You Just Can't Beat Mother Nature...

Hola! So now it's 8:04 p.m. and I've got Desperate Housewives on the television. I never watch the show but this is the one where the tornado hits and, being a native midwesterner who, thanks be to Goddess, has not been in an actual tornado but lives in a state that has had several devastating hits during my lifetime, I want to see what happens and who dies - okay, so I'm a ghoul! I wanted to report on some chess news today but, darlings, there's absolutely nothing out there new about female chessplayers. Yes, on occasion I report on male chessplayers but only when I'm desperate. I wasn't feeling that desparate today, strangely enough. Perhaps I should be, though. You know that walk to the supermarket I mentioned I was going to take earlier in the day, in order to get my squirrels a resupply of nuts? Well, those nuts set me back $5.99 a pound, $3.49 a pound (which should have been the price of all of them), and $6.99 a pound. And of course I got 20 pounds. LOL! To add insult to injury, Mother Nature decided to open up the heavens while I was walking home. Now, it was "misty" out when I walked to the supermarket, but that was to be expected, as the snow/sleet/ice was melting in the mild temperatures. Although it was overcast and dreary, it got up to 42 degrees F and was close to that when I left the house about 11 a.m. There was plenty of moisture in the air. The walk to the store was comfortable despite having to climb over some unshoveled corners (lots of ice boulders left behind by the plows) and some folks had not shoveled a path on their stretch of sidewalk and so it was a bit slip n slide. when I exited the store, it was misting a bit more, but nothing that would soak me to the skin during the 3/4 mile walk home. Except - just after I crossed the major thoroughfare and left behind any home of ducking into a commercial establishment to wait out the downpour, it downpoured. All over yours truly. Within 30 feet I was soaked through - winter coat, hood, hat, scarv, sweat shirt and long sleeved undershirt. Jeans, short boots (which are water resistant but not waterproof) and socks were sopping and squishy. Rain dripped in my eyes and was blown up my nose and forced into my mouth by gale force winds that hit out of nowhere. And then the thunder and lightning started. Gee, what a way to end a Sunday morning stroll to the grocery store! By the time I staggered home I was carrying an extra 50 pounds of water, and decided at that point since I was already soaked to the gills I might as well make an attempt to shovel out a pathway on the driveway. Now, I have been in December thunderstorms before, but usually it's been snowing out with thunder and lightning, not raining. The downpour lasted until I was about one block from the house, when it tapered off into a nice steady summer-type rain. It stopped when I'd finished shovelling a pathway from my front stoop to the road. I sloshed my way inside and peeled off my sopping wet outerwear and most of my innerwear. Turned up the heat to dry my things out (I generally keep it on 64 during the winter). Fed the squirrels. They were very happy with me. Amazingly, the only thing that seemed to be soaking wet on them was their tails. Now why is that? Well, I'm not going to continue this post for the entire hour it will take for the tornado to hit Wisteria Lane. I'm dried off, my soaked things have dried out, I've done two loads of laundry, had supper, did some more online Christmas shopping, so I'm happy :) despite the fact that the wind has switched around from the southeast to the northwest and is now howling at up to 40 mph and COLD COLD COLD. Temperatures are dropping faster than I can type and the slush in the driveway has frozen into a skating rink, as has the unshoveled stuff on the deck, not to mention the backyard. Oh joy.