Zeta

I awoke at 5 AM. At 5:30 I turned on my phone and found an early morning text waiting for me. That evolved into a conversation that lasted until 6:40. Now it's 7 AM and still dark.

Zeta is supposed to blow through central Virginia today. The center of circulation will pass north of Richmond this afternoon, bringing heavy rain, flooding, and strong wind. So they say. If they're right, it will be a test of my roof, which I've had roofers work on twice this year for leaks.

Still in darkness, I returned to bed and got another 90 minutes of sleep before getting up once more. Then I ate breakfast, which turned out to be two servings of potato chips. You're thinking potato chips make a terrible breakfast. I agree, which is why I followed it with two servings of corn chips. Then I popped a multivitamin and washed it all down with a diet cola. So much for breakfast.

Now it's 11 AM and rain is still falling, though not hard. It's the kind of gentle rain that would have made it through my roof a few weeks ago. Rain has a way of finding an entry into a house. A roof may not leak for years, and then one day there is a leak. I sat at my computer and after a couple of false starts, I managed to turn out a blog. It is the blog post previous to this one, titled "Don't Needle Me."

Time passed, and I ate lunch: a BBQ sandwich with coleslaw and a mug of diet cola. The BBQ was finished and tomorrow I would probably switch to slaw dogs. I have the buns, the dogs, and sweet coleslaw.

The rain reminds me of my first two or three weeks living in Roanoke, Va. My workplace was on the side of a mountain, and it rained every day for the first three weeks I was there. Dismal clouds hung low on the side of the mountain. It was a depressing atmosphere. "Does the sun ever shine in this place?" was my thought. But Roanoke turned out to be a nice city. 

After lunch I lay down for my post-lunch nap, and while I was napping, Zeta blew through town. I slept for 90 minutes and when I awoke the rain was gone and the sun was out. There were still a few stray breezes but mostly there was quiet. I went to my front door and peered outside at a sunny day. A friend who lives nearby told me later that we had winds of about 35 mph, but I was unaware. 

I engaged in a long WhatsApp chat with a friend, and as I texted I also ate my supper: two servings of potato chips, two servings of corn chips, and a diet cola. Does that surprise anyone?