"I guess just one too many..."

Ha, Ha, My favorite line from "A Christmas Story" when dad plugs in the tree and a small fire starts in the outlet. There's about 15 cords all plugged in. Well, I experienced my own little scene yesterday while working on my tree. Every year, I have to put tons of white lights on my tree. I like to wind them down as many branches as possible. And, even though this year's tree seems smaller, I still ran out of lights. So off I went to the local True Value and bought some more, determined to get enough. I laughed to myself as I noticed the box said "connect up to 3 strands" as I literally connected probably my 8th or 9th. Well, as soon as I plugged the new strand in, it lit and then went out. I tried the next one, yep, same thing. I realized that I was blowing the tiny fuses in the strand plug. Of course, this was after about 4 hours of working on my tree. I seriously considered opening up the front door and just throwing the entire tree into the middle of the lawn. Thankfully, Rian came downstairs just in time so I put him on the fuse replacement and I got a couple small extension cords and divided up my lights so there were only a few strands per cord. Finally, after 6 hours, I have a beautifully lit tree...but, no ornaments...that will be today's job...

Crappy ending to a fun weekend...

After a fun weekend in Toronto (I was there with my friend Amber to watch our hubbies play Miami), I received a call from my pet sitter that my cat Cole wasn't doing well. His health has been deteriorating for about a year. Last month, he had another "seizure" and I found out his heart wasn't working correctly and his lungs had a bunch of fluid in them. After some tests, he was put on a diuretic in order to help his failing heart so that it wouldn't back up into his lungs. He seemed to be doing better but I could tell it wouldn't be long before his little body gave up. So, when I got the call from my friend, I asked her to bring him to the vet, knowing that this was probably it. The vet called a short time later and told me his left lung was completely full of fluid as was about 1/2 of his right lung. I asked her to keep him comfortable and I would come in as soon as we got back into town and put him to sleep. It was a tough ride home knowing what my night had in store.

When I arrived (about 11:30pm), he was breathing really hard but purring and "talking" to me. I burst into tears and gave him lots of hugs before asking the vet to put him down. It was so hard to do but it was time. I can honestly say, I lost a very good friend on Sunday night. He has been my buddy for 12 years and I will miss him dearly...

A new day...

Things seem to be ok here this morning (well, afternoon now!). We got hit pretty good last night but I was safe and sound in my condo. We somehow managed to get lucky enough to have power all night so it was quite nice having tv and internet to help me pass the time. It was incredible watching the winds and rain out the windows...

I turned everything off and went to bed about midnight. Fell asleep to the sounds of the waves crashing. So, now that it's all said and done, what an amazing experience. It truly makes you in awe of what Mother Nature is capable of. I'm glad I was able to experience this but hope that it's my last run in with a hurricane. I was able to get booked on a flight out on Monday, which is exactly what I wanted because I don't want to be flying tomorrow during the Bills game! Have to watch that!

I hope the people on Little Cayman and Cayman Brac are safe as they got hit WAY worse than us. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers are we start to learn of the devastation on those islands...

The eye

Still have internet...Yay! Here is an updated satellite photo as the eye is getting ready to pass the island. Now winds are 80 mph sustained with gusts of 100. Eek!

The adventure continues...

It's dark out now so my storm watching out the window is done. I much prefer to see what's going on out there! I am absolutely amazed at how secure this building is. The new hurricane windows we installed a few months ago are able to withstand a Category 5 and I'm not surprised, as I cannot hear a whisper of wind! We still have power and internet so I'm going to continue to keep myself occupied. Here are some current satellite pictures of Paloma as it goes through Grand Cayman. The little outline on the bottom image is the island...

They are saying it now may be a Category 3 as it passes the island in the next few hours. Winds are around 50-60mph now with higher gusts and are expected to be over 100mph as it passes us by. This is crazy! Sure wish I wasn't sitting here alone and that my hubby was with me!

My crazy (hurricane) adventure...starts now!

I arrived in Grand Cayman on Oct 29th. This was supposed to be 9 days of me, myself and I enjoying reading on the beach and diving as well as drinks in the evening with our friends, Stu and Cheryl. Let's fast forward to today, where I am sitting in my condo awaiting Hurricane Paloma. I learned of this storm on Wed evening and did all I could yesterday to get a flight out. I was booked on a flight at 10:30a today but things got bad earlier than expected and the airport was shut down. Thankfully, I was able to get my bags and Lee, our condo manager, came and picked me up. I have enough food/water to get by and my bathtubs (yes, all 3!) are full of water for re-filling toilets, handwashing, etc...if the island water gets shut off. I have power and internet currently but who knows how long that will last. Things aren't too bad right now but windy and rainy and huge waves are starting to pound the shore. Originally, the worst was supposed to hit around 1:30-4pm but the storm has slowed and now it looks like it will be sometime during the night. Being alone, I would prefer the bad stuff hit during the daylight! And, being the Curious George that I am, I would prefer to get some good pics to document this adventure.

Rian and I truly love this island so it is interesting (to say the least) to experience this. Life in the Caribbean is not always sand and sun and now I will know that first hand! I will update again after it's over and hopefully have some good pics as well...

Wish me luck!

Old School

As of last Thurs (at 12:00am) Time Warner can no longer broadcast our local CBS and CW. The contract to carry these channels has expired without a new agreement being reached between Time Warner and Lin TV (who owns the rights to these channels). So, who's in the right here? Lin TV wants TW to pay to carry their channels and...they are available for FREE for anyone with a antenna. Why is this an issue to me? Well, because CBS is the channel that airs the Bills games! Eek!

My friend Amber and I spent a couple of days figuring out where we were going to watch the game. Do we battle in a local bar with all the ridiculously drunk fans (and risk having to listen to their negativity if the Bills aren't winning??) or listen to it on the radio? I got an email yesterday saying the M & T club at the stadium will be airing the game for the players/staff families so that was an option. Or, I could go buy an antenna. Well, problem solved. The Bills handed out antennas to the guys at their practice on Sat and my night in shining armor (aka Rian) brought it home before heading to the airport. Long story short, I'm up and running and ready for the 4:15 kickoff.

Funny though, in the day and age of plasma tv and HD, I'm watching the Bills game on a tv with rabbit ears facing the window and a plastic dial to get the picture as good as possible...what is this world coming to?