Shangri-La .... or so it would seem

Whether I can weather the Storm

Yet another hurricane came to town. This one was named Ivan. I'm glad we didn't get much rain or we would have had more flooding and damage. Unforunately, there was a lot more damage to the west of me. A real tradgedy occured in Macon county where there was a mud slide which killed 20 people. Several tornadoes also touched down in the area, but none where I was. There was a lot of wind though. Branches were everywhere. The top of the walnut tree broke out and my neighbor had her giant oak tree topple down. I heard it when it happened and thought one of my oak trees fell over. Let's just hope that there are no more hurricanes this year.

Here is the Oak Tree that fell.

Cracked Rear View

I found my rear-view mirror laying in my floorboard. The mirror was broken, but I'm not sure if I get 7 years of bad luck or if someone hit my windshield and they get the bad luck. What are the rules of this? If I take an already broken mirror and smash it into a thousand pieces, what then? Do I get 7 years of bad luck for each crack? What if someone threw a mirror into the garbage and the garbage men turn on the compactor? Dire consequences, I tells you. I can't imagine the stress of working in a mirror company. They must be on pins and needles all day. "Everyone, just take it easy. Take it easy. Go as slow as you want. The important thing is your health." And you thought handling nuclear waste was scary.

The Great Flood of Ought Four

Yesterday I was worried that the French Broad was going to escape her banks and today it was confirmed. I made it to work, but when I passed over the water was only a few feet from the bridge and it was still raining. Transylvania county had over 14 inches of rain from Hurricane Francis. I'm not sure if that was just the past 24 hours, but I started worrying when I saw animals pair up and march out of town. Lefty didn't make it into work today and Biltmore had six feet of water. I was thinking about going home via the parkway but my sister warned me of mudslides so I took the interstate. I could tell that more roads were closed off because it was bumper to bumper both ways trying to reach the interstate. When I crossed the French Broad again it was out in the road.

Later this evening I went to check on Beaver's house and the water was out in the road in some places. It had receeded a few feet but you could already see a lot of damage. The fence by the baseball field was knocked down where sticks and debris had clogged the holes and the force of the water pushed it down.

Water Meter

I can't believe they finally fixed the water meter in the driveway. It used to be underneath 8 inches of gravel and everytime they came to read the meter a hole would be dug up which got annoying.

I'm not sure why they had to spray paint it neon colors though.

Mothra

I found this bug on the window screen at the apartment in Candler. I think it is just waiting until night so I can eat through the wall and get me in my sleep. Oh, I know it is up to no good.