Scavenger Hunt For Food and A Game of Dirty Marbles

 By Sunday Evening the weather
in Lancaster County was stunning.

Hurricane Irene had moved on up the coast

and all that was left were downed trees,

flooding and power outages.

We had lost power a couple of times 

but other than some inconveniences we were

fine.  I pretty much stayed up all night Saturday

night....but then I stay up anytime there is a huge

news story....just so happened we,
along with the entire East Coast,
were a part 

of this news story. 

The storm raged outside and it was scary 

and fascinating all at the same time.

By Sunday evening I was interested in going

out to see what it looked like in other neighborhoods.

So...I suggested we do a Coupon Book Scavenger

hunt for food.  After all, the one from last year will 

expire in October and there were still many good coupons

remaining and we got the new one with many more 

fun buy one, get one free offers.

Only Chelsea and Warren were agreeable to 

go along....although the boys were willing to help

us eat anything we brought back.

Off we went.

We were impressed by how tame things

appeared as we drove north. 

It seemed that while there was a tree

down here or there and some roads were closed

near waterways the damage seemed pretty 

minimal the further north we went.

But there were a couple of corn fields laid

completely flat.  That was so hard to see.

We are praying that the corn can still be salvaged 

for feed.  Our neighbors depend on the profits

from the crops to live.

Finally we arrived at the first stop on our 

scavenger hunt....

We had NO coupon

but it seemed so necessary to 

our Chelsea....

Ahhh....now we could have fun.

So, across the street we went,

coupon in hand for buy one, get one free

foot long chili dogs at Sonic.

Into the back seat they went 

the first in the loot to head home.

Also...Warren felt the need for a slush.

Not too far away we got to use another 

coupon to score two giant roast beef sandwiches

for the price of one.

Then it was two Frosty's for the price of one.

I promptly ate one of those.

The other was pretty melted by the time

we got home....

but Mikey enjoyed it anyway.

Over to Willow Street to the McDonalds

where we picked up a couple of 

Quarter Pounders with Cheese.

The view from the drive through...

Willow Valley Grace Brethren Church.

I love the steeple!

Our final stop was for a pizza that had
been called in at half price.
I didn't add up everything we spent and
I am sure that with gas prices it wasn't the
most economical way to feed a family...
but it was fun!!
And it did provide for variety,
which we all know is the spice of life.

We came home to a fun game of Dirty Marbles

with Mom, Georgia and a neighbor couple.

This game is like a cross between Sorry and

Chinese Checkers. It lives up to its name....

such dirty marbles, always sending someone

back home or changing places with them at the
most inconvenient of times.

We decided that we will have to do game nights

more often. It is fun to get together with neighbors

and laugh. A wonderful stress reliever after a

nervewracking weekend, that is for sure.

We still have a pole down on our road.

The wires are hanging down.

No one can drive through....

those effected have to take a detour 

every time.

In the grand scheme of things,

it is a minor inconvenience.

I have no idea when they will get here to

fix it but so far our power is back on and

there are blockades to protect drivers on

this road. I just pray the neighbor children

don't get curious and get hurt.

I'm interested to read your storm stories

and hear from friends up North

to know that you are ok.

Hugs.