Jack the Aussie – Prince George VA & Environs

After a week of alarming predictions Storm Jonas arrived in my little patch of Prince George, Virginia about thirty minutes ago. I am glad. The anticipation was raising my anxiety and possibly my blood pressure considerably. I didn’t know until last night that this storm had been dubbed, Jonas.

I am not sure when we started naming storms, other than hurricanes, but it adds a personal connection between the machinations of weather and the reactive planning of humans. My memories of Isabel and Irene, both hurricanes, are vivid as we were without power for about a week in both cases. The ice storm of 1998 is just as vivid with loss of power for a week, but we were not naming non-hurricane storms at that time so I don’t have a human’s name to link to my memories of misery. So, if The Weather Channel came up with the idea of naming storms, I am glad of it.

As I write this at 10:30 on Friday morning, I am wondering if Jonas will visit upon us another week of no electricity after the freezing rain and heavy wind arrive during the evening and early morning hours.

While I wait I am cooking, reading, tidying, blogging, and continuing my meager preparations for the storm. Chili is cooking, chicken thighs are about to go in the slow cooker, and later a London Broil (thick flank steak) will get cooked in my large cast iron skillet on top of the stove. With my Coleman stove I can reheat food, make coffee, and wash dishes … so we will not starve. Take that Jonas.

I know summer is passing because …

Granddaughter Emma has returned from summer with her father in the mountains of North Carolina. She is 10 now, but somehow, older than ten — an inch taller, 2 shoe sizes larger and with pierced ears.

Elections are 60 days away. Virginia has an election every year. Does that happen elsewhere? Being a Democrat in Virginia is tough going. I know there are a lot of closet Democrats, but why? The Republicans I’ve seen aren’t that scary, not necessarily very bright, but not scary. Prince George County has 10 precincts in its 267 square mile footprint. Xena gets a lot of miles on her every election day.

Acorns are dropping. People with a lot of oaks know what I am talking about. Sadly, we lost many of our oaks in Irene last year and subsequently had a few more taken down. Broke my hear tto have them felled but watching oaks bending over double through my skylights is somewhat anxiety provoking.

Speaking of storms — I know it is Fall because it is hurricane season. I am afraid of all storms that begin with “I” such as ice storm, Isabel, Irene. I heard a couple of weeks ago about Hurricane Isaac and thought oh, s****. Thankfully, Isaac only threatened Republicans. Of course, by now I know and have experienced a derecho so must add “d” storms to my scared-of storms list. Let’s not talk about the Louisa earthquake.

Finally, I know Summer is passing because I am longing for sweater days even though it is in the 90s most days. But, Jack’s Aussie undercoat is starting to grow in so sweater days are not far away.

Where is that LL Bean catalog?

Tag: Jack the Aussie

Storm Jonas, at last

How Do I Know Summer is Passing?