Tornado Warnings in NY??? (and Memories of Tornadoes in Kansas)

The day was mostly sunny and gorgeous yesterday while i sewed on the porch. But, in the late afternoon, dark clouds started rolling in...

(forgive the blurry photo. I took it with my phone and the focus isn't working right for some reason)

I kept expecting it to storm, but it didn't rain until just before CJ came home around 5:30, and then it downpoured. It only rained for a short time, but in that short time, the power went out in the whole town. We suspect that the wind blew a tree down into a power line or something. So, we decided to go into Medina for dinner. By the time we came home, the power was back on.

I heard there were tornado watches and warnings for Western NY, but they weren't near us. (I suspect we somehow have living so close to Lake Ontario to thank for that) Thank goodness! Living in Kansas in my childhood has made me really freaked out by tornadoes. I checked out some news articles on my phone while we were at the diner, and just the tornado precautions (ie: the safest place to be is in a basement, stay away from windows, etc) gave me anxious shivers because I remember all of the "what do do when a tornado is coming" stuff from childhood.

Of course, I know I shouldn't worry. God will take care of me (He has so far!) and whatever happens is His will.

*FYI: A tornado WATCH is when the weather conditions make a tornado likely. A tornado WARNING is when a tornado has actually been sighted. Watches don't scare me...warnings do!

But the funny thing is that the house we lived in in Kansas didn't have a proper basement...all it had was a crawlspace with a dirt floor! But when a tornado watch was in effect, friends of ours from church, who had a finished basement, would call us (knowing we had nothing but that crawlspace) and say "Tornado party at our house!" with the husband in the background, yelling, "Bring food!"

I never really saw a tornado, but I saw the damage that they did and saw the videos on the news. There was a big Tornado in 1991 in Wichita (not far from where I lived) that ripped through the Air Force base that my Dad worked at. It missed all the planes and weapons, but it demolished the base hospital where my mom worked (neither of my parents were there at the time). There is a video that a guy who lived in the barracks took of the tornado. It sticks in my mind (y'know...besides the tornado being SO CLOSE!) because you can hear a guy in the background yell "My car!!!" (skip to 2:21 on the YouTube video to hear it.) FYI: There's also a lot of swearing in the video (y'know...young, gutter-mouthed, military guys)...which I don't remember hearing as a kid, but I always saw it on TV, so all the cursing was edited out. Just watching it makes me tear up, thinking how terrifying being that close to it must be.

And the day before yesterday marked 20 years since it happened. I was 8 years old.

A Good Dog...

My parents had to put their dog, King, to sleep today. I don't know about all the details yet, but it had something to do with internal bleeding. I don't know if it had to do with the cancer he was recently diagnosed with or not.
He was such a good dog. A happy, laid-back, loving dog. The poster-dog for blowing the "vicious Rottweiler" stereotype out of the water. He was the most social, lovable dog you could ever meet. He attracted people wherever he went and loved every minute of the attention he would get. And once you started petting him, he'd lean into you and would eventually flop over onto his side or back so you could rub his belly.

He would have been 5 years old on July 21st. I last saw him July 4th at my parents' house. I took these pictures of him last Friday, July 2nd. Unless my mom took some of him, I believe these are the last pictures ever taken of him.
He loved chewing on those big knuckle bones...
My parents' previous dog was a Rottweiler named Zeus. Mom wrote in her Facebook status tonight: "Zeus I'm sure is having a good chat with King right now. Zeus says to King... "You got a couch of your own and everything?". King says to Zeus "You just didn't now how to suck up to them like I did". My family always does know how to cope with our grief with humor! King had "his own" couch that he was allowed to get up on. My parents have 2 couches in their living room...the "good" couch and "the dog's couch" (a curbside find).

I've been really broken up about it ever since my dad called me tonight to tell me the news. I can't tell if I'm more sad because King is gone or because I know just how sad this makes my parents. They love their pets very much, and King was very special to them. He was special to me too. He wasn't really my dog, but I feel like he was. I keep wondering how poor Luna will react the next time we visit my parents' house and King isn't there. (is it ridiculous that that thought gets me crying again?)

A friend of mine encouraged me in an email with these Bible verses that he shared with his father in law when they had to put their cat down...

"Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [the same] in hope,
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

"So basically the animals are waiting for us to get glorified so they won't be subjected to death and disease anymore! Pretty cool thought. I used to be one of those "it's just an animal, they don't have souls" but it's passages like this that show that God has subject creation in the hope of its eventual glorification and restoration to what He intended it to be. "

An interesting and encouraging thought.

