WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF A NOR'EASTER


Nor'easter, by Harold Kirby, see website halsart.com

Funny how a thing can seem to be settling down, then somehow get blown all out of proportion and take on a life of it's own. No, I am not talking about rumors and gossip though that is the kind of mess that reminds me of our current plight.

There once was a hurricane, arriving rather late in the season, but like an irksome, uninvited guest, there she was, knocking at the door of the gulf coast. Hurricane Ida proved to be less formidable than she had threatened to be, however, and soon turned into a modest little tropical storm. Or so it was thought.

It seems Miss Ida was not done stirring up trouble as she gracefully but forcefully slid ashore, throwing open doors to corridors which led her through the states and changed her as she went. Just like getting angry can change you physically, here she came, huffing, puffing, and splattering her way up the southeastern interior of the U.S. Yesterday she started wailing and flailing her way up our streets, deciding that our town would be ground zero for her fury.

Now because the guardian spirits of the North put up a high pressure system which blocked this witchy busybody from entering their realm, she has not taken it too well, but has pitched a fit and her stormy tent right here, screeching, twisting, turning and spewing torrents of rain upon our heads.

Miss Ida has reinvented herself, spinning into the sickly swirls of a true nor'easter! Her anger she has vented lo, this last day and a half, flinging shingles and siding, flooding streets and homes, throwing down trees and power lines, her tantrum continuing on with frightening power, no visible end in sight.

Since I started this post a few minutes ago, inky darkness has fallen all in a heap outside my rain-lashed window. It is suddenly dark as pine pitch. All I can see of outside is the wan glow of a street light half-hidden behind the trees.

They say our afternoon tide, aided by the moon in its current phase, may reach historic highs, causing much beach erosion, property loss and human misery.

I am praying for all of us, and certainly for three of my children, who are out in this tonight. As the old folks used to say when I was a child and there was a blizzard, "'Taint a fit night out for man nor beast".

To be continued...........