Everything is breaking, dark, Matthew madness
On my way home I stopped at Sam’s Club to pick up a new Blu-ray player along with a few other things. I hadn’t really given much thought about the oncoming hurricane when I planned the stop. When I pulled into the parking lot, I did. Despite the impact of Matthew in our area likely not being much worse than some of the torrential storms we get during the summer, the lines at the gas pump were long. The parking lot was also much fuller than you would expect for a Wednesday night. When I stepped inside almost every shopping cart had at least one case of water in it. I also noticed that most of the shelf space for generators was empty, only a couple remained.
I guess I shouldn’t feel annoyed about these people, being prepared is a good thing in the big picture. For all of my adult life I have found the mode people click into when these sort of events are forecast, whether they are snowstorms up north or tropical storms down here to be much the same, panic. I don’t find panic to be a useful state of mind and people that are prone to easily panic get under my skin. So anyway I got my stuff, checked myself out and left the store in an orderly manner.
When I got home I realized I have yet another piece of electronics that appears to be dead, the security dvr in the coop. I’m not sure if the problem is storm related or just because of the harsh environmental conditions it is subjected to inside the coop which is very warm and dusty. I need to pull it out of there to determine exactly what is wrong with it. The good news is it should still be under warranty.
Shortly before 7 I decided to jump on the wheel for a ride. The sun had already begun to set so it wasn’t a great time to venture out but I just felt like it. I went out Immokalee Road and then turned right onto 45th street on the other side of the road which I never had ventured down before. The street was sparsely populated and I had a few incidents where I heard something of considerable size shuffling in the woods by the road which made me a little nervous. When I got to the end of the street I turned around and saw there were some very stormy clouds rolling in. On my way back I dealt with some rain and gusty wind that tested my balance. By the time I got back Cindy had gotten back from teaching her gym class. She figured I was on my wheel but didn’t know where I was, something she is never a fan of.
Of course the news down here is nothing but Hurricane Matthew that now seems assured to have a major impact on Florida’s east coast. It is predicted to hug the coastline at category four strength which is scary stuff. When Wilma hit our area in 2005 it was a category three and that felt like end of days for a period of time. By this time tomorrow the center of the storm will be north of us on the other side of the state. It’s going to be touch and go the next 24 hours, I hope all of my east coast Florida friends batten down the hatches as needed. The sun will come out tomorrow, or Saturday.