Had a horrible night last night. First, I had a nightmare that I was being chased by a giant monster through some ruins. I woke up because I was breathing too hard and looked at the clock. I’d only slept for a couple of hours.
Then Sookie, the elderly bulldog, starts hyperventilating and craws onto the Shih-Tzu’s tiny pillow by my side of the bed. The Shih-Tzu runs away, of course, and find a different spot. Sookie is drooling and there is a damn lake of spit.
For some reason, I have awful heartburn, too. I’m trying to remember if I took my Prilosec as I was supposed to in the morning, and I don’t know. I have GERD but it’s usually well controlled with medication.
The world past the French doors flashes, and simultaneously thunder cracks and shakes the house. And then there this deafeningly loud drumming.
Sookie freaks the hell out. Nykie, the dachshund mix, who is sleeping in our room because Kid 2 is in Austin right now, makes a mad leap and climbs onto our bed next to Charles Tubbins, who doesn’t even register the noise. He is just snoring.
I go to the French doors, and yes, it is the trademark Texas spring hail the size of shelled walnuts and it is bombarding the house. It sounds like we’re being shot at with pellets from some giant cannon and it’s super loud.
Gordon jumps out of the bed and takes off.
“Where are you going?”
“The car.”
“Where is the car?”
“Where you left it.”
I had gone out on Monday and I always park in the garage. Always. But that particular Monday the trash people came early, took the recycling, and blocked me in with the trashcans. I moved the trashcans to the side gate, went to my appointment, and when I came back, the trashcans were again in my way, so I got out, went inside the house, and Gordon and I moved them to their usual spot in the small courtyard out of sight.
I had forgotten to repark the car.
I chase Gordon and I’m like, “I’ll do it. I was the one…”
He takes the keys from me and takes off into the hail. I was right in front of the garage, so he didn’t have to run far. The windshield survived somehow and it is a miracle.
We go back to bed, and Tuna, the orange cat, runs into the bedroom, from which she is banned, because she tries to sleep on your head during the night. I try to get her out, and she hides under the bed which she does never. Gordon and I decide it’s not a battle worth fighting.
Sookie is still hyperventilating and drooling. Someone is whining. I still have heartburn. I get up again and get a Pepcid, because unlike Prilosec, which is best taken 45 minutes before food, this Pepcid is dual action and should work on the acid already in there.
We have an adjustable bed, so we move it into Zero G, I prop myself with a pillow, and Gordon puts on a documentary about some weirdoes in Alaska camping on the site of an abandoned settlement and looking for Bigfoot. It drowns out some of the hail and I finally pass out.
I am so damn tired this morning. Groggy, and dumb, and in a really bad mood.
Today will be the never ending parade of roofers coming to the door because they descend onto our neighborhood like locusts after every major storm. The roof on the house is huge and old. I’m almost certain that the hail has done it in just from the sheer force of it. Because we are in Texas, we have a hail damage clause in our home insurance policy, which basically means a massive 20K deductible related to hail damage. We will be paying for the roof replacement mostly out of pocket.
The name of Magic Claims might have to be abandoned to a much more practical “Magic Replaces the Roof.”
Ugh. Do not want. And my stomach is still upset. I might have to double the meds today.
Well, I’m going to take all this sunshine and joy I’m radiating, and try to get some work done. I suppose we should be grateful it didn’t knock out our power again. God forbid something happens to Texas grid, the most fragile utility construct on the planet.
Ugh!
So sorry for your rough night. Sending hugs and calming tea from afar.
Here in central Illinois this week we are experiencing all four seasons. Monday started with hail, storms & tornadoes. Midweek temps similar to spring/fall. The icing (potentially literally) on the weather cake tomorrow – snow, high winds, freezing rain and/or sleet, pending how the system tracks.
O_O
I was going to say we get storms like the described storm in Illinois & Colorado. Yesterday evening the storm came in the form of snow. It had been warm & sunny during the day so the snow was not sticking to the road. Yet I could not see the road at times because it was coming down so much. I found myself on the wrong side of the double yellow line twice. Good thing traffic was light. It did not snow for long but my kid needed to be picked up from practice.
I’m so sorry. Not only for animal and roofing woes, but for having to deal with homeowners insurance beyond your deductible. I made a decision on behalf of my mother once, and while I don’t regret it even a little, I heard a LOT from my sister who filed the claim.
I also have GERD, and worse, I have a friend here named Gerd, a very common German name, and I got permission to continue to call him by his online name even though we were now in-person friends.
But even with daily Esomeprazole, I keep a giant bottle of Tums by my bed and there are nights that I am sitting in bed, carefully chewing and swallowing Tums and water while counting and hoping they absorb all the acid before I hit the daily max* (Tums does come after Talcid, but I can only take one of those.
I also have a cat that hides in thunderstorms, and during the annual test of the air raid sirens, and on New Year’s Eve, when so many rockets are set off that the most jaded fireworks watcher is impressed and the air is hazy with gunpowder smoke.
My heart goes out to you. That was a terrible night.
*no more than 24 in a day!
My cat hides at the first rumble of thunder or the sound of rain on the windows.
However, tornado sirens and fireworks don’t bother her at all.
That’s awesome. This particular cat not only can’t tell the difference, but if a big truck rumbles down the street, he tenses up and waits to see if it’s thunder and he should hide. My other two aren’t afraid of loud noises, although one has the classic fear of things flapping in the wind (we have yet to find what frightens the third, although vet visits piss her off).
My cat is current refusing to outside to his enclosure, the other one is under the covers, the third cat is under his bed today. Why? It is sunny and warm in Florida. It is in fact beautiful. But. It is also very very gusty today. 25 mph gusts. Oak leaves from the oaks are cascading down and pollen is flying everywhere. And the noise in the palm trees and regular trees is substantial making a kind of whooshing and whistling noise. So my cats are hiding. In fear. To be fair, I am also indoors today and not much into my planting of potted plants like I was *going to do*. Too much pollen. Achoo.
I also have GERD. Acid down the windpipe is unpleasant to say the least.
I miss the good old days when everyone knew it as heartburn.
Now we know the source of the Erra and the dag saga ????. Best of luck with the roof!
Have you thought about a metal roof? I mean it may not go with the design of the house, but damn. Hail is often enough in Texas that I would wonder what you can do to prevent it.
I hate evenings like the one you had. They suck you dry like a leech that only feeds on happy energy.
Metal roof might last better against hail, but the noise would be deafening I would think.
We have a metal roof and with our amazing insulation we hardly hear anything. And let me tell you rain in Sydney is extremely torrential.
Actually have to worry more about the solar panels when it hails.
Sorry to hear about your woes. Good luck with the roof.
I second the Sydney tin roof & solar panels. We don’t hear the rain/hail on the main part of the house, that’s insulated and just love listening to it coming down on the verandah.
Definitely, good luck with your roof.
I have a metal roof. It’s noisy during a rain storm. It world definitely keep me awake for the kind of hail you get!
