, GinnyAnn, Joy, Jeanne, ....Good morning to you all.


Amazing it's been 16 yrs since 9/11 terrorist attack!

Beautifully cool day here...in mid 50s this morning.

We had Kathy and Gary up for supper last night as they just got back home about 5:30 from their cruise on the Columbia and Snake, I think, rivers in the NW.  The smoke was so heavy, however, that they couldn't see the Fall in OR nor could Kathy get off in the small towns to walk about as she couldn't breathe well. 

We have a trip to CR this morning to check on something on Ray's Volvo, and we'll hit to Co-Op for fish for him for the week.  Otherwise, we're doc free this month!

jane

Good morning, Buddies.  I'm up but not dressed.  Lots of rain already and a phone call from one of the Senior Friends to tell me to take care--which of course I will.  Tim has put everything that might possible be blown away either in my utility room or up on the base of the house under my deck, so hopefully I won't have broken windows.  I'm not afraid and think I'll be OK, although we are expecting a pretty good hit here.  I'm up on a slope and most of the rain flows down hill from my home.

I haven't heard from Anne and Richard and am sure they don't have power at the motel or cell phone coverage.  I just hope Anne's son's home isn't washed out to sea. 

I'm tuned to the weather channel and the news is sad and scary.  I am so sorry for those people who are still trying to flee as I think they will run out of gas and not be able to get any.  A lot of Floridians are here in local motels which were available because AU played up at Clemson this weekend.  During home games all the motels have AU fans in them.  We lost to Clemson 14-6 which I didn't think was too bad, but of course the newspapers yesterday and today had lots of criticism of the new quarterback and some coaching errors.  I was happy that South Carolina beat Missouri yesterday. 

In the great scheme of things, a football loss is way down on my list of worries!

Stay safe, Buddies.  I hope none of you have flooding issues if the rain is coming your way.

Sue

Prayers for you Sue..and others affected by the storm....I know God is watching over us all...we are having nice weather here...cool mornings in the high 50ths and 80..later in the day...I'm fighting allegories and sinus problems right now but am treating it..Hi to all reading...I know we all remember 9-11.with sadness...Darlene

Darlene, thanks for your good wishes.  However, I didn't escape the Hurricane.  My next door neighbor's tree blew over and fell on my roof--I think probably tore my fence, too.  It was still raining hard, but I think my roof can be repaired.  It was over the corner of my bedroom, but no water has leaked in there.  The attic above might have some water.  Tim is coming in the morning to see what we can do to fix it.  At least I wasn't hurt, nor were my neighbors. 

I'll have to call my neighbor's yard man who has a large crew and lots of tools, so they might be able to cut up the tree and get rid of it for me.

Ah, you know what they say, "It never rains, it pours!".

Good night, Buddies.  I hope you in the southeast, like Mary and Sharon, haven't had damage from the storm.

Sue

Sue...thank heavens, you weren't hurt and Tim will know what needs to be done and who to do it, I'm sure.

I hope Mary and Sharon's John are OK, too.

Quiet and cool morning here and I have some errands to do...going to Court House to pay first 1/2 property tax, pay the heating/plumbing company for the new wall AC, getting some papers into the safe deposit box...all those kinds of "errandy" things.

jane

Sue, how scary for you!  I'm glad you didn't have more damage, and even "gladder" that you weren't hurt.  Good luck with the repairs.  My friends in Houston decided to move to a retirement complex after the damage to their house.  Maybe it's time for you to think about that, too.  Change is SO hard.

Lots of tree damage around here and lots of power outages.  Our schools closed at noon yesterday, and were closed today.  We had about 2.5" of rain and lots of wind gusts yesterday and overnight.  It's still cloudy with occasional drizzles today, but at least Irma has moved on.

