Storm Cellar

If I were still back in Missouri, I would have been hunkered down in the damp dugout basement under Terrapin Station, with the dogs on leashes and the cat in a cage. I would have had my storm kit, cell phone, crossword, and pee bucket. I’d be hoping to escape the tornado that was crashing across the countryside. It came early this year, usually it arrived in May when I lived there. But no less deadly for being premature.

Thankfully, I am safe here where the winds blow, but not quite with all that force. I feared for friends back there, but all have checked in and reported they were spared. But there is terrible devastation. And across the country, friends write from different places about the strange, unseasonable weather.

We had snow right in downtown Portland last Thursday, and the roads have been bad in the early mornings as temps are falling below freezing overnight. Wood Village is in a small temperate pocket and has been spared some of the worst of it. No storm cellar here so I am glad I no longer need one.

My fear now [I may have written before] is that Mt. St. Helens will erupt again and coat us in ash or perhaps hot flowing lava. And there is always the chance the Columbia or Sandy Rivers could flood. Oregon has its earthquakes just like California. Who knows?

Saturday night we experienced some strange sonic events and people from all over the area were calling 9-1-1 and the TV stations. Of course, the military denies any involvement. But some strange booms occurred….so loud the china rattled in the cupboard and car alarms went off. It is now being attributed to aliens or terrorists.

So dear readers wherever you are…stay safe and heed all warnings and keep your duct tape and plastic handy. Oh…did you hear…the new recommendation for withstanding the Bird Flu epidemic is a supply of canned tuna fish and powdered milk. I myself prefer the Duck and Cover plan I learned in grade school.