Weather or Not

Atwater got more than its share of rain and hail on Thursday. It first started with the heavy rain, then turned into large chunks of ice. It just kept coming and coming. We had thunder and lightning. Poor Maggie the cat was frightened and didn't know what to do.
We die-hards went to Bingo anyway. It was only raining again by then.
Here's another picture of the hail in my yard.
The hail really did a number on my plants. The flowers are ripped to shreds; leaves and small fruit knocked off the little fruit trees. My tomato plants are just half the size that they were the day before.
I guess they will all survive. Sure hope that's the end of the hail storms, at least until next winter. You have to feel sorry for the farmers. Especially those growing strawberries.
Oh yeah, I finally did my income tax papers today. Since I have no deductions anymore, I thought I could quickly do it on paper. Guess I'm not smart enough for that. Decided I better use Turbo Tax. Too late to run around and see if the one I need is still in the stores, so I downloaded it and maybe saved a few dollars. No problem with the download, but couldn't install it because my Windows XP needed updating. I was beginning to get nervous! But finally got everything installed and went line by line in Turbo Tax just in case I needed to. It took ALL morning.
Bottom line is, I saved some money by using Turbo Tax. I hope I remember that next year and not wait until the last minute!!! LOL

Whether or Not

It looks like this is going to be a Foggy winter. We've had dense fog already, but lucky for me, I didn't have to go out in it. Not yet anyway. My sister and I have been invited to the Ballico Mennonite Church for the annual Christmas dinner and program that their youth group puts on. We both really enjoyed it last year. It's at night and this year, I'm a bit worried about the fog.
My sister-in-law in Hornitos has a family pot-luck near Christmas time each year, which is a day-time party, but still it can be pretty foggy driving there too.
I've been driving to my daughter's house in Northern California for Christmas the last two years, but this year I may stay home because of the weather. It just isn't safe out there on the roads when the fog is so heavy. And I guess this is the year for it.
My other daughter who lives in Amsterdam writes that it is colder this year than it's been in the past five years since she's lived there. (What happened to global warming, is it still coming?)
She posted a picture showing how dark it is at 7:45 in the morning. See her blog at: http://underdutchskies.com
Cat Doors: I had my nephew install two cat doors about a year ago, one from the utility room into the garage and one from the small garage door to the backyard. Well, Maggie was afraid of the newly installed automatic garage door opener. It just made too much noise and she always ran away from it. I was hoping to put her litter box in the garage, but it's still in my bathroom.
One day I guess I was gone too long. When I left, Maggie was going to take a nap on the bed. When I got home, 4 or 5 hours later, she was outside on the patio!! What a surprise! She finally decided to use the cat doors. She looked so pleased with herself.
Since then she has let herself in and out of the house several times. Now I don't have to worry about going to the door to see if she is getting cold and is waiting to be let in. I know if she wants in bad enough, she will come in on her own. I wonder if she realizes how lucky she is and does she remember her humble beginnings at the animal shelter? I doubt it, she's been living the 'life of Riley' for almost a year and a half now.
Maggie loves to play, here are pictures of her playing with the toy mouse that she can push around and around. It's kind of a "now you see it, now you don't" kind of toy. The top part is a scratching area.
So, if you are wondering what to get your cat for Christmas. . . .lol