Loooooong Weekend!

But first, I must mention that it snowed this week. It was actually snowing during my drive to work, though this is all the accumulation that actually occurred and once I got into town, there wasn't even that much. I did not make any snow angels or even catch snowflakes on my tong
ue.

Another holiday weekend is starting out. This is the last scheduled three-day weekend until Good Friday, whenever that happens to be. (This is the first place I've ever lived where Good Friday is an official state holiday.)

So, to celebrate the extra day to accomplish stuff this weekend, I started out by getting a fairly slow start on the day. I had to head in to town to pick up a knitting needle and a few grocery odds and ends. I was successful in getting a size 4 circular needle and then decided to get some thin flannel fabric to use as a protective sheet between my laptop screen and keyboard. I killed some time wandering through a sporting goods store in search of a pair of light hiking shoes and then wandered through the bookstore a bit too. I got to the grocery store just about lunch time. This timing isn't always considered a good thing, but being hungry makes me shop faster and stick to my list because I'm in a hurry to get home and get something to eat.

My plan was to come home, throw open a couple of windows and start some serious spring cleaning. This isn't quite what happened. I did clean up the kitchen and vacuum, but didn't get my desks cleared off or my computers backed up. (On the backup front, is it a bad thing when your *horoscope* tells you to back things up this week?) I also sprayed some of the weeds in the backyard, cut the dead stuff out of the rosemary topiary and put all of this year's big gardening tasks onto my wall calendar. Now I'll have no excuse for forgetting to fertilize the lawn or prune the shrubs at the appropriate times. In a little while, I'll go fix dinner.

The big cleaning event will either start after dinner or wait until tomorrow morning. I'm finally going to get rid of the stuff that I've been meaning to use "real soon now", though "real soon now" has been coming soon for years. This includes art/craft supplies, books, magazines and even yarn. I will either start with the computer room or the living room. The bookshelves might not be a bad starting place either. The hard part will be staying focused on clearing things out, not getting sucked into what I could do with whatever objects I'm handling at the moment. I've thought about trying to limit myself to 30 minute blocks, but I think I would rapidly become frustrated by the slow overall rate of progress. Some stuff I might try to sell, but most of it will either be thrown out or taken to Goodwill. Hopefully I won't just end up cluttering up the living room with the piles of outgoing stuff and not actually finish the job.

More Tornado Damage Photos
The last bit of the fire station was knocked down on Friday. There's a dumpster in front of it to collect scrap metal as a fund raiser to re-build the station.


These powerlines were torn down when the tornado came through. They lead from the main TVA power distribution station, which I understand also had wind damage.


A couple of hurt houses. Someone was cutting up a fallen tree to the right of the first house. The wing at the back of the house looked to be undamaged, so perhaps the residents haven't been displaced. The piles of debris in the second photo used to be a two-story wooden house. I don't know how badly it was damaged prior to being pushed into a pile.