36°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 63° today.
We had rain here pretty much all day Saturday, starting with some booming thunderstorms passing through and waking us around 04:30. It stopped for awhile in the late evening, but then another round of heavy storms blew through just as we were going to bed. The heavier tornadic stuff I was watching as it made it's way up I-44 through Missouri missed us to the north.
We awoke Sunday morning to the sound of everything in the house shutting off, and only the sound of the high winds battering the front of the house remained for the next three hours. A check of the co-op's website found that 94% of their customers were without power. We went downstairs and got comfy on the couch. She worked on a small afghan she's crocheting, and I dove into a book of short stories I'd started but never finished. The light coming in through the walkout porch was almost enough to read by, but was supplemented with a small LED book light. Wife did the same. Power returned around 09:30-ish. With 25 mph winds much of the day, we decided to stay inside and "conserve energy." We watched a bunch of movies, something we haven't done much of lately.
Sorry about your neighbor, Roy.
New unit looks great, Ted. Nice work. It also appears that your wife is like mine, with the use of totes and baskets for everything.
Mostly_, that population boom in St. Charles County continues unabated to this day. It's even started to extend into nearby Lincoln County to the north. It seems everyone from St. Louis County is moving even further west. When I moved to St. Jacob IL in '05, there were about 800 people there. By the time I left in '13, it had grown to around 1200 people. Most of the people I knew there were originally from somewhere else. One next door neighbor was a fellow Granite Citiot. Where we live now, we are about 20 miles from the more developed areas of Fairview Heights and O'Fallon. However, as we watch the contant expansion east along I-64, we know it's only a matter of time before Clinton County IL becomes just like St. Charles County MO.
We usually just have immediate family over for Thanksgiving, Don. This year, it's looking like us and the youngest stepson, and maybe his girlfriend. My Wife talked to her aunt over the weekend. We usually celebrate Christmas Eve at her house in Granite City, along with the rest of her Dad's side of the family. That's not happening this year, as her aunt, as well as all of one cousin's family except one daughter, all have Covid-19 right now. Her aunt is in her 70s and has had a myriad of health problems over the last few years, but says she only has mild symptoms from this. So, looks like a quiet Xmas at home this year.
I haven't been in any stores in awhile, but have friends who posted yesterday on Facebook pictures of their local store shelves, all empty of paper products ... again. (sigh)
"Spitting" rain is a term I heard growing up in Southern Illinois, and occasionally still use. Also references similar snow or sleet.
