Tag: storm

Fun With Lightning

As I’m typing this it’s 3:30 p.m. in Tallahassee, FL, on Tuesday, August 9, 2022. I’m trapped in my car by a thunderstorm of incredible intensity. As one lightning strike ends another takes its place and the thunder rolls in a continuous symphony of earth shaking booms. The storm’s now been raging for over half an hour. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

I texted Studly Doright and told him what’s going on. He’s still at work, you see, in another part of town. He told me he loved me and that it’s been fun… Gee, that’s reassuring.

Y’all carry on.

Peace, people!

Timberrr Update

A few days ago I posted a photo of a tree that had fallen during a thunderstorm on Sunday. This happened just a couple of houses from Doright Manor.

The route I normally take out of our neighborhood is in the opposite direction of the fallen tree, but I’m a curious sort and took the long way ’round yesterday morning so I could check out the situation.

Part of the tree has been been cut into pieces so that it now only blocks half of the road; although, the bulk of it remains in the front yard of a neighbor’s home.

Thank goodness it fell into the road and not onto their home.

Although, this trailer felt the full brunt of the fall:

Again, it could’ve been much worse. The tree could’ve easily landed instead on the pickup truck to which the trailer had been hitched.

Timberrr

Studly Doright is making progress with his recovery from surgery on his sciatic nerve. He still isn’t sleeping well due to intense nerve pain, but he manages to push through somehow. He’s tough.

Saturday he joined his golf group for lunch where they regaled him with tales from their morning round. He misses golf almost as much as he misses his sleep.

Studly returned home at one, just as a thunderstorm rolled in. He and I both took a much needed nap while the storm raged outside. When he awakened Studly surprised me by asking if I wanted to go to a movie. Well, duh. I ALWAYS want to go to see a movie.

I’d already seen Solo, but Studly hadn’t, so we spent the afternoon in that galaxy far, far away. I enjoyed it more the second time than I did the first, and Studly gave it his seal of approval. Afterwards we enjoyed dinner at a Japanese steak house to round out the evening.

Before the film started, though, our neighbor texted me a picture of a tree that had fallen in our neighborhood. When we returned home we drove passed our home to take a look.

It’s hard to tell from this angle, but the tree fell on top of a trailer loaded with sod, narrowly missing the pickup truck that had been pulling the trailer. We aren’t sure if it was felled by lightning or if our oversaturated ground gave way. Such is life in the forest. Hopefully no one was injured.

Studly went to bed early, hoping to get some sleep. Fingers crossed.

Peace, people.

Refuge

Sometimes it’s difficult to see the shore. The waves block out the sun, confuse the sailor. His compass tossed overboard.

He fights the ocean. Struggles with his sails, steering away from rocks and pilings. His strength flags.

Then from nowhere a cove is revealed, a place of refuge, feeling like an old friend, offering sanctuary. He is safe for now.

Be someone’s refuge today. We are all in need.

Hurricane Cat

We adopted our precious cat, Scout, after Hurricane Charley in 2004. We lived in Melbourne, Florida, at the time, and Scout along with her brother had been found wandering alone once the storm passed through our area. I wrote a story about her adoption, and it never fails to make me cry. That’s like laughing at one’s own joke, I suppose.

https://nananoyz5formewordpress.wordpress.com/2014/08/22/the-rescue-of-scout/

Scout is now around fourteen years old. She’s still playful and likes to play fetch. She sleeps more than she once did, but she’s still a sweet cat who loves to snuggle. Some day we’ll have to say goodbye to our Scout, but we hope we’ll be graced with her presence for many more years.

I found her snoozing on a fresh from the dryer towel one afternoon. That’s my girl.

Peace, people.

Forest Storm

Skies darken, winds howl

Acorns fall before raindrops

Squirrels take cover

Deep blue framed window

Mute witness across the lake

Watch the storm with me

Thunder fills the gap

After expectant silence

Lightning left behind

I sat on the screened in porch yesterday afternoon as a storm moved in over the lake. The blue window in the middle picture took on the appearance of a face when I looked at it closely. Then, the bottom photo has a somewhat sinister appearance. See if you can find what I’m talking about. It freaked me out a bit.

Oh, and as I finished typing that last bit we had a very close lightning strike followed by an instant house-rattling clap of thunder. Scout (our cat) and I made a hasty retreat into the house. Whew!

Peace, people!

Farewell Irma

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.

Irma Update

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!

Preprayered

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

Recognition

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