Wer got 5″ of snow a couple days ago, but that’s nothing nowadays for Connecticut. March is calm so far
I have a metal roof, and it is loud, but I chose to not put sound dampener material in, so they can be much quieter. I love the sound of rain on it, I sleep like a baby. Sometimes you can hear the tiny nocturnal squirrels scampering on it. It also won’t catch fire when the neighbors get too enthusiastic with fireworks (they are very enthusiastic, thanks government that thought everyone should have access to explosives). And we followed the guidelines for hurricane weather, so its rated for 150 mph winds. Not that we typically get winds like that, but it was only a few more screws so why not.
I wish we had put the snow catcher things on it though. when it comes off (all at once, roof avalanche!) it falls right into the driveway. We’re going to see about getting different gutters, and maybe that will stop it.
My husband and his buddies put it on, so it was about 11k in materials, plus a bbq, but it looks like a slate roof. We replaced god awful orange clay tiles. In Michigan. Orange, on a brick house.
The snow breakers do NOT stop the snow from avalanching off the roof. They just break it up so large chunks don’t fall. There is an 8 feet tall snow berm in front of the house (driveway clearing plus roof) and a 5.5 feet berm on the back deck which is just the roof. It is quite evenly dispursed. Sounds like a freight train when it falls but no longer makes a frightening THUD when it hits the deck.
We’re in central NH.
I’m really sorry to hear about this turn of events. But I still have to say that your description of the Texas electrical grid as “the most fragile utility construct on the planet” made me cackle out loud!
Feel better soon!
Also – Zegerid is AMAZING for heartburn. I have a hiatal hernia so heartburn and I are sad fast friends. unfortunately too much omeprazole gives me diarrhea so I try to control with diet. But Zegerid is dual action too – and you get a satisfying burp at the beginning that is the acid being neutralized.
Hi Illona,
Yogurt! This is not a cure for my Acid Reflux, and you may not be able to use it, but it does help calm and cover my stomach when it burns. Greek Yogurt is the best. However, talk to your doctor for any stomach related pains. It could be an ulcer, so get it checked out.
Also, get better soon.
Look out, more wild weather predicted this afternoon with a coldfront and high winds.
Gordon is a hero.
that is pretty much the polar opposite reaction my husband would have had.
you are both very blessed to have each other.
best wishes on the heartburn. it’s hard to ignore.
Big hugs and lots of love to House Andrews. Be kind to yourselves!
So sorry to hear about the roof. Hope there’s not a lot of damage.
I hope your are doing better as the day goes on! you both deserve a nap this afternoon!
We escaped severe weather last night, but supposedly it’s coming tonight. We are finished with storm repairs (five months duration). At least for the next thirty minutes. My thoughts on same are not suitable for a family blog. I hope your day improves. ????
Got the smashing thunder and lighting about 4 am this morning. For some reason I thought it was an explosion, maybe a plane and sat there waiting to see if it would hit the house or not. After the second blast of noise I realized what it was.
I hope you feel better soon and that the roof doesn’t end up costing the earth after the storm
So glad that I live somewhere, where the only weather related thing I have to deal with is “snow in dem dar hills.”
Sympathies from a fellow GERD sufferer. ((hugs))
While it sucks for you to have to deal with it, I do love your description of the Texas electrical grid.
A few posts back you asked for questions to inform the blog topics. I’m a long time reader, but only recently discovered the blog, so forgive me if this has been covered already, but I’d love to know more about ModR (who is this mysterious Mod and how did you connect? What is her role and what are her hobbies?). I’m also curious where the BDH nickname came from.
I’m also curious if your kids read your books. What about your friends? Are people in your circles constantly asking for spoilers?
Finally, do you guys write 50/50 on the books or is one of you the main writer? How does that work out?
Apologies if these questions are off the mark!
Hi Allie,
My official title is blog moderator for the Ilona Andrews website. It’s a part time position which involves reading all the comments and answering queries ????. My non-bookish hobbies include food and my life long mission at the moment seems to be laundry (WHY is there always laundry?! Will it ever end?).
The nickname Book Devouring Horde was picked by the fans ourselves, back in the dogs of time (at least 6 years ago?). It’s based on the Hope Crushing horde from the Innkeeper Chronicles series https://ilona-andrews.com/innkeeper-chronicles/
Writing for House Andrews is a collaborative endeavour, it’s not really split by scene or book ????. It’s a discussion with one of them typing.
Wasn’t it the hope crushing horde? 😉
Allie,
If you’re new to the blog, then you might also want to search the website for the Q&A sessions. House Andrews will occasionally do Zoom chats that ModR runs, so you can see ModR and House Andrews and listen to their discussions and answering the questions we ask. ModR has also transcribed the last 2 or 3 Q&As, I think.
Totally relating to this right now. I finished my pantoprazole prescription, and am now trying to time the sucralfate prescription correctly with meals. One hour before or two after, which is not easy when you’re on the hobbit meal plan (second breakfast, elevenses, teatime etc.).
Plus, a fraudulent charge showed up on my CC last month, so I had to get a new one. Now trying to switch over all the autopay utility and health insurance bills. However they would all prefer you pay out of your bank account, which I’m not willing to do.
That was true even before the utility maintenance plan double-billed me for a service call. Even weeks after a phone rep determined that it was in fact their error, their system will not update the bill and will not allow me to make a payment for less than the erroneous bill. This is going to mean more hours on the phone. Wonderful news for my credit rating, of course.
Meanwhile the health insurance company required multiple calls to their IT before the page would allow me to set up autopay for the new CC, rather than switching to the bank account which it preferred. That one at least seems to be resolved for the moment.
All the phone reps are awesome, I hasten to add, but their corporate overlords suck. I had to disable CVS prescription notifications, because it kept wanting me to refill one-time prescriptions or others that were completely inappropriate for refill. That has reduced my total text message volume by roughly 10%.
Now I have to take valuable time out from dealing with predatory corporate entities, in order to upload the interminable list of tax documents. Yeah, my stomach feels great. NOT.
I stopped CVS texts and now they call twice a day. Once a week, I’m deleting their robo-messages from my voicemail. Aah!
They haven’t called me, that I know of. Thank heaven for small favors. I know for a fact that my farrier stopped using CVS because of the prescription spam.
I’m sorry you guys had such an unpleasant night! I hope you can recoup it with an early, quiet one tonight.
Tucson went to bed to 30mph gusts, wondering what might be blown away by morning, and woke up to a calm, silent, beautiful, winter wonderland of 3″ of snow!
It’s wet, heavy snow, so the trees were bowed almost to the ground, but at least at our house it looks like everything bowed and didn’t break (whew!). It is melting like July ice cream now, it sounds like a heavy rain outside with the drips and plops from the roof and all the tree branches.
We only get to see snow like this once every couple of decades, so this is quite a treat for us!
Ugh ! Going to Katy Texas in a week for my child, she’s in Nationals for horse polo. I’ve never been to Tx, hopefully the weather will get all this out of its system bc I already have enough anxiety …
But anyway!! Positive vibes!! I hope everything turns out ok!!
Good luck!
Congratulations to your daughter! Nationals are a big deal and a real accomplishment. Hopefully you will get some decent days to enjoy the matches.
Depending on when next week, you may have mild sunny weather (Mon – Wed) or possibly storms (Thur) and / or “cooler” weather (Fri +).
