Went to the USO this morning for breakfast.  They serve breakfast for the public every Saturday for $8.00 (all you can eat) as a fundraiser.  The volunteer coordinator asked the volunteers to come today just to meet each other and get USO news.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, sausage, grits, potatoes, biscuits and gravy and pancakes. Not a bad deal for "all you can eat."

The table I was at was a mix of people; some young Marine wives, some older men who are retired Marines and long-time volunteers, and me.  We had to stand up and give our name and say something about ourselves.  You know how much I love doing that!  Ugh.

Anyway, it was nice.  At least next time I work at something, I may not remember names, but I may be able to say, "We were at the same table at breakfast..."

Well, yesterday's weather turned out to be non-scary for me!  Although the "Emergency Broadcast System" alerts ran on the TV most of the day, it was actually very mild here at the house.  We had high winds and some rain, but nothing like what the towns around us had.

Watching the news most of the day is interesting. The meteorologists will say if you live in_____ take shelter now.  If you live in___________ you will need shelter in the next half hour.  They watch exactly where the tornado is at any given time.  They remind viewers that a tornado "watch" is different from a tornado "warning."  If they are giving a "warning"  it means take shelter NOW.  A "watch" just means that; they are aware there's a possibility of one.

On the news we saw downed lines, minor flooding and some roofs flying off of a mobile home and a shed, but as far as I know, no injuries or deaths like they had in other states.

Today we have 22 mph winds, a high of 57 and a low tonight of 37.  The sky is blue and clear!

Hmmm.  Looks like a good day to visit an antique store.  Or two.

Severe Weather Alert...

We have severe weather advisories coming at us from lots of sources. This picture may not be readable, but we are within the light orange colored area which means "enhanced" weather conditions.

 I need to watch the weather reports on TV most of the day to find out what's happening in our area.  I'm supposed to go to the bathtub if there's reports of tornadoes in our area.  There aren't any windows in my bathroom, so that's a good thing. Elaina is at work, but I'm hoping she will be sent home before the weather gets really bad.

It's raining here at 9 this morning with some gusty winds but nothing major.  I watched the squirrels running around the backyard this morning like they were in a hurry to run their errands before the bad weather comes.  They were running around the yard and up the trees, then back down the trees and back across the yard. Busy, busy.

Speaking of squirrels, when Abby is headed out the back door and sees squirrels on the lawn, she takes off running and LEAPS off the top step of the deck and goes after them like they are little intruders in HER yard!  How dare they, she thinks.  However, they are faster and nimbler than she is and besides that, they can climb trees!  Her paws reach up the tree as far as they can but the squirrels are long gone. 

Well, I guess that's it for now.  I'm sure I'll be writing again soon, after the "severe" weather condition.  Can't say I'm not a little nervous...

Blue Bag Genius

Took me a while to figure this out, but was wondering why some of the bags from our grocery store, Food Lion, were blue and some were white.  I hadn't read the outside of the bag until today. Well, duh, they put your cold and frozen items in blue bags. I think this is genius! I wish more grocery stores would do this.

How often am I in a hurry to unload groceries from the car or get them put away once I get them in the house.  The blue bag makes it obvious that those are the things that need to get taken care of first, especially in summer weather.  

Thank you Food Lion for thinking of this!

Miscellaneous

It's been very cold here this week. Yesterday morning Elaina told me to look out on the backyard deck.  What I saw looked like someone had broken a glass and there were tiny little pieces of glass everywhere.  Except, it wasn't glass, it was ice chips!  They were probably blown off the trees by the wind, and ended up looking like broken glass spread over the deck.  I wish I had a photo, but I'm sure they wouldn't have shown up much in the picture. That's something I've never seen before.

We have some people with interesting names running for office around here.  I'm seeing their signs posted along the roads and highways.  Some names seem like "only in the south" type of names like Buck Newton, and Junior Freeman.  (Sound like Dukes of Hazard?)  There's an interesting woman who is running for county commissioner.  She's originally from Los Angeles and is also a pastor at a local church.  Her name?  Million-Heir Williams.  I know.  She is also a successful small business woman and on the chamber of commerce. Maybe having an unusual name helps you get noticed more.  I don't know Million, but I have a feeling she's a force to be reckoned with.

Yesterday Elaina and I went to Cedar Point. We were expecting to go to an open air market, but they only had a small car show and some food trucks.  We each got something from Tata Jo's food truck which is owned by a French family who cook and bake French food.  Elaina had an omelet and I had a raspberry crepe.  It was so cold with a cold breeze besides, that we ate in the car! Yummy.  We also went to the Friendly Market, where Elaina used to buy her fresh produce and herbs and things.  They have a great bakery where I bought some cinnamon rolls. We visited some thrift stores in Morehead City but didn't find anything worth buying.  Sad face here.

Today is Valentines Day.  I made scrambled eggs for both of us and I had a cinnamon roll.  Best one I've had in a long time.  Mom loved to make and eat cinnamon rolls.  One of her favorite things to bake! So, a cinnamon roll for Valentines Day in honor of Mom!

I better close and get something done, like laundry and dish washing.  Such an exciting Valentines Day.

Rack Pack Party

Today I had the opportunity to volunteer at the USO North Carolina Jacksonville Center.  They had a need for "Rack Packs."  Rack Packs are made up of necessities that might be needed in the first 48 hours, by a service member that is just returning from deployment.

The USO calls events like today "Rack Pack Parties."  We went down to the basement where tables were laid out with the contents of the packs.  Today, there were packs already made up, but they were missing three items: wash cloths, deck of cards and a snack bar.

