The Adventures of Three Hobbits

Since Le Petit was closed on Monday, Collin and I made plans to go out on our date Tuesday night. Auntie Kristen was going to come over for a while after she got off work at the Tuesday Farmer's Market to play with Annie. However, around 5:30 the severe weather sirens went off again and the local authorities announced that they had spotted at least two funnel clouds headed from the west toward Bloomington. Collin rushed home from where he'd been volunteering at the Crestmont Community Gardens, and Kristen also was sent home from the market early. We sat on the porch watching the storm roll in, until it was just a couple minutes away.


At the last minute, we trooped down to the basement. You can see why we were reluctant. The basement is only accessible from the porch, and it is moldy, dirty, and the air is full of loose insulation. We only go down there when things are really bad. Once again, God spared us the worst of the storm and even our garden came out in pretty good shape.


After looking at the weather radar, we sent our babysitter home. The small, intense storm which had produced the funnel clouds was past, but a much larger front was on its way and we didn't want Kristen to be stuck at our house all night.

Since it was getting late and I hadn't made any dinner, we ordered pizza (there was a $5 special that night), which turned out to be an adventure all in itself. Collin and Annie wanted to walk, so I took the car to meet them at Papa John's. Before they'd made it halfway the second storm broke, and I found them sheltered under the awning of a store. We drove in the downpour to Papa John's, and as we drove we saw the lights of all the downtown businesses flicker several times. At Papa John's there was a long line of people waiting, because the computer system was down and they couldn't accept any credit cards. I could see my pizza, but I couldn't pick it up because we were a dollar short in cash. After another adventure getting to an ATM and another long wait at the pizza place, we finally arrived home, triumphant and tired, with our large sausage pizza. The evening ended in watching the first hour of Food, Inc. together, which was a little ironic after eating a very fast foody dinner.

So there went our second attempt at a quiet romantic evening. Here's hoping we actually make it tonight!