Tornado Warnings

Xmas is just four short months away. I didn’t sleep all that well but still woke at 7:30am. Now, more than ever, I am convinced that, deadlines aside, my body clock wants me up at 7:30am. I took my time prepping the coffee and completing my exercises before 8am heading outdoors with Ykraps. It was a lovely summer morning. The sun was out and the humidity still rather high. As I walked with Ykraps I contemplated the days planned activities. I hoped to complete my lawn chores, install my new lock/hasp combo on the shed, and possibly even do some flower bed maintenance. It wasn’t an overly aggressive agenda by any measure. I took plenty of time to enjoy my morning coffee before setting out on a run. I gave myself just under and hour. I dressed and left the house around 9am. I could hear Mindy stirring just as I hit the door. She was planning to meet her friend Teri for breakfast in Worthington. By the time I returned from my run she was already gone. It was still kind of early to be out cutting the lawn so I spent the next hour or so eating a nice big sandwich, working on Friday’s blog, and doing a few household chores. I finished all of that just before 11am at which time I felt comfortable with starting the lawn chores. The grass was pretty high but before I could cut, I had to roll up a few watering hoses, wind up the pump’s extension cord, put my fiberglass extension ladder away, and rake away some willow debris still lurking in the back yard. That took about twenty minutes. It occurred to me while I was out back by the shed that I wouldn’t be able to complete the shed lock project since my shed keys were with my main car keys, which I left at the office on Friday. Shit! I knew that mistake would haunt me. Just as I was finishing up the push-mower piece, Mindy returned from her morning date with Teri. She asked if I would go grocery shopping with her. As I sometimes do, I curtly said that I couldn’t for all the chores still in front of me. However, after reconsidering, I figured it was more about spending some alone time then about going grocery shopping. I decided that I would put the additional chores on the back burner and go along. Besides, I enjoy grocery shopping. By the time I finished all the lawn chores it was nearly 1pm. Before heading in, I cleaned my new chainsaw given that I put it through its paces last week. When finished, I took a quick shower and asked Mindy if we could stop by my office on our way to the grocery so that I could get my keys. She agreed. We headed out around 1:30pm. My office building is largely deserted on Saturday’s save for a couple 24X7 centers. We parked up front. Mindy had never been inside the building before. I showed her my office for the very first time. I nabbed my keys. We spent several minutes chatting with a couple of the engineers. We even tried some Peruvian food that Phil prepared & brought in. It was very tasty! We left the office and made our way towards the newest Wal-Mart on Bethel Rd. The store was definitely one of the nicer ones, but as Mindy later pointed out, the aisles seemed a bit too narrow for the large number of shoppers. But realistically, we were probably there during the absolute busiest day and time of the week to grocery shop. Despite the crowd, we found pretty much everything on our list save for some specialty cheese we wanted to get for some dip. We headed home with our haul. I was feeling a little antsy and aggravated for no apparent reason. There’s a good chance it had a lot to do with many impending deadlines and the nervousness associated with meeting old friends for dinner. Sometimes I just can’t explain why I feel as I do. While Mindy tended to the groceries, I worked on the uplighting out back. The sockets had become full of grit over the past two years, which I believe has lead to bulbs burning out quicker than they might otherwise (high resistance creates more heat). I found some rubber gaskets made to cover the socket which I installed after cleaning them by scrapping and then blowing the brass tabs. That should help considerably. After completing the lights I went out to water flowers. It was awfully nice outside. While watering I thought that I heard what sounded like tornado sirens blaring, but that made no sense. After all, it was totally sunny and calm. I chalked it up to a city faux pas. As I continued watering I made my way around to the ‘mater plants. There, through the trees and houses, I caught a quick glimpse of some ominous looking clouds just to our immediate north. I was completely surprised. I quickly put down the hose and went inside to check out the radar. Holy Smoke! Channel 10 – our local CBS affiliate – had the radar on with a couple of meteorologists driving around the city chasing tornados. There were large purple blobs coloring the entire TV screen and actual tornado warnings. Apparently there was one headed our direction from Hilliard proper. Those dark clouds were quickly ascending on west Columbus turning our otherwise blue skies to black. Large chunks of clouds were dropping out of formation towards the ground. It looked very scary! The TV meteorologists were being very dramatic warning all viewers in our area to head directly to the basement. In all my years I have never heard or seen them react with so much drama. I was getting worried. I hollered for Mindy, not realizing that she wasn’t home. She had taken a six pack down to the neighbors after he helped me with the tree last week. I grabbed my camera and went out to snap a few pictures ahead of any rain. There I saw Mindy coming my way. I told her of the warnings and the coming storm. She was as surprised as me. What we found funny was that they were talking about it heading down Trabue towards Arlington – virtually yards from our house. But the ironically, it was not storming at our house at all. No lightning, no thunder, no rain, and no wind – nothing but dark, ugly clouds. But the radar confirmed what they were saying. It looked to be right over us. Minutes later a small gust of wind hit and heavy rain came down for no more than three minutes, but that was it. At the same time, those TV meteorologists were telling us to take cover. They were reporting funnel clouds around Lane Ave and Riverside Dr. – not too far from us. A few minutes later the same pattern was repeated – a few minutes of moderately heavy rain but nothing else -not one crack of thunder and not one gust of wind. Those TV meteorologists continued to sensationalize the storm for at least another hour as it moved across the central Ohio region. They just couldn’t seem to get enough of themselves. Around 5:30pm I decided to get ready for our dinner guests. It didn’t take me too long. After all, I was already showered. I was ready by 6pm. We weren’t expecting John & Sandy until 630pm. Mindy poured herself some wine and me a beer around 6:15pm as we awaited our guests. They arrived around 6:40pm. We had 8pm dinner reservations at Bone Fish Grill. John and I reconnected after a common friend, Mark’s recent passing. Consequently, we made these dinner plans about a month ago. Our weekends were already spoken for until now. We enjoyed one another’s company for the next hour sitting around the house. And Mindy seemed very comfortable around our guests although she had only met them one time, and that was at Mark’s funeral. But that’s Mindy. She does extremely well in such situations. She gave a tour of our home and chatted up a storm with Sandy. We left for the Bone Fish Grill around 7:40pm. John willingly agreed to drive all of us in his brand new pick-up. And what a pick-up it was! Pick-up truck aside, his truck was probably one of the most finely appointed vehicles that I have ever ridden in. Not only did it have a full rear seat, but it had two DVD screens for the passengers imbedded in the luxurious leather seats. Up front it had a state-of- the-art navigational system. It was one fine pick-up to be sure! We arrived at Bone Fish just before 8pm. Perfect! They told us that they were running behind so we found our way to the bar where we ordered drinks. We hardly got our first sip down before we were beckoned to the reservation desk to be seated. The place was full. Our server, Scott was kind, friendly, and attentive. He answered all of our menu questions professionally. We ordered two different appetizers, calamari & bacon wrapped scallops. They were very tasty! For entrees, Mindy ordered Chilean Sea Bass; Sandy ordered their Tilapia; John ordered a filet topped with butterfly shrimp; and I ordered scallops and shrimp. There was a decent selection of sauces available for each of the entrees too. The food was exquisite – just like the attentive service. We were very pleased. And we couldn’t leave without dessert. Mindy and I shared a slice of key lime pie, and John & Sandy shared a big piece of chocolate cake. Everyone else had coffee. I, on the other hand, ordered yet another Sam Adams. We left after I finished the beer. We drove back to our house where John & Sandy came in and spent a little more time socializing. We had a really nice time. We agreed to do this again sometime soon with a variation. We’ll most likely meet at their place. They left around 1130pm. Mindy and I didn’t stay up too much longer. I think that we were in bed before midnight.