My South Carolina family has had various problems.  The GD in Bluffton is still in the upstate, but no damage to their house.  And the Upstate family lost power last night.  The GS in Charleston has stayed in place, but their new house, two stories raised over an open parking area, is sitting in a foot of water.  They had moved their cars to a nearby parking garage, so no damage, so far, to house or cars. Now they're just waiting to see what Jose is going to do. GS in Atlanta area was just having lots of rain - no other problems.  Everybody else is west of me, and I haven't heard anything, so I guess they're okay.

I hope everybody else is doing fine.  Marilyn, how are the fires and air quality in your area.  We're not hearing anything about that, unfortunately.

A tree removal service has been here for about an hour and are still busy trying to get the tree out of here.  I called USAA after Tim got here this morning and he talked to them.  All their insurance examiners are in Florida, but one will come by when they are finished down there--so who knows when that will be.  I have to write a check to the Tree service when they finish here this morning.  $2500 which I think USAA will reimburse.  At least the *^%$# tree will be off my roof!

I have lots of small limbs down all over both front and back yards and I started picking them up, but Tim told me to let it go and hopefully USAA will take care of it.

Later, Buddies.
Sue

No smoke here today. Blue Sky, sun shining.

I've has freckles out for two walks so far today, baked a loaf of bread, been to the gym,  and created a new graphic.

Sue sorry to hear about the tree falling on your roof.

I have a grand daughter in Columbia SC. and one of my sons is working at the nuclear power plant they are building in August Ga. and my SIL in Wilmington NC I hope all is well with them.

I  need to get freckles wiped down and brushed for her Cancer Center visit tomorrow. It will be a busy day, I want to get to the Farmers Market before that.

About a month ago I had another breast biopsy , the next day we left on a month long trip driving to Oregon , Washington & Idaho . All along on the trip the possible results of the biopsy were on my mind .  The breast cancer dr. called while we gone & I called her this morning . She returned my call this afternoon . There are two small spots .  The dr. said she would have one of her office staff call today to set up an appt. for Monday to come in to her office .  I just need someone to talk to .  I don't want to tell our daughter at this time . She lost her youngest son 4 years ago & her oldest son in June , both had young children . I can't tell her about this now as she is in a very fragile state of mind right now .
Have you had this procedure done ?  What can I expect ?

Alpiner1.  Sorry to hear of your problems. Now didn't your doctor already call you in to go over the two small spots. Talk to them soon. Could be small cysts that can be taken care of without surgery. Biggest worry is waiting for them to find out what they are going to do.

Sue.  Sorry to hear that you did get some damage. Now if USAA your home owners. Isn't wind damage covered under Homeowners Ins. I know that many don't have Flood Insurance. I have had roof damage twice over the years.One took about half of it and the one 2 years or so was some tree damage and Ice storm. My Insurance covered. Usually get a check soon after they come out to check damage.

So far most of people I know in both Houston and Florida have not had really heavy damage. Daughters friend want her to drive down to see here Winter home . It is around Tampa . They always go down in first week in November. No flights to be had to get down but I would think that driving from Illinois to get down there would not be the thing to do. Traffic must be heavy.I would take the word of the people that watch it in the summer time. I know it is a worry though.Not knowing.
We have a big Mobile home burning down  in my area right now. All gone they say but fire out. So dry here.  Just problems all over the country it seem. Just watching the news. Fires out in the West.  Going to be so much rebuilding all over after things over. Finding workers  to do it will be the hardest thing to find. Can't find them here when no big problems.
Big fight going on now on the Interstates with people car to car wanting to get into see their property. Hope it doesnt get really nasty. People really getting worked up.

Now showing the Damage in St. Johns. I was there a few years ago on vacation. Small island with beautiful homes. Now there they have to bring in the military they have to stop the people to stop going into homes and stealing. This is the worse thing that happens when things like this happen.

Alpiner....the doctor said " There are two small spots."  I don't know what she means by that.  Are they malignant or benign?  Did she say? I think you'll need to get in quickly and find out what she means and what options she offers you.  I had a biopsy where they operated on me and removed the "lump" and it came back malignant.  I then had two options...lumpectomy  or modified radical mastectomy.  Years ago they also took the lymph nodes to check for spread.  Nowadays they do it differently and just take "sentinenal nodes." 

