Destructive Weather

The tornado/hurricane weather is at its' prime. On Wednesday we had really crazy weather. I was attempting to paint when the sky went black and the rain started, and then the rain came horizontally. My poor tomatoes experienced moments when they were trying to be blown in all directions. The electricity in the apartment would go out, then back on, then out and finally out for good. I don't need electricity to paint, but I do need light, and so there went that idea. I tried to read a book but fell asleep for a short time. Finally it was time to put something together for dinner. Luckily, I have a gas stove and so I was able to pull something together. I tried taking a friend to the metro but the metro station was closed because they didn't have any electricity plus there were trees down on the metro line. After a couple hours my power came back on and I thought that was that.

Yesterday, I got a call from SM. We have a friend who lives a couple miles away and her husband is currently out of town. When her power went out, it never came back on. She has a four year old and an one year old. She ran to the store to buy dry ice and then regular ice when the stores didn't have any more dry ice, to pack her fridge and freezers. She was hoping her power would come back on because her phone line was actually hooked into their electricity. Finally after one day without power nor communications, she went out and purchased a cell phone so that she could talk to her husband. During the storm, her gutters were filled with leaves and sticks and her gutters had overflowed and started flooding her basement. She was so overwhelmed and frustrated. So, she called her husband, who then emailed SM, who then called me and I went over yesterday afternoon. I watched her kids while she took the ladder and cleaned out the gutters so that if we happened to get anymore rain, it wouldn't flood into the basement again, and then I took her and her kids to my apartment. They spent the night with us. They were so glad to have air conditioning, and electricity. I think I put on three or four movies for her kids. I'm so glad that I could help by doing something.

Anyway, her power was on this morning and so she was able to go back home and start cleaning out her fridge and freezers. I wish the best for her and hers.

And then talking with another friend, I found out that we have some other friends that after two days still don't have power and aren't anticipating power until tomorrow or Sunday. All I can say is that I feel so blessed to have electricity!! I am especially grateful for it today since the weather is supposed to hit 95 degrees with 100% humidity! I'll have to call this other friend and see if I can do anything for her.