On the Road

I am now on vacation in the great white north. The kids are still asleep. As a result I have time to create a bit of writing for the blog.

The weather has been atrocious. Before we left mid-Michigan we just missed being whacked by a tornado. I am not kidding it passed by us at a distance of about 200-300 yards on Sunday afternoon. (Okay it might have been straight line winds or wind shear but it was really, really nasty.) Sirens were going off and the rain was blowing sideways. We just made it into the house of our friends’ when the sky turned absolutely black. Soaking ourselves in the run to their basement we rendered an image of drown rats for anyone who cared to look. When we went back outside about 8-10 minutes later four large trees (75+ years old each) lay across the road we had just come down. One old oak limb was laying across and power line and smoldering. Nothing quite like having the radio say there is a tornado about 2 minutes behind you to get the old juices flowing.

Three days straight the same cycle of heat and then heavy storm occurred. Each day some significant damage has occurred. Old trees pulled out by the roots have been the most impressive to me.

Today we are 200 miles north of home and the weather is gray but warm. It does not feel like the kind of day where we will be facing the same wrath of nature. I don’t know for sure but anecdotally I don’t remember this area being very prone to rough weather. Last night in actuality the evening was almost perfect. While cloudy the temperature was warm and the light did break through in patches that were reminiscent of the cover of those old Ideals magazines that used to sit on my grandmother’s end tables.

Because I left my camera home I bought a $17.00 cheapie digital to capture some images. I will try and load something from the little snapshot wonder today. I tried a few minutes ago and the directions were in that inscrutable computer generated English/Japanese speak that leaves my truly baffled.