Government Shutdown??

Well, spring is here and the days are warming. The buttercups are gone, red buds are in full bloom, and leaves are popping out of the trees. Now, the sun just needs to stay out and the rain clouds need to stay away!! The University of Alabama men's basketball team did not make it into March Madness, but did qualify for the NIT. They made it to the finals and then seemed to fall apart during the championship game. Oh, well, I guess the fans are ready for the A Day spring football game coming up soon. We are doing well with the new decking material. It looks fabulous and is fairly easy to install. We thought the easy part would be making a run down each board and screwing in the clamps very fast. Unfortunately, that has turned into the most time consuming part because occasionally the screws strip. Once stripped, Tide Guy has to pull it out without removing the board. If we attempt to remove the good screws on a board, we run the risk of stripping those, too. We should have most of the top part done by the end of this weekend. Then, we have to remove the hot tub on the lower level, replace those boards, and do all the steps. In national news.... Gas prices are so high it is scary. Right now, our local Race Way is $3.59/gallon. There are predictions the prices may go to $5.00/gallon by summer or by summer's end. Prices of everything are soaring. I buy a 2 liter generic ginger ale for 79 cents. Today, the price had gone up to 89 cents. Now, a dime isn't much, but it has gone up over 10%...at once. If everything goes up 10%, everyone will have to cut back on everything. Japan is still having major problems with the nuclear reactors. It isn't know how much radiation, if any, is in the water system or food supply. Thousands have died from the earthquake and tsunami. A crew spent many days in a nuclear plant trying to cool the reactors. They still have lots of potential problems. It is scary. And, to make it worse.....our government hasn't funded anything in months so it seems Washington DC may shut down Friday. The military may not get paid....even those stationed and fighting overseas. The government hasn't released funds, extended contracts, and owes some companies for work already completed. If this resolution isn't addressed and a compromise happens soon, no one knows what to expect. It could get very interesting!! Tide Gal

Earthquake and Tsunami

We woke up yesterday morning to news that just north of Tokyo, Japan, there had been an earthquake with 8.7 magnitude. Such devastation. Then, to top it off, a tsunami hit the coast. Even worse, the earthquake caused massive problems and an explosion at a radiation plant.

It has been reported that the damage from the combination of the earthquake and tsunami caused Japan's coast to shift 8 feet and tilt the earth's axis. I contacted a friend who lives in Okinawa and she reported they had no damage or problems. I find that totally amazing. When we lived there, we had one tsunami warning. I think the wave was about 3 inches when it finally arrived. We felt a few minor earthquakes which felt very strange and almost unreal. I can't imagine what a "real" earthquake would feel like, much less an 8.7. We did have two typhoons which had winds in excess of 140 mph. THAT was scary!

Afterwards, Hawaii, Alaska, and the US eastern coast had tsunami warnings. Luckily, there was minimal damage. Of course, there were warnings for our eastern states asking people to go to high ground. Many did, but many people either sat on the beach watching or used the large waves to surf.