This is per today’s forecast. The storms would be caused by a weather front that may or may not make it through the local weather patterns. I would check a bit later for a better estimate.
The one constant of Texas weather is change. Don’t like the weather – Wait a bit and it will change…
You poor thing. Nothing makes a bad night better. I just throw on fuzzy socks brew a cup of tea and put myself in isolation for everyone else’s safety. Sometimes the best you can do is the best you can do.
I love the fairy ring of trees beside your house. Maybe you could use a couple shades of shingles and have the roofers do a lion’s head.
Hopefully the roof will be ok and the animals are settling down. Honestly it’s always something lately. We had 8″ of snow last week for two days then it melted off and we’re showing 5 days of possible snow again! Fortunately no negative temperatures associated with it but definitely schizophrenic weather.
Texas weather is no joke. I am in Dallas under a level 3 enhanced risk in a few hours for big storms, hail and tornados. Everything is charging, I have an extension cord run to the closet along with my bike helmet and charging pack. Since the tornado that hit Dallas 3 years ago went right over my house I am just a leeetle anxious.
Fellow GERD sufferer on Lansoprazole. I am prescribed Gaviscon Advance, which is a liquid that lines the oesophagus and stomach, so the acid can’t get at them and they don’t hurt. Taken as needed after meals and before bed. If your current prescriptions etc aren’t working it might be worth asking about.
I hope the roof is intact despite the hail, and that you get a decent night’s sleep tonight! That thick-headed fuzzy feeling is horrid.
I remember those storms. Hang in there. I also remember the roof issues and sagas. Anything that gets too damaged even rarely gets taken out of insurance policies. I’ve had two friends move to Florida and roofs have a very and separate deductible and flood insurance is nowhere to be found…
It’s snowing here. We had a windy storm overnight (and winter should be over here!) where I thought the shingles were going to land in Mexico. Since it snowed and is snowing, we have not been out to check.
So sorry you had such a challenging night. I hope your roof survived ok and your Gerd gives you a break today.
Last night the wind woke me up from a dream inspired by Ruby Fever (which I am rereading) where I had to find some information to save Arthur!? Probably because my baby is 28 today! How did he get that old?!
Hopefully your day goes better.
Magic Replaces the Roof certainly has a certain Je ne sais quoi, don’t you all think?
Next up: Magic Brings In A Tree Crew.
Magic Hires Lawn Orphans to round off the trilogy ????
lol
It’s early for me, and my brain isn’t really awkward yet, but this one made me laugh out loud.
Awake yet. Stupid spell check.
I’m in the DFW area. The tornados and severe weather are supposed to being coming in today but they decided to show up early and rolled in yesterday right at school drop off time. Between the hail and the ground lightning I had to pull off the road and hide under a Sonic awning until the worst of it passed. All the houses looked like they had snow on/around them from the pile up of hail. After dropping off first set of kids at one school I have to drive across town to get to the other school. Didn’t realize the neighborhoods I normally drive through turn into the freaking Mississippi during a flash flood. The road wasn’t even visible in multiple spots and there was a current. It wasn’t even near the creek! Driving through it slowly my tires were kicking up water taller than the roof of my mini van.
My husband and I just finished watching 1883 and holy cow it felt like that scene where they ford the river.
My daughter is like … maybe we should just go home…. Nope!!!! We made it but given the choice I’m not sure I’d do it again. Different route from now on when it rains like that!
And once again I ponder how hard it would actually be to chisel out a cellar from the bedrock that is 3 inches under the surface of my yard ????
Born and raised here but tornados still scare the pants off me.
Didn’t seem to bother my chickens any though. They were bobbing all over the yard 2 seconds after the storm was passed!
Maybe some of that negative energy transforms into a kickass scene or a scoriating retort to a bad guy. Hope you can relieve some stress working then relax with tea and scone (if the tummy permits).
Please know I am happy to pre-order and buy ALL THE STUFF to help with the roof payments.
Also, I’m listening to the Kate Saga and am on Magic Bleeds – one question I never heard the answer to, can Solomon Red turn into an animal (what kind) or does he have some genetic abnormality that he can’t shift?
Thanks, hope you can get more sleep tonight.
P.S. Are you coming to Austin or Houston in the foreseeable future?
Eek! I have insomnia, so I know what no sleep feels like. Yuck.
California had some bad storms this past week. I was afraid one of our trees would get blown down. It was nearly hurricane force with hail and rain. Snow in some parts of LA. Crazy.
Our grid … they take us down for high wind during the Santa Ana’s when it’s usually really hot and dry. For the past two years they’ve shut down parts of my town on Thanksgiving day. Not us, luckily, but I’ve started to look in the direction of non-electric smokers for our turkey just in case.
Good luck with the roof. Replacement for ours is coming up soon, so I can empathize with that too.
I hope something great happens for you today that makes up a little bit for your crazy bad night.
Feeling solidarity with all of the GERD sufferers. After years of Aciphex, I was alternating nexium with pepcid for 24 hour coverage but after a family death I am temporarily on twice a day nexium capsules plus Tums as needed. My esophagus spasms, too, which mimics angina and since I also have angina it makes troubleshooting interesting.
Isn’t it interesting how insurance companies manage to exempt themselves from truly helping policy owners? Whatever the real risk in any area, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, floods–they are sure to find a way out of covering fully. You have every reason to be grumpy!
Maybe Magic Gets Revenge on Insurers?
PS. I figured out that Ricola herbal cough drops (original formula) help my esophageal spasms and GERD. It has similar ingredients to Bigelow Benefits Ginger & Peach Herbal Tea, a blend meant for a “calm stomach” according to their packaging. The tea helped but the cough drops seem more concentrated and work faster. Though perhaps my teeth don’t appreciate their effect quite so much.
Ricola is excellent for the respiratory part, especially the lemon mint and the original herbal flavor. Now that I have serious gastric pain in addition to reflux, any Ricola flavor aggravates that. Anything lemon, anything mint, anything with ginger or any kind of citrus. So annoying.
Recently had a scratchy throat so I drank lemon and honey tea with a dissolved ricola. It worked much better than either one alone. Wondering if you added the cough drop to the tea if you would increase the efficacy.
Yup. I’m over here east of Dallas. Fingers crossed for no tornadoes.
You deserve some nice, mint tea for your tummy. Curl up and think of vampires!
Mint and GERD are a big no no… found that out when I started getting reflux and drank mint tea a lot thinking it was just an upset tummy. Felt like I was breathing fire for a week!
At least one of the essential oils in peppermint is a very strong muscle relaxant. With GERD, there are some muscles you do not want to relax.
Yes, I found this out the hard way. I have a very mild case, and don’t take meds for it, but there are some favorite foods and drinks that I don’t consume anymore.
Google “Hail resistant shingles.” There are several types that should match your home and avoid future hail problems.
We once had apocalyptic softball sized hail and while my roof survived the house siding did not. q friend q few streets away had her house windows blown out and needed a new roof and new siding, and of course windows. hail is no joke. Hope your roof is ok!!
This fellow Texan feels your pain. Feel better soon!
