This week, I am following the prompt, “Write a blog post inspired by the word: power.“

Having lived in New England for my whole life, I am not a stranger to the power of the wind. Nor’easters, hurricanes, and thunderstorms are all pretty common, and just a regular day of living by the ocean can be pretty windy. It’s usually not much of a problem, and can even be beneficial – for instance, when providing a great site for an offshore wind farm. But lately, things have been a bit out of control.

Oct 27, 2021

On the Tuesday night / Wednesday morning before Halloween, we experienced a strong Nor’easter. We had driven up to Providence on Tuesday night to see Alton Brown (excellent show; I highly recommend) and while there was some rain, the wind wasn’t too bad. The clouds started to clear up, so we figured most of the storm had missed us. We were wrong!

I woke up on Wednesday to a sound like a freight train. I warned my boyfriend that he probably shouldn’t go walk the dog “when the wind is so loud,” but he went anyway. I fell back to sleep and then woke again to the sound of the phone. It was the school calling, saying that they were canceling. Next, I heard a loud gust, followed by a very loud crack, followed by a smash.

I looked out to the backyard but saw nothing. I heard the front door open and went running downstairs. I took one look out the door and groaned. There was part of an 80-foot pine tree down, on both of our cars.

Our insurance company was great, hooking me up with a rental car within hours. Our neighbors came out and helped us clear the tree (no small task). We ended up doing this most of the day, as we couldn’t work without power. There was glass everywhere; such a mess! My car ended up being totaled, while my boyfriend’s needed about $3,000 worth of work. In this market, we were very lucky to find a similarly sized vehicle within our price range, and in the area, so we bought it while waiting for the insurance payout. I’m also lucky to have great credit, I guess. But honestly, I was just so thankful that everyone was OK and inside when this happened.

Nov 13, 2021

Fast forward a few weeks. My mother was getting ready to go on vacation and needed to use my printer, so we planned to have her come over later that night. My boyfriend and I went to a football game that afternoon and watched as some dark clouds started rolling in, very quickly, at the end. Once we were home, we took the dog for a quick walk, having heard warnings of some severe thunderstorms coming into the area. My car was in the garage this time, and we parked my boyfriend’s car as far away from the trees as we could. Halfway through the walk, we had to bail as the lightning started, then the rain. It was about 15 minutes before my mother was supposed to come over, so I texted her to see if she wanted to come before the storm started to get too bad. She did.

When she arrived at our house, the rain had gotten torrential and the wind was really picking up. We fiddled with the printer, having some issues so not getting things printed as quickly as we would have liked. The rain started to get really loud (I found out later that this was actually hail) and I suggested to my mother that she stay until it was over. Our lights flickered, and my boyfriend received a tornado warning on his phone, but besides some wind, rain, and thunder, things seemed to be OK and the storm was over very quickly. My mom headed home to finish packing.

A few minutes later, she texted me. Her power was out, there were trees down everywhere on her street (she told me later that she had to drive on people’s lawns to get back home), and there were all kinds of rescue vehicles coming into the neighborhood and the street across from the main road. The next day, the National Weather Service confirmed that there had been an EF0 tornado. Several large trees were down; houses, a pool, and some cars bore the brunt of them. One house caught on fire due to the downed tree. Several telephone poles were snapped in half. Most of the neighborhood didn’t have power until late on Sunday. Some miracles: No one was hurt. The tornado came close to two main roads but didn’t seem to go over either one of them. There were no road accidents. It came close to a restaurant but lifted right before. Everyone in the house fire got out.

I’ve been hearing stories about how people were out in restaurants that night and everyone’s phone started going off with the tornado warnings; totally crazy! I cannot believe that it went through my childhood neighborhood (and the one I was living in until a year ago). I have always been a bit of a weather geek, getting the hurricane tracking sheets every season from my local grocery store and obsessed with reading about the tornados of “far away states.” I never thought one would get that close.

Beware the Trees

I talked to a guy from the NWS in Boston (again, nerd alert) because we had questioned if the trees down before Halloween were also due to a tornado (mine wasn’t the only one in the area), but he said he didn’t notice any signs of rotation in that storm but that winds did get up to 80-90mph. I know for a fact that winds that strong can topple a tree because that happened just last year (Aug 4, 2020, in the old neighborhood). After Hurricane Isaias (by then a tropical storm) passed quickly through, the winds were still very strong in its wake. I had been working in my office all day and got up at one point to catch, out of the corner of my eye, the tree outside swaying. I thought the amount of the sway was exaggerated by the refraction of my glasses so I didn’t think too much of it, but every time there was a big gust, I looked outside. At another point, I was coming back into the room and saw the tree sway again. I pulled out my phone and went to the window to get a video, but that never happened. I watched as the tree came right toward me and ran to the other side of the room! It had completely uprooted and partially landed on my house. Luckily, the window did not break and there was minimal damage to my roof. I also had to get the gutters replaced.

