As you will have noticed, I got a bit behind in posting pictures this past week. I think I am now caught up to today and hopefully I’ll find something later today worthy of a picture! I also realized this morning that it is now May and time for an overview of April, which I will try to get done soon.
The last few days have been heart-wrenching and unsettling ones. For almost 48 hours, beginning late last Wednesday afternoon, I have been glued to the TV and the computer, watching the coverage of the devastation in Alabama. Most of Thursday I spent relaying information via text messages to my son Charles, since they had no power and no other way of getting news. We were very lucky that our immediate friends and family came through okay, but we do know that Bill’s IT manager when he worked in Huntsville lost their house to a tornado. And we also know that many relatives of friends in the area lost homes and businesses. Even this morning, five days later, I see the pictures and updates and I just can’t believe it. Some ask how one could live in an area where a tornado can wipe out everything in a second, but most of the time it is such a beautiful area to live. And I think it is human nature to believe it can never happen to you.
Interactive Maps of Tornado Activity, Deaths By County (Alabama)
Be patient. This loads slow but has quite an impact.Lawrence County is where we lived and my Dad still lives. Morgan County is where Charles lives. The Tornado Activity tab shows a tornado touchdown in Speake, yet my dad said they had no damage.
In addition to being absorbed by the events in the Southeast, I have been spending much time updating Bill’s resume on the job boards and searching for opportunities for him. This weekend I printed off probably 50 possible jobs in Arizona (Phoenix and here in Sierra Vista) and Bill spent the weekend reading through them and making notes on them. Some we applied to yesterday, others are in a stack on my desk to apply to today, and many more were rejected for various reasons. Since his job ends June 3 and the contract has not been awarded yet (it was supposed to have been awarded the first part of April!) it is getting more difficult to see us staying here for much longer. Time to begin packing a few things, weeding out some stuff, and making plans!