Effects of Fay

We were very lucky to not have any damage from Tropical Storm Fay, though there really isn't wasn't much damage in Jacksonville. There was some flooding, but all of the water was gone in the morning.

Here are some pictures we took in our yard and in the street:

A golf ball on our porch half way under water:


Water coming up our driveway. It didn't get much higher:


Looking down our street from our driveway:


Water coming from the overflowing retention pond behind our neighbor's house:


At the end of our street, facing right:


At the end of our street, facing left:

Fay Friday

We are finally getting the bad weather that the meteorologists were predicting for days. If we were really honest about it, we could have gone to school Wednesday and a half day yesterday. I'm not complaining about the days off, I'm just saying that we could have gone to school.

Matt got the call that he has been waiting for from him boss who told him that power was out where the office is, so don't worry about working from home. We are so glad that this storm came after August 1st and Matt is a full time employee and rather than an hourly contractor losing money because he can't work.

Our power did go out last night and came back on at 1:15 am. It couldn't have been out for long, though. I was in the living room watching men's beach volleyball, but fell asleep until 12:30 and went to bed. I doubt the power was out for 45 minutes because it wasn't hot when it came back on. They annoying this is that when the power does come back on, our overhead light comes on. Maybe that's why the previous owners didn't have the light on the remote.

Fay

School was closed again today due to Tropical Storm Fay. I wonder if city officials were kicking themselves about closing down schools yesterday. We did get some rain, though "heavy sprinkles" is more like it. Obviously Fay is not cooperating and following the storm path the meteorologists predicted. Clay county did not close the schools yesterday and parents were complaining about that. I just know the kids will be crazy whenever we do go back to school. Seems like any change in the schedule will throw them into fits of craziness. I will say, though, that I have seen our Mayor more the past couple of days than I have since he's been elected. Of course, that could just be because I usually change the channel whenever a press conference comes on because they aren't usually talking about closing schools!

Matthew has also been able to work from home yesterday and today. His boss emailed yesterday to come in to work today if the weather today is like it was yesterday. Matt has to go over a bridge to get to work, and with the high winds expected later today, he could probably get to work just fine, but not be able to come home. It seems like half of his office went in to work and half are working from home. It's nice to have him home with me, even though he's working.

Hello Fay!

I'm sure it's wrong to be excited about missing a day of school when it is only the second week of school, but I'm excited! I really don't think that tomorrow will be all that bad, but we'll be getting a lot of rain in the afternoon. The weather maps show Fay crossing over and coming back by us, so Thursday and Friday are probably going to be worse than tomorrow. Duval county has already canceled school for tomorrow and Thursday, so hopefully MCS will follow suit. At least I will have time to get things done around here tomorrow while we still have electricity and water. Hopefully we won't lose either!

Juliet's new toy

I saw Juliet pouncing on something on the porch. At first I thought it was a lizard, but then I saw how long the tail was. Yup, it was a little snake, probably not even a foot long. This after she found a spider in the bathroom and a frog last night. We had left the kitty door open last night, so I'm sure the frog was out on the porch until Juliet found it. The not nice thing was that she dropped the frog on my foot, but I didn't have the light on, so I didn't know what it was at first. I flushed the spider down the toilet, but I caught the frog and let it out the front door. Next time I'm waking Matt up so he can deal with her!

P.S. - I took the picture of the snake through the sliding glass door!

179 days to go!

Today was the first official day of school. It went really fast, and it was overall a good day. The 8th graders always crack me up, because they already know me and what to expect. The 7th graders barely crack a smile, even when I am joking. They don't realize that I'm not a teacher to be scared of. I like that about them! The 6th grade students are scared about everything and always have a hard time adjusting to the new schedule, plus dealing with lockers. Kind of makes me glad I don't teach 6th grade. It's crazy to see how much some of them have grown over the summer. One of my male students looks the same, but his voice is much deeper. The first time I heard him talking I had to do a double take! I did keep encouraging them to find a new student and make sure he/she knows where to go. I know friendships can't be forced, but I try to help them along when I can!

We are going to Kan Ki, my favorite Japanese steak house, for dinner because I got some gift certificates at the end of the last school year. I haven't been in a long time, so I'm excited about going tonight.

Since blogs really are better with pictures, below is Simba under Matt's computer bag. I don't know why he got under there, but he did and it's cute! I'm just glad he stayed there while I went to get the camera.

Back to work

Monday was my first day back to work. Where has the time gone?? Our first day is always up at the church, and I sat there amazed thinking "this is my fourth time doing this!" Of course, that's probably why I knew I could be 10 minutes late and not worry about it! We also had lunch in the fellowship hall with the church staff which was fun because 2 of the girls in my Bible study work at the church.

Three of the staff kids have been at school all week helping us teachers do what we needed to do. They did all 3 of my bulletin boards, put together orientation packeds, arranged my tables, vacuumed, cleaned off the tables, found new chairs to replace cracked chairs, and that's just stuff for me!!! They were in high demand and one of the teachers did say that I was hogging them. :) I can't help it that they like working for me. We did treat them to lunch at Chili's yesterday to say thank you. I really don't know how I would have gotten it all done because I spent at least half of my days roaming around and talking to people. I'm sure that surprises no one!

Matt talked to his mom last night. She is back from England. Apparently there was a bad storm on the second half of her trip and they were late getting back. Matt's dad and his family will come back this weekend as well.