Fae Briona

Not around that often. I need to make time to stop by and chat more than I do. But life has been rough the last few months.

Just a rant. The college I work for has a new Dean (oh joy). Great! Except that she's psychotic. She waits until the last minute to make any decisions, then makes one that is illogical and actively hurts the goal that is trying to be achieved. My boss is at a point she's seriously considering early retirement just to get away from her. If it wasn't 6 years away for me, I'd probably consider it too.

weather over almost all of the US has been nuts this week ☹️ Wind shifted to the Northwest today as a cold-front moved in, and the humidity has gone way up -- that should help some.

Peak wind gusts here in town were 74 mph / 119 kph. Sky in most areas was orange tinted with gray, from dust and smoke. Was a very scary afternoon. We have one faculty member we know lost their house; two that are damaged but still standing. Fires came into the Western edge of the city (we're on the eastern side) and a rough count is 70 structures destroyed. We had to go out of town for a family thing yesterday and on the way home there were many areas still smoldering -- which is very scary given we're going to get high winds again tomorrow. Other than breathing issues, SP and I are fine.

It's been a very long day around here (Oklahoma - pretty much the entire state). Wind gusts in OKC peaked at 75 miles per hour; only 65 mph here. Had our first Blowing Dust Warning in forever and then MANY MANY fire warnings. Campus has opened up areas as Shelters for those affected by "current weather events." We have four faculty members sheltering on campus at the moment because they had to evacuate their neighborhoods. Sky is still a weird orange (from dust) and gray/black (from smoke).

Campus was closed all week because of extreme cold (and a lot less snow than they predicted). It's 30F today and will be 70F by Monday. Joints would appreciate it if Mother Nature would PICK A SEASON

We're starting to get better, thankfully.

Can't say it any better. Congratulations!

SP and I are still fighting the respiratory ick (influenza, RSV, and Covid are all three at the highest level in this state). I'm trying to get over bronchitis, and he was diagnosed with walking pneumonia (luckily, we caught that before it got too bad). Send us good thoughts.

A wonderful story.

Not doing bad. Work is a bit more chaotic than normal, and SP's "Christmas spirit" is a bit dim this year -- we didn't even put up the tree, though we did switch out the prints on the walls for winter set.

Hmmm... According to Google Translate, "Héiýwaa" is Yoruba [a Niger-Congo language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria] for "Hey There" [seriously]. 😀

Not been on in quite awhile -- I need to start checking in more but life has been... life. Hope everyone is doing ok.

That sound VERY good.

Definitely -- to both. I know I've been gone quite a bit, but still think of this group as family.

We've had an Excessive Heat Warning starting yesterday, cooler today because of the massive storms last night, and rain will raise the humidity so back to the Heat Warnings tomorrow and Friday. Good news is no one I know had damage from the storms.

Front office person keeps a HUGE selection of teas (huge for me at least) and hot water, along with the coffee, for people to make. A "proper" Southern tea is very sweet and always iced.

More storms last night. We've had 80 confirmed tornadoes so far this year. Our average for the whole year is normally just 58.

Sometimes, that's all you can do: I can make it for the next hour, the next 15 minutes, the next 5 minutes...

As of yesterday (I've not seen updated numbers today) there were 25 confirmed tornadoes and 4 deaths in 3 towns -- youngest was 4-month old 😢. At least one EF4, the first one in OK since 2016 [if I remember the dates correctly]. Hardest hit was Sulfur. Almost their entire downtown is essentially destroyed. In a way, that's actually the best. It hit around 10:30 p.m., so other than a bar [which had 1 of the deaths; 30 injured] the area was closed up and empty. If it had hit hard in a residential neighborhood at that time, things could have been worse. They had 2 others that hit outside of / near town. More storms possible tonight, and for most of the day tomorrow, with more tornadoes possible. The joints are increasingly unhappy about it. I'll probably end up staying home from work tomorrow to let the body rest.

That's just not OK. At least talk to the people at the front office - they might have something available, especially if you're flexible and willing to change rooms.

Been a long couple of days. Joints started hurting Thursday with the storms moving in; was home all day on Friday; and yesterday was the rain. Started off/on in morning and afternoon, then merged into a continuous line of strong storms with quick spin up tornadoes, strong wind, and hail. Thankfully, we missed everything really severe here, but there were a few that went just to our W or SE that came way to close. Sixteen confirmed tornadoes in the state last night so far -- that number will go up as the day goes on and they review damage in more areas. Tornadoes at night are a really scary thing. At least in the day you can normally see them. Thankfully, only two confirmed deaths at the moment (same area). Sleep for me this morning.

It's currently 32 F colder now than it was this time yesterday. Temp dropped 10 F in one hour from 11am to noon.

I've never understood not dreaming in color. I have always had extremely vivid and realistic dreams, in full color.

Vanished for longer than I thought I had. Work has been getting insane for both SP and I -- I need to be logged in and working now but am putting it off. Hope everyone is doing well.