Debby's Here!

 So, no surprise, with the hurricane projections that have been discussed of late, Hurricane Debby decided to hit. And, as usual, they are never quite sure what path the storm will take so it is usually better to be safe than sorry.

I grew up in South Florida along the Atlantic coast so I am very used to hurricanes. And, I must say, back then things were definitely harder to navigate as today's technology keeps as much more up-to-date and in touch during the storm.

Since daughter #3 and her family are still out of state, the dogs and I would be riding this one out by ourselves. Thankfully, those trees that "umbrella-ed" my house are now gone so that was a relief. But, my yard is large and there are many more trees as well as lots of pool furniture, yard doodads, etc. When I hear that a big hurricane even "may" come our way, I do a lot of precautions so furniture doesn't end up in the pool or in my neighbor's yard or through a window. But, Debby had been different all along and I really wasn't worried. I did wind down my pool umbrellas and took down bird feeders that might become projectiles but that is about it. I figured if anything changed I would still have time to hustle.

Now I don't want to minimize Debby at all. She has caused damage in other places...and is still moving. But, we were lucky and were on the edge of her destruction. We have had mostly just two days of heavy rain with some wind gusts now and then.

Of course, having the two dogs here has kept my life interesting. One of them doesn't even want to go out but she will if I go with her...she just WON'T go potty...and so, I am having to be very attuned to any time there is a lull in the rain. The other dog absolutely LOVES to be out there...the harder the rain, the better. He will use the potty but only after he has bounded through EVERY huge puddle he can find and raced around the trees until he can hardly breathe any more. It is hysterical to watch so I have gotten a lot of good laughs while I stand out there getting drenched.

I have had a bit of small branches, tons of Spanish moss and large sprigs of mistletoe drop out of the trees but that is about it. The pool is pretty high but I think it will be OK. My worst fear is always the loss of power and a funny thing about that. The day before Debby came, we had a simple shower that brought down some large branches-not sure why and then the sun came out. The day couldn't have been any prettier...and then the power went off! I have no idea why but it was off for about two hours and it got pretty toasty in this house. The thought of it going off due to a hurricane-we've had it down for as long as 10 days before-was not something I wanted to see happen. And, it didn't.

But, of course, the question then becomes what to do all day long to stay busy. There's always TV as long as there's power but even that can get old. I could read but my eyes don't let me do that for long periods any more. And, I don't have any new craft ideas on the horizon so I have just done lots of looking back at old pictures to see what I might want to change once I get going on my autumn decor next week. And then I've done a few little changes on things that were broken, faded, etc. 

As you can see, I was getting desperate and so, when my eyes stopped on this picture for about the third time, I knew I could find something to do that might keep me from going stir crazy for at least a few minutes.

Do you see that "gray" pumpkin on the left. I really dislike the way it stands out-don't know how that slipped by me last year! It started out being just another orange pumpkin but when I put together this dough bowl, I wanted some contrast. I don't think I meant to make it gray-maybe I did-but I really didn't like it any more. And so, after a quick trip to the garage-thank goodness I knew exactly where these pumpkins get stored-this happened.

First, a coat of off white chalk paint...and as you can see, I didn't even bother to set up in the sunroom-it is dark and gloomy with all of the rain pouring down-I just stayed right at my computer and worked around it.

And then a coat of Waverly antique wax painted on and wiped off leaving just enough to give it that kind of "fairytale" pumpkin look that has become so popular these days. Hopefully the next time you see it it won't stand out like a sore thumb.

The coloring is really off in this lighting but there's nowhere to go in the house that has any better light right now so you will just have to trust me when I tell you it has a kind of pretty soft orange color. Like this:

Even just doing something that dumb minor makes me feel better and is helping get me even more excited for the autumn swap out. And, I'm guessing by now you can tell that I have complete "cabin fever" and am ready to get back to some kind of routine-even if it does mean several hours of yard clean-up. Why do I enjoy being in my house so much when I don't HAVE to be here. Once I know I can't get outside, I start to go a bit stir crazy. Lol

Daughter #1 and grand daughter #4 arrive on Friday-along with Bennett who is another Golden grand dog. Saturday is our "welcome home Harrison" get-together. I can't wait to see him and hear all about his adventures. Not sure if  I'll be back before then...we shall see. Stay safe and stay tuned.