Onward and Upward

Well, I woke up this morning in a much better mood. My step-father hadn't been out of bed five minutes (literally - he hadn't even poured his morning cup of coffee yet) when I announced that I wanted to have breakfast at Anglers here in Mountain View, Arkansas. He was quite agreeable and had to wait for me to get dressed.

So, we headed out to Anglers, only to find out that breakfast isn't served except for on weekends. Okay, not a problem. We got back into the car and headed towards Fifty Six, Arkansas. They DO serve breakfast on weekdays at Cody's in Fifty Six. So my step-father ordered one egg over-easy and ham, with biscuits and gravy. Mind you, I wasn't hungry - I just wanted a good breakfast before I left here. I ordered 2 eggs scrambled, sausage, biscuits and hashbrowns. My step-father ate his egg, one of his two (delicious) biscuits and some of his ham. I cleaned my plate, just shy of licking it. It was that good. And remember, I wasn't even hungry.

As for the other stuff going on in my life - I think I'm going to head home tomorrow. I have reason to believe the power is back on again - at least some in my neighborhood have electricity. But even if I don't - I just want to get back home. Things need to be done. But I'm not complaining now - just stating facts.

Anyway, I wanted to mention the thing about packing for evacuations and things you want to keep in mind. First of all, the decision for me to evacuate was a last minute thing. I hadn't planned on evacuating, ever again, after Rita. Technically I'm just outside (as in less than a mile) of the mandatory evacuation zone if the hurricane is a Category 5 hurricane. But I took off Thursday and was clearing out potential projectiles from my yard and came in to see that the town I live in was under a mandatory evacuation order.

I freaked a little bit at that and all thoughts of staying quickly left me. I tried to remain calm but when I went into my bedroom to pack I realized that was a lost cause. I started yanking things off of hangers and throwing them - unfolded - into my suitcase. Then I started grabbing laundry and throwing that into a different suitcase. Shoes and books in another, etc. I kept thinking I needed to get my mortgage/deed/insurance papers together but never got them when I thought about them so they got left behind.

With the same consideration I'd thrown things into my suitcase, I threw things into the trunk of my car. Dog beds, dog food, suitcases (I had to combine the shoe/book one with the dirty clothes one because they weren't all fitting into my trunk). I brought some food and water (learning from the Rita debacle) and some other miscellaneous "stuff".

And I promptly fled, in the clothes I had been working out in the yard in.

Now, here's where I mention that my "yard work" bra is different from my "every day" bra. (Can you see where I'm going with this?) And yes, the only bra I brought was the one I was wearing. Let me tell you, it wasn't pretty. Mountain View is a nice town but it doesn't have much in the way of retail so I had to buy a bra at WalMart for public wearing. It's not great but for $10, I won't complain.

So, I learned about the food and water from Rita. This hurricane has taught me to be absolutely sure you pack the right bra, if you're going to be evacuating. :)

What would you want to make sure you had if you evacuated?