Joy!

As I do with all storms that pass through, the smallest crack of thunder had me running outside to watch nature's festivities. The sky was full of huge, black clouds and three bolts of lightning would shoot out from three different directions. But the thunder, I thought, was lacking in power.

"C'mon. You can do better than that!" I bellowed at the sky.

It did.

From the south, I could see the tops of trees swaying madly. In a manner that can best be described as rolling, the wind swept through at what I later found out was 70 mph carrying branches, birds and basically anything that wasn't tied down.

"OK. I'm impressed!"

After things quieted down a bit, I headed back inside. With my hand on the doorknob, I swore to myself. I knew without even going in the power would be out. And it was.

With a night of darkness, and thusly no reading or computer, ahead of me, I got in the car and went to viddy the damage. Trees were snapped in half. Big, fucking huge trees. In half. Driving into town, half the intersections lights were gone. Sirens filled the air. There were more people on the streets, looking decidedly confused, than I see at parades.

Driving then from county to county, it was apparent the power outage was widespread. Yapping with my sister on the phone she told me the news - the power could be out for up to two days. I repeated that back to her than to myself quite a few times. Two days!

This meant no water, no flushing, no shower.

Shit.

Lanterns and flashlights were grabbed by one and all as a deck of cards hit the kitchen table.

Next morning, the chainsaws and generators were the sound de jour. Power still out. Shit.

A trip for D cell batteries, water and fast food was in order.

But, lo, I spied with my tired eye a vision in orange climbing a pole next door. Could it be? Yes, yes it could! The dude that takes the fried squirrels off the lines a few times a year was hooking the house back up! I'm not ashamed to say I did a little dance all the while squeaking with joy.

I witnessed a storm of low hurricane winds that lasted ten minutes and wrecked three counties. The power was out all of thirteen hours. And I was a crabby shit.

What the people on the gulf coast are going through makes me look like the spoilt little energy junkie that I am.

I am donating more money today.