A BLOW-OUT WEEKEND!

The weekend started with a our Direct TV being deflected by a football and blowing out any hopes of chilling watching the usual Friday night shows. Saturday morning, Rus fixed that problem. At 2, we saw a blow-out matinee performance of The Lion King, and an evening blow out of a different kind watching the OSU/USC game. We enjoyed both of these with family and friends. Sunday was Dennis' birthday. We planned to go out to dinner to celebrate that evening. We were expecting rain from Hurricane Ike, but It turned out to be the final and most destructive blow of all. The day started sunny and bright, getting cloudy and blustery at Laura's soccer game as the afternoon rolled on. By 2, there was enough wind to have me securing the umbrella on the picnic table in the yard. By 2:30, I was moving the Adirondack chairs next to the house, followed by the grill, removing the hummingbird feeders, lawn ornaments, the tied down umbrella. The wind's velocity picked up... considerably - leaves were flying, a few light toys, balls and grill covers flitted through our backyard. The kids on our block were having fun pretending to be skydivers or wind angels daring the wind to blow them over. When it did, they got up and laughed. Dennis bought a new trail bike. When he got home, he took a spin down the road. As he braked, the wind pushed him ass over teakettle, ending him and his bike flying in the air like a paper doll. He wound up landing on his back sliding along the road (ferocious road-rash resulted). It was time to take a serious look at this wild weather. Then it really began to blow. We started to watch neighbors siding peel off their homes, trees fell, our young saplings were blown to the ground and kept in that position for hours leaving them permanently disfigured. Lights flickered, then went out. We are more than 1,200 miles from Galveston, so in theory, Ike should have been a passing breeze. The wind, they tell us now was 75 mph here. Who woulda thunk a hurricane could blow through the prairie! The next 60 hours we were without electricity. We immediately put our BSA training to work....coolers, ice, candles, matches, etc. seemed simple enough. Ice was scarce. I trolled the local, and not so local, stores for enough to keep my chest freezer, as well as the kitchen frig cold. It took a while, but I finally found some at Sam's on the other side of Columbus. We passed our time with cooking, talking, laughing, playing Euchre, and visiting neighbors. Dennis, Laura, and Rus had power in their buildings on Monday, so life went on as usual. I prepared for the coming night - restocking candles, assessing the ice and food situation. Tuesday, our neighbor, Scott, was "loaning" his generator, an hour at a time, to people who had freezers to help save the stores of food. My Hero! Today as I drove to the Community Center, I counted my blessings as I passed the havoc and destruction Ike doled out here - trees blocking roads, some through homes, electric poles lying like fallen warriors, lawn ornaments destroyed, shingles missing like teeth leaving the black tar paper exposed or worse, gaping openings, curled ribbons of siding stripped off houses, heavy stone fountains lay like ruins in front yards, barns destroyed, new construction teetering. It is not a pretty sight. We didn't have any great losses and made the best of a tough 3 days. We were lucky. It was a blow-out weekend on many levels!