I'd really like the title of today's post to refer to a supersonic flight experience abord an experimental aircraft, perhaps with a 6 foot tall buxom red-headed flight attendant, but it doesn't. Darn.
Though the reasons for being so varied widely, I was irritated when I left for Tai Chi last night, had a great class, and irritated again when I got home. (See, down, up, down. About three hours.)
Before I left, I had made a poor excuse for dinner. Improvisation in music and sometimes theatre was a strong point of mine. Improvisation in the kitchen is not. I was feeling a little low for having reheated some pasta from last night, and simply pulling a bag of salad from the fridge. I did make an effort, though, in also pulling out some pepperoni and mozzarella cheese for the salad, giving it a bit more of an 'Olive Garden' feel. Can't blame me for trying, I suppose, but the low quality... that one fell squarely on me.
So, it was off to class. Had a great class last night, and did some good work. Moved my teacher a couple of times, and he even referred to one of my moves as 'beautiful'. That's a compliment, no matter how you say it. Proof that I can do it is always welcome. I have a new practice technique for a couple of weeks, which will involve some one-pound weights I have in the basement. The idea being: send the hands, and the body will follow. But keep your damn shoulders down.
During all of this, the weather sirens kept going off. I did my best to ignore them, though I wondered how K and E were faring at home. Turns out it was none too well. I found out later that E was a little scared, and I would be too at her age. I got a few email messages from Karen telling me to stay put and ride out the storm, as it was windy, hailing, and torrential where they were. "...pounded with hail, massive rain. Please stay where you are.", read the message I got on the text pager. OK, I stayed put for a few extra minutes, but when the weather took a decidedly nasty turn at my current location, I said to heck with it, and set out anyway. Not like it was going to get better any time soon, so I bolted for home on main roads instead of highway.
At home, there were leaves everywhere. Only a few had begun to fall over the previous several days, but now the front yard was covered. I wondered how bad the hail was to have done that, and taken down some small branches as well. Turns out it was worse than I thought. Our aluminum awning in the back is dented far beyond repair, and will have to be either replaced or removed. I'm afraid to go up there, but I'll have to get up and take a good look at the roof when I get home from work today. Luckily, the next couple of days will offer clearing skies, so I'll have the opportunity for a proper inspection. I'm hoping the current roof will at least get us through the winter. Either way, I'll have to call the insurance company and get someone out to have a look at it, and the awning. I picked up a hailstone. It was definitely golf-ball sized. I bounced it off the patio and it shattered into several pieces. My mini-revenge for the roof damage. Whatever.
Later, K showed me some video she took of the storm in progress. It was pretty massive, with that golf-ball sized hail bouncing off of everything. Loud. Very loud. No wonder E was a little spooked. I noticed that K had signed into the basement computer to email me. Must have been during the tornado warning.
After all that K decided she was going to go out for a while. This was around 10:00 PM. Insane. However, being the good guy I am, I busted out the push broom and made short work of the leaves that had gathered in the driveway. It was then that I noticed that the gutter guard I had placed in the roof had been summarily un-installed by the storm. No big deal. It was not really 'installed', per se, but had simply been placed in the gutter to keep most of the leaves out, and some of the helicopters. It worked fine for a couple of seasons, but it wasn't installed to withstand the pounding it got last night. I'll have to get the proper installation tools at some point and get it back in there. Although, since we're going to be replacing the roof, we may very well be replacing the gutters as well. C'est la vie.
At least, when all is said and done, everyone's safe and sound at home. I can't ask for more than that. :-)
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