Three days ago the hype from the weather forecasters began regarding the dangerous storm that would hit the Miami Valley Saturday night. Todd was going out of town for a few days, leaving late Saturday afternoon, and all I could think of was, "Great. Six months ago he was gone when the remnants of Hurricane Helene blew through here and I was alone, without power for 30 hours. Is this going to be another here-we-go-again story?" My next thought was, "If we lose power this time we are buying a generator."
Leading up to the storm, the day was pleasant. I raked some leaves from a couple garden beds, went for a quick hike at Hills and Dales, stopped by the grocery store to get a couple ingredients to make Dal, a lentil-based soup. My rationale to make this? If the power went out, I would have a legume/vegetable based meal that would last for 30 hours wouldn't spoil. Plus it's tasty and comforting (at least to me, it is) and if there was any storm damage, I could drown my sorrows in a bowl of Dal. I did put my corkscrew in the wine refrigerator (of course the wine would be protected in there). Priorities, you know. My mind was going every which way.
At 8:30 all the local TV stations interrupted regular programming to track the upcoming storm. It was getting close south of here and lightening showed up in the sky. I went outside to check things out and the night sky was clear with some clouds, the wind was starting to pick up. Some stars and planets were visible so of course I opened the Night Sky app and found Jupiter and Mars. With those sightings, I was content to go back in the house. Ten minutes later, the sky opened up with torrential rain and the winds howled. The weather man reported that there had been a 74 mph gust of wind at a location two miles from my house.
The weather drama shifted to the reporters who were driving around out in this storm to give live reports. Why would the powers that be send people out in these dangerous conditions? Ratings and real-life footage and those who want to keep their jobs.
Anyway, it took 30 minutes for the storm to pass, there were no confirmed tornadoes and Monday when it's light people will be able to assess the damage. At 9:32 pm (21:32) the weather threat was over and the weather specialist passed along these comforting words, "You all can go to sleep now." Not yet, I poured a glass of wine.
I had a different post planned for today but bumped it to next Monday's Mulling.