"Batten down the hatches. Reef the sails. Turn her into the wind. It's a comin' up of a blowout.""Aye, aye Captain."
We are watching the reports here to see what tropical storm, "Dolly" is going to do today. It looks like it might make land fall near us at about noon tomorrow.
Storms are very much a part of life. Most of the areas where I've lived during my lifetime, were at times, prone to feel the effects of severe weather. No one likes to go through the preparations ahead of, or the clean-up afterwards, but this too is a necessary function. I remember as a small child visiting my great grandmother, Loutisha, in her big white wood framed house with the dog run down the middle. She spent many hours on her front porch in a rocking chair looking at the happenings of life around her. Her house was adorned with spiked metal rods running through glass balls. These attached at the ridgeline of her roof and had a twisted metal cable running off one side to the ground. She obviously witnessed the effects of lightning strikes through the years and wanted to insure her house was safe. As dark thunder clouds would approach she would squint and look through her wire framed glasses and usually say, "We'd better move inside. It's a comin' up of a blowout." I went to the grocery yesterday on my regular run and found that it was bursting at the seams with folks getting ready for the approaching storm. Many people were loading their buggies with bottled water. My neighbor was loading his buggy with wine. I may be forced to go to his house if I run out of water. Skies are blue this morning and the wind is calm. This afternoon, I'll move the items outside that could become missles if the wind is strong enough. I normally don't watch the news or weather, but I probably will today and tomorrow. I love to see those weather people standing outside in the storm dodging newspaper racks and other missles. Newsies, you've got to love them. They'll do anything to get a little air time. It's usually the cub reporters who are asked to do what no other sane human being would do in order to get the ratings up. Hope you have a wonderful week. I'll be here as long as we can maintain a connection. Pappy
I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it. - Mary Chase