I live in SoCal, so hail isn’t a frequent occurrence. Except yesterday, pecan size, and on my tin patio roof. My ears are still ringing.
I hope you all had minimal damage from the hail.
“Today will be the never ending parade of roofers coming to the door because they descend onto our neighborhood like locusts after every major storm.” <– ????????
Tuna’s much removed cousin lives with me. She’s now 11 months old.
She does not try to sleep on my head. She places two paws on my face, my cheek, until I wake up and pull down the covers for her.
Every night. This started with the fierce storms in January. “Atmospheric Rivers”. It’s never going to end.
I’m real happy there are King sized mattresses and that I own one.
My nutritionist put me on high alkaline water (such as Essentia) for my GERD. Best stuff ever! But I must drink it at least first thing every morning and before going to bed. On bad days, I drink a lot of that stuff. Good luck, fellow sufferers!
Thanks for the tip; I’ll have to try it.
I sincerely hope your roof isn’t seriously damaged. I hope you get to spend your profits on something more fun.
I am vaguely acquainted through a college friend with the SF author Steve Perry. I remember a convention panel he was on where he was talking about writing for the Conan franchise, which was a thing at the time. Some of the titles I remember: Conan and the New Roof; Conan and the Son’s Tuition; and (his personal favorite) Conan and the Hot Tub.
Love those titles! Thanks for sharing.
Rofl!
I have to admit, when you started describing the storm, I thought it might be a snippet….
The joy of owning a house. I have a cottage in Maine. A storm of the century knocked doors and window on Portland Head Lighthouse so it knocked over my side fence. Frozen ground and project for Spring. In my NY house, I discovered a slow leak from my upstairs bathroom. There goes the tax return…. Buy a house great investment!
Never heard a thing in Kyle. HeHeHe Sorry you had such a rough night. Hope tonight will be better for you.
I feel you on the sleepless night — for me, it was designing Excel spreadsheet in my head that would not shut down — I finally got up again at around 12:30 and finished the darned thing, so the formulae would quit dancing around in my head.
I also forget my Prilosec most of the time, and have to sit upright in bed while the alternate (Famotidine) for immediate relief takes effect. Sleep as upright as I can too.
Hope roofing survived and you can put off replacement for another year or so.
My next roof will be metal and impervious to hail. The last time they were softballs. Texas hail hurts the pocketbook.
I am so sorry! trying to deal with stuff on little to no sleep is a terrible feeling. I hope the damage is not too much and the swarm disperses so you can get in a nap.
Reading this, I can hear the thunder starting outside. We are in North DFW area and will “enjoy” the storms this afternoon and evening. I hope your roof is okay and all of the fur babies are settled down today.
Take care of yourselves!
I would definitely remember that title!
I’m in Tucson. LA sends the cr@p to us, we send it on to you. I would say “sorry” but we woke up to 4” of snow here in the foothills of the Catalina’s. IT’S THE FREAKING FIRST OF MARCH. I’m rather done with this wacky weather.
Hope the stomach calms down tonight for you to sleep.
The severe storms are already in the western, northwestern part of the Fort Worth area. My department had to go to corporate in Arlington, and then the majority of us took our director (my boss) out to lunch to celebrate her work anniversary and award she received Tuesday. We were all praying that the severe storms would hold off until we all got home. The humidity is crazy! ????????
Stay safe everyone!
I had a vivid nightmare last night, it was so clear when I woke up, and now I can’t remember what it was about. Something about levels of evilness. I was being chased or trying to deal with it.
Woke up groggy and so tired. But I had a great lunch with some friends, and now I’m debating whether I take a nap before the husband comes home expecting dinner. I prepped everything…. I just really want to nap.
On the good news, the pineapple jam bread I experimented on last night came out beautifully.
Ugh, sorry to hear! Sounds like most people had a bad night of sleep last night. Yay to naps, naps are the best!
I agree Mod R. Naps…the sleep that keeps us from sounding like two year olds. ????????
I live north of Austin, so about 2ish hours north of House Andrews. I didn’t have hail, but definitely had thunder and lightning. My dog also dislikes storms. Fortunately or unfortunately her reaction is anger vs fear; “how dare that storm/fireworks come near my house.” So imagine 18lbs of ridiculously fluffy bichon frise running and barking all night. She’s nearly 10 and I’ve tried all sorts of things, but in the last 6 months or so I discovered white noise, black screen videos on youtube and that has helped a lot.
I also had weird dreams. Sort of Osark-esque. Witnessing a crime, caught in a shootout, corrupt cops. I woke up tired with a headache.
Pineapple jam bread!! Sounds yummy! How does it do as toast? (Mmm! with butter….)
If you have to reshingle, I suggest looking into cool roofs. What type of shingles you use can have a big impact on how hot your home is in summer. Hoping you don’t actually need a new roof.
You guys have some crazy ass weather in Texas! I’ll stick with earthquakes here on the Left Coast. Hope your day was an easy one and that tonight is restful for all creatures Chez Andrews❤️????????????
Recently had surgery and got behind on my Gerd meds. Had the worst heartburn, the nurse couldn’t give me anything because no doctors orders. She recommended chewable vitamin C. Called for emergency delivery from family. It worked amazingly well and fast. The deductables for home owners insurance in TX…more like lack of insurance coverage is crazy…..just paid a little over 3 grand to renew insurance for the year with no coverage for roof because it is 15 yrs or older. Couldn’t change insurance companies because my roof is 15 yrs or older. I too will need to replace my roof due to today’s storm. Trying to find silver lining….new roof means I’m free to shop insurance companies…but Agent told me everyone increased their rates….don’t expect a big savings.
First, I’m sorry to hear about your hail and the roof and just all of it.
Second, on days like that, my partner and I don’t write because damn the plan, someone will die…I just don’t want anyone to die in your worlds.
Please take it easy. pour a great cup of tea and puck up your knitting and know that we are all sending you our best thoughts.
Our yard in San Antonio looks a lot like yours. But I managed to sleep through the hail.
wow. it’s sunny here on the other side of the world and autumn
My sympathies for your GERD symptoms (lying in bed with heartburn as I debate going for some gaviscon) and I hope Sookie is also OK. The weather is changing here in the UK but thankfully not yet getting crazy sized hail in London (touch wood). But with the way global warming is effing up everything. . .
Prayers for calm and peace to descend, and that you feel better soon. hope the animals calm down as well.
I deal with getting my 5th grade grandson to and from school. This afternoon, it was partly cloudy when I left home, and kept getting cloudier and darker as I was waiting for him to get out of school.
By the time we got home (maybe 10 minutes, probably less), it was mixed hail and rain, heavy on the hail – but small pellets, this is PDX after all, and we get large hailstones even less often than heavy snow. I got beaten on and soggy all the way across the parking lot. And ten minutes later, it was back to partly cloudy.
I just love spring in the Pacific Northwest.
Makes me understand why in the Children of the Lamp books, when one guy got three wishes, he used one for a new roof.
You had it last night, and it is headed up I-35 to pass through our neighborhood this evening. Ah, spring in Central Texas. I can hear the grass growing, but it will be too wet to mow, so we’ll need the weedwacker to start. And while the Texas wildflowers are really pretty, I am really allergic. Did we even have winter this year?
