We had a storm!

We all knew on Thursday morning that a storm was coming...we talked about it at work and it was on the radio and tv.

When I got home a little after 1 on Thursday I cleared the patio of furniture and plants and things...just put them against the house and shrubbery in the back, brought some of the little things in. The only thing I left in place was the rug that I have out there.

I sat bolt upright in bed at 2 am Friday morning thinking that something had fallen on the house. The wind and rain was Charley loud and then another giant boom of thunder with the lightening happened and the power went off. The storm really didn't last all that long, maybe an hour or so and then it was just hard rain.

This mornings paper said that it still hadn't been confirmed that at tornado had touched down in Jefferson County, but the physical evidence pointed in that direction. Any way, we were without power county wide for 6+ hours. After seeing what happened in Andolusia, AL I think we should all count our blessings!

The power came back on around 9:40 am yesterday morning. Then I showered and dressed and went to the bank. They had only been open for about 1/2 hr. when I got there and the line was a million people long! I waited. Deposited my paycheck (such as it is!) and headed to the Social Security office in Tallahassee.

Turns our that when I got there they hadn't been open very long either. Seems there were pocket of power outages all over Leon County too. My sister said here power went off just long enough for her to have to reset her clocks, but then stayed on.

Anyway, since I moved into the house about 2 years ago I haven't gotten a statement of benefits from SS and seeing as how I'm turning 62 this year I thought it was time to make sure that I really was still in the system and I need to know what I can expect to draw if I do take early retirement. I'll only have SS and have no savings or other source of income. The young fellow that waited on me was rather condescending and a little less than helpful at first. I told him I wanted to change my address with them (I'd already tried on the phone and on line and since I'm not at present receiving benefits I had to wait until the IRS notified SS about a change of address). Well, damn it, I just didn't care for that! The IRS has managed to find me to deliver tax return forms for two years, but it seems they still hadn't told SS that there was an address change. This sightly bored young man gave me the same run around. And finally I said, "Just when do you think they'll get around to sending me this information? I'm thinking about taking early retirement this year and I need to be able to make some plans." With that his head whipped around to me and he looked at me and said "Just how old are you?" and I said "I'll be 62 this year." At that he became quite chatty and helpful. Changed my address in the system, printed out an estimated benefit statement and gave me some advice. The way things look I'll really have to keep working full time...and I'm just so tired!

Left there and went to K-Mart and Walmart. Got pet food and kitty litter.

Got to my sister's house around 1:30, just as she was pulling into her driveway. We sat and visited for an hour or so and then went to pick up Maria from the vets. She was there to be spayed. Well, it turned out that she has a blood clotting factor problem and they didn't do the surgery. She's to be on medication for 3 weeks and then they'll check her again and probably do it then.

We took Maria back to her house and then went shopping at High Cotton!! Love that store! and, everything in the store was 20% off! Didn't get much, a candle and a pair of dish towels, oh, and we both got cards for Mother and Bert's birthdays! They're hoots! Had fun.

Then, we went to the Outback Steakhouse...got there at 4:20 (gift certificates from the Merrit Island group) and ate hardy!!!

Got home at 6:30 and was POOPED!!

Fell asleep in my chair watching tv and woke at 10 and got in bed. Didn't get up until 10 this morning. It's 4:15 in the afternoon and all I've done today is put the patio back together and clean the stove top...I've not even finished the newspaper!

Thank goodness tomorrow's Sunday!