Stay out of Mother Nature’s way

I cursed the snow. While I was working, it had snowed another inch to two inches of snow. I was a newspaper reporter for a small daily newspaper and had worked late on a Friday night putting the Saturday morning paper to bed. I would have normally been home hours ago, but since I was helping out with the layout, I was one of the last staff members to leave the building.  

I dusted off my car the best I could and got inside. When the car had warmed up enough, I started on my trek home. I had about a 30-minute drive. Since it was almost midnight and more snow was expected, I thankfully came across few other cars on the road.

I took my time, but it was still tough trekking. Where the snow had been plowed, ice had formed. I was close to getting off the highway, when I went around a curve and did a 180-degree spin, narrowly missing the guardrail. I was shaken up, but quickly righted my car and started back on my journey. I feared getting T-boned on the middle of the highway. I didn’t stop shaking until I pulled into my parent’s driveway. I sat in my car for 10 minutes before I got out, checked to make sure that nothing was damaged, and then went inside.

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Brr, bad weather

The old motto from the U.S. Post office used to read: “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail shall keep the postmen from their appointed rounds.” When I think of bad weather, my mind automatically thinks back to that storm thirty years ago. The craziest thing, though, I worry about snow and ice and even heat and dehydration, but high winds and flooding top my list.  

A few years after the storm I mentioned above, I got a close-up view of a small tornado. The tornado was relatively minor compared to Tornado Alley standards, a loosely defined location of the central United States and Canada where tornadoes are most frequent, but it was still dangerous enough. The tornado killed a family and turned a small housing development into twigs.

When I went to the site, I was shocked to see the entire side of a house ripped into two like it was something you would see every day. I regularly get to see the ferocious power of the wind right outside my back window. When high winds settle into our area, I watch as the trees on a neighboring property owned by my local municipality twist and sag in the window. Over the years, I’ve watched as any number of trees have been split into two, like I was ripping up a piece of cardboard.

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No fighting Mother Nature

As a kid, I used to pooh-pooh the weather. I fought with my mother when she told me that it had snowed and I wouldn’t be able to make it to my basketball practice. I couldn’t understand the precautions. I understand them now. In fact, I’ve changed course, just like my car on the ice oh so long ago. I’ve come to the conclusion, it’s best to give Mother Nature a wide berth.

And oh yea, if it snows or if the wind picks up, I’m staying inside.