And here it comes again.,,
I have heartburn issues sometimes. is the zero g bed helpful? I’ve been considering getting it.
I was up most of the night with storms. worried about tornadoes. hope you have a better night tonight
Ugh. I am so sorry. I hope you sleep well tonight. Maybe you had a nap.
My son is getting radiation (proton therapy) treatments for his malignant brain tumors at MD Anderson right now. My husband is with him, in hospital housing. They are hoping to get a thunderstorm. It would be fun to watch from the safety of a hospital hotel.
Best of wishes to your son! And all the family. Hang in there!
Seconded. Hope the treatment is effective and his recovery uneventful.
Hail can certainly ruin your day. Hope the various pets have resumed a Zen state of mind & that your heartburn ceases to be an issue. As always, your descriptions of pet antics/reactions put a smile on my face (hail usually sees me reaching for a wine glass to drown my sorrows as my garden gets weed whacked by Mother Nature). Unfortunately hail is an issue where I live. Most times we are lucky – we live in a part of the city that usually escapes the worst of the outbreaks – but every so often it gets nasty. When that occurs I’m on the phone to the insurer even as the hail smashes everything in sight. No joke, last time some houses looked like someone had been blasting away with a 12 gauge. We got a new roof & windows out of the deal, but the garden was literally mowed to the ground. Nothing left but mush.
Just finished rereading Magic Triumphs and it so good and the last 2 paragraphs always make me so happy/sad.
‘It wasn’t so bad to have a granddaughter, I decided. I’d never had one before, and this one brimmed with magic,
There was so much I could teach her.’
It reminds me that there was once a plan for Julie/Erra stories that I was so happy about and sad that the negative comments put Ilona and Gordon off of the story that had started to form.
I’m hoping now that they are writing the Wilmington Years and enjoying them that they might also fill in on Julie and Erra’s missing years.
Some of it is mentioned in Blood Heir, but you know the BDH, we always (very nicely not demanding) want more 🙂
Julie and Erra’s adventures were never in the plans ????. Julie’s story was discouraged by critical voices, but of course, now we have Blood Heir!
And it is a great book! Just finished re-reading it.
Sorry you got the hail! It pretty much always bypasses S Austin, of course that often means we don’t get rain either heh. Fortunately for my trees at least I got rain last night p, also just now.
I hear you on the weird dreams frontier! It’s been that week all around according to friends. Mine was last week. Wishing you a pleasanter night and lots of sleep for all.
But don’t worry, they privatized the grid bc business is always better! ????
I’m grateful by the time the storm made it here to Sugar Land it’s been pretty lackluster so far *knock on wood*
Now I’m going to go shower, and bc I said that, a tornado will hit and take out the power bc that’s how my life works.
Aww, you have my sympathy. Glad the car is ok and will keep my fingers crossed on the roof.
I have a similiar issue with heart burn and wound up bolting to the bathroom at 2 in the morning to heave a couple of nights ago – the sleep situation has been for a couple of weeks.
I’ll put a good word in for you in my prayers 😉
Looking forward to the Magic Roof book.
I once asked a coworker who moved to Austin Texas why solar wasn’t a bigger thing given how much power is needed for a/c and heat but plenty of sun to be had for a good portion of the year. I guess storms and hail are a reason, plus the economics based on Texas-style power pricing?
Oh no that’s not true. Insurance covers hail damage so that isn’t a huge factor. Solar has been and still is ramping up in Texas. If you look up stats for solar in Texas, you will see we are leading in annual solar installations. It still isn’t as big as Oil and Gas though, they rule in Texas, but it’s a big state and I hope everyone can get along.
Here in Dallas and just got the Texas storms you mentioned. I feel your pain because I just went through it.
School got cancelled early in advance of storms, but I was in Palatine, Tx for a work day trip. Thank goodness for my Mom who was able to do early pick up for me. But, I have to say I distinctly remember doing tornado drills and never being sent home early.
By the time we got home, it was a mad rush to clean out the gutters filled with spring leaf droppings to prevent clogging. Your leaf photos are spot on!
By the time I get to making dinner, the sirens start to go off and my phone is blaring “seek shelter NOW”. I spent 30 minutes in the closet under the stairs with my anxious husky and 3 year old (it is tight). For some reason both of them enjoyed the closet time and later refused to leave without some enthusiastic coaxing.
I think I overshared, but long story short. My kid is asleep in bed with the dog and I’m reading your post with great empathy.
Always a pleasure to follow your blog.
Hail a over a month ago took out a windshield, a skylight, the roof, and dented 3 cars (which are now “salvaged” because insurance totaled them but didn’t offer anywhere near enough to replace)… and the roofers still stop by every now and again.
Best of luck!
Bad dreams are exhausting. I’ve had them all my life. At this point, it’s just part of the landscape.
My parents’ terrier hated storms, and could move twenty pounds of weights bracing the kitchen door closed (no lock on door). A prairie thunderstorm would roll on in, and she would “Houdini” her way out of the kitchen, up a flight of stairs, and onto their bed to hide between them from the storm. (The shepherd/collie mix slept right through the storms. He had other phobias….)
My Afghan hound occasionally cursed at storms, but mostly slept through them. My greyhound would get up and check to see if we were still there (wet snoot sniff and nudge), and then get back in his bed with a lot of dramatic sighing. Kids and critters, nobody likes thunderstorms….
I hope you are feeling better by now, that sounds like a very bad night. Good luck with the roof – the unexpected delights of homeowners just keept giving.
Still think Texas grid comes in second to the Danish railroads – every year when the first snow comes, they stop working because apparently the signal system was not built to withstand colder temperatures – and this is Denmark, where it is cold from october until april, so they really did a job job there.
I was woken up by my cat last night – she is a 10 pound norwegian forest cat who thinks my life evolves around giving her all the attentions during the night, so she walks all the way up over my body and does a Cyanide on top of my shoulders/head and every time attentions cease, the claws come out and poke me in the eyes.
My nightmares mostly evolves work – I dreamt I was at a job interview at Deloitte and had to cook them all stir-fry.
I hope you will get a well deserved weekend with lots of tea and relaxation.
Ugh! Sorry to hear of such a mass of mess. Blessed be.
One thing after another…are you willing/able to take a nap after getting some work done? Sorta reset the day? I’m sure some of the four-feet kids would love to join you?
I’m glad the windshield made it through. Having to replace those every year or so down here is not the most fun experience. Hopefully the sunshine this weekend will make you a little happier.
if you have a drone, I found thats the least harrowing way of checking roof status after a storm by myself
Well, we’re facing our 3rd snowstorm in five days.., it’s been every other day and tomorrow’s is a Nor’easter, winds coming in hard off the Maine coast, a foot or more of heavy wet snow on top of all we’ve already gotten this week… And in Maine, Winter can last 5 months… so it’s always something, wherever you are, I guess. (This is my front yard in the photo, with the driveway on the left, in a deep plowed trench along the trees. Where am I going to put more snow??)
Gotta ask first, as my brain deals with last first and then goes ‘oh yah!’ about other stuff prior.
Why, as veterans, do you not use USAA? USAA covered our monsoonal damage and replaced the roof for our normal deductible with no added roof stuff. Maybe it’s different in Texas?
Oh, yeah… so we moved up into the White Mountains onto the Mogollon Rim. We have a fenced 1/3 acre yard next to a paved road which is important, because you see, when you watch Phoenix weather channels, and they talk about ‘…and of course northern Arizona is getting MORE snow…” they are talking about us.
Our chickens give us beady, beady eyes. ‘Thought we told you we didn’t LIKE the snow, Mom. Yet, here we are, again, up to our tail feathers in the stuff. Don’t give me that it will melt off stuff, have you SEEN our yard?’ The ‘chicken pavilion’, a shade cloth hung optimistically from the wire walls was nearly pulled down the night of Wednesday when after blustering about and wind blowing an initial three inches into improbable places (on all the walls… under the eaves… sides of the pines…) dumped five inches of fluffy, heavy stuff.
I will tell you, I was born and raised, and spent a large part of my adult life in Hawaii. Then we moved from the tropics to the Sonoran desert for twenty years. So all this is still a great adventure to me.
Every snow storm, there are news items of people wrecking on the roads all around us. The trash collection doesn’t run during winter ‘weather’. But I work from home and sip my coffee watching the snow devils twirl as the chicken complain and it’s all gorgeous to me.
insurers operate on the basis of risk, so it is likely USAA or any insurer will have big deductibles for having hail damage. It is why homeowner insurance is expensive as heck in Florida ( if you can it) and why places now can’t get flood insurance ( meanwhile, in the place I live in in NJ, we are literally a once in a hundred year flood plain, which means in reality almost 0 risk, yet my flood insurance is now almost 800 a year. coverage hasn’t changed, their liability is the same as it has been,but there ya go.
with hail, if the roof needs replacing, they have shingles designed to be hail resistant,might be worth looking into.
The sad part we are seeing weather that is beyond freaky, like snow in southern California, 100 degree temp diffs between the north and south, all of what we are seeing, like Vegas literally flooded ,and ppl say climate change is a myth. Where I live we just saw the first as snow on March 1st, and it is now melted. bulbs have been coming up since mid February, we see new growth and buds opening into leaves at the park we walk the monsters in, and that is not abnormal, I have never seen it before and I have been living here close to 60 years. We are seeing major winds, > 30 mph, several times a week.
I too didn’t sleep well last night. our whiny dog, fanny , was whining and she also was farting every 5 minutes ( she sleeps under my side of the bed, she sleeps head in, so you can imagine). I hate when I wake up, couldn’t go back to sleep, and then have to function the next day, totally groggy.
our crazy cat Blue hates to stay in,we had a deluge the other night and he stayed out in it.
Many sorries for nighttime olfactory attacks! Our Bostie/Staff mix dog snores louder than my husband.
USAA is a group policy, so it’s entirely possible places that get hail more often see more charges, I don’t know. I know I was very surprised to get to AZ and find that my insurance did not go down at all from the cost in Hawaii. A lot more claimants in AZ. I can say they replaced my roof after a haboob damaged it, no problem, normal deductible only.
As to crazy cats, ours have taken to meowing to go out, looking outside for a minute and then turning back around. Our gray cat will look outside, decide he needs to go out anyhow, and shake both front paws off as he steps out into the wild white yonder. What’s amusing is when he gets his timing wrong and shakes the paw he should be stepping with–BONK.
Sounds like a job for a hot cup of oolong. :-). I really like Bigelow oolong.
Hang in there!!
Sometimes letting 1/2 to 1 Tum dissolve in your mouth resolves reflux heartburn faster than anything else.
I hope you are feeling better by now. I have GERD and it can be awful. Fingers are vrossed that the roof survived.
I use to have an aunt who married a Texan so I have been down there a time or two when they were with us. One year early on in his retirement, Uncle got his car banged up in a hailstorm. When he bought a new car, he built one of those carports of just heavy plastic on a wood frame. It did the job! All he had to do was roll up into his drive. Happily, I missed out on any severe Texas weather during my visits.
Hope you feel better soon.
Hang in there! remember to breathe.
Fellow Texan waiting on a claims adjuster. 80+ mph winds here yesterday. Never seen anything like it.
Sigh. There goes the family budget.
Glad you “weathered’ the storm. Stay safe out there.
Horrible night and then cleaning, I wish you lots of good energy.
On a totally unrelated matter I was able to preorder the graphic version of Magic Bites on Audible today.
Have been checking every day since a had credits available and will be able to have them all together!!
Also a GERD sufferer. Gaviscon (liquid or chewable) available OTC works wonders for a late night attacks.
We’re just north of Austin and the wind was the most insane thing I’ve ever seen outside a tornado. All sympathies to y’all and hail too. Im surprised our insurance still covers us/hail damage bc they’ve had to replace our roof 2x in the last four years bc of hail. The storm was short but insane- blew the chimney cap clean off so it slammed into the roof and bounced off into the backyard. Scared the beejesus out of me and of course husband is gone so I’m running around trying to figure out if a tree fell on the house or not while kid was in shower as power went out so I also have to get him a flashlight to dry off and the dog (who is not thunderphobic but this storm would try even the most patient of dogs) is running around panicking. It was a delight. Thankfully power came back on a few hours later and no food, roof, dogs or kid was lost. Just my sanity and a few hours of sleep. Pretty sure all of central and north texas are running on lack of sleep today!
So, speaking as a physician who has seen a whole bunch of GERD, you might want to try taking the Prilosec in the morning and a Pepcid in the evening, since Pepcid works a tad better for the overnights…
I looked at the pictures and winter+greenery….my brain screeched to a halt. It just not compute.
Ottawa (Canada) we’re expecting another 10-15 cm (appox 4-6 inches) and it feels like winter will never end.
We’ve had remarkably few deep freezes (good) but the Rideau Canal didn’t freeze over enough to skate (bad). First time in 50 years that hasn’t happened.
I feel for all of you having to deal with this weather. I live in California and talk about freaky weather, it has been so. I was in the middle of a hail storm with snow flurries a couple of days ago and of course of being worried about it, I thought WOW!!! HAIL!! TOO COOL!! IS THAT SNOW? I HAVE TO TEXT MY HUBBY AND TELL HIM. 10 minutes later it stopped. that’s how weird we are. Fortunately I am not up in the mountains where people are stranded. Right now, it is 46 (feels like 70) and sunny. Stay safe everyone with this weird weather.
Sorry for your bad night! For the stomach acid, try eating an apple. I know it sounds counterintuitive. It’s a remedy from my mother-in-law, born in the very early 1900’s. I didn’t believe her when she told me about it, but I grudgingly tried it, and it worked wonderfully.
Hi,
Hopefully, this can be the opportunity to install a solar roof and cut down on the unreasonably expensive, unreliable, power network that we have here in Texas. I am really hoping to get one!
Sounds like a good scene for one of your books……’hell breaks loose in Texas’
Hope your day gets better
Sounds like Charlie Daniels line: Cause Hell’s broke loose in Texas and the Devil deals the cards LOL
I live in the area and also had weird dreams last night – thank you for giving me something to blame it on!
