What a week we've had! I came down with a little stomach bug Saturday afternoon that lasted into Sunday. It's a good thing I didn't attempt church, Bill hadn't even made it a block when I was back in the bathroom. It left as quickly as it came and Imodium and Pepto Bismol did nothing to slow things down.

Monday we started getting things ready for our trip, so we were busy all day. It was also hot again so anything we could do indoors we did.

Tuesday was laundry, Bill a haircut and packing. We had a storm come up in the late afternoon and it was a doozy. I stood at the window and watched our trees bend in half again. And again, they didn't break. But, as I was in the bedroom packing, there was a huge crack of thunder and several blue flashes and the lights went out. After the rain let up enough to see what was going on we saw that an old growth tree had taken a direct lightning hit and a huge branch broke and took down a branch on the next tree, knocking it and holding it against the power pole and lines. When we could go out we saw a line down on the side street. The intersection was almost completely impassable so our neighbor Joe started traffic control while I reported the power outage. We got the generator started, but since it doesn't run the air conditioner it got warm in the house. The storm dropped the temperature but it was so humid it was not pleasant. There was damage all over the west end of town and on the interstate a tractor trailer was blown over which brought traffic to a standstill of course. A crew from the water company finally came and pushed the tree branches out of the road but the power company didn't want anyone driving through. They were afraid that vibrations would cause the branches to fall, taking the pole with them. They put up some cones, but those did nothing to stop the traffic, so they finally put up some crime scene tape and completely roped off the intersection.

As I was cooking supper, Emily called and said that she and Bryan had been moving their utility trailer to start their generator when the trailer fell onto her foot and they were headed to the hospital. She asked me to meet them so that I could bring the girls to our house. Of course since we were leaving the next day I had nothing but eggs to feed them. I couldn't even take them to Sonic because they had no power. The result of Emily's injury...lacerations on her big and next toes, a bone chip in the big toe and a fracture in the next one. She has to wear a surgical shoe for 2 months. And, she has 2 back to back conferences to attend in Birmingham, 1 this week and 1 next week!

Bill called Johnny to tell him we were headed his way and he told us that his wedding had to be postponed. So, since his was the second one we decided to come home after Amber's instead of staying through the week-end.

The estimate for having the power fixed was midnight, and then noon the next day. A tree removal crew had to remove the limbs before anything could be done for repairs. Of course since we needed a good nights sleep, the tree crew showed up about 10 pm. We were happy to see them, although it made for noisy sleep, between the thrum of the big engines, the spotlights, and then the chain saws. They got the limbs down about 12:30, but all they did was drop them, so the street was again full of debris.

Our drive to Dalton, GA was uneventful. There was not much traffic until Chattanooga. We got there late afternoon and made arrangements to meet everyone for supper. Our hotel was next to a Cracker Barrel so we met there. I told them I wasn't driving any more that day! We had a good visit with everyone and I got a text that the power came back on about 8 pm.

The wedding the next afternoon was a different affair. The pastor informed everyone that they were just a bunch of rednecks. It was very small and didn't take long, but it served the purpose and got them married.

The wedding was overshadowed by the tragedy in Chattanooga, as our grandson was at the Marine base where the 4, now 5, were killed. And John, who was to pick Charles up, was 2 miles from there when Charles called him and told him to get out of the area. John had been running late, and if he had been on time, who knows what would have happened. One of the ones killed had been Charles' roommate, so he was really shaken up. He did cut his hand jumping over a fence, but was otherwise uninjured. John was finally able to pick him up that evening. There have been a lot of different stories and articles and opinions about this attack. Let me just say, from the mouth of our Marine who was there, all of the facts have not been released, for everyone's safety. 

We headed home yesterday after rush hour and decided to come home through the country. I had seen a sign on our way there for a route I knew, so we did that. It took about 3 hours longer because we had to go through several large cities and we were pretty tired when we got home.

As we were unloading the car, Bill fell out of the front door. I think he just hit the step wrong. He fell into a rocking chair on the stoop and then into the hedge. The chair actually helped break his fall, but he couldn't right himself. I got him back up and then checked for injuries. He cut his elbow a little and has a skin tear on his arm, probably from the door. He had a scratch on his face from the boxwood leaves, but other than that, nothing else. He was a little wobbly for a few minutes, but is fine now. He just went out to his treadmill. We've both done so much sitting we both a little stiff.

We're not planning on doing much today, and maybe not even tomorrow. We'll just have to see if we feel more rested by then.

So, that's basically our week. I'm glad we got to go to the wedding, and some of the groom's family couldn't believe we came all that way just for the wedding. I hope we'll be able to go back for John's but if not, so be it! And now, I'm off to the grocery store for a few supplies. Have a good week-end. If you are in the heat advisory area as we are, stay cool! If you're not, you're lucky. Our actual temp today is 97 with a heat index 105-109. Ah, gotta love summer!