Friday, July 25, 2025

middle of the night

 Our landline phone started ringing in the middle of the night.. I forced myself to answer because you know those calls are usually awful.... I was totally asleep

Well .. it was. Our daughter had water leak... water spraying from who knows where. She turned off the house's water supply and called us.

I wasn't making much sense so I handed the phone to Bob... 

Our daughter called a plumber and left a message and went back to bed... no water... no toilet flushing.. no coffee.. no showers  the next morning.

Our daughter waited for the call back.. her husband went to work.. Bob took our grandson to his work The plumber called back and arrived before lunch and fixed the problem... it was a pinhole in the pressure tank above the hot water heater which he replaced. He also checked the house water pressure just in case.. no problem.

As a treat for all of them our daughter is going to pick up bananas when picking up our grandson after work and will make banana boats ( girl scout memories).

Banana boats  are - slit open  the banana skin and put it chocolate chips , marshmallows  and a bit of peanut butter in the opening. Close up and wrap in foil and grill on the campfire till everything melts  together. Our daughter is going to bake them in the even since they are not camping.

We will be heading to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner tonight. I went to one in Rochester with my daughters , Bob and my brother-in-law. The restaurant had fried pickles as an appetizer. I wasn't sure about them but we decided to try them. The pickles were dill and had a coating and we ALL loved them. Here's hoping the restaurant here will have them too.

Thursday, July 24, 2025

keeping out of the heat...

 We've been trying but when you need to run errands its nearly impossible. Out errands this morning were prescriptions at Target and groceries. By the time we unloaded the car I was wiped and sweaty...So glad to put on shorts and collapse...and an afternoon nap!

Our dinners lately have been sandwiches, wonderful veggie stand tomatoes and cantaloupe melon!! And lots of liquids!! 

We did have an afternoon thunderstorm... really wild winds and a lot of rain. We even turned off our computers. Back on this evening but things are starting to rumble again and the computer says more storms in an hour or so.

Monday, July 21, 2025

we're back continued...

 

while jaunting through the curvy roads and hills around Ithaca we found ourselves behind this behemoth... it took up more than a lane and we were on a double yellow lane marking.... so patient we were until SHE turned into her  farm yard!!



 


 We did "tastings" at the distillery ( on top) and the cider house where we also had a wonderful lunch!



 Dinner at Ithaca's "Old Mexico".

After our daughter's thing we headed back to Rochester stopping in Dresden ( Seneca Lake... Bob's parents place on the lake) ... at the town park.


 

Our plane from Rochester left really late Friday night and we didn't roll into Blue Springs till after 2 am... the KCI airport was totally empty except for us and our fellow passengers!! All the stores and restaurants were shuttered ( closed)! Our parking lot bus took forever!

We miss Rochester ...the Finger Lakes...Bob's brother


 

 



Sunday, July 20, 2025

We're back

Our trip went well... really well! We visited with Bob's youngest brother who lives in Rochester...looked at all the well remember places.. Went to the restaurant up by Lake Ontario for white hots... visited the park where the Genesee River empties into Lake Rochester


 Most of our trip was down  and around Ithaca where our younger daughter had her class at the Cornell Bird center




 She was happy with everything and would like to go to the next level program next summer. While she was in class we went roaming... letting our rental car's GPS lead us all over. .. more tomorrow


 

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Weather report...

 well... things don't look very promising weather-wise. Central NYS... Rochester south and east will be having rain this afternoon and possibly flash flooding along our route South to Ithaca....rats...

Packing our jackets we bought for our supposedly rainy time in Ireland... No rain then... hopefully not much in central NYS now!! 

Saturday, July 12, 2025

raining again

 It poured this morning with loads of rolling thunder and a little lightening.... now it has started again. It has been dry and windy so I am sure everything growing will be happy.

Slowly our "getting ready to leave" things are getting ready !  Rolling suitcases are filling up...clothes are decided upon...pill containers are full... My kindle has new books...I've been emptying the fridge...what's left will go out in the trash bin Sunday night!

Must not forget the charging cords! 

Friday, July 11, 2025

Quiet

 Things around us are just too depressing right now...The only thing making me happy is planning our trip to Central NY...

We will visit with Bob's brother... look at all the memory places... go South to Cornell for teacher/daughter's bird class...hit the wineries and spent time (the four of us) together...

So see you all when we get back... the 19th?? 

Monday, July 7, 2025

Texas tragedy...FEMA tragedy...NOAA tragedy ...and too many others

 from Debby at  

Life's Funny Like That

From Mariana Hernandez:

Not Just a Camp. Not Just a Tragedy. A Mirror. 
This isn't just about Camp Mystic. 
It's about 82 lives lost across Central Texas.
It's about 27 girls and counselors at an elite camp and dozens of everyday Texans whose names you haven't see in the headlines. 

We've heard the polished grief for Camp Mystic. We've seen the prayers, the ribbons, the televised tears. And that grief is real. But so is the silence around everyone else who died in the same flood --in the same night-- just without the privilege.

Was this preventable?
Yes. 
Meteorologists screamed warnings days ahead. 
The National Weather Service issued flash flood alerts hours before the water rose. 
But the systems meant to respond had already been cut, gutted or ignored. 

FEMA funding slashed. 
NOAA and weather science jobs eliminated. 
Local counties, like Kerr, still lacked sires or river alarm systems even after decades of prior flooding.
And now? The same politicians who cut preparedness budgets are offering "thoughts and prayers" on camera. 

Camp Mystic is a sacred name in Texas elite circles. Girls of governors, oil families, and even former first ladies have attended. 
This summer: 
~750 campers
~$4500 each,
Estimated $3.3-3.5 million in one session alone. 
And yet, no real evacuation plan. 
No sirens. 
No weather-proof bunkers. 
No required flood training. 
Just prayers and hope on a river that's flooded before. 
In 1932. In 1978. In 1987.
This was known.
And still, kids were sleeping in cabins on the banks.

While the nation grieves the girls at Mystic, 41 other Kerr country residents also died. 
They weren't from legacy families. 
They weren't in matching Mystic uniforms. 
But they mattered. 

RV families from Odessa, gone.
A 92-year-old swept from her attic.
A father-of-four drowned saving his kids. 
A beloved camp director from a different girls' camp, lost
No headlines. No hashtags. Just grief. 

While politicians bickered, Mexico sent firefighters.
Yes, Mexico sent trained first responders across the border to help rescue Americans.
Why? Because they know what community means.
Because some of the bravest acts that night came from two young Mexican counselors who rescued 20 girls, wrote their names on their bodies with Sharpie in case they didn't make it. 

Let that sink in:
The same country demonized at our borders just saved our daughters. 

We failed these kids. 
All of them.
Nor just at Camp Mystic, but across the Hill Country. 
We failed the RV family. 
The old woman.
The teacher.
The father.
We failed the weather scientists who warned us.
We failed the responders who did not have the resources. 
And we failed the Mexican heroes who won't get headlines but gave everything.

So no. I'm not in the Mood to Be Witty
Because this wasn't a tragedy. It was a choice.
A choice to ignore science. 
A choice to protect profit over planning.
A choice to treat some deaths as national news and others as statistics.

We can't claim that "nobody could have known." 
We did know. 
We've known for decades.

We just decided it wasn't urgent.

Until now.

If you're reading this: 
Say their names, all of them.
Demand sirens in every river town.
Fund FEMA.
Fund science.
And never forget that when the river came, it didn't ask what color your skin was or who had money.
It just took.

(Note that the death toll is currently at 104 with 41 still accounted for. Roughly half of that number are children.)