Mardi Gras is here and I'm off through Wednesday. So far, working would have been better. I'd arranged to get a set of term papers in my Writing in Psychology class on Thursday, and some quizzes that I could grade over the break, but everyone else decided that I'd have so much time over the break that I could do stuff for them too. Letters of recommendation, IRB proposals, QEP reports. You don't even want to know what all those letters stand for.
Friday I put in a long 14 hour day, hoping to get enough done so I'd have a few days off at the end of the break. I planned a good 8 hour marathon on Saturday but the world had other ideas. I worked all morning and had a good head start, then decided to lie down for a short nap. That was my last peaceful moment of the day.
Suddenly we got hit by what are called "straight line" winds, but which I've also heard described as a micro burst. The winds seemed to explode out of the woods and our roof sounded like a war zone as it took a pounding. A few moments later the electricity went off. A few minutes after that, Lana came to tell me I had a ceiling leak in my home office. No nap for me.
We had small hail, and thunder and lightning the rest of the day, as well as periods of heavy rain, so I wasn't able to get up on the roof. Hopefully I can this morning. The electricity came back after about 10 hours finally, but the Satellite TV won't load so it may be that the dish took a hit. I ran my laptop long enough to edit a few more student papers but I'm behind on what I planed to get done.
We did take a drive though, to see what else got hit. Electricity was out all over and apparently some houses were damaged pretty severely by the winds. We stopped at the second hand store and I bought a few books that I'll tell you about at some point. Since cooking was out, we got Popeye's Fried Chicken and came home to play Mad Libs and Trivial Pursuit. The evening was good by candlelight, but now today we start picking up the pieces. I won't be online much.
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Isn't a Micro Burst a tornado that doesn't touch down? The offer of years now still stands send me you papers that need grading and i will run them through the Durfee Decimal Grading System (yes I now have named it) and have them back to you in two hours Charles. Be Advised though i am on happy pills from the surgery still so it might be sooner than two hours.
ReplyDeleteActually except for the chicken, candle light and games with Lana it sounds like on effed up night.
Glad that you are okay. Another blogger friend also reported heavy storm and a black out. We are having bursts of constant rain here.
ReplyDelete..constant bursts of rain.
ReplyDeleteMark, apparently what we had was winds that came suddenly down to ground level, then exploded outward from that center, breaking off trees all through the woods. I'll take into account your grading offer. :)
ReplyDeleteOceangirl, at least we didn't have any damage to the house, other than the tv dish and one area of roof.
Hopefully it didn't fry anything else! We get those here now and then - scary stuff.
ReplyDeleteUf.hope you and lana are well and unharmed!
ReplyDeleteBefore you make another to-do list like that one, check the weather forecast for divine interventions...
ReplyDeleteAlex,nasty little buggers they are.
ReplyDeleteDeka, Yes, thankfully.
Ron Scheer, yes, I think I need to.
I was at first envious that you get Mardi Gras off--then I got to the rest. I hope things with your house are easily fixed and that you get some break.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about all the troubles. Weather can be a bitch sometimes. Good luck with the roof and patching that office.
ReplyDeleteMan, that is major crappiness on Father Nature's part.
ReplyDeleteHopefully your area doesn't turn out like my state did back in October when two-thirds of the state was out for up to two weeks.
Gosh! Wishing you both the best in this situation Just remember: your house and all you own will not sink within the hour, if ever! Hope that helps...
ReplyDeleteAloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
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Wind sucks. I hope your damage isn't too severe.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow! It's too early for March to come in like a lion. I wonder what they say if Feb. goes out like one? Hang tough, amigo!
ReplyDeleteTo risk a cliche, "That sucks."
ReplyDelete...But I hear on Canadian TV news that the Mardi Gras was an overall success.
Ah well. Allez votre!
that'll teach ya ta nap, ya lazy bum! ;) lol
ReplyDeleteglad damage was minimal...
i like moving weather, but not the kinds that destroy things :(
not made it to mardi gras as yet... guess bare girly tits are not motivation enough? :O
now, the beads....
Sage, I spent some time on the roof yesterday. I think things are OK, though our satellite TV disk is smashed.
ReplyDeleteTy, weather likes to let us know who is boss on occassion.
G., yeah, we were like that after a couple of hurricanes that brushed by here. Two weeks without electricity is tough.
Cloudia, thanks. We weathered it pretty well.
Travis Cody, we were lucky, others around us got it worse.
Richard, this is the first one we've had right on top of us since we've been here, though I've heard about 'em elsewhere.
Ivan, TV is out so I didn't watch any news about Mardi Gras. tuesday is actually the really big day.
Laughingwolf, I always caught the plastic cups because they are usuable again! :)
Take care, Charles. Sounds scary.
ReplyDeleteOh man, wild month for cure. Suckfest for the most part as far as things going haywire. A lot of people around here are sick on top of that. But at least this area is out of the drought.
ReplyDeleteHave always lived in a tornado zone no matter where I go in these here States. Well, here's to a break within the break!
Nature is a fickle princess with claws and fangs. I hope you don't have too much roof damage.
ReplyDeletePatti, thankee.
ReplyDeleteErik, glad to hear about some drought amelioration. Was getting pretty dry down there.
Bernard, fickle indeed.
aww, it's good to hear the storm caused no serious injuries to you, your family and to the house.
ReplyDeletea candle-lit evening with games sounds romantic enough :))
I can't help thinking about a silly ad our local tv station runs: "Weather is a fact of life here in Southwest Louisiana."
ReplyDeleteI guess weather is a fact of life in your neck of the woods too. Sorry you're having to work through Mardi Gras. Glad your not in rubbles from the Micro Burst.
You got power back after 10 hours! I thought that sort of thing happened only in my country. I hope everything's back to normal, Charles.
ReplyDeleteThat really does sound scary. I've never heard the expression "straight wind" before. Hope you get caught up faster than expected so that you get a break during your break. ;)
ReplyDeleteSzelsofa, it was fun. We hadn't done that in quite a while.
ReplyDeleteJess, I took all of yesterday off so that as nice.
Prashant, Lots and lots of trees. I imagine the lines must have been down in more than one place.
Barrie, I hadn't heard of it until it happened to us.
What is it about the best laid plans of mice and men?? :/
ReplyDeleteGlad you're both all right. Know that kinda sucks... :)
p.s. you can look up American Civil War soldiers by name here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.civilwar.nps.gov/cwss/soldiers.cfm
With regiments, the battles are revealed.
I'm glad to hear you're okay and the damage isn't too severe.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of micro bursts or straight winds, but it sounds like they have a lot of potential destructive power.
Steve Malley, that storm made me feel particularly mouse like.
ReplyDeleteErik, cool. I did have some ancestors in the Civil war.
Golden eagle, apparently they are pretty nasty. I guess we never had a name for 'em before.
Crazy stuff. I can't blame you for not going on the roof during it all lol.
ReplyDeleteLast micro burst near me took out a glass dome at the center of my nearest shopping mall... pretty scary stuff