Tuesday's News-A Wet Weekend.

Hurricane Irene made her presence starting on Friday. I had time to get down the gazebo cover and store all the furniture. We mowed the yard and tightened down the pool cover. This was the first time I had to store the Front porch furniture. Irene, even though she was down from a 3 to to a 1 category, still had a strong force.

preparing the yard for Irene.

We had heavy downpour and winds up to 60 gust. It managed to topple trees and flood areas. We had electricity outages all across our area. We had to run the generator for a few hours. We were lucky some are still out.

Schools were to start up on Monday. However, they were push back to open today. We still have 27 school without power. The ones with power opened today. Our daughter started her 12 year. I can not believe she is going to graduate and be off to college already! It seems to have flown by for us parents.
We got out and about yesterday and took a photo of one of the trees that fell on a house up the road.

Photos of the house

Look at the root size of the tree.....

Watch the tree removers work on the remover. It was a sight to see. the tree fell on a bedroom in the house. The owner seem to only suffered some bruises.

On Monday I returned some furniture back to its areas. Cleaned up the pool liner from debris, pickup some limps and check out the outside of the house for damage.
You see we had an earthquake the days before the Hurricane, so the winds could of cause some small unseen damage to increase. Noticed that a support block to our front porch was lifted and the heat pump had shifted some. I will have to call the service to check it out. Our solar panels did well. Was able to withstand the winds.

Well that's the rap up of our Long weekend. How did yours go?

Aloha Friday- Favorite Brand Discontinued?

I have been looking for a favorite sweetener I had grown to like. Been using it for a year. Each time we go to a store I have been looking for it but have not been able to eye it. Today I asked hubby to pick up three boxes when he go to the commissary. He told me he has not been able to find it for the last three visits. That got me thinking....Maybe the company is not making it any more. So, I went to the site and found this message.....

We’ve been very excited to offer SUN CRYSTALS^® All-Natural Sweetener as an option in the world of natural sweeteners–which makes it disappointing to share the news that SUN CRYSTALS^® has been discontinued due to unmet sales expectations.

Your support and loyalty have been inspiring and much appreciated, and we’d like to thank all of you that welcomed us into your homes.

Best,
The SUN CRYSTALS^® family

What a heart sinking feeling! Now I will have to find a new sweetener that will not effect my metabolism.

Have you had a product discontinued, How did you you feel about it?
Do you have a sweetener that you like to use?

This is also part of Aloha Friday Post participation.
To see more Friday questions visit
An Island Life.

Tuesday's News-A Busy Month.

Well we have been off and running. August seems to be our busy traveling month. With family has had surgery's and the family needing our help, we have been running since the first of the month. Here it is the middle and we are still not done running.

On the first of the month we were notified that my hubby's older brother had to have surgery to remove a foot. Between his daughter(who lives in Wisconsin) and us, we are the closes and the ones able to be with him. Last week he was moved to rehab, after having 3 Surgeries.

We had to head down to the Outerbanks and Wilmington N.C. to see another older sister. Tried to get some site seeing in on our way. Visiting my 94 years old childhood home. She lived in Ocracoke, NC in the 1920s. It was very interesting to see the area. After seeing that we spoke with my granny and she told us the story again. Will have to write it down in the Family Story Blog.

In Wilmington got to do a small tour of the old town. then meet with his sister. She is doing okay, still having some bone problems. Hips and knees. It seems that most of the family has had to have replacements and it is looking like she will be in the line.

Myrtle Beach was a first visit for us. Broadway on the beach was the only place we got to.There were storms and a water spout that touch the land in Wilmington. So our trip there was limited. We decided to go back sometime with in the year.

Headed back to Virginia Beach to see Dad, on our way back home. Was able to see my Niece and her daughter. I haven't seen my niece since 2008 and this was the first time seeing her daughter. I watched her while dad took my Niece to an appointment. Cora, my G-Niece is so cute she is two years old.

The Dismal Swamp is on fire and the smoke and smell is bad. There were times the smoke was so thick that it made it hard to breathe. The smell is strong also. It has been on fire for months and does not look like it is going out any time soon. Man is unable to put it out, Nature is the only one that can.

Now when we got back home, there was a neighbors tree that a storm took down in our backyard. It landed across our yard and with caught by one of our trees and our fence post. It is to be taken down sometime this week.