FOW:September 2017

When a tragedy such as a natural disaster strikes today, the world outside the affected areas tends to only see the damage and the heartbreak through television and the instantaneous magic of the internet. Additionally, once the disaster has had its time as a ‘current’ news event, it tends to slip into the background of those not connected in some way with the area that is in crisis.

The complications from this are many, such as the fact that donations to relief funds may stop coming in as time passes, making recovery harder, and the fact that it is yesterday’s news to the rest of the world may make it seem like the brave rebuilding residents of those areas are on a desert island, cut off from the world but still having to soldier on through the aftermath.

Once shining American jewels like the ‘Motor City’ of Detroit or the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina could tell you what happens when tragedy befalls its residents and the world has stopped watching.

There is a reason I brought up America and old-fashioned American values that in modern times seem to have gone the way of the drive-in and the roadside diner – something that most in this country today were raised to have pride in, no matter what side of the political aisle you are drawn to or how many mistakes the American people may have made in its ongoing history.

Rainy Days

This post is part of the Absolute Write’s March Blog Chain, which was given the prompt: Rainy Days. Please see the links below the body of this post for the other blogs that contributed to this month’s chain.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The dog refused to go potty.

This was a problem as it was pouring rain, windy and cold.

Alex pulled up the collar of his jacket against the wind and gave a little tug on the dog’s leash.

“Come on you dizzy dog, we have to go in, I’m freezing.”

But the Yellow lab sat down in the damp grass, staring up at his master with her ‘puppy dog’ eyes, then resumed  staring across the field towards the abandoned farmhouse and the highway beyond. Somewhere high above and off to the West, a low and ominous rumble of thunder rolled across the fields next to Alex’s house, pressing the matter.

Winter Nightmare!

This post is inspired by the Absolute Write’s January Blog Chain. Please visit the forum and also a list of blogger’s that participated in the chain follows this post. Please visit those blogs as well to see what they came up with for their Winter Nightmare!

You always hear those stories from the old timers sitting in their little groups in coffee shops and restaurants all across the country: “I remember the blizzard of 1930, you could barely see outside the windows and we were snowed in for days.”

But nothing could have prepared me for the blizzard that descended on the Chicago area on February 1st 2011.

Like most amazing events, it started off with normal day and a normal Winter snowfall, something you become used to living in the Midwest. For days the National Weather Service had called for a major blizzard in the forecasts by early that evening with predicted totals being close to 24 inches of snow by the time it all ended sometime early the next morning.

My boss had refused to close the small shop I worked in due to the weather as he felt it would be ‘nothing’ and as I worked alone and had no car at that time, I was actually fearful that I might have to spend a night in the back of the store, trying to catch some sleep on a rickety office chair.

However the need to have steady income and my bills paid overcame sensibility and instinct and off I went, not knowing that less than eight hours later I would be fearing for my life.