Monday, February 7, 2011 (The 42nd anniversary of Bob and my first date.)
Dear Friends and Family,
This will be a short letter as NOTHING has happened this week except sub-freezing weather. So much for having 80° weather last week. Global Warming!
Last Monday evening the temperatures started dropping and we had a thunderstorm and rain around 10. During the night I was awakened several times by ice pellets hitting the windows and the wind blowing really hard (40mph).
When we got up Tuesday morning, everything was white and all the schools and businesses (including DFW) were closed down due to the ice. We had snow flurries all day long with high winds. Amber posted on Facebook that it took her three hours to get to work there in Jacksboro. She could have walked faster, but would have frozen to death. They got a lot more snow and ice than we did. Dorias (San Antonio area) called and they had had a pipe burst so had no water. They’ve been showering at the local YMCA. I was notified that the Dallas Temple had closed after 10am on Tuesday and they would let me know if we should come in on Wednesday.
Wednesday it was 11° when we got up. Everything was still closed and the state was having rolling blackouts. The missionaries were told not to go out in their cars. The Stephenville missionaries were involved in a multi car accident due to the ice on Monday—no one but the cars was hurt. Bonnie (Houston area) called to let us know that they had no water due to frozen pipes, but they hadn’t had any precipitation. I wanted to make some homemade bread, but got out voted so had to make cinnamon rolls instead. That evening I received a call from Robbie. I guess Mineral Wells got hit a lot harder than we did—more ice plus about six inches of snow. He hasn’t been able get to work all week long. That day was also Marsha Norwood’s 64th birthday and Groundhog Day. What a way to celebrate your birthday—snowed in.
Thursday it was 16° to 20° most of the day. The ice cannot melt if it doesn’t get above freezing so everything was still closed. Bob told me we were getting power from Mexico to help ease the burden. I finished my marathon of watching 104 episodes of Law and Order-SVU that afternoon. I think I started the Friday before. That evening our missionaries walked down to the Carter’s for dinner. We tried our luck at going into town. The roads were icy, but ok if you took it slow. They had sanded a couple really bad places. We went by Walgreens to pick up my prescriptions then were heading for Rosa’s Café for supper. We saw the Spanish missionaries walking, picked them up, took them to eat, and then dropped them back off in town. We got a new missionary. He is Elder Gutierrez from Houston, but was born in Honduras. He moved to Texas when he was six. When we got home, I read on my Kindle for a while. I’m reading “The Lightening Thief”. It is a lot easier read than the last trilogy that I read. Bob is lucky because he can work his regular jobs from home. His SMU class was canceled Thursday evening because SMU was closed.
Everything was covered with a new blanket of snow when we got up on Friday. It was Cookie’s 65th birthday. Man she’s getting old. It snowed until mid morning then the sun came out—the first we had seen it in at least five days. It was really pretty on the white snow. Dan was supposed to leave Wednesday for North Dakota to work in the oil fields, but couldn’t. Instead, he left Friday afternoon for Wyoming to work there. I cannot imagine how much money the area is losing due to this weather, especially the people in the Arlington area with the Super Bowl XLV this weekend and all the pre-activities that were planned. By mid afternoon on Friday the temperature had risen above freezing so things started to melt. I talked to Cookie for a while. Alton is doing much better now that they have his blood sugar regulated. Bob and I went into town that evening. The roads were mostly dry. Walmart shelves were empty. We had to get 0% milk and no fresh vegetables. By the time we got out of Walmart, the parking lot was a sheet of ice. Bob found out about 9 that evening that his all-day SMU class for Saturday was cancelled.
The sun was out when I got up on Saturday and it was above freezing once more. The missionaries were allowed to drive again. They were excited. I found out that two of my missionaries are engaged. Elder Nathen Pope will be married in the Bountiful Temple on May 27 and Elder Jarom Stephenson will be married on April 22 in Lethbridge Alberta Canada , but I don’t know which temple. Bob and I cleaned the house then I had to go with him to babysit while he had an appointment with a sister of our ward. I worked on my Visiting Teaching Report while I was up at the Church and some more when I got home. It got up into the 50’s and most of the snow and ice melted. Bob started pruning our fruit trees. I don’t think he cuts enough off, but that’s my opinion. I took a nap. When I awakened, Bob almost had supper ready. We ate, cleaned up the kitchen, and then we watched the John Wayne “True Grit”. I can’t decide if I like the new one or the old one better. I do know that Glen Campbell isn’t a very good actor.
Sunday was a Regional Stake Conference including all of Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. Everyone that had satellite in their buildings could watch it without coming to the Stake Center. Consequently, we had Weatherford 1st Ward, Weatherford 2nd Branch, Hudson Oaks Ward, and Mineral Wells Branch. Then at the last minute, the Granbury 1st and 2nd Wards showed up. Their Chapel was flooded due to broken pipes. Because Mineral Wells had to come, Robbie and his family sat with Bob and me. It was a good meeting. Afterwards, both sets of missionaries came over. They were supposed to eat at the Rose’s home, but we speculated that the Rose family went to the Super Bowl XLV game in Arlington. I just cooked more so that the missionaries could eat with us. Bob left for the airport around 5 to catch a flight to Tallahassee again (Flights are better to Tallahassee than Mobile). He will be back next Thursday night after he teaches his SMU class. After he left I went in to watch the Super Bowl XLV—Green Bay Packers vs Pittsburgh Steelers. The first half of the game was VERY boring, but the second half was only slightly boring. Green Bay won 31 to 25. I wasn’t for either team. I did like the commercials which are usually the best part of the game. After the game I watched a couple recorded shows then went to bed. It was raining. Bob called me while he was driving from Tallahassee to Mobile.
This morning was sunny when I got up. All the snow was gone and Jorge was working. I was thinking of Bob and realized that today is our 42nd anniversary of our first date. We went to San Bernardino, CA to a VERY boring movie. I think it was “Don’t Drink the Water” with Jackie Gleason. (I think that I slept through most of it, but Bob didn’t know). Afterwards we went for pizza then stayed up til 4am while he taught me “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo” in Spanish. I still know it. He had just been home for about six weeks from his mission to the Northern Mexican Mission. Later Seth called me and asked me to meet him, his sister (Reagan), his mom (Tonia) and his other Grandma (Trish) at IHOP for Brunch. When I was done there, I went to the bank and then up to the Church to get my report for Visiting Teaching for January. When I got home, I worked more on Visiting Teaching.
Well, this turned out longer than I’d expected. Hope that you have a great week.
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