Bookcases and Catching Up

There have not been too many doll-related things going on here. Mr. BTEG bought me a couple of IKEA Baggebo bookcases to display some of my collection. They're a nice size for the 1/6 scale, leaving enough room for dolls to stand, but not so high that the bookcase gets too tall. So far, I have a couple of Barbies and most of my Rainbow High dolls moved in. Please excuse the lighting. I have to get better photography lighting into that room. 

Jaye mentioned on Instagram that there were some different styles of those jewelry boxes that also work as doll couches and chairs at a store called Home Goods. My store didn't have any, so Mr. BTEG also got me the couch and chair above from Amazon. I'm sorry you really can't see them very well, but they're certainly fine for doll furniture. The brunette Barbie is new. She's one of the Little Debbie Barbie dolls. She came with a straw hat and a cardboard bag full of cardboard Little Debbie boxes of snacks.

 

 

RM, we've had quite the weather up here. Last week, there were high winds for several days. A few big trees were knocked down, which led to our power being out for 25 hours. I'm so thankful for our generator. It's not one of the whole house ones, but Mr. BTEG was able to run our furnace with it, as well as a few important appliances. Then on Monday morning, we heard a very loud boom that seemed to shake our home to the foundation. Turns out it was a meteor exploding in our area and creating a sonic boom! I've seen some video of it; it looks like a shooting star, only in our atmosphere. It came what looked like rather close to the ground, but probably wasn't, before it self-destructed. I haven't seen for sure whether any of the pieces, or meteorites, made it to earth.

I guess I might as well mention my back issues here, since I'm talking about other things. Turns out I have arthritis degradation in my lower spine, which was causing the pain. I got an epidural block in the region, which has cleared up the pain quite a bit. I may need to get more as time goes on, but it's very easy procedure. MoonGirl, I hope your back problems get resolved as easily!

I'm Not In Kansas

But we still had a tornado! We had two tornadoes, to be precise, on Tuesday, August 6th, but only one started in the town that we live in. Fortunately, it must have started a bit to our east, and it was only an EF1. Still, winds got up to 110 mph, or 68 kmph. Another EF1 touched down to our southeast. As far as I have seen, it is nowhere near the devastation you can see in news reports of huge tornadoes. There are lots of large branches down, and damage to houses and cars, but nothing like a really bad tornado where homes just disappear. The big thing is that over 300,000 people in the Greater Cleveland area do not have power, including us. Fortunately, Mr. BTEG bought a generator the last time we had a long-term power outage. It can't power our whole house, but it's keeping our fridge and freezer going, and both my computer and Mr. BTEG's are also running off of the generator. For internet, I'm using my cell phone as a wi-fi hotspot, since the cell towers are working. As of today, Thursday, August 8th, we are over 48 hours without power. Trucks from other power companies a bit further out are pouring in to assist, as is common when a big weather event hits and knocks out the electricity. 

We did receive a tornado warning on Tuesday, meaning a tornado had been spotted on the ground, so take cover immediately. I went into the downstairs bathroom in the middle of our condo, which has no windows. Mr. BTEG was at a doctor's office, and they hustled him out of the lobby with glass windows, and into an exam room. Neither of us saw or heard any major winds, so it wasn't until looking at the news that I read about the tornadoes. I'm thankful that I have not seen any fatalities reported, and that the tornadoes we did get were not more powerful. I'm praying we get electricity back sooner rather than later!

Update August 9th, 5:23 PM

More information is coming out in the news. I found out exactly where the tornado here started, and it did start to the east of us, but only a few miles away. One house got its side completely taken off, around where the tornado began. I'm thankful that I still haven't seen anything about fatalities. I also found out that there were two more EF1 tornadoes, significantly to the south and to the east of where we were, making four in total.

