High wind--the new normal?

We're under another high wind warning today. (It's tempting to blame Rush Limbaugh, but I'll leave it alone.) Considering the tornado destruction to our south the past few days, this is only a minor problem for us. But it did cause some minor damage to our house overnight, and is probably just a taste of what we have to look forward to this spring and summer.

At the moment we're fortunate to be on the northern side of the colliding air masses--the low dipping jet stream, which is going to bring us a bit of snow and overnight lows in the teens over the next couple of days, and the warm air rising from the Gulf of Mexico. This collision is responsible for the violent storms ripping through the south and midwest. And since the Gulf of Mexico is now warmer than usual, the conditions are ripe for stormier than usual weather. We may lose some tree limbs and roofing shingles this year. And watch out for those flying cows.

Anyway, this is probably a good time to review your emergency preparedness.

*****

We had a really good discussion the other night following our third film in our social action committee series, "The Power of Community." First of all, it provided a view of Cuba most of us had little awareness of, given our political weirdness about that little island. Seeing how the Cuban people were able to respond to their low energy crisis by decentralizing education and healthcare, while transforming their communities into glorious, green, petroleum-free food gardens, was inspiring and thought-provoking. The degree to which our lives are dependent on oil is shocking. But what if we started getting more of our food locally, grown organically without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides? What if we stopped relying so heavily on each person having their own private automobile and started sharing rides? What if we farmed tilapia here instead of importing it from farms in South America?

At the same time, the newly reconstituted "Occupy Jamestown" group has begun holding meetings, with a focus on "occupying" our community and working to strengthen it. I hope this continues, because the idea of occupying a park or having a protest march to get attention in a city the size of Jamestown is kind of ridiculous. Can't we just find the people we want to send a message to and TALK to them? That's the beauty of community. But you have to build those personal relationships. I know there are people who favor more militant approaches to changing the world, and good luck to them, they can bang their heads against that wall if they want to. There are always protests and marches in bigger cities, campaign craziness to indulge in, petitions and boycotts to join, whatever. I may, from time to time, be inclined (as an individual) to support some of these things. But I see most of them as a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. I'd rather take a hands on approach to building something that will yield tangible results in the place that I live. I'd prefer to foster a climate of cooperation instead of maintaining and intensifying the awful polarization and quite uncivil adversarial environment we've come to accept as normal. (Do you really wonder why we have perpetual war?) I think I've found some people who agree with this approach. But we'll have to wait and see what develops.

Today, there's a spring garden fair downtown. Tom and I are going to check it out. It's still going to be a little while before garden season arrives in my backyard, but I'm making my plans.