TUMS chewable work wonders for GERD, bloating and gas. Look for the red/pink ones. Not the antacid pills but the heartburn and gas chews. the generic one from Equate work just as well and are cheaper than TUMS.
I understand completely. I’m in North Texas and last night we winds upward to between 60 to 80 miles per hours. It was so loud from the wind I couldn’t tell if it was hailing or not. I’d just managed to bring in my dog, a Great Pyr/Anatolian mix who was pacing the living room, when the skies opened up. When the winds started “howling” she suddenly decided that she didn’t need to pace and settled down in front of the front door.
We got hail up in Seattle yesterday too! It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it up here which is a bit concerning since we barely get cold enough for snow. It really scared my cat but otherwise hasn’t left any damage. Glad we can help you out with roof repairs! I’m super excited for the new book!
oh man, it sucks that hail coverage is excluded from your homeowners insurance! i’m extremely grateful it isn’t excluded from mine. the year after i moved into my house we had a massive hail storm that left piles and piles of hail on the ground. nearly the entire city got new roofs. all summer long all you heard was the sound of nail guns tacking new shingles in place. some people got new siding, new shutters, new screen doors. i even got new paint for my fence. you could see all the thousands of circles where the hail had taken the paint right off the wood.
sympathies about the GERD. i only have intermittent experience with acid reflux, but when it hits, its miserable. and if it hits at bedtime, thats the worst.
So sorry the Texas weather is awful to you. I dislike the Texas weather. Thank you for soldiering on. Please have a better day and night with sleep on moonbeams.
Ugh! Spring storms! You guys got the brunt of it. The storm was still strong but moved through us fast and had lost a lot of its punch by the time it got to NW Louisiana. Our tornadoes were earlier. Only a brief touchdown. Last year we bit the bullet and got a house generator. That was huge but worth it. Our power can get sketchy here too. Wishing you a better day.
### Hail
Glad everyone is okay
### Windshield
Hopefully you never deal with windshield replacement
But if you do, I hope you have USAA insurance ( best currently available car insurance ) because we had to do the windshield replacement dance ( see notes )
### Note
From a recent discussion of realism in novels versus entertainment ( example of non entertaining realism ):
We got to watch a child in the parking lot accidentally smash our windshield with a carelessly thrown rock, having the parents offer to pay replacement cost, getting told windshield replacement is similar to healthcare with both charged amount and out of pocket based on each insurance company, so parents’ insurance or our insurance will have to pay, contacting our insurance because better than parents’ insurance, scheduling a day off, getting the windshield replaced, etc.
From an old freemium game forum post:
Ethical business uses of probability – various forms of insurance – are difficult to find. Marry into / join the US military and discover USAA insurance ( avoid the banking ). USAA dividend style insurance used to be significantly more common
FIN
Wow what a hassle! Here in New Zealand IIRC pretty much any “full cover” vehicle insurance includes free windscreen repair/replace. Or it did when I took my policies out! I shall be more thankful for that in future!
Oy you cracked me up!!! lol about
“Gordon puts on a documentary about some weirdoes in Alaska camping on the site of an abandoned settlement and looking for Bigfoot. It drowns out some of the hail and I finally pass out”, hope you are O.K with the heartburn.. i think it is related to nutrition … or nerves.. a lot of health!!
Wow I didn’t realize hail was so common in Texas, w don’t get it very often in the Northeast. We recently had our first snowstorm on Tuesday in the NY metro area (very late in the season for us) and it wasn’t that much, we didn’t even have to shovel. It’s all melted now because it rained and temperatures have warmed up. Glad the car survived/Gordon remembered somehow at witching hour o’clock.
Also sorry to hear about the roof!
We got lucky here south of Houston. When I looked at the radar before sleeping, I saw that tailing end of the storm system breaking up a bit and most of it went around it. I am glad for that because one of the feral cats had kittens in our bushes and did not want to move. All looked well this morning. I will be working with a neighbor to capture, fix and rehome/release.
Oh my, it sounds like you went thru the wringer at your house…I hope things are improving and also that you are feeling better now. Sending hugs and happy thoughts…????????
Egad… so tired of the weather extremes! My anxiety built throughout the day as I got calls and texts warning of potentially dangerous storms. Poor oaks! What the ice didn’t get, the winds got… or in your case, hail.
has anyone tried/researched the gluten-free (no grain) plan, to help with the GERD?
Yes!! Definitely remove wheat, beans, oats, nuts, and hard to digest vegetables, and most fruits until your gut has healed. You can patch yourself up, and then try small amounts of, say, sourdough.
Some years ago, I had ulcerative colitis (and GERD). Plus my hair was thinning and the doctors said it was pre-menopause normal, like every other darned symptom I had.
My doctor prescribed the usual meds, but all of them had ongoing lawsuits for kidney damage.. A friend recommended Sally Fallon’s book called Nourishing Traditions. It saved me.
Now (post-menopause) my hair is glossy and my fingernails are long. I know it sounds trivial, but I’m happy about it. And my gut never hurts, no long sits on the toilet, either.
Interestingly, I realized I’m now eating what my great grandparents in the English countryside used to eat! If only I’d thought about that decades ago. But, hey, better late than never.
Wishing you luck!
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the post.
Yup, I agree with you. My second sister was stationed in Waco, Texas and she said the same thing about Texas power grid.
Titan, the rescued Rhodesian Labrador puppy that my third sister foisted on me 4 years ago because I live rurally on a farm, is the first dog I have ever had that loves to ride in a car / pickup/ tractor and has no problems with explosions, gun fire, tornadoes, ice storms, snow storms, polar vortex, flooding ravines then there are Amazon delivery drivers who obviously are not trained in dealing with large dogs because they see him watching them, freak out, toss my delivery on ground and flee toward truck activating canine prey catching instincts not realizing that he can and will catch them before they reach safety etc. however, drizzling rain and he freaks out because He Might Melt. ????. You have my sympathy.
Well that sucks. Being in southeastern Louisiana, we don’t have a hail damage clause, but we do have one for hurricanes (& the related wind damage). However, whenever I took out the policy many years ago (after just moving here a year after Andrew), I chose the lowest hurricane deductible Farm Bureau had. Thank goodness, because after Ida, I needed a new roof (22K+ – I have a pretty good sized house). Several of my co-workers had a higher deductible (5-10% or more) & they are still trying to fix their houses because housing prices here are very high.
Luckily, last nights storms went north of us, or my dog would have woken me up hyperventilating. How a dog loves to hear the sound of a gun (rabbit dog) & is terrified of thunder, lighting, wind, and rain is beyond me. Sorry you took the brunt of it.
Maybe you should come to FL. We only have to worry about hurricanes a couple times a year and really only if you’re close to the coast, LOL.
Where we live, we get a few bad storms each year and the subsequent roof repairs evangelists. Yuck! We did have to replace our roof after a particularly bad one. Yuck x2!
For those of you in similar situations, here are some things that I learned for a friend in the industry. (Except #4, I learned that one the hard way.)
