We are being blasted by a severe winter storm.  How that translates here in Northern California is lots of rain in the valleys and snow in the mountains.  The roads in and out of Nevada are closed due to blizzard.  We had 60-70 mph winds for about three hours this morning.  Newscasters are reporting it as “the” story today and the worst storm in years—it’s the only thing on network TV even now, in the early evening. 

The power cut out twice as I wrote this.  Half a million customers have lost power today so far.  I was really getting concerned last night when I heard where I could pick up sand bags.  That’s not a good sign. 

I slipped on a pair of workout pants and a sweatshirt this morning when the wind woke me.  I raced outside because I noticed that my garbage can and recycle can had blown over.  When I got outside, wind forcing me to struggle to stay standing, I noticed the trucks passed right by everyone’s cans because the little mechanical arms don’t pick up cans that have blown over.  So, because those sanitation workers aren’t getting out of their trucks to stand the cans up, no one got their pickup.  The very people charged with keeping our garbage in check left all those cans to tip and blow down the streets.  Garbage bags, wrapping paper, cans, bottles and whatever else people put in those cans were blowing past me into the park.  Jimmy Hoffa’s corpse was rolling down the street, I swear.  I have someone’s Christmas tree in my front lawn.

So, there I am, trying to upright my cans and wave the trucks down who are now on the other side of the street.  The recycle guys just drove right by.  I flipped them off, of course.

The garbage guy actually turned his truck around and let me hold the can up so his mechanical arms could grab my can (he was careful not to exit his truck to assist, but I’m grateful anyway).  So, thanks, garbage guy! 

When I last looked out, other people’s garbage cans were accumulating in the street, slowly pushing their way down the street.  I expect they will all land in my yard in an hour or so.

I spent the next half hour wrestling my lawn furniture in between the house and the fence so they wouldn’t knock out all of my kitchen windows.  I had a bunch of roof tiles fly off and break.  The trees in the back are leaning at 45 degrees.  I came in soaked, frozen, and feeling fully aerobically exercised.

People lost big trees all over town, roads are flooded, lights are out, power is out, and garbage is everywhere.  It looks like a war zone.  I stopped at a store and as usual arrived after the party was over—the flashlight aisle was mostly emptied—I was able to find two—the expensive ones, of course.  Then, I went into the office so I could do the things I wanted to be doing from home.  Got home and the power was back on. 

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. ~ Willa Cather

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 at 8:29 pm and is filed under Stuff Happens. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.