After the Storm

That was some night we had yesterday.

Watching the Storm Watch Channel, I felt so lucky, so blessed, to be where I was – snug as a bug in a rug, because this area wasn’t hit anywhere near as hard as others.

The evacuations, hillsides collapsing -- taking homes with them and, if not taking the home, sending a river of mud inside, got me thinking again about why it’s not a good idea to lock myself into ownership … anywhere, even though rents have become outrageous … everywhere. People sink their life savings into ownership and poof, everything they have is gone in an instant through an Act of God.

It’s a little overcast right now, so we may be in for more of yesterday later on, but it was so nice outside earlier that, once again feeling my energetic, fast moving, easy breathing, indoor bike riding self, I decided to go for a long drive -- to Redlands for aida cloth to start my new cross stitch project, with lunch at Souplantation after.

The car gave me a weird cranking sound when I started her up. I noticed a big green headlight in the middle of the console and a tool and oil can symbol lit up.

It can’t need service already. I said to myself.

Hasn’t been that long since the last.

As for that green headlight, I pulled out the manual and it indicated the high beams were on.

Oh oh, thought I. That cranking sound is probably the battery getting ready to die on me because why? Did I leave the lights on? When did I even turn them on?

I don’t know. Maybe when I washed the car last week, I somehow hit the switch.

The lights were not on when I got IN the car.

That green thing didn’t show up until I turned on the ignition, so maybe, when the car was off, the battery wasn’t being drained.

At any rate, under the circumstances, I decided I’d better stay in the area until one of two things happens – the battery does die and I have to call for a jump to get to the dealer OR I get the time, and a nice sunny day, to drive out to the dealer and have them check the battery.

Not taking the chance of getting stranded miles from home on a day when tow service might be slow because surrounding areas are still in chaos from last night's storm, and another might start, I drove only to Starbucks, returned to the complex and ordered the aida online.