The house is still standing on this Mother’s Day. In fact, there was no really bad weather to speak of yesterday. It rained only a little bit, and I may have heard thunder once or twice. That’s it. The National Weather Service forecast offices and the Storm Prediction Center at the University of Oklahoma gets it wrong sometimes. Sadly for Greensburg, Tuscaloosa and Joplin, they get it right, too.

I’ve spent many a Mother’s Day alone, so this is nothing new. Many times I was at an LSU baseball game, sometimes a long way from home. I remember one year where LSU was at Florida, and Bill Franques and I made a mad dash back from Gainesville, arriving in Baton Rouge right at midnight CT. If there had been more troopers patrolling Interstate 10, we might have been broke from the tickets we would have been issued. Bill felt terrible he had to leave Yvette and his boys (their daughter, Madeline, didn’t come along until November 2004) behind on Mother’s Day. There was also 1998, where I had to take four final exams in the two days after Mother’s Day after LSU’s baseball trip to Ole Miss.

Friday was the Russell Relays. The meet was shortened somewhat in order to avoid any potential rain, but it didn’t rain. The meet was shorter than usual, ending before 8 p.m. I left the meet a little after 6 because I needed to go to Hays and get a new glass screen cover for my iPhone. I dropped the phone at track meet and glass protector shattered, but the screen itself was fine. I also got some food and beverages for my supply this coming week at Walmart. I don’t shop at Walmart anywhere else except Hays, simply because it’s either that or Dillon’s, where the selection is lacking (at least in stores outside of Wichita) and prices are higher. Hy-Vee has high prices as well, but the selection there is much better.

I spent all of Saturday at home. The toaster in the kitchen was smoking, so I pulled the plug. I ordered a new one from Bed Bath and Beyond which should arrive late next week before my parents get back. I’m using a toaster oven my mother got as a gift from one of her friends in the meantime.

I was dozing off a lot yesterday. I had some really vivid dreams. When I got up I wondered what the heck I was dreaming about.

With the bad weather, there was no way I was going outside to try to use the gas grill in the backyard. I found out I really didn’t need to. I put the steak in the NuWave oven I have downstairs, and boy, the steaks were nice and juicy, and not overdone. I did some research and found out Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, the famous chain which began in New Orleans 50 years ago, cooks its steaks in an infrared oven similar to the NuWave.

The Royals aren’t playing until tonight, and the NASCAR race at Kansas City was last night, so sports on TV this afternoon are almost non-existent. Oh well.