Riot Wheel (Re-Invention Of The) wheel.©

This is so Mad Max!

I wonder how it would hold in a hurricane. Looks stout.

Hurricane Irene...

We are now officially under a Tropical storm warning. Ugh.

We won't be hit with hurricane force winds, but our power will most likely go down tomorrow. Dominion Power Has told us to be prepared to be without power for days, not hours. We will be spending today prepping. Chad is off to find dry ice and prepare our Craig's List generator. I am off to buy supplies.

God protect us all.

Posted from Steph's iPad

Virginia - Disaster Central!

So we were sitting in a restaurant on the ground floor of a 200 or so year old building in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The room began to shake, dust was coming from the walls, and Chad shouted, "Earthquake! Earthquake! Earthquake! Everybody out!"

Only ourselves and the staff left the restaurant. The rest started laughing and looking up at the ceiling. Didn't anyone notice that we were in the bottom floor? Of an old rickety buiding? With 2 ton beams overhead and walls made of brick and plaster? Wo knows how serious it is going to be... And what about aftershocks and gas leaks? Sure it ended up not being as bad as it could have been. But come on people! Use your brains!

When we left the building, smart people were out in the street rather than on the sidewalks, a smart idea given the fact that the walls of the buildings are lined with bricks. Old bricks. Old loose bricks.

We paid for our food and took it to-go. When we got home, being the good homeschooling mama that I am, I got on the web and showed the girls the science of earthquakes on the computer. (Our phone lines our spotty, but web connection remains good. Cellular coverage is very iffy as well.)

Ilsa drew this picture from what she learned:






Next excitement may be arriving on Sunday: the remnants of Hurricane Irene, but I am not going to borrow worry from tomorrow.

Posted from Steph's iPad

newest offering from apple?

Untitled, a photo by BikeBookBread on Flickr.

Nice people

We are in Charlottesville at the moment. Chad was sent here to take a class at the Army JAG school at the University of Virginia. Every morning on the way to class, we have stopped to buy a cup of coffee and a morning pastry at a lovely shop called Hot Cakes. This morning, Ingrid went in with him and was admiring a little cow creamer. A man asked Chad if he could buy it for her. He proceeded to pick up Chad's entire order -- coffee, pastries, etc. Chad was in uniform... Now I don't know if this was one of the reasons he did it, but it was such a kind gesture. It turns out he was a friend of the owners of the shop.

We went back this afternoon and bought some beautiful desserts for this evening. So if you are ever in Charlottesville, check out HotCakes.




Ingrid excited about the goodies.



Ilsa "kissing" the ladybug cupcakes.




Posted from Steph's iPad