A to Z: Y is for Yikes, Yowsers, and Yee Howdy...

...we had us a storm!

Monday morning, as i quickly got a post ready for Tuesday in advance of the winds and rain and everything, we prepared to hunker down.

And hunker we did.  Red-headed Alec was so concerned when the skies turned black and the wind was coming from every direction, even pushing rain under our front door, that he made us take shelter in case of a tornado.

In fact, there were no tornadoes, but hail and lightning and the threat of tornadoes developing and some awful winds, almost hurricane force.

Because Jalopy is in the shop, Sweetie had caught a ride to work with Brother-in-Law, The Mouth.  That meant i had to go pick him up.  By then the rain had let up, and most of the wind, but the damage was done.

No power in lots of areas.  Trees down and blocking streets.  Almost all of the direct routes to the uni were blocked somewhere, and when you could get through, you sat a long time at non-functioning traffic lights that are automatically considered four-way stops in those circumstances.  Four-way stops on four-lane highways, plus the turn lanes, that are always congested anyway, has the makings of nightmares of traffic.

All day we heard sirens as emergency crews were called out to accidents.  The interstate got totally stopped for a while.

We were told to expect power back by late Wednesday night, and the generator tried to come on but quit, so i turned it off to prevent damage.  We will need to have it taken care of once we finish paying for Jalopy repairs.

Another wave moved through that evening, canceling Sweetie's Deacon Meeting and the Visitation Committee training i was to attend.  (We had come down to the church early, and had to beat it to get out before the next wave broke loose.)

Meanwhile, the rain came in fits and spurts, with more wind and occasional hail, and all the kids went to work as their workplaces all had power.  (Go figure.  The residential areas were almost all down, the business areas all up.  Makes me wonder.)

This "yikes it was a storm" post is being written at a local coffee shop, because i don't know when i'll be able to do much at home again.  They've delayed how long they think it will take for us to get power by another day.  Again.

Today is

Administrative Professionals Day -- Wed. of last full week

Arita Ceramic Fair -- Arita, Japan (finest porcelain in Japan; during Golden Week until May 5)

Cheng Cheng Kung Landing Day -- Taiwan (352nd anniversary of the landing in Taiwan of Ming Dynasty loyalist Cheng Cheng Kung to oust the Dutch colonists)

Feast of the Secret Masters -- can't find any real info on this one, and why should i if it's such a secret, but it is fun to think about

Fish Cleaning Night -- sponsored by David Letterman (it's okay if you don't have an audience, or Mariel Hemingway)

International Dance Day -- International Dance Committee of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), a UNESCO partner

International Guide Dog Day

Milk-Curdling Sunday -- Fairy Calendar (Gremlins, and only occasionally on a Sunday)

National Adult Public Skipping Day -- because somebody out there either wants you to feel like a kid again, or make a fool of you

National Shrimp Scampi Day

"Peace" Rose Day -- an explanation of this name for the Rosa 'Madame A. Meilland variety

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Peace

Remembrance of Victims of Chemical Weapons -- on the day chemical weapons were outlawed in 1997

Ridvan, Ninth Day -- Baha'i (one of the festival days on which work and school should be suspended)

Runic Half Month of Lagu (water) begins

Showa No Hi -- Japan (Showa Day, the birth anniversary of Emperor Showa, begins the Golden Week holiday period of four major national days, through May 5)

Solar Alignment at Teotihuacan, City of the Gods -- Teotihuacan, Mexico (the ritual cave opening aligns to the sunset on Aug. 12 and Apr. 29, the same horizon position of the setting of the Pleiades)

St. Catherine of Siena's Day (Patron of fire prevention, firefighter, nurses, nursing services, people ridiculed for piety, sick people; Europe; Italy; Theta Phi Alpha Sorority; Allentown, PA, US; Siena, Italy; Verazze, Italy; against bodily ills/sickness, fire, miscarriages, sexual temptation)

Sunfest -- West Palm Beach, FL, US (Florida's largest music, art, and waterfront festival; through Sunday)

Walk @ Lunch Day -- founded and encouraged by Blue Cross / Blue Shield

World Wish Day -- from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, marking the date in 1980 that local police let seven-year-old leukemia patient Chris Grecicius be an officer for a day, sparking the idea of the Make-a-Wish Foundation

Zipper Day -- while i can't confirm it, the modern zipper was supposedly patented on this day in 1913


Anniversaries Today:

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, marries Catherine "Kate" Middleton, 2011
Mike Nichols marries Diane Sawyer, 1988
Princess Irene marries Prince Carel Hugo de Bourbon Parma, 1964


Birthdays Today:

Andre Agassi, 1970
Uma Thurman, 1970
Carnie Wilson, 1968
Eve Plumb, 1958
Michelle Pfeiffer, 1958
Daniel Day-Lewis, 1957
Kate Mulgrew, 1955
Jerry Seinfeld, 1954
Nora Dunn, 1952
Dale Earnhardt, 1951
Johnny Miller, 1947
Zubin Mehta, 1936
Lane Smith, 1936
Rod McKuen, 1933
Robert Gottlieb, 1931
Celeste Holm, 1919
Tom Ewell, 1909
Hirohito, 1901
Duke Ellington, 1899
William Randolph Hearst, 1863
Oliver Ellsworth, 1745


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Hair"(Musical), 1968
"ABC's Wide World of Sports"(TV), 1961
"Young Dr. Malone"(Radio), 1940
"There Shall be No Night"(Play), 1940
Roget's Thesaurus(Publication date), 1852
Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-flat major(Mozart K. 454), 1784


Today in History:

The Moors arrive at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, 711
Joan of Arc arrives at Orleans to relieve the siege, 1492
Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish fleet, 1587
Eleven Dutch ships depart for the conquest of Peru, 1623
The Ming Dynasty occupies Taiwan, 1661
James Cook arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia, 1770
The French Fleet prevents Britain from seizing the Cape of Good Hope, 1781
Peter Roget publishes the first edition of his Thesaurus, 1852
The "Elektromote" – forerunner of the trolleybus  – is tested by Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin, 1882
Gideon Sundbach of Hoboken, NJ, receives a patent for the zipper, 1913
The North Sea floodgate at Ijmuiden, the biggest in world, officially opens, 1930
The telephone connection of England-Australia goes into service, 1930
The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast airs, and episode of "Space Patrol" shown over ABC affiliate KECA in Los Angeles, 1953
The first military nuclear power plant opens, in Ft. Belvoir 1957
A cyclone strikes the Chittagong  district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 mph, killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless, 1991
Oldsmobile  builds its final car ending 107 years of production, 2004
Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation, 2005
Economic losses mount and class action lawsuits are filed as the U.S. Coast Guard plans a controlled burn to remove spilled oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, 2010