Glad to be Here

Hi there!

How’s the weather in your neck of the woods?  We are in the midst of a record breaking heat wave with heat indices well into the hundreds.  

I’m not complaining, however, because there are thousands of people in Central Ohio without power.  They have been without power since June 29 when much of the state was hit with severe thunderstorms packing winds in excess of 70 mph.

During the storm, I was driving home from work on the winding tree-lined route I normally take. There were times when I could barely see two-three feet in front of the car.  I was afraid to pull over due to the high winds.  I didn’t want to risk having a tree fall on me.  Cautiously, I crept along hoping for a respite from the winds as they were rocking my car significantly.

As the rain let up, I was able to see 20-30 feet ahead of me and I increased my speed slightly.  

There’s a lot of leaves down ahead….Sh*t!  That’s a tree!

I slammed on my breaks, the car slid sideways and I braced myself for an impact.  

No…no…no!

I side-swiped the tree and ended up in the yard of a farmhouse.  Just then, my cell phone rang.  Shaking uncontrollably, I answered it.  The phone went dead.  The caller ID showed that it was Jordan so I tried to call him back.  It went straight to voicemail so I left him a message.  

Should I get out and assess the damage?

Lightening struck nearby and I decided to see if I could back away from the tree and onto the road.  Success.

There are headlights coming toward me.  I hope they see the tree.  

I flashed my lights at the oncoming truck and they stopped.  

Go home!  You can assess the damage at home after the storm.  

I turned around and made my way home.  Every so often I would have to change directions due to downed trees and power lines.  

Jordan tried several more times to contact me and Ashlee sent me a text asking me to let them know I was OK.  She said the storm was crazy and they were freaking out about me being out on the road.  Jordan finally tried calling me from a land line and was able to reach me.    

During 14 years of commuting, I’ve had many nerve-wrecking drives due to snow, ice, fog, near misses with deer and cows, but this is the first time I was SCARED that I may not make it to my destination alive.  

The fury of Mother Nature amazes me.  Once I was safely home and the storms had passed, we assessed the damage to the neighborhood and my car.

We've had this steel flagpole for years.  Mother Nature sheered it off like it was a twig.

This old tree was topped off by the strong winds.

The siding on our garage was bent and pulled away from the structure.

The end of our street was blocked from a fallen tree.

This huge tree at the church down the street was split into three.

Have you had any severe weather or power outages in your area?