Mother Nature runs Amok

Amok, Amok, Amok, Amok, Amok.  From the movie Hocus Pocus and often repeated in our home when something unexpected happens. 

It rained last night.  There was a 20% chance in the forecast, just like there had been every day for a week, but we hadn’t gotten a drop, so when it started to sprinkle, we put our TV show on pause and went to the front porch to enjoy it.  Sydney even stepped off the porch into the drizzle.  And, the drizzle became a rain.  And we watched as the wind played water patterns in the street with the falling rain drops.

And, then the lightening started.  And, the wind blew.  And, the lightening was close.  Real close.  And, it started to become constant, right around our house, not once here and then the next one far away.  They were all right here.  And, that’s when I said enough and we went inside. 

Then, the neighborhood transformer blew and our house turned into Frankenstein’s laboratory, the lights dimming, then brightening and the buzzing sound of electricity.  And, the back yard filled with a green light every time the lights inside flickered on.  Once.  Twice.  Three times the lights brightened, and then it was dark.  And, for a second, we all stood right where we were because it wasn’t just dark, it was really, really dark.  And, quiet. 

And, then we all started to move.  Me for matches and candles and later the oil lamps that I keep trimmed and filled for just such an emergency, Sydney to get all the animals together, and Rob to see if we were in any danger and calling the neighbors.  In just a few minutes, we knew the transformer was out and we were in for a long spell without power.  And, we started unplugging electronics. 

It didn’t take long for crews to get here, and soon, the rain stopped.  We went on to bed and Sydney to the shower.  It takes a while to fall asleep when you’re waiting for something to happen, and I was waiting for the power to come back on.  Eventually, I made it to sleep and sometime after 2, the power came on and the few lights we’d forgotten to turn off had to be turned off. 

We were lucky.  We’ve taken good care of our trees.  But, we’re in a drought and some of our neighbors weren’t so lucky.

This tree went down in the street, and pulled the sidewalk up with it. 

This fence was less than a year old and there’s only those two sections left standing.

These people were in the process of putting on a new roof.  Oops!

This one came down on the people’s house, root ball and all.

That last picture is so much brighter because I was using the news crew’s lights.  They were there doing a story.  While this wasn’t the most dramatic damage, it was all the damage to homes I saw.  But, there has to have been damage to cars, because there were big limbs in so many driveways. 

I could see where trees had fallen across streets and the city crews, tasked with keeping traffic moving, had just cut the limbs out of the street and left the tree top in one yard and the tree trunk in another.

So, the interview yesterday was pretty difficult.  I had done a wonderful job at the task she had given me.  But, the discussion between us was uncomfortable.  She started out by saying that there were no wrong answers, and then argued every answer I gave as though I had to be convinced.  I kind of knew to expect this (she has a reputation) and suspect it was because part of the test was to see what I’d do under pressure.  Early on, I decided I needed to stop trying to say what I thought she wanted to hear and get on with telling her how I think, which was the assigned task.  Maybe that’s a good thing.  Maybe it’s not.  And, if it’s not, it probably says as much about her as it does me.  But the last thing I want is a job where somebody expects a yes man.  That ain’t likely to happen.

Be well.  Have a great weekend eve as the news caster called it htis morning.  Tomorrow, I’ll get back to telling about my over productive last weekend.  Or, maybe something else more exciting will happen.

Lane