Good morning FFFs!
Right now it's 63º outside. At least the wind has died down. Yesterday it was crazy windy! My sister and I decided not to go walk because of the wind. Can you believe it is the 20th of November? In some ways the year has dragged. In other ways it feels like it was just April. Crazy.
What have I been doing this week? Well, last Friday evening my brother and dad arrived with furniture from my grandparent's house. (They are moving into an apartment after 57 years of living in their house.) So we had to help unload a lot of old, heavy, sturdy furniture.
Saturday was busy trying to go through things and getting some things organized that came from my grandparents. In the afternoon, my sis, dad, and I took play props and backdrops to church and worked almost 2 hours getting things set up the way we wanted. And yes, I will share this year's Christmas play story later in December.
Sunday I had to be at church early for music practice, then we had Sunday school, church, bell practice with the children, and then the cast (except 3 members and 1 stage hand) ate lunch. After that we had a long play practice. I only got to read a little while that day.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday were much the same. Cleaning out, organizing, putting things in new places, practicing the violin, and other things.
Yesterday I did a little shopping for a few things we needed for the Christmas play, and then an older lady came over with sewing projects for my sister. Last evening I actually wrote! Just a little, but it was something. I got the first 133 words of the next Woodbreak book written. Not sure how long it will take me to write it, but it's started. And I have an idea for it. Just pray it works because the idea is very vague right now. ;)
And that, my friends, is that.
“Well, as to that, I’m not sure if they could see any better’n I can, but if some young person wants to try, I’ll not object, will you Peggy?”
Mrs. Peggy shook her head. “I’d feel better if it was someone else and that’s a fact.”
“All right. Someone will be here in a minute. You ready, Ray?”
I had pulled down those goggles, pulled up my bandana and nodded. I said a quick good bye to the old couple and then followed Lee back out into the dust.
I don’t care if someone did say the wind was abating; it didn’t seem like it at all, as I was practically blown across the road. Together Dad, Lee and I made our way back to the side door on the van and climbed in.
We were all coughing, but Dad and Lee were doing it the worst. Carol and Ginger quickly helped untie our bandanas while Mom opened bottles of water for each of us. That water sure tasted good, but it took a long time before all the grittiness was gone from my mouth.
Mom insisted she drive and Dad sank into the passenger seat still coughing some.
“You’re dirty!” Jason observed from the back.
I think we knew that. All I wanted then was a hot shower, and I’m sure Dad and Lee longed for that even more than I did. After all, they had been out in the storm a lot longer than I had.
Slowly Mom started off. She doesn’t usually like to drive the van when we are pulling the trailer, but this time she knew Dad was exhausted.
We stopped at a truck stop so the three of us could shower and change while Mom and the girls and Jason got the van cleaned up. The outside didn’t really matter, but the inside where we had sat was filthy.
Clean clothes had never felt better. Lee said he actually felt human again.
That night was spent in a hotel. We had two rooms, one for the girls and one for Mom and Dad and us three boys. I shared a bed with Jason. At least until I woke up freezing in the middle of the night. Jason had taken all the covers and had rolled so much in them that I couldn’t pull any back. He had also decided to sleep with his feet in my ribs. Finally I grabbed my pillow and, finding the extra blanket Lee hadn’t wanted for his roll-a-way, lay down in the little space between the bed and the wall.
I slept fine there but Mom got frightened in the morning because she didn’t see me and thought I had walked in my sleep.
Our second day of travel went much smoother than the first. Dad and Lee took turns driving. I used some of my paper to write down the license plates we saw. Carol used a few pieces to play games of tic-tac-toe with Emmy, and Ginger used some to draw pictures on and write down the story Vicki dictated to her. I wish I still had a copy of Vicki’s story because it was all about the dust storm and I remember it was rather good for a seven-year-old.
Wednesday morning Dad called Grandma and Grandpa to tell them we’d be much later than we had thought because of the delays. He said he didn’t know when we’d get in.
The trees along the way were gorgeous: flaming red, golden yellow, deep green and rustic brown. The sky was a deep blue with a few scattered clouds piled here and there. We made a game of imagining what the clouds looked like and then creating a story to go with them. When we stopped for breaks the air was brisk and invigorating. You know how it is when you have to ride in the car for hours, you want to run and explore. Well, since we were already later than we had hoped to be, Dad kept our breaks short but saw to it that we ran each time we got out of the van. We finished listening to the book on tape that we had brought and turned on the music.
It was mid afternoon when our next delay happened. Dad was driving and Mom was in the front too. Everyone else had been sleeping for a while when the van began to bump and jolt.
“Honey,” Mom said, “I think you’d better pull over.”
Dad had already slowed down and pulled off on the shoulder. It was a busy highway, so he turned his flashers on and got out on Mom’s side of the road.
A minute later he put his head in and announced, “Flat tire. Lee, how hard is it going to be to get the spare?
“Not long. I put it in the back of the trailer on the side.”
The younger three started to beg to get out and Mom sent Carol and Ginger to take them into the empty field to run off their energy. Jason especially needed to run. I stayed around to help get the tire out of the trailer. A police car pulled up behind us and then put some cones out to make the traffic move to the other lane since the flat was on the driver’s side.
Dad and Lee had some hard work getting the tire changed. The officer and I had some time to talk, and he even let me listen to some of the calls coming in over his radio and explained some things. Finally the tire was changed and the flat tire loaded in the trailer. Then Dad sent me to find Mom and the others. (Some time during the changing of the tire, Mom had strolled off across the field with the others.) It sure felt great to run.
We were back on the road again. I really hoped we wouldn’t have any more trouble because I wanted to get to Grandma and Grandpa’s. Besides, Jason and Vicki were growing rather grumpy from being in the van so long. Carol started us singing and we sang every song we could think of from “When the Saints Go Marching In,” to “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” to “Jesus Loves Me” to “Yellow Rose of Texas.” We were hoarse and hungry when we finally stopped. Since we had expected to be at Grandma’s for supper, we hadn’t packed anything. That meant we had to stop and pick up Taco Bell. We almost never ate out, so that was a treat.
This is so fun and realistic! :D
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