A Different Tenor to the Day
Last night I expected to awake this morning with no more on my mind than the usual uncomfortable detritus left over from the numerous but forgotten dreams I had had, plus the awareness I would have of the pressing need Tuesday morning to drive 10 miles and back, to take part in what is being called the "Potomac Primary" and so give Mrs. Clinton the badly needed support of my one crucial vote. And things did happen that way, for a while.
Alone as so often these days, I did a fair number of my regular chores, and I was taking my first break by leisurely reading down the items in Google News when my eye hit an item that jolted me and suddenly gave the day a different kind of tone. It said that half of Virginia's counties had been hit by wildfires fanned by high winds, and the Governor had put the National Guard and other forces in a state of readiness. I had had no idea that that kind of thing was happening, in this place where the catastrophes that hit other states routinely almost never visit.
All day yesterday there had been lots of unusually strong winds, but aside from thinking of a certain section of metal roof covering that for years I had been putting off screwing down sufficiently, I hadn't given the gusts much thought. Wild fires are rare around here, but there hasn't been much rain for a long time, and there are seas of dead leaves everywhere around my home sweet home and so in most other nearby areas, too.
I dialed my ex-fireman friend and neighbor, H., who keeps up with the local news (meaning Lynchburg 25 miles away), but my phone was dead, and that really got my attention.
I then hopped in my truck and took a little spin around the neighborhood, while sniffing the air, because, depending on the direction of the wind, distant fires can easily be sensed that way. But it had been another very cold night, 19 F, and the air was still frigid, clear, and odorless, and none of the three households that I visited were alarmed. A member of one family had seen a fire burning just a few miles away yesterday, but it had headed off in another direction, while another fire just "over the mountain" had set off an order to the residents of a small town to evacuate.
Otherwise no one was disturbed, even by the dead phone lines. Members of two and possibly all three of these families also have cell phones.
But they were all glad to see me out and about in the world.
Alone as so often these days, I did a fair number of my regular chores, and I was taking my first break by leisurely reading down the items in Google News when my eye hit an item that jolted me and suddenly gave the day a different kind of tone. It said that half of Virginia's counties had been hit by wildfires fanned by high winds, and the Governor had put the National Guard and other forces in a state of readiness. I had had no idea that that kind of thing was happening, in this place where the catastrophes that hit other states routinely almost never visit.
All day yesterday there had been lots of unusually strong winds, but aside from thinking of a certain section of metal roof covering that for years I had been putting off screwing down sufficiently, I hadn't given the gusts much thought. Wild fires are rare around here, but there hasn't been much rain for a long time, and there are seas of dead leaves everywhere around my home sweet home and so in most other nearby areas, too.
I dialed my ex-fireman friend and neighbor, H., who keeps up with the local news (meaning Lynchburg 25 miles away), but my phone was dead, and that really got my attention.
I then hopped in my truck and took a little spin around the neighborhood, while sniffing the air, because, depending on the direction of the wind, distant fires can easily be sensed that way. But it had been another very cold night, 19 F, and the air was still frigid, clear, and odorless, and none of the three households that I visited were alarmed. A member of one family had seen a fire burning just a few miles away yesterday, but it had headed off in another direction, while another fire just "over the mountain" had set off an order to the residents of a small town to evacuate.
Otherwise no one was disturbed, even by the dead phone lines. Members of two and possibly all three of these families also have cell phones.
But they were all glad to see me out and about in the world.
posted by Carl (aka Sofarsogoo) | 12:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home