All I can suggest is what I said above...get in there and talk to the doctor.  I understand not telling your daughter yet.  You don't really have anything to tell her yet.  You need more facts from the doctor.

Jeanne...I agree on the looters.  I would be very harsh on those folks, were it up to me!

The two spots are malignant . The last 2 years I have been called back for biopsies & I now have 2 ceramic markers , those were not malignant . This time they took 8 samples .

Alpiner1.  Good. Now you know how things are. Stay on them and not have them say. Back in 6 months.  You have worried enough.

Jane. They are already talking about the Looting. These people will even get into home when fires or burning. 

I guess that I really am not a US Football follower. Can't under stand the game. But just had the local news on.  I live in the Town that has the University of Illinois in. They have a Out of Town game Saturday and will be Playing Tampa.Florida University team.  Showing how bad it was and that they were not letting people back into the area to see what happened to their Homes and telling people not to be driving on the Interstates.
THE GAME WILL STILL GO ON .  Urbana have said that they would arrange for them and the Games to be played here in Town. Was turned down. They want it playing in their town.. With all the work that must be needed to be done In Tampa  to me the day could be put to better use. Its just a football game. Not even a Pro game. Now the Police of the city will be tied up with the football traffic. All the looters will have a good time....

Alpiner...the docs have apparently found it early if you've had this site biopsied before and ceramic markers.  Go find out your options and then you, your husband and your doc can make informed decisions.  We'll be thinking of you, of course.

Alpiner, don't put off the surgery.  I had a small lump which arose overnight in 1996.  I was teaching school and found it when I showered that morning.  I showed my husband and he said I couldn't go to school--but I had early morning breakfast duty and was in charge of the bus students so went anyway.  He called my doctor in Montgomery and then called my principal and told her to get a sub--he picked me up at school about 10:00 and drove me 65 miles to my doctor in Montgomery, who then sent me next door to an oncologist who did a needle biopsy and who sent me to an imaging clinic in that city.  They took a lot of films and sent me back to the doctor's office.  Then back to the oncologist who showed us the film and told us it was definitely cancer.  Then the next thing I knew, we had a message from the U.S. Army that I had to get my surgery at Ft. Benning Army Base which was about 50 miles away.  I was furious, but it turned out my doctor was a terrific surgeon and got the cancer on the first go.  I didn't have to have further treatment, but I chose to go to our nearby cancer center for radiation treatment.  I still get annual mammograms and breast exams at the cancer center and am thankful that I have been cancer free this long.

Jane has also had breast cancer and has been cancer free many years since surgery and treatment.  Getting to the doctor right away is the best thing you can do.  It doesn't hurt and what a relief it is to know that you are cancer free!

Buddies, on another note, I had a large group of men here cutting down the tree which had fallen onto my roof during the storm.  My yards a mess where they brought their big tractor in so they could cut the tree and the limbs on the roof, but it's a big relief to have it gone!

Good night, All.
Sue

Sue...very good advice to Alpiner...it's been 28 yrs for me, now!  Quick action is good and faith in your doctor, too.

Glad that tree is off your roof and you can now find out the damage to it.

It's to be near 90 by Friday!  Where is fall?  I walked while it was still cool, and now get ready for lunch and bridge. 

jane

Alpiner, I'm with the rest of the gals with their advice.  I had a lumpectomy with no node involvement, followed by radiation, in 2005.  No problems since then, but faithful in my followup exams and mammograms.

It was rainy all night and still cloudy and drizzly today, with high predicted about 70. To be back in the mid80s this weekend. So far, I've had nearly 3" of rain total.  Several roads are still closed around here, but no severe damage from winds or flooding.  And for that we're glad.

Happy Hump Day, Buddies.