Terry's 3M's

Picture my bedroom. The door is in the southwest corner of the room and there is a small entry of maybe 2 and a half feet. This entry wall forms the outside wall of my closet which is across the entire south end of the room. It has 3 sliding doors. A third of the closet rod holds my wardrobe. The floor, shelf, and other two-thirds of the closet are filled with boxes and there's a wire shelving unit used as a bookcase, a couple of crates and file boxes stacked to make another bookcase, and the third bookcase is a regular, open, wooden bookcase.

The west wall is the site of the triple dresser. On it are 2 small crates that house most of my Stephen King books. On top of the crates is the CD player. Unfortunately, it is not working now because it needs a working receiver. Alas, the bookcase sized portable stereo at the other end of the dresser isn't working properly. The sound system is shot (no, it's not the speakers--I checked them with another unit and they're fine.). So, on top of the busted system is a small boombox. Only the radio is functioning and that is what I use. The stereos are pushed towards the back of the dresser and in front of them is a towel on which rests a lot of mugs. Different sizes, different sayings. And on the wall above the dresser is a studio portrait of my son at about 11 months of age.

Along the east wall there is a 25" console television with a VCR and a rabbit-ear antenna on top. There are often tapes on the top of the TV. There's a small space between the TV and the hutch/cabinet that is where the 6 outlet surge breaker extension rests. The hutch/cabinet currently houses a Super NES and a regular Nintendo. On the shelves are VHS tapes. Almost 2 shelves of Trek tapes. There's a small cardboard dresser that is falling apart between the hutch/cabinet and the wall. On top is a plastic shoebox that holds most of the medicines I need for myself and the kids. (Benedryl, cough syrup, acetaminaphen for kids, aspirin, cream for backaches or arthritis, rash cream, anti-fungal cream, bismol, and Melaleuca's answer to Tums. Bandaids are not stored there because the kids try to use up all the bandaids within a day of entering the house.)

The north wall is the outside wall. I don't have a headboard to my bed. It is a double bed and the window is my headboard. On one side of the bed is a regular nightstand that holds a 4 cup Mr. Coffee. And the jar of spoons, the cup of pkgs of sweet-n-low, and a cup that holds packets of Taster's Choice coffee. On the other side is an end table that holds (among other things) my photo albums and a couple more Stephen King books in the cupboard beneath it. On top are ashtrays, a little box of odds and ends, and most of the books that I am currently reading. It is also the site of the current beverage. On the window sill are various colognes and powders, and my vitamins (Melaleuca's Cell-Wise--a frutose compounded anti-oxidant formula). There are no curtains at the window and the blinds are all the way up. Nobody can see in during the day because there are solar screens outside. The window is over six feet long and four feet high. There are 2 dozen panes of glass, each about a square foot.

There. Now, it's about midnight. I am sitting on the bed playing a game on the Super NES. I notice that the wind is picking up. I can hear trash cans blowing but can't see whether ours are still standing. Trash pick up is usually around 5 AM so everyone has there trash cans out by the curb. While I am debating on whether or not to go downstairs and turn off the computer, the power flickers and my game restarts. The decision is made for me. I shut off the game and TV and turn on the hall lights to go downstairs.

Faye was standing downstairs--she had gone down to turn off the computer. I tell her that I will go outside and check on our trash cans.

It is glorious outside! The winds are blowing at about 40-50 mph. One of our trash cans is in the street. I can see that the box that I had put in it is gone. I move the trash cans off the sidewalk and onto the stones around the pine tree on the east end of the driveway. I see the box that has blown out of our trash can. It is on a neighbor's lawn across the side street. As I am entering the house to put on a pair of flip-flops before crossing the street, I see the box blow into another yard. It is yet another yard over when I finally retrieve it.

I find the wind invigorating and I am dressed in my nightshirt over shorts as I stand there letting the wind blow around me. While I am enjoying all this, I am aware that it is not a safe night to be out driving. There are trash cans that have tipped over and after the contents have blown away (and there are papers of all sorts blowing in the wind) the trash cans themselves start making their way down the street. It is as if the street had turned into a giant wind tunnel.

There is lightning--both sheet lighting and fork lightning--illuminating the sky. But no thunder. Yet.

After I go inside, I go to the kitchen window and look out to see how the dogs and the puppies are faring. Something in the next backyard is bothering Sunny. He is barking and jumping high enough to see over the back wall and into the next yard (the wall is six feet high!). After a couple of minutes, he calms down and I don't hear any more barking, but, he and Tabitha are patroling the backyard diligently. So, I decide to head back to my room.

For the first time in weeks, it's almost cool outside! I slide my window open all the way. I turn off the light so that I can better few the light show outside. The lightning seems so close! But, I don't hear any thunder, yet. It's now about half past midnight.

Now there's a rumble of thunder. A few minutes later, I feel drops of water coming through the solar screen. I get the window closed most of the way just as the rain starts really coming down and the wind is blowing it right through the solar screen and onto the panes of glass. Now the the lights are romantically hazy when seen through the raindrops on the windowpanes.

I lie sideways across the bed and watch the spectacle...I must have dozed off for a minute there because the next thing I know it's about 1:30. I have already checked and seen that the girls were covered up and I checked on the boys and covered Johnny.

Around 2, John comes into my room and asks if he can sleep in my room because the thunder is too noisy and the lightning is too bright and he can't sleep. (At 8, he feels that he's too old to be scared...so he has to have another excuse.) His beanbag chair is on the floor at the foot of my bed, so, I tell him that he can sleep on the floor and use his chair as a pillow. Instead, he gets a pillow from his room and uses the chair as a mattress. We both go to sleep...and I am lulled by the sounds of the storm.

About 5 I wake up. It's kind of chilly, so I look at my baby and he looks so fragile lying there. I go to his room and bring back his teddy bear blanket to cover him. He pulls it around him greedily.

I am amazed as he sleeps through the sounds of the dumpsters stop outside to pick up the trash. I decide to play a game until 6:30 because I promised to make sure that A was up by then. I know that if I go back to sleep now, I won't wake up again until 8...so, I stay up.

At 6:30, I go downstairs and A is already up. Well, as long as I'm down here, I might as well make a pot of coffee and go outside to give the dogs clean water. Then return the trash cans to the garage, and take the clothes out of the dryer, etc....

And that's how today began.