Sunday, December 4, 2011

“’Tis the season….”  That’s a recurring theme this time of year.  I like to think of it as ‘tis the season to think of others and do little things to make them feel better.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if folks adopted this mentality year-round?  Think how great it would be if people went out of their way to smile at strangers.  Open the door for them.  Give them spare change when they’re a few cents short on a tab.  How about if everyone made an extra effort to be kind to one another?  Not just surface kind to be cordial, but honest-to-goodness kind that depicted they really cared about another.  Hmmm…paints a nice visual doesn’t it?

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Best-laid plans….  Though I wrote a blog yesterday and sent it off to my Webmaster to be uploaded, alas, it’s not appearing.  It was a follow-up about the aftermath of our recent windstorms and will get uploaded just as soon as possible.  In the interim, I appreciate everyone’s patience.  : -)

Friday, December 2, 2011

The aftermath of our windstorm two nights ago is still under way.  I have a girlfriend visiting from Canada who’s accustomed to seeing hurricane damage.  As I drove her around last night, she was stunned at the volume of widespread damage from our storm.  Our journey took us to another friend’s house who lives in one of the cities that’s been declared a state of emergency. 

That entire city has been without power—of any kind—since the windstorm began—two days ago!  To help ease some of that friend’s frustration, I rounded up a group of us to come over and hang out, visiting with one another by candle and fire light as we sipped wine, nibbled on munchies we, who have electricity, brought to share and conversed with one another.

It was a nice way to spend the evening.  In addition to all of us getting to spend time together, my friend’s mind was taken off the fact that every bit of perishable food was ruined.  That they had no Internet, heat and only intermittent cell phone access.  That for all intents and purposes, they felt as if they were isolated in a forgotten time and space as the rest of society continued to circle around them at their usual blinding speed. 

Since there’s no electricity in that entire town, no repairs have begun.  Stores stand empty, their doors locked, handwritten notes of apologies taped to their entrances.  Giant trees, having toppled during the unrelenting gale force winds, can’t be chopped up, though some of the more major branches have been moved to the sides of roads in an attempt to make them passable.  If one has a higher profile SUV as I do, and are driving through the area after dark, they have to be mindful of low-hanging branches that have broken somewhat loose of their trees. 

Driving through this area felt a lot like I imagine navigating an overgrown jungle would—obstacles laying in wait around every corner.  It was so pitch black that seeing through my polarized windshield proved a challenge.  And if I had to turn a corner, that inability to see what lay ahead opened up the possibility for having my car collide with massive trees still blocking the road ahead. 

Driving through my own town today, I was again stunned at how much damage we sustained.  How massive trees that once graced our greenbelts, parks, schools and private properties now lay like downed soldiers on a battlefield.  Earlier, I watched a woman attempt to navigate her way around and over downed tree branches intent on completing her morning walk.  As I watched her, I considered the path I’ll run later today and wondered what obstacles I might encounter.

As I spoke with my Canadian girlfriend last night, I stated how, although we Californian’s have a reputation for being cold, self-absorbed and in too much of a rush to consider what’s going on around us, I stressed how, when faced with a disaster such as the one from this windstorm, we gracefully pull together.  We dig in.  Help neighbors we may never have met before.  We do this without being asked because it’s the right thing to do.  Most of all, we step up in this manner because, despite our negative reputations to the contrary, we do care about our fellow man and won’t hesitate to lend a helping hand when needed.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

We’re not in Kansas anymore is what I’m titling my drive home last night.  It began simply enough…for the first few miles…but then things quickly got out of hand.  Mother Nature decided to kick up a blustery windstorm that reeked major havoc. 

Clinging to my steering wheel with both hands as my car was pushed this way and that by sudden gusts of wind, I dodged whatever debris I could manage, though a lot of it ended up colliding with me as it whirl winded all around and came flying out nowhere. 

Freeway signs where ripped free of their posts and looked like accordianed pieces of paper that slid and flew their way across the freeway.  Giant tree branches also danced their way across the road or lay in wait for unsuspecting motorists to collide with them.  There were also any and all assortments of larger household items: trashcans, mop buckets and moving boxes amongst them.   I even drove over an interior house door that I couldn’t see until it was too late.  Where the heck it came from…I haven’t a clue.

Then there were the tree issues.  Now, I’m accustomed to major tree limbs being sheered off in severe wind advisories and have even seen the aftermath of entire trees uprooted as I’ve driven along roadways.  At times I’ve wondered what it would be like to witness an actual grand tree topple over and hoped that if I did, nothing would be under it. 

Last night, I got to see what it looks like when a giant pine tree crashes to the ground.  This one was massive!  So much so, that although it was beside the freeway, its height ended up blocking the entire freeway.  And then…there was the unfortunate pick-up truck that had the misfortune of being under it when the tree fell.  Thankfully, the driver ended up being okay.  Not quite sure how, seeing as his vehicle was demolished!

I later heard that right near the freeway exchange where that tree fell, there were five more fallen trees that closed down another freeway!  I’ve lived in southern California my entire life.  Have endured some nasty windstorms.  But never have I seen or driven through anything like what I experienced last night. 

At one point, I thought about pulling to the side of the road.  But then I decided that to do so made me more of a sitting duck for flying objects to collide with my car.  I decided to keep going at a drastically reduced speed, figuring that while moving, I could try to dodge debris that flew into my path.

And let’s not forget the spectacular light show I got to watch as transformer after transformer exploded into brilliant flashes of blinding blue light.  In a three-city area, I counted no less than fifteen of those shows in between dodging things hurling towards my car and trying my darnedest not to be pushed into other vehicles. 

This morning, everything’s a mess.  Downed trees and power outages are the norm.  Damage to personal property runs high, and our son’s school even called every student to inform him or her that school was still on for today.  Several nearby cities have been declared states of emergency.

Like I said, we’re not in Kansas anymore…or…wait…perhaps we are and Oz is right around the next corner….