Rest in peace King. You were a good dog... a very good dog.

Thinking of "Aunt Grandma"...

I feel like I owe a lot of my crafty tendancies, as well as my love for rural, country life, to my Great Aunt Carrie, affectionately known as "Aunt Grandma". She was my father's mother's sister, his aunt, my great aunt. She lived on a farm where my dad spent his weekends and summers as a child. She and her husband "Uncle John" were was like a second set of parents to him, which would make them like grandparents to me. Apparently when I was two years old, I started calling them "Aunt Grandma" and "Papa Unk". When she wrote an autobiography of her life, she entitled it "Who is Aunt Grandma & Papa Unk?".


"Kira comes in like the wind and heads for the two toy boxes. She always has lots to do here... Kira has always called us "Aunt Gran’ma" and Pa Pa Unk". So now you know where the title came from. She is our Sweetie" - excerpt from "Who is Aunt Gran'ma & Papa Unk?"

Aunt Grandma liked to sew, and was good at it. I'm sure it comes from living through the Great Depression, where many people had to make due or make their own clothes. The thing I love about this old picture of me on her lap is that we are sitting at her sewing table (that my mother now has in her craft room) and you can see sock monkey pieces in the background, waiting to be assembled.

I wish I could say that the monkey in the picture above is the original sock monkey she made for me, but (alas!) it's not. The one in the picture is one I bought at Goodwill a couple years ago, for nostalgia's sake. But I believe I owe my love of sock monkeys (and by extention, sock monsters, and making them) to her.

My first sock monkey's name was Polly Esther (get it? Polyester?). In addition to the pun, the name had signifigance because I had an Aunt Esther (my mother's mother's sister), and she always wore bright red lipstick. I don't believe I was clever enough at such a young age to have figured all this out myself...I think it was really Mom and Grandma having fun.

Aunt Grandma and Grandma (mom's mom) made this quilt for me. It was my favorite blanket in childhood. Sadly, the quilt now is quite tattered and seems beyond repair...but I can't bear to part with it. I've had the idea to just cut a corner off and frame it, but it woud sadden me to throw the remainder away. So for now it covers my chair in my craft room.

Aunt Grandma was a wonderful woman, and I often wish she were still alive for me to appreciate her in ways I did not, or could not, when I was a child. She died at the age of 82 in 1993... if she was alive, she'd be 98 now. I'm glad she wrote her book so I can have it to remember her and read about her life...and marvel at how much she went through, and how much faith she had, and how much God did for her. I hope to organize her story with old family photos and possibly publish it someday. She truly was a remarkable and godly woman. Even though it's been 17 years since she passed away, I still miss her, and I look forward to seeing her again someday in heaven.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Hey! I found out through ScrumDillyDo and The Crafty Crow that today is Theodor Geisel's (aka: Dr. Seuss's) birthday!...and that this is also Read Across America week! Yay books!
I always loved Dr. Seuss books. The main memory I have of my "Papa Unk" (my great uncle who died when I was 5) is of him reading Dr. Seuss books to me while I sat on his lap. When his wife ("Aunt Grandma") died when I was 11, I wanted the collection of Dr. Seuss books she left behind that held so many memories for me, but was slightly disappointed to find that it had been willed to one of her sons.

So, fast forward to this past summer, where I was garage sale-ing with a friend. And imagine my delight when I came across a pile of Dr. Seuss books that were in excellent, almost new condition, that they were selling for just a few cents per book! I was so happy that I think that both my friend and the lady selling the books thought I was a little crazy. What 26 year old woman gets so thrilled by Dr. Seuss books?...well, apparently I do!


I also used to watch a video tape of Green Eggs and Ham and The Sneeches when I was little too. Speaking of the Sneeches...it reminded me of an inspiration I had to make yet another Nubbin design...with "stars upon thars". I don't think I have the Sneeches book. I need to make a list of the Dr. Seuss books I have yet to add to my collection.

Bedtime Stories on Tape

I was reading an article on Real Simple magazine's website, and saw this tip that was a blast from the past:

"If you travel a lot on business, record yourself reading your children’s favorite bedtime stories; they can listen to your voice as they flip through the book. Finish each night’s reading with a countdown of the days until you’re back home with them."

I used to have a cassette tape my mother made for me when I was little of her reading my favorite bedtime stories like "No One Knows Where Gobo Goes" and singing "Kumbya" at the end. I wish I knew whatever happened to that tape.

I still have this book though.