I worked with about 5-6 experienced  women volunteers adding these last items to the packs.  The coordinator had a request for 500 packs but we ran out of wash cloths, so I don't know if we got enough done today.

Here's a link to what a rack pack contains:

https://uso-nc.org/wp-content/uploads/rack_pack.pdf

If you know anyone that can donate items on the list, let them know!

I found out today that I will get a name tag and a USO shirt after completing 26 hours of volunteering.  Oh my.  I only have 3 hours in so far.  It's going to be a while before I qualify.

Anyway, it was fun, and I hope to have more opportunities soon.

Mug-a-Geddon

It is with great sadness and some sarcasm, that I announce the passing of a Light Family member:

This mug has been a beloved member of our family since the 1990's.  Well, loved by three sisters and three daughters at least.  Our mom actually disliked this mug and never used it.  It was given as part of a set to my parents by a real estate agent when they moved from Anaheim to Lake Elsinore in 1996 or 1997 I believe.

If we were all at the house at the same time, there would be some competition as to who could grab the mug first for a cup of coffee.  (Well, since I'm not a coffee drinker, I used it for whatever).  If it was dirty in the dishwasher, most likely one of these people would wash it and use it.

When mom passed away and the contents of the cupboards were emptied, the mug ended up with my daughter, Elaina as the caretaker.  It's been here in North Carolina being used for a while now.

                                           UNTIL THIS:

This morning, I filled it with milk and was reaching to put it in the microwave and in MID-AIR the handle broke, just as you see it here.  The mug dropped from the handle and hit the cookie sheet with a bang.  Me standing there with just the broken piece in my hand. The pots and the cookie sheet on the stove were clean until mug-a-geddon.  The pots, the stove top, and the burner plates are covered in milk.  I was so glad that it broke going into the microwave and not coming out of the microwave!  It was bad enough that the mug broke and milk was everywhere, but if it had been hot milk???  Oh man.  It was traumatic enough as it was.

The current caretaker has given orders that the mug not be thrown away even though it is defective. I think the handle can be completely removed and the mug used to hold a plant or spoons or used as a sugar bowl or something.  I'm sure the caretaker will find a use for it.

Okay, well I have to go clean up the mess now.

My First USO Event

What a day!  Today was the City of Jacksonville and USO event that I worked at: The 75th Anniversary of the Second Marine Division and also the USO.  The weather was COLD.  I wore my heaviest jacket, scarf, hat and gloves.  My feet felt frozen at the end.

There was a parade through the downtown area (See pictures from Jacksonville North Carolina Government Facebook page) but I didn't get to see it, since I was waiting in the park at the end of the parade to help serve hot dogs, chips and drinks to the Marines.  The Marines had been up since early morning and after walking in the parade, they were hungry!

I was told two different numbers for how many Marines there were. There was at least 5,000 and possibly 7,500.  I probably handed out 500 hot dogs wrapped in foil and almost the same number of bags of chips.  Each and every Marine said, "Thank you Ma'am"  or "Thanks so much Ma'am!"  They really appreciated the food.

We started out with one hot dog, one bag of chips each, but there were so many hot dogs after everyone had been through that we started giving out multiple hot dogs.  Some Marines were walking around with two or three wrapped hot dogs in their hands.  I heard one with multiple hot dogs in hand say, "takin' this back to the barracks!" as he slid one into a pocket. The Jacksonville police officers that were there also had their fill of hot dogs and chips.  I think the leftovers were going to be donated to a shelter or food bank.

The city had lots of activities going on at the park. Marines and citizens could play "corn hole" and dodge ball. There was a band playing on the outdoor stage.  The USO Musical Troupe was going to perform also, but I didn't get to see that.

The USO held an open house after the parade where they displayed scrapbooks and pictures dating back to 1941 when they first opened. There were many Marines there enjoying a warm comfortable place to sit and visit with their friends.

It was a great experience and I hope to be involved in many more.

 The USO Musical Troupe posing for pictures with Marines alongside a vintage truck.

                   




The USO of Jacksonville is the oldest continually operating USO in the world!

Marines and others playing dodge ball in the park.  They take their games seriously.

Just More Random

I didn't feel very good earlier this week, but I woke up today feeling good, so I went shopping!  I needed a few things from the Vitamin Shoppe and also stopped at some thrift stores. There wasn't anything for me in those stores unfortunately.  Actually, maybe that's a good thing.

We had some strong wind and rain earlier in the week along with thunder and lightning. Because there are so many trees in the backyard, the deck was covered in twigs and small branches that blew down. I should go out and sweep but it's too cold right now.

We occasionally get much larger branches that fall like these:

One day recently I heard one of these fall and hit the roof and then hit the A/C.  I thought the roof was caving in. I'm glad neither one of us or the dog was out there at the time!


Something that California drivers might like to hear:  Drivers turning left with a left turn arrow must yield to drivers turning right from the opposite side of the intersection.   So, say you have a left turn arrow and you start your turn, but someone is coming out of a parking lot and turning right, you have to sit and wait for them to make their turn.  There's actually signs, saying Left Turn Must Yield.  I think in California, the right turn driver would wait until it was clear to make their turn.  It's something I have to remember when I'm out and about.

This is Super Bowl weekend, so we're excited to watch the Carolina Panthers play (and win!)  Elaina is planning our snacks and dinner for the day and Abby is all ready:

Well, that's it for today.  Tomorrow is a parade and community activity for the 75th anniversary of the Second Marine Division, and also the USO anniversary.  I hope to write more after all of that.