Musing Monday...Keep on the Sunny Side Edition

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Tho' the storm in its fury break today,

Crushing hopes that we cherished so dear,

Storm and cloud will in time pass away,

The sun again will shine bright and clear....

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,

Keep on the sunny side of life;

It will help us ev'ry day, it will brighten all the way,

If we keep on the sunny side of life

Yes, it is Musing Monday, and we will get to that in a minute, but first a few words about my weekend here in South Jersey.
Just a bit more eventful than I had hoped.

I went to bed Friday night, to be awoken by a thunder storm and the power going off at about 1 A.M.
I went downstairs to find my kitty Larry, because Larry does not like thunderstorms and while Larry is not that fond of me, I thought I could bring him some comfort.
Then, I made the mistake of looking out the window.
Oh my heavens.
It was terrible.
The wind was blowing the trees like I have never seen, I have a BIG oak out front and I had no idea it could move like that without breaking. And the lightning..it was constant flashes, every few seconds for 90 minutes. I have truly never seen anything like it before. It was like the sky was exploding. I do not like storms and this was major, major scary.

"It was a rare type of thunderstorm system called a derecho, which is a “super organized group of thunderstorms,” said Gary Szatkowski, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mt. Holly. Meteorologists will see a derecho of a similar magnitude somewhere in the country about every three to five years, Szatkowski said. But for non-weather watchers, “this will be one of the worst ones you will experience in your lifetime.” At the storm’s peak, winds gusted more than 80 miles per hour, with sustained winds of between 50 mph and 60 mph lasting about 30 minutes.And while the clean-up begins in South Jersey and other places that were hit hard by the storm, meteorologists are starting the process of studying exactly what happened to better understand a relatively rare weather system. "

Of course our power was out, in most of our county. I believe the number was 120,000 out in our county out of 150,000. And they were talking day...a week...until it was back. In 95+ temps. No A/C, no lights, no street lights, no traffic lights, no gas stations, no food stores.

And the trees down!! There is not a street in my town where there are not massive trees and small trees and every sort of trees down. Cars crushed, houses damaged, roads blocked, poles down, power lines in the streets and in yards. We have had storms in the past, violent storms, but the number of trees down in this one is just amazing.

But people get moving immediately, I will say that. By Saturday afternoon the sounds of chain saws and generators filled the air and by Sunday, electric crews from our local company and PSE&G in north Jersey that came down here to help out were amassing. My power came back for a time last night and now is back again. Just in time for me to throw out the contents of my frig and freezer for the trash collection.
But I realize I am so lucky. No damage to my house, very, very little damage on my property, no one I know hurt. My brother lost a tree, but it fell in his neighbor's yard, seemingly doing little damage except crushing part of a fence.

But many here are not so lucky. I have heard of 5 killed in the area, including two children killed while camping out in a state park.And more than 15 people killed in West Virginia from what I last heard.
That makes the loss of electricity for a few days, or even the loss of a car or a house, seem so unimportant.

This week’s musing asks...

When you’re stuck for a book to read next, what do you do?

Stuck for a book? Hmmm...what does that mean?
I am never stuck for a book these days. I have piles of books, books on my Nook, books on a Kindle app on my iPad...gosh, I even have books on my phone. No matter when it is or where I am, I have a book on hand these days.
No, the only problem I have is deciding which one to read next.
In the midst of the storm's aftermath I talked about above, I still had a charged iPad  and a phone full of books, both backlit.
Which was handy because it was darn dark! 

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