About two weeks ago we got hit by a pretty bad storm. There’s rumors that a small tornado may have touched down not too far from our home, but our neighborhood “only” saw damaging winds and hail.

We’re okay, and we’ve had the insurance company and contractors out to inspect the damage. This past weekend, we began the rebuilding process starting with the fence. It’s been a rough week and a half when both sides of our fence were down and all 3 yards have dogs!

After 2 days of hot hot temperatures and probable sunstroke, the fence is mended.

At about 6:30pm Wednesday, we got hit by a heavy storm. It shot hail through the neighborhood and winds tore down fences. We got off relatively lightly, some vinyl siding damage and the fence. Most of the neightborhood is in worse shape.

The odd thing? Just a mile down the road, it looks normal.

Wow.

Dirt Yard!

(an inside joke that only 1 person will get).

We bought some weed killer for the back part of our yard. It took 2 months to take effect, but boy did it do the job. Now we’re waiting for the grass seed to take root. And battling 90°+ temperatures.

My little ole car hit 150,000 miles this week.

Now it just needs to last 4 more years (or until Susie’s SUV is paid off). Yikes.

We awoke to almost 5 inches of snow this morning. And it’s still coming down.

Susie broke out her skis for the first time in years, for a little dog-assisted cross-country action.

On November 21 Susie and I helped clear out some kudzu that was threatening to choke the shade trees of our neighbor’s horse farm.

Apparently we both got into some poison ivy. Foul weed.

The photograph shows my legs at 2 weeks after exposure. As I write this (nearly 4 weeks afterwards) my legs look only marginally better. The red color is less angry and the swelling is almost completely gone.

Susie’s poison ivy was just as widespread, covering most of her legs from ankle to thigh, but hers never got this raw, disgusting look (and cleared up nicely after she started to take the doctor’s prescribed medicine).

My body simply had an odd and terrible reaction.

About a month ago, Susie and I bought ourselves a boat.

We love to visit Devils Fork State Park on Lake Jocassee, but we’ve enjoyed about as much as we can staying landlocked. Twice in the past year we’ve rented a canoe to explore and enjoy the rest of what the lake has to offer. $75 a pop adds up quick and it seemed like a no-brainer to save the money and invest in a canoe of our own.

After weeks of searching and learning about canoes, we decided to shop local and visited Sunrift Adventures in Travelers Rest, SC. Serendipity or fate worked in our favor and we happened to visit the store on the weekend of their once-a-year everything-in-the-store-is-on-sale Sale. Saved a cool $50. The staff was very generous and helpful (even sticking around a few minutes after close to help us decide on purchasing. It had been a long, busy weekend and I know they had plans that didn’t include waiting for us to make up our minds). And when we picked the boat up for our first trip, the friendly sales guy walked us through the proper tie downs to secure the canoe to the roof of Susie’s vehicle (knots that we’ve promptly forgotten. Oops.).

The canoe is a polymer composite material, 14.5 feet long and 38 inches wide. It currently seats 2 (humans) but we’re planning on remedying that. And weighs 80 pounds! Lifting this boat above our heads for transport and storage is not a fun exercise. But I sure am glad that we went with this model instead of the 15.5 foot boat. This yellow one is just the right size.

We’ve only taken it out once so far, but I expect several more trips around the lake before the year’s out.

(And, miraculously, I’m not paralyzed by fear with this boat. Another plus for this canoe and a fact I attribute to it’s generous width.)

Our new roof.

Early August brought us the first heavy rain storm we’d had since, it seemed, some time in May. And the rain brought a discoloration on the ceiling that Susie noticed.

I called and scheduled 3 different roofing contractors to come out and take a look at our house. Two of the three reported obvious hail damage. So my next call was to the insurance company.

The adjustor told Susie he had seen 20 year-old homes with better looking roofs. Aside from the hail damage, the shingles were in sorry shape. But the weather damage was severe enough to kick in our insurance policy, and a little more than a week ago we had a team of roofers on our house, tearing things up.

The roof replacement took about a day and a half, pop-up lightning storm not withstanding.

We chose this light color (called Mist White) because by all accounts it should lower our heating/cooling costs and it qualifies for the Energy Savings Tax Credit.

In a bit of old news, last April MaximumFun.org, Jesse Thorn’s podcast empire, held their annual (?) fundraiser. As part of the event, fans of the shows were invited to submit t-shirt designs.

I contributed designs for the hilarious Stop Podcasting Yourself. And one of my designs was selected!

The actual, velvety soft tee arrived on my doorstep not long ago.

I was delighted to participate and honored that my design was chosen to represent a podcast that has given me hours of entertainment.

June

Camping trip number 3 was a great success, though not quite as much fun as the first two. Due mainly to the crowds of people who had the same idea we did. Including the large group of foreign speaking people (maybe Russian?). They were all young, high school age, and they stayed up late playing guitar and singing. Loudly.

Jen came down for a week in mid-June. As always, we took her out for a dinner that couldn’t be beat. My new favorite restaurant is Harry & Jean’s, a local semi-fancy place (they have live jazz music in the bar!) and I was anxious to show it off. The best part of a meal at Harry & Jean’s? The York Peppermint Patty that comes with the bill.

We followed that excitement with a return trip to Lake Jocassee. It was a hot, crowded day and we spent it on the water with a rented canoe. I’m not ashamed to admit that I sat terrified in the boat while two women paddle me and the dogs around. The trip was only slightly ruined by the yellow jacket nest we found at our picnic site.

July

My brother and sister chose to celebrate Independence Day with me in Greenville. Susie was in Kentucky tending to her mother, who was recovering from a nasty fall that resulted in a broken shoulder.

We cooked out and at Laura’s insistence drove to downtown Greenville for the fireworks. The night included sketchy people, an odd costumed breakdance routine and expensive refreshments. The fireworks were abysmal. Not only did we pick the wrong side of the river to sit, but the show lasted for less than 10 minutes. Sigh. We did, however get our smiling faces included in a photograph for a local weekly paper. You have to scroll to almost the end. We’re picture 48 (out of 53).

Ah, the beach. Two days is not quite enough time at the ocean.

I had never heard of Tybee Island before my Mom mentioned it as a possible vacation destination. It’s billed as Savannah’s Beach and it’s far less commercial (read: crowded) than other beaches (Myrtle, I’m looking at you!).

And my souvenir from the trip? Swimmer’s ear. Well, not exactly. It’s actually a build-up of earwax. It’s gross and I won’t dwell on it any longer than to say, I have special ear drops for the condition.

Nick drove down for the entire week to visit with Susie and to watch our pets while we played in the sand and sun of Tybee Island. It was an incredible help having him watch over the animals and the house. Certainly made it the most stress-free and relaxing vacation we’ve had since our honeymoon.

Nick found that lovely black widow the night before he headed back to Ohio. Don’t worry, she was relocated to the field at the end of our neighborhood.