Celebrate the Small Things

Hello and Happy Friday! Do you feel like celebrating something today? Doesn't have to be big. If so, click on over to our host, Lexa Cain, with co-hosts: L.G. Keltner and Tonya Drecker, and join the fun. It's a great way to keep your blog refreshed each week. 

This week I'm celebrating something big - I survived the super-crazy windstorm of 3/8/17!! Here in Rochester, NY, we had strong winds all day on Wednesday topping off with an 80 mph gust measured at the airport. 

Image: Loralee Longdue, Greece NY

At first, I didn't think too much of the wind. I was at home alone, working on my stuff, working out on the elliptical machine. And then the phone rang--just a recorded message from the school that busses may be running late due to the high winds. Okay, no biggie. 

Then my older daughter called from her school. The power had been out for two hours. She wasn't sure about waiting for the bus. Could I come get her? 

Image: Christopher Playford, Greece NY

Her school is only a ten minute drive from the house, so I blithely said, "Sure, see you in a few minutes." Famous last words.

At the first major intersection, the road was cordoned off by two police cars and sawhorses. Every sawhorse was on its side. I could see a  major power line pole leaning at a 45 degree angle down the road. 

Image: Pete Fazio, Greece NY

First I tried to drive around the problem through a bunch of connected parking lots for stores. No dice. More police cars. Then I went went west. Several traffic signals were out of power. In this case, you are supposed to treat the intersection like a 4-way stop. Many people forgot and were whizzing through these intersections at 40 plus mph. I might have been one of those people--once. Or twice. Okay, okay--it was more like 4 or 5 times. But I was trying to get to my kid. 

Image: Glenn Johnson, Greece, NY

Less than 10 minutes later, I was blocked once more by a police barricade. Fiddlesticks! So I turned around again and saw a truck-sized tree limb lying in the street EXACTLY WHERE I HAD BEEN DRIVING 30 SECONDS AGO! The wind was so loud, I didn't even hear it fall. That freaked me out. 

Image: Lee Lejnleks, Webster, NY

At this point, I figured the highway would be a safer route and headed back east, winding my way around town. When I finally got to my daughter's school, she was nearly in tears because she was the very last soul left to be picked up (not only her middle school, but the high school that shares the same building). I felt bad, but I got us home without being crushed by a tree, having power lines drop on the car, or smashing into another vehicle at an intersection. Whew!

Image: Karl Mueller, downed high-voltage power line, Spencerport, NY

Even better, my younger daughter was safe at home and so glad to see us. So I rushed to the bathroom with a full bladder only to be blockaded by a police car my hungry, overfed cat. Move it, Dovely!

And how did my husband fare in all the chaos? That lucky so-and-so is currently in Boca Raton at a math conference. Grrrr.

Ever lose a tree in your yard or gain a trampoline to high winds? Want more pictures of the damage? Go here for WHAM 13 slideshow.

(Note: I am still answering back comments from last week's blog. I will get to them all as soon as I can. Both kids are off school with the roads in such bad condition.)