Baby, It's Cold Outside

Yesterday Mike came all the way home to pick me up and then he took me to Joplin with him. What a guy. He had to get new tires put on his company truck and he asked me if I wanted to go. Sure thing! Especially if he was going to pick me up. We stopped and got a few things from the grocery store in Seneca then we got to my Dad's garage to help them some more with the clean up. Mike's been going every afternoon after work and helping out until it gets too dark to see anything. We were only there for about an hour last night before nightfall, so we didn't help too much. We shoveled, swept, and squeegied snow for an hour. My cousin, Mitchell, was there when we got there. And of course, my Uncle and my Dad. With the five of us, we moved some snow out of there. Lots of it. I didn't help a whole lot, I basically tried to sweep snow out one of the bay doors without getting in the way of the men who could push around about twice as much as I could at a time. Mike told me every little bit helped, but I so wanted to tell him to not treat me like a child. I knew I wasn't helping much. But, they had to get that snow out of there before it melted and became one big, wet mess. No worries about that today, since it never got above freezing all day. But, they do want the snow out so they can take the roof apart piece by piece. They are going to reuse as much as they can and take the I-beams down to the place that built the garage to have them do some work on them so they can reuse them, also. They made lots of progress yesterday, a few people showed up to help them during the day. It won't be an overnight fix, but I think they'll have it done quicker than I originally thought. If everything goes smoothly, (and how often does that happen?) I think maybe a month. I hope, anyway.

I think my brother and I are going to take our children to Vinita where we'll meet my sister's children at a photographer and have a portrait made of all nine grandkids. That's what my Mom said she wanted for Christmas. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they can all make it that day.

Well, it's fully dark now so my little family should be home soon. I have the table set and ready for them and now all I have to do is a little last minute heating up of the vegetable soup I made today. Perfect for a cold night. Adios!