Almost the Perfect Storm
04-04-06, 10:20 PM

48 hours earlier, Sunday night, I huddled under the basement steps with my two dogs who wanted to run to anywhere instead of staying here with me while winds roared, lightening amazingly fully illuminating my basement that immediately followed by crackling thunder which suppressed the shrieking tornado siren struggling to warn us to take cover. This was it. I knew a tornado was here to destroy my house or one of the giant oaks were about to fall upon the roof. I briefly debated where to duck and cover � under the steel, free weigh rack system or under the stairs. Dictating my decision was to be as far away from the heavy tree as possible.

After a half hour to an hour with trembling dogs which I tried to coax into staying with me with impromptu songs, the storm finally moved on to the next community leaving me behind in darkness. Not to worry because last year�s storms taught me a lesson in being prepared with flashlights and candles, unfortunately a romantic evening melted the candles and I had no idea where the flashlight was -- a drawer? The garage? My car?

On a 911 television special. A World Trade Center survivor taught me another lesson: in a bind, use your cell phone's illuminated screen as a light. Having flipped open the phone, it was easy to find the flashlight in the garage, sans battery though. Immediately, I went to work to set-up the generator, connect the refrigerator and sump pump but, son of a gun, I was out of gas within three hours and too tired to seek a gas station with its electricity still powering the pumps. According to the radio, much of the city was without power.

Before sun rise, I peeked down the stairs and thought everything was fine until I took my step off the last step and unknowingly into an inch and half of cold, fresh water overflowing from the sump pump hole. Floating in the water were socks, Christmas ornaments, pictures and receipts from boxes that I failed to re-shelve after Christmas. Calling my boss�s answer machine I left the following message, �Hey X, it�s Bob. I�ll be a little late to work today because I have to clean up my flooded basement. Probably, I�ll be in around noon.� I figured on buying some gas for the generator and restarting the sump pump that will drain the basement in a couple of hours � no problem.

When the sun rose, I threw on some clothes to step outside to find yard strewn with fallen branches and a down power line. �Hey boss, it�s Bob again. After the sun rose, I don�t think I�ll be in for work today. I have a lot to clean up!�

Last night, we were still without electricity which meant no fan for my gas heat. With temperatures going below thirty degrees, I extended another extension cord to my big screen television; pulled out the sleeper-sofa; ignited the gas fire place and put on a hat. Thinking my dogs would like to stay warm and lay to either side of me, I thought incorrectly as they immediately jumped off and were content to sleep on the porch with the long, thick coats of hair. Damn dogs! What good are they? So, I watched the NCAA championship game but fell asleep within five minutes due to exhaustion from cleaning the house top to bottom and stacking limbs and branches.

Still without electricity, I was once again absent from work today. I figured, I might as well as do my Spring cleaning now since there won�t be distractions of a television or computer. Besides, who wants to work with a two day unshowered co-worker? Finally, around four p.m. the electricity came back on and the world, my world, unfortunately returned to normal. I truly enjoyed these two days off, even though all I did was clean and throw-out garbage. Yet, my house is slowly getting organized once again...a feet that has not occurred in over a year. Christ, I even organized my files in my den and threw out a box that I�ve kept for two years - just in case, I had to return the gift or get it repaired.

Here�s the cheesey-hoaky part of this entry: just like the storm comes chaos then after a short spell, calmness and order returns. With a little more work, I�m ready to move on with my life.

Yesterday - Tomorrow