No Secrets Here!

Aside from the weather yesterday, the weekend has actually been very nice. Hot, yes. But nice all the same.

Sunday afternoon we got hit with some really strong electrical activity in the atmosphere. I'm definitely not a big fan of electrical storms -not at all -and yesterday sure was no exception to that for me.

The storm blew in shortly before 5 p.m. (I'm guesstimating the time but I think it was around that time) and was strong in pelting rain, high winds and lightning and more lightning. Somewhere between 5 and 6 p.m. there was a really sharp flash of lightning and also, a really, really loud thunderclap then too and presto magic, the power went out!

I was worried initially about how Kurtis would handle this storm as he tends to wig out over the lightning, especially when there is a power outage but yesterday, he actually did quite well during the storm. He did have his little 20 questions actually means 40 questions game going on and had one question after the other about the storm, the thunder, the lightning and mainly about how long is the power going to be off? But, at least he didn't wig out and have a massive meltdown, which was a relief. I really think the fact that it was daylight when the power went out and any other time we have lost power it was already dark outside is what helped him not to get totally terrified.

He fell asleep on the sofa probably around 8 p.m. or shortly thereafter and the power didn't come back on until almost 9 p.m. However, the cable, telephone and internet were all three down for the count until about 10:30 p.m. -much to my relief there! Only so much solitaire I can handle on the computer.

Thankfully, when the storm hit, we had already had our big meal for the day so it didn't interrupt any grilling activity. I fixed my own recipe of grilled chicken breasts in a liquid sort of rub consisting of lime juice, chile powder, a bit of black pepper and garlic salt mixed, brown sugar, about 1-2 tablespoons of oil and Worchestershire sauce. Just mixed up those components, drizzled it over the chicken, then spread it around with a basting brush and let it marinate for about 2 hours. I pre-cooked the chicken in the oven and then, transferred it to the grill so it was cooked all the way through and only grilled it long enough to give it the heat and flavor from the grilling. To go with the chicken, I fixed a pasta and vegetable salad from one of my many cookbooks and a small container of baked beans. The chicken and pasta salad both went over quite well with everyone present yesterday -including Kurtis! Of course, he had to have a big blob of ranch dressing to dip his chicken in which is standard operating procedure for him regardless of how any kind of poultry is cooked. Gotta have that Ranch dressing for dipping, ya know.

Maya wasn't home Saturday as she was spending the day -and night too -up at Mandy's best friend, Jenn's place. Seems they have a pool in their backyard and that was right up Miss Maya's alley. She didn't come home until a little after 4 p.m. today then.

Although Mandy had received a phone call earlier today from the kid's Dad, asking if he could see the kids, she didn't tell them about that in case he pulled a number he's often noted for and that's saying he'll be here and then, not showing up. So rather than run the risk of the kids being disappointed, she didn't mention it to them at all and just let them be surprised when he showed up.

Maya was supposed to be cleaning up the pig sty she refers to as "her room" but wasn't all that interested in completing that task -especially not after her Dad showed up. However, he went upstairs with her to do a mix of supervising her clean-up job and helping her with the task too. When they came back downstairs, my son, Clate's girlfriend, Elizabeth was here, sitting at the table with me having a bite to eat. Maya, Bill and Kurtis all came into the dining room at the same time and upon seeing Elizabeth seated at the table, Maya shocked all of us with her decision to "introduce" Elizabeth to Bill. (A process not needed since he had camped out for several months at Clate's house and definitely knew Elizabeth already.)

But anyway, Maya turned to Elizabeth and said, "Have you met my Dad? He was in jail back in January!"

Now granted this was the truth because he had been picked up and spent a couple days in the pokie for non-support but we were all pretty shocked simply by Maya's nonchalance in stating this to Elizabeth like that.

Truth be told, I started to giggle over that remark and had a hard time to finish eating because the way she had said that just struck me as so darned comical.

Bill then told us that both kids had given him the third degree while upstairs with them, asking him all kinds of questions about what it is like to be in jail, how you get put there and well, you name it, they asked him about it!

So now, look out because Maya knows all there is to know (at least in her book anyway) about what happens when you go to jail!

Important things to know just in case you ever get sent there, I guess her motto is "Be prepared!"