I guess we’re getting to a point in our town where our trees are too old and too big. These three storms are only a few of many that we’ve had recently in which several big trees have come down. Last week, we decided to take some of the pines down in our yard (technically our neighbor’s yard, with permission), starting with the ones closest to the house and driveway. I love those big old trees, but there’s only so much damage we can take. I’ll just have to appreciate them more when I’m out taking a hike. It’s a great time to become an arborist around here.

This week, I am following the prompt: Write a blog post in exactly 12 lines.

I love being a Rhode Islander.

I know that, even in this tiny Northern state that was founded on the principles of religious freedom, there was still slavery early on, and my birthplace, Newport, was a main city involved in the Atlantic triangular slave trade.

I also know that many Native Americans of the Narragansett tribe were massacred here in the Great Swamp Fight, not far from where I live now.

I don’t mind learning about the dark parts of our history.

I think we need to learn about the bad in order to move forward and to continue to do better, and we can look back at the good and be proud.

I love this country, and this state, and want it to be the best it can be.

I want us all to be the best versions of ourselves.

When we allow others to grow and prosper, we all benefit.

I have never understood why some people put so much energy into hate.

If we put half that energy into loving and helping each other, what an amazing life we would all have.

Opinions may differ, but one thing is the same: we are all humans trying to figure out this sometimes crazy life, and we can use all the support we can get.

Be good to one another. <3

This week, I am following the prompt: If you could clone a favorite pet from your past, which pet would you choose and why?

I have been lucky enough to have pets around me my whole life, and am currently living with two very good girls – a dog named Callie and a cat named Camille (plus another kitty girl who now lives with her Nana). I wouldn’t trade them for the world; however, if I could clone one and bring him back, I would choose my dog, Benji.

My parents adopted Benji about a year before I was born, so he was a constant presence in my life until I was 14 years old. Named after my father’s favorite uncle, he guarded me as a baby and was a fun playtime companion as I grew older. Benji knew how to do all the tricks: sit, stay, roll over, fetch, speak, give us a paw. My dad always said he thought Benji knew how to speak English, he obeyed so well. In those days, we didn’t have a fence to keep him in the yard. He would wander around, visiting everyone in the neighborhood, and would come back if we let out a certain whistle. He was so smart. My dad said he used to body surf down at the beach, too, so he was also very cool.

I’m not sure what breed of dog Benji was. He was a mutt — at least part Beagle, we think. The dog on the original label for Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale actually reminds me a bit of him, so maybe he was part chocolate lab. If anyone has an idea, I would love to know.

When I was really young, I used to refer to Benji as my brother, which I don’t think my mother appreciated very much. Once I actually had a brother, he was still my loyal companion for many years. He passed away at the age of 15, so he lived a very long and happy life for a dog. I was only 14, and my memories of him have faded over the years. But I do remember him being very smart, sweet, and playful.

I loved having Benji as a companion and would love to see him again. Hope you’re happy running around up in pupper heaven, old boy!

This week, I am following the prompt: Write a blog post about something you wish you had more time for each day.

I wish I had more time to create every day.

Busy workdays, virtual learning (hopefully not as much of a thing this year), making lunch and snacks for constantly-growing boys (and myself), cleaning up after said boys (and myself), laundry, dishes, nightly walks — my days are full. I have tried to get away from social media as much as possible, but there are definitely days I get sucked into the Instagram vacuum. Then there is “A Handmaid’s Tale,” which I am currently binge-watching (so, so good). I have also made a great habit of reading lately, for about 30 minutes a day. And then there is work training, which I am doing on my own time.

I need and/or want to do all of these things, but how do I make time to fulfill my creative side, too?

In general, I think it’s also hard to schedule creative time.  I may feel the tug in the middle of the day when I am working, only to be left completely without inspiration in the evening when I have some time.  I am hoping maybe a notebook, to write down ideas when they come to me, will help.  I know that lists, my planner, and other notes have been invaluable to me so far for helping me to concentrate.  I acknowledge the thought, write it down if I need to remember it, and then go back to what I was doing.  I may still flip around from task to task a bit, but this helps me to stay on track to get things completed.

I have known for a long time that creating is good for my soul. There are several different ways that I would like to manifest this, but I think I just need to do it, to start anywhere and start small so it’s not overwhelming.  I’m hoping that getting back into this weekly Writer’s Workshop will help kick it off. Thanks, Mama Kat!