Snapshot Sunday will again be late this week. I forgot to take my camera to Arkansas and had to use my mother's. She just left, but I need to get to bed so...Snapshot Sunday will be on Monday again this week.
Thursday dragged at work. The wildfires west of here left the air hazy and smokey. I expected to have problems with my asthma, but surprisingly, I didn't. We hit the road Thursday night and blew a tire in Rockwall. Spent about two hours at a Love's. Good thing we did, as we were sitting around with a blown tire being fixed, tornadoes hit the two largest towns in the area we were headed too. I don't think we would have been in the middle of them, but our delay helped us not be quite so close. Joshua refused dinner Thursday night and I realized that his ear was draining. He had been having goopy eyes all week. When we rolled into the first of these towns, De Queen, we came over the hill and seen flashing lights. At first we thought it was a road block to check drivers out, but once we were in the lights, we could tell it had been a tornado. The damage looked pretty bad even in the dark of night. By the time we reached the cabin in Arkansas after midnight, I knew I would have to call the doctor Friday to see if they would call in meds for him. Friday morning we all got a later start. I called his doctor and played phone tag with the nurse. They did call in eye drops & ear drops for Joshua so we had to venture back to De Queen. The damage in the daylight was bad. A mobile home park had been hit right along the highway. The homes were thrown about and the trees were whacked off in every direction. We got what we needed at Walmart and headed back to the cabin. I took some pretty good pictures and video...part of Snapshot Sunday. Friday night, Mom and David's air mattress sprung a major leak. We attempted to fix it, but that didn't work. Mom nearly scared me to death when she woke me up in the night to take my air mattress. I had a extra with me but it was twin. We aired it up and I slept on it for the night.
Saturday morning we did Easter baskets with the kids. The Easter Bunny hopped right on by and left them for the kids while they were out for a ride. Joshua's reaction was like "oh, this is mine, ok". Then he realized that E & K were taking their candy out of theirs and he joined in....at least until he found this years Easter Car...seems to be becoming a tradition from his Easter Bunny...a cool new car to play with. A short while later, Jeff called for the umpteenth time, I was bothered that he wouldn't stop calling. He said he just wanted to call and tell me how much he was missing Joshua and I. My response was, "yeah, we miss you too, what do you want". (loving aren't I?) He suggested I look over the hill....and low and behold...there he was. I was shocked. Once he got in the cabin, my next response was, "we don't have anywhere for you to sleep". Remember I had given my big air mattress to Mom & David and was now sleeping on a twin. It was decided that Mom and I would drive over to Mena to get another air mattress. The tornado damage in Mena was worse than De Queen. It was devastating. Homes...beautiful homes....old beautiful homes destroyed. There is nothing quite like a home from the early 1900's...the craftsmanship that went into homes back then is amazing. And to see those homes thrown about......it was hard. The people walking the streets....were heartbroken. Cases of water were set out every 5-8 houses. There was a safe haven, where food and water was near the First Baptist Church...which had damage also, as did four churches close by. We didn't venture to far in to the damage, because it was so bad. It made my neck hurt...the stress, the pain, the damage, the faces of the people.
Saturday afternoon, back at the cabin, we did hunt eggs...again while the kids were gone for a ride. Joshua had a good time hunting, but he wanted to stop and open the eggs to see what was inside. He made out with a good loot of candy. Candy that he doesn't need, nor do Mommy or Daddy.
In the night, Sunday...not long after we laid down, it came a storm. Rain falling heavy and hard. At one point it started hailing and I shot up in bed yelling, "oh crap". I woke up Joshua who then had to be comforted back to sleep...or maybe I needed to be comforted by him. After the devastation I had seen in Mena, I had a hard time sleeping with the storm happening outside. Sunday morning, it was still raining. Problem with this is that in order for us to get out to the highway from the cabin we have to get vehicles to the other side of the pond. Not hard to do when the ground is dry. But had 6 inches of water to the bottom and it quickly becomes difficult. The boys loaded 4-wheelers onto one trailer and got it across safely and then came back to take the other trailer of 4-wheelers across. In the meantime, Jeff and I had loaded up the Camero and decided that I would drive it across the dam to the other side. I slipped and slid my way across the dam, got stuck, then unstuck. Then went a different route. And again slipped and slid and got stuck, unstuck, stuck, unstuck, stuck, laid on the horn for help to head my way, unstuck, stuck, unstuck, stuck, unstuck, stuck and finally made it to unstuckable ground. I headed back to camp and my brother-in-law came over to get me. As we were done loading up the final stuff to head out, the sky got a little blue and the sunshine peeked through. Typical....very typical. Nonetheless, we headed home. Stopped and had supper (lunch/dinner) at Applebee's and made it home around 5:30.
Now it is past my bedtime, I will have Snapshot Sunday on a Monday tomorrow.
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