The first thing I do in the morning is look out the window to see what the weather is like. I didn’t really take the weather report so seriously until I moved out into the country. But now I realize that, if I want to get my mail, I need to go to the post office. And when spring storms come into season, my nerves take a turn for the worse. I often hear people say that seeing “a cloud coming up” does not cause them any uneasiness, but others like me declare that they have a natural tendency to become more cautious when the weatherman predicts a damaging wind on the horizon or an expectation of hail, whether large or small.
Lately we have heard some folks declare that they have experienced some movements of the earth and have even heard some sound effects to go along with these small quakes. Suddenly we are made aware that the earth is moving and changing all the time!
Besides the fact that the big toe on my left foot gets shooting pains, the other warning signals of a probably bout of inclement weather are “the big eye” if the weather signals come in the evening or at night and a case of the voracious hungries if a dark cloud approaches in the daytime.
Heavy rain and flooding give me the heebie-geebies, especially if I am on the road. There are a good many bridges between Dawson and Corsicana, and I always seem to be meeting a big 18-wheeler on one of those narrow crossings so that a blinding wave of water covers the windshield making visibility impossible. Danger of hydroplaning when tires can’t deal adequately with the sheets of extra water on the streets and highways causes me an added headache.
Hail damage to automobile, trucks, and the roof of the house also poses a possible financial loss and prospective trouble in renewing insurance policies or at least some increase in premiums.
But probably the main reason I react as I do to inclement weather is that my mother didn’t like storms one little bit. Her sister lived in Frost during the infamous storm of May 6, 1930. Nobody who did experience that catastrophe or even had relatives or friends who did, can be anything but serious about the possibility of a reoccurrence.
When we were growing up, if a storm came up at night, we got up and got dressed in order to be ready to run if necessary. And even today, I do not like to talk on the telephone if an electrical storm is approaching.
Tornado watches and warnings still put my alert system into overtime. And the presence of animals actually heightens my alarm if possible.
Since we have strong winds many times in the country, the noise makes sleep almost impossible sometimes. I can remember how my mother told about “going to the storm cellar.” We didn’t have one, but I think she always regretted that we didn’t. From what some of my friends in the country tell me, the cellar was more often more dangerous than the outside because of the snakes or other varmints that took refuge there. I am undecided, never having spent any time in a storm cellar, although I might like to have a house with a nice basement.
I have found that most of the time, the watching and worrying are a big waste of time. I think that the old-timey practice of spending the time in prayer and thanksgiving for God’s care and concern is much more helpful than looking for a place to run to.
But ever since my parents spent some of the early years of their marriage in Oklahoma, where there were a great many storms, the overabundance of caution has passed down in the blood, so to speak. It is best to counteract this by remembering that everything will probably be all right, no matter what the weather forecast is.
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Gelene Simpson is a Daily Sun columnist. Her column appears on Tuesdays. Want to “Soundoff” on this column? Email: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com
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Gelene Simpson is a Daily Sun columnist.
Discussion
The weather sets my mood
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