1. Roof company signs are great. Get one as soon as you pick a company and require that they leave it with you when they are done. Nothing else repells the roof repair evangelists, except another roof company’s sign. I put mine out after every bad storm.
2. Upgrade your gutters when replacing your roof. We went from regular size gutters and 1-2x a month cleaning to oversized gutters and 1-2x a year cleaning. It only cost a few hundred dollars .
3. The roof repair evangelists are usually temp workers paid a bonus for every appointment they set. They probably know less about roofs than you do.
4. Make sure your critter guards are still secured on ALL of your chimney AND vent pipes. (Sparrows and other birds like to sit on the warm furnace vent pipe in cold weather, then sometimes they pass out from the carbon monoxide and fall down the vent pipe. It is NOT fun when they wake up.)
5. Check for nails every few days afterwards. A good company cleans up, but there are always a few left behind and a magnet is cheaper than a tire.
6. Roofing crews are usually subcontractors paid by the job. And often work long hours in hard conditions. If you can, offering some cold water/hot coffee and a shady spot to eat lunch makes a huge difference in their day. (Also appreciated is a place to plug in a radio extension cord. )
7. Consider going with a local roof company that is a preferred provider with your insurance company.
8. Replacement Insurance is great in situations like this.
Also thank you for all your stories.
Ah, so that’s why the critters drop down from the chimney! I never thought about it, though it makes tons of sense.
Awesome tips! I especially like #1
Love these bits of life you are sharing. Reassures me that I’m not the only one with several things happening at once.
I have had GERD many years and when meds fail it’s awful. But the secret is Alka Selzer for those times that it breaks thru. It is amazing.
Have you considered a metal roof? The cost is offset by the fact that it’s permanent. No more roof replacement.
Take a day off, comfort food, and be good to yourself!
North of you in Dallas/Fort Worth. That storm didn’t bring us hail (thank God) but we did have 80+ mile per hour winds. The tornado sirens went off at 6:05 pm, got our dog and ourselves to our safe spot about 6:10, and the power went off at 6:15. It was off for 21 hours. Just got it back on about two hours ago. Yes, we have beautiful sunshine right now, but sheesh.
I lose more sleep to my pets these days. Naps are almost required a day or two a week to catch up. I have a sleep tracker and occasionally I look at it see exactly why I am so tired
So sorry about the hail and roof problems. When we got solar a couple of years ago we decided to go ahead and replace the roof even though we thought it had a few years left boy when the Bay Area got slammed this past winter we were very grateful.
Hopefully you will sleep better tonight.
had same problem wife didn’t want tear-off with roofers got metal pebble coated roof on 1×4 verticle with 2×2 horizontally on top metal shingles screwed to better insullation and no noise patterns to go with any style house 50 year warranty winds up to 150 mph costs more but worth it
Hope you feel better. It’s so unfair how you have a bad night’s sleep and everybody still expects you to function the next day. I wonder how people with no choice do it? Firefighters and surgeons and the like? Seems like I should remember from parenting, but thankfully the extreme sleep deprivation seems to have effected my memory.
I feel for you. What a night. Just wanted to tell you to try a bit of apple cider vinegar diluted in water for the acid stomach. Works for me.
I swear we have more WEATHER now than in the past. When I was a kid, before aircondioning was common, the big greeting during the Texas heat was the brilliantly funny…hot enough for you! Everyone then shares a story–made favorite hot spells from the past, funny ways to stay cool, whatever. Instant “ice breaker”!
Yes we had storms–blue northers are something to experience and lets not get started with remanences about hurricanes– we’re getting more and more incredible storms more and more weather-apocalypses. Climate change?
Or as we say in El Paso: can’t have all four seasons in one day? Hold my cerveza….
Hugs
We lost the power for a short while here in San Antonio. The house creaking caused my dog to jot around before sneaking upstairs. Our yard also was redecorated with leaves.
So sorry to hear this! I hope you all recover soon. Sounds incredibly frustrating.
I’ve just finished reading Magic Tides and had so much fun with it. Definitely will be buying Magic Claims. I love your writing style. Take care you two. My favourite writing duo ever.
Hope the roof is ok. Home repairs are the worst and especially in this economy. I thought yesterday was the worst because of the constant wind blowing all the pollen my way here in Florida, but hail would’ve made me loose my mind. Never been in it, only seen it on tv.
We live in the north Dallas region and use SafeCo for home insurance. they just replaced our roof due to wind and hail. our deductible is less than 3000. Also, the worst of the storms in this region hit around 6 while my daughter and I were frantically trying to beat it home before it hit. we were not successful. It was like watching the debris flying in the movie twister, except it was dark, and we could only see it clearly when the lightening flashed. we were sideswiped by what we think was a wooden store sign which took the driver side mirror. we made it home safely. surprisingly, other than the mirror, there were only a few small dents and scratches.
I sympathize, my dog had stomach problems. She woke me up 3 times last night to let her out…sorry about the roof. Texas sucks. Come to New York ????
Sorry about the roof and the heartburn and all. I have a steel roof. We don’t get hail often but when we do it’s like living inside a steel drum. and it terrorizes all the pets.
Oh yeah. I lived in a steel roofed house for a few years when I was a kid.
The first storm was like armageddon. Scared us kids half to death. Eventually we got to like the sound of a nice rain shower. You always knew when it started to sprinkle
Good luck.
Or book could be called, Insurance Magically Claims.
Sorry to hear about the roof and I know it will all workout in the end.
I know Ilona loves to knit. I’m not sure if she’d like these yarn bowls. I just thought she might like to see them. They seem very unique and funny to me. I figure she and Gordon could use a chuckle. ModR I promise the picture isn’t bad. Just funny.
Hi Cheryl,
There is a 1 MB limit for picture attachments, yours didn’t show up ????. It sometimes works if you take a screenshot and upload that.
Apologies in advance because this is completely off the topic, but I just have to ask!
I have been re-reading Hidden Legacy for the umpteenth time, and the references to Gisela keep recurring. How did Gisela ruin their lives and how did Grandma Frida manage to produce a child so far off the rails? will there ever be a story expanding on this?
Hey out there,
Maybe someone can help me, if I even need help. I always get I. A. Com. letters by email. Like the Frinnday installments. Is this the same as the blog, or is the blog different. If it is, how do I get the blog directly. Obviously I’m not social media savvy, I mostly use the internet for reading.
I don’t even know if I can find this posting again. I’ll try. If I can’t my email is knoviceknife@gmail.com.
I would appreciate any help, Thanks,
Roger
Hi Roger,
I will email you directly from modr@ilona-andrews.com ????
Moderator R
Thank you much for your help and time. I appreciate it.
Have a good day.
Roger
Lol. I watched Killer Bigfoot last night ;P
Kelly
insurance exists to make money for the insurance company, must be nice way to earn a living, what? ????
Is it just me or is the
“Where are you going?”
“The car.”
“Where is the car?”
“Where you left it.”
exchange the most relatable spousal and exchange in history?
Lol!
I’m glad the car is ok but sorry that the night was so rough!
this picture on Facebook made me think of the Hiru’s sky from the innkeeper books. Just wanted to share it. it does look like a storm, just to keep it relevant.