“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life… I would rather suffer evil the natural way.”
Henry David Thoreau, from Walden
Forecasts have been calling for 18 hours of severe weather here, last night through daylight hours today, or at least the threat of severe weather. Meteorologists are the barons of buzzwords, tossing around jargon like bombogenesis and thundersnow, polar vortex and El Niño.
This time the jargon du jour is derecho.
Deb and I can testify that a derecho — defined as a line of intense, widespread and fast-moving windstorms — is no joke. Straight-line derecho winds wreaked havoc on our Ohio home three times over the years. They’re a real thing here, too. So when we hear weather wonks using that word, we sit up straight and take notice.
Last night’s ominous front raked across Oklahoma, bringing gusts estimated at 95mph to the Tulsa area and drawing a bead on northwest Arkansas. A blast like that would be enough to topple Ernie, which is somewhat sheltered from west winds, or the fifth-wheel on The Mountain, which isn’t.
There wasn’t much we could do other than batten down, stay aware and, if winds that strong made it this far, hang on.
Repeating a pattern we’ve seen before from our perch in Ozarkansas, as the derecho moved east out of Oklahoma it weakened, then split to our north and mostly south. Around 2:30am we got a little thunder and a little rain, and that was it.
Today will be cooler (mid-70s) and cloudy. Maybe a storm late this afternoon.
“A man is not a good man to me because he will feed me if I should be starving, or warm me if I should be freezing, or pull me out of a ditch if I should ever fall into one. I can find you a Newfoundland dog that will do as much.”
Henry David Thoreau, from Walden
Deb and I will spend our Sunday on routine chores and packing for our next run to The Mountain. We plan to do that tomorrow.
It’s familiar now, not unlike what occupied us a year ago. While each trip brings us closer to our prize, the drill saps our energy and demands that we take time to recover. That’s what we did yesterday and will so again today, still making progress on this end.
We set our own pace.
Lately I’ve tried to avoid invoking the word “soon” or saying things like “it won’t be long.” Perhaps I don’t want to jinx us. I think we’re best served by keeping our eyes on the road rather than being distracted by our destination.
We know where Home is. We’ll get there.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB