Taking the Plunge

Two women from the county clerk's office were at the library today when I stopped in. They had set up their voter registration table off to the side of the entryway. They get to be inside the foyer. The Christians are set up just outside in the shade of the arcade which is nice for them in the summer but our high temperature today was 68°F (20°C) and that was at sunrise. It's been dropping since and it's very windy out there.

I walked right past the county folks at first but turned around when I realized this is now 2016 and the primaries are coming up soon. I have been thinking of registering with a party to either vote for Bernie Sanders, who I really like, or, in an attempt to monkeywrench the Republicans, Donald Trump.

The incredibly helpful women (possibly employees, possibly volunteers, I didn't ask) had the necessary form (indeed, a full stack of them. Are there that many people choosing sides this time around?) right on the table. Although a different form, it asked the same information as a new voter registration form (which they also had in abundance) and took all of three minutes to fill out.

The only reason it took me that long is because I hesitated when I got to the choosing party section. There was a check box for "Democratic Party," and one for "Republican Party," one for "No Party Affiliation" which is totally redundant since not checking any of the boxes automatically results in the default "no party affiliation" status, and the last box, "Minor Party," with a space for the voter to fill in the name of the minor party of choice. (There were no suggested minor party names, i.e., Green, Libertarian, etc., which makes me wonder if I could just make up any party name I wanted and have that listed on my voter registration card.)

Anyway, I hesitated over which path to choose, support good or fight evil. I finally decided that, if I am going to start receiving political junk mail—and I know I will, now—I really don't want to see xenophobic fear-mongering, religious pandering and/or economic nonsense.

I am a proud new—officially registered—member of the Florida Democratic Party.

Go Bernie!

Still Like a Lion

Another thunderstorm came roaring through yesterday. This one's center was a bit south of us although we did get enough rain to fill the swale (yay, the moat is back!) and roaring winds interspersed with unnerving spots of dead calm.

The radio kept interrupting programming with announcements of severe thunderstorm warnings (as last time, redundant), sometimes as frequently as every three minutes. The announcing voice was robo-generated and listed, with curious and amusing pronunciation, a long and slowly shifting roster of affected counties as the storm moved east.

The tornado warning showed up about an hour into the storm warnings. By then the bulk of the storm was away south between the coast and the airport. Shortly after, the rain stopped in our area and the clouds broke.

The Christmas grapefruit tree required re-righting, again.

I didn't realize another tornado had touched down until I saw the paper today. They don't list the intensity so I assume it was weaker than the one that touched down here last week but it did manage to cause severe, although extremely localized, damage to an apartment complex and closed the airport for a while. And then overbooked the airport as the storm moved east and flights destined for Miami were diverted here.

There was extensive flooding as well and, judging by the sheer number of photographs of the fourteenth hole at the Whiskey Creek Golf Course, somebody lost their tee time and is taking it rather personally.

It also managed to chase a pair of retired snowbirds back to Ohio. Wimps.

The weather folks are trying to get ahead of the curve and are predicting severe thunderstorms with possible tornado for tomorrow.

In Like a Lion

I was watching one of the playoff games Saturday night when I realized the background sound I was hearing wasn't the air-conditioning, which has been off for some time now, but a steady pouring rain. Then the lightning and thunder started.

A cold front had come through earlier. It was sheeting down amid gusting winds so I checked to make sure all the windows were closed. They weren't but the ones that were open were only cracked a bit and not enough to let the rain in. Most of the lightning was comfortably off in the distance, but one bolt did strike close enough to rattle the entire house.

The local weather people (I do not usually watch that channel and have no idea who they might be other than a conventionally beautiful TV couple) came on during a break in the action to let us know about a severe thunderstorm warning for our area (bit late on that one) and a tornado warning (good to know but, since it's pitch dark outside, between the sound of the rain and thunder how will I know if there is one before it hits?) and also to reassure us that their continuing planned interruptions will not mean that we miss even one second of the game (we have our priorities after all).

The storm passed, and so did the weather announcements, before the game was over and it wasn't until the next day I found out, in addition to about three inches of rain, we did indeed have a tornado in town.

Most of the "tornadoes" we get occur during the summer and are little more than glorified waterspouts coming in off the gulf. Mom did get pictures of one once that came ashore and tossed a few cars around.

This was a real tornado. EF2. The news said it covered a distance of over three miles but, if so, it must have started offshore and worked its way through the coastal swamp first because the affected area seems to be only a mile or so long and is only about three, maybe four, miles away from our house as the egret flies. Most of the damage appears to be roofs, trees, cars, fences and power lines although even that they're totaling out at over $6 million. No deaths, fortunately. No serious injuries. Not impressive for any plains folk but, still, it's the biggest tornado in over 60 years here.

As for us, the storm knocked over the grapefruit tree I gave my brother for Christmas but that doesn't count since he hasn't gotten around to planting it yet and it's still sitting in its bucket just outside the lanai doorway. And for the record, yes, I did take the two seconds to tip it back upright again.