Thursday, April 20, 2006

Well, Good Morning Rick!

The Texas night on Wednesday was filled with driving rain, high winds, and a power outage that left the devices in my house beeping and blinking at 2:12 am. I got up and tried to do something impossible. I actually tried to turn on a light even though it was completely evident there was no power. Why do we do that? Well, maybe YOU don't. But I did.
No lights. No air conditioning. No nothing.

I decided 'screw it' and just went back to sleep. Sometime around 5:30 am the power came back on and the normal world inside my house was revived. Cave man status had been dismissed once again by Texas Utilities.
About an hour later I got up and wandered through the house, went into the kitchen and started coffee. I looked out the front windows at the mess made by the storm. Small branches and dismembered tree bits littered the front yard.

Yet the birds were singing and the air was clean as it filtered through the windows. It felt like a peaceful fresh happy morning to me all things considered.

I got some coffee, sipped it slowly and rubbed my eyes. I decided to visit the backyard to assess if the morning was as beautiful in the back as it appeared in the front.

Understand I don't sleep in pajamas or clothes of any type. Sometimes I go without clothes in the house for a percentage of the time in the mornings. (I run my business from my home)

It's not unusual for me to go into my backyard or into the swimming pool sans clothing. Or as my London blog friend Colin might say, 'starkers'. I have an 8' privacy fence shielding me from the neighbors.

So driven by my routine and without a care in the world, my coffee and my fully exposed epidermus opened the back door and wandered out onto the back terrace.

I was greeted by our behind the fence neighbor Tina with a surprised "Well, Good Morning Rick!"

The reason I was in view of said neighbor is that half of my 8' privacy fence was lying on the ground. Tina was assessing the damage. Her husband Roy wasn't out there; and somehow I was glad for that. I excused myself with an em-bare-assed grin and went back inside.

Once inside I looked out the blinds of the Breakfast room window.

Then I hopped up and down like Yosemite Sam cursing a mean blue streak of inventive and creative expletives.
Calmed down, I went outside (dressed) and looked at the damage. Tina had split, likely in gales of internal laughter. I figured the damage would be just short of my insurance deductible. Typical.

Here is a picture.

Then I rationalized how lucky I really am; as we all do when disaster strikes. You know the gap-toothed sweating idjits they always find after a tornado. The ones with the gimmme-caps and torn t-shirts? The ones that say, "I'm just lucky to be alive 'cuz' it 'shore' was a big ol bad storm." Now I know where they find those people.

And, yes the little pool angel you see in the bottom right corner is sitting on my pool. Thanks a hell of a lot, stupid angel! Good job.






Later. Have a great weekend. I'm gone to Houston today.

10 comments:

Jenn said...

Of course, you're always fully clothed while you blog. Right?

When I was five - we lived in Oklahoma. There was a twister warning and we actually had to go to a shelter...I think it was the nearby hospital basement. I remember watching (from a distance) with my grandparents as the twister jumped and writhed around the small town. When we finally returned to their house...the home across the street and the home next door were nothing but smithereens and slivers.

Weather down there is an amazing thing...ain't it?

Seven said...

Jenn,
It can be very damaging; but if you grow up with it sometimes you just sleep right thru.
I guess every climate has something. The fence companies today were so swamped with calls I couldn't even get through.

Stacy The Peanut Queen said...

I've got a picture almost identitcal to your (sans the pools) from my fence after Hurricane Charley came right across the town I live in.

If you go to my December 2004 archives and scroll down, you'll see our fence. What a mess!!! I can sympathize with you (although, when I checked out my back yard, I was fully clothed...;)

Glad to hear you and the Mrs. are okay...:)

xwy said...

Glad you & Beth are ok. I've often wondered if the idjits are a southern commodity...I don't remember seeing the same people on the news growing up in Ohio. Maybe they were and I just didn't pay attention. As for your neighbor, I'm sure you made her day ;) There are probably phones ringing all over the neighborhood..."guess what? I saw Rick nekkid! hehehe"

Monogram Queen said...

I am still laughing at "em-bare-assed" grin!
Tina got lucky this morning :)
Before we moved back to the city we used to walk around outside & swim in the pool au natural. (we have 25 acres) and once in awhile we gave a crop duster a thril i'm sure. Funny story Rick and have a safe trip to Houston.

Grant said...

That reminds me of the time I was mired in my own problems because my truck needed a new transmission and I was strapped for cash. As I sat in my rental car in the rain, a man wearing battered fatigues and missing a leg crossed in front of me on crutches. That permanently cured me of feeling sorry for myself.

So, is your new nickname going to be "Nekkid Guy"?

Reach said...

I can just see the news promo, for this evenings broadcast, now.

"Thought your life managed the early morning winds? Tonight, tune in ENN for the latest weather damage report- Starring our roving reporter Rick, the Em-Bare-Assed Nekkid Neighbor, in YOUR backyard."

LOL

Reach

Anonymous said...

Rick, I saw a headline on AOL about a naked carpenter getting busted. Hope that wasn't you before you got the fence back up. Hope you had great weekend in Houston.

Seven said...

Rob,
Wasn't me. I think Tina is pretty laid back; probably just giggled a bit and told the story all over the place.
I spent one day with my Houston teammates working on relay baton passes; gauging distances for the stick to me from Charlie Allie, then me to Bill C.
I am a little nervous. It's a long way to Philadelphia worrying about a bad exchange and a long trip home if it were to happen. I'm trying to stay confident and positive. I noticed we were seeded no.1, but Maryland Masters and Sprint Force America are heavyweight teams too!

Anonymous said...

Rick you strike me like an absent minded professor sometimes!
Cute story. You write such intelligent articles here but sometimes you do things that are sort of silly and forgetful, like toilet paper on your face and no clothes presentations to neighbors.
Such a loveable Uncle type!