We still don't have power, but we are definitely not alone. Power company trucks are everywhere, and it seems they're coming from places as far away as Alabama. There are also lots of trucks out dealing with all of the large fallen branches. Neighbors and businesses are pulling together, offering phone charging, snacks and coffee, and time in A/C if needed. Tornadoes are not so common here, but bad storms certainly are, so most of us know the drill.

Final Update August 10th, 4:25 PM

Power came on at 3:16 PM! We went approximately four days without electricity. Linemen showed up from seventeen other states to help get us back up, and I recognize all of the hard work it took to restore power.

Totality's Best Seat - April 8th, 2024

That was an advertising phrase that was used around here, as a way to promote this area as a good place to observe the latest solar eclipse. Here in the Cleveland, Ohio area, we did indeed get a 100 percent totality view of the eclipse, and there were people from various other states who converged here in Cleveland. Mr. BTEG got the best shots of the eclipse. I did get a few shots of the area around us, taken with my phone camera (but not looking directly at the sun.) :)

The pictures make it look hazy and cloudy, but it was really a beautifully clear day. It was quite an unusual day for NE Ohio in April, which was appreciated all the more because of the eclipse viewing. Full totality started at 3:15 PM EST, and lasted for three minutes.

As it got progressively darker, the street lights and lights on people's garages started to come on. We also heard bird song. I've read that elsewhere people heard crickets, but it is too cold for crickets here right now. As totality occurred, we could hear a chorus of "ohs" from around the neighborhood, along with applause and some fireworks.

My husband got these fantastic shots of the actual eclipse by using the lens of one of our eclipse glasses in front of his camera lens. This is what we saw when we looked directly at the eclipse using our glasses. The first one is when the moon had started to move into position in front of the sun. The second one is full totality. It got so cold during totality, too! One minute, I was comfortable in short sleeves, five minutes later, I was shivering in a hoodie with the hood pulled up.

I did not make eclipse glasses for any of my dolls, or even take any of my dolls out for the view, like Raging Moon did. We did meet up later with Mr. BTEG's sister, her husband, and their daughter, who drove out from about an hour and a half away, and spent a few days here in a hotel. They watched the eclipse from the Great Lakes Science Center in downtown Cleveland. We then spent most of the next day together shopping, and Mr. BTEG and I were both completely worn out yesterday, thus the lateness of this post.

Raging Moon will probably also get a kick out of the fact that people were jokingly attributing the beautiful weather to the spirit of Dick Goddard, longtime Cleveland, Ohio weatherman. Not only did he create and host the very popular Woollybear Festival, he was also a strong advocate for animal protection, and holds the Guinness World Record for longest career as a weather forecaster.

Hoping to bring more doll content soon!

Meg Checks Out the Beach and Hangs Out at the Park

I decided to have Meg's first photo shot at a local beachfront park. It didn't go as well as I wanted. The water was very choppy yesterday and the tide was high, so there wasn't much actual beach, at least where I was at. But I think just doing it, even if it didn't turn out perfectly, was enough for me to plan a next time.

Meg is wearing Barbie capris (on her, they are just jeans) and a top that I made for her.

Meg spends some peaceful contemplation time before we head down.

The waves crash on the shore.

Driftwood is very common on the local beaches. Meg leans on a piece for support as a wave covers her feet.

The park is named Veteran's Memorial Park, and so there are several memorial plaques for those who came from this little town, and died in service to their country.

Meg found a good place to perch behind a 105 Howitzer cannon that sits in the park. This is probably an original shell painted over. She also lets her feet dry off.

Meg reads the names on a WWI Memorial. Some of those names can still be found in the community.

And my favorite shot of the day. Meg just looks so happy to be outside in this nice weather.

I liked being outside in the milder autumn weather too! Meg and I will be going out again.

Snow, Snow, Go Away

How on earth can I get inspired to take lovely spring pictures when there is snow.on.the.ground. Snow!! Okay, I will admit that it is not that much of an unusual occurrence here in NE Ohio, but I'm certainly not feeling spring at the moment.