I’m a native of the tiny Texas panhandle town of Floydada. So was country music artist Don Williams. He’s much better known than I am, and that’s a fact.
Mr. Williams passed away this week. His music, though, will live on. I was a fan of his work, and believe I would have been even if we hadn’t had Floydada in common.
She haunts me at times
Those weary eyes and sad smile
When the facade fades
I cannot gaze long
Fearful of her influence
Leery of her ills
Mocking me, she stares
Eye to eye, she locks me in
My mirror tells all
Doright Manor sailed through the rigors of Hurricane Irma with flying colors. Granted, by the time Irma reached our neighborhood outside of Tallahassee, Florida, she’d been relegated to the rank of tropical depression, so we experienced a markedly weakened storm compared to our neighbors in south Florida.
Studly Doright and I only had to deal with a loss of electricity for roughly twelve hours on Monday. As soon as I heard the click signaling a return of power I raced Studly down the long hallway from the den to our bedroom and claimed the shower before he had even registered that we were officially back on the grid. Score one for Nana!
Studly worked from home all day, coordinating his workforce to assist one another in getting roofs repaired and trees cleared, as well as determining who needed generators and fuel. I got a little emotional listening to these good folks detailing what damages their properties had sustained and always reluctantly agreeing to accept assistance. A special team will be deployed to go help out employees in the hardest hit areas so they in turn can better serve their respective communities.
When the weather cleared this afternoon, but before we had our power restored, Studly and I drove into Tallahassee and checked on his office. We were pleased to find the electricity working there, so we charged our phones and got a cold drink from the refrigerator. On our way back to Doright Manor we had to pull over for a convoy of utility repair vehicles from an adjoining state. Again I choked up thinking about those people who go out in inclement weather to keep us going.
Thanks again to everyone who said a prayer or sent positive vibes or just took a moment to think about us as we waited for, and then endured the storm. Hopefully I’m through with hurricane stories this year! Farewell Irma! I’m having a Smithwick’s straight from a fully functioning fridge in honor of her departure.
Peace, people.
Sometimes I forget that my Facebook posts and my WordPress posts don’t reach the same audiences. I want to thank everyone who has inquired about our welfare as Irma approaches, and to provide an update.
At Doright Manor we lost power at 2:54 a.m. Monday. There is no darkness quite as deep as that found in a forest during a nighttime storm. A black velvet blanket seemingly fell over our home awakening us immediately. On the plus side we’ve had no lightning, just heavy winds and driving rain.
The weakened eye of Irma is projected to pass very near us around noon today according to the ventusky.com model shown below.
Right now we are getting the outer edges of Irma. Thank goodness she has lost a great deal of her ferocity. She’s scary enough as it is.
I’m going offline now to save battery power. To my Florida friends, stay safe and to everyone else, keep sending those prayers and positive vibes. We really can feel them.
Peace, people!
Sheltered here
We feel the prayers,
Waves of heavenly love
In an earthly storm
Winds rage and wane
We feel the prayers
Frissons of faith
To comfort and calm
In our worried hearts
We feel your prayers
Buoying our spirits
Carrying us through
We know she’s out there
Churning on the horizon
Her name on our lips
Feverish dervish
Frantic dance for the ages
Spinning tirelessly
Irma, we feel you
Whatever slights you’ve suffered
We will bear your pain
Doright Manor where I reside with my husband of forty one years, is in a rural neighborhood about ten miles west of Tallahassee, Florida. We have a Havana, FL, address, but we are only slightly farther from Tallahassee than we are from the little town of Havana. On most days I drive into Tallahassee at least once to walk, shop, or sometimes to take in a movie.
The knowledge that Hurricane Irma will hit near us early next week has me feeling antsy, and even though I’ve already shopped for supplies I began to worry that I might have forgotten something. So yesterday I drove over to see the movie “It!” and followed up with a trip to a Publix grocery store.
My hope was that I could purchase some canned meat meals, such as tuna or chicken with crackers and mayonnaise, that require no refrigeration. I’d looked a couple of days ago, but the store was completely out of those items. The clerks thought they’d get some more in before the storm, so I deemed it worth a trip.
Here is what the canned meat aisle looked like:
I wasn’t even a little bit tempted by these delicacies:
Canned squid! Who knew? I just know I’m not that desperate.
The store was busy, but the mood was generally buoyant, even though now it looks as if Tallahassee will get a bigger piece of the storm than was previously predicted.
Studly Doright and I still aren’t sure if we’ll evacuate ahead of Irma. I’m leaving the decision up to him. I call him Studly Doright for a reason, so I’m in his capable hands.
Please send good vibes out to all those in the direct path of the storm, especially to one of my British blogging friends and her husband who are vacationing in Florida. They had to evacuate the Keys and may have to go to a shelter in Miami if their hotel has to be vacated.
Thanks for reading. I have absolutely the best followers. Peace, people.
We once had a dream
Outrageous and oh so near
The heavens stretched wide
Malignant fears grew
With a pen’s stroke, hope seemed dashed
Editing lives
Calling on giants
Defend these youthful dreamers
These Americans
Hurricane Irma is barreling down on the U.S., and I have to tell her she has really bad timing. I doubt she cares.
Here at Doright Manor we’ve stored up gallons of bottled water and my favorite survival snack, Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies. I have a pantry filled with canned chicken and Vienna sausages and enough cheese crackers to get us through the first hundred days of a zombie apocalypse. Now, it’s just a waiting game.
There’s still a chance the storm won’t hit us at all and might veer into coastal Texas, which is still reeling from Hurricane Harvey. As much as I don’t want Irma to come through here, I don’t want her messing with Texas even more.
Right now Irma is a category 5 storm, and anywhere she makes landfall is going to suffer tremendous damage. The projections we are seeing show that when she reaches Studly Doright and me in the Florida panhandle she’ll still be a category 1. Many things can change still, and we are praying she’ll weaken considerably before she reaches land.
Praying for the best, but preparing for the worst. Don’t be cruel, Irma.
Great piece here by alotfromlydia.wordpress.com.
We have two government investigations simultaneously taking place, supposedly working toward the same goal, and yet one is actively working against the other to end both investigations.
Remember former House Intel Committee Chief David Nunes? This past April, he held an impromptu press conference, without discussing his plans to do so with the committee, falsely backing up Trump’s “Obama wiretapped me” claim.
He was attempting to assist Trump in discrediting the FBI investigation, then led by former FBI Director James Comey, by falsely claiming their investigation was based on information gathered illegally when former President Obama “wiretapped” Trump Tower.
Nunes seems to have disappeared, or been run out of town. He’s still there, although he kind of sort of recused himself (not really) from the committee. He retained the right to oversee committee subpoenas.
His behavior in April was illegal, and is part of the case against Trump and his…
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Praying for Eyebrowz 