The area where I live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, experienced exceptionally strong storms yesterday. I had no sooner arrived at home when the second wave of the storms struck, dropping hail and lots of rain, sideways. Since the forecast was calling for such storms, I didn’t ride my Harley. There’s no sense in taking chances.

When I got home, I discovered the power was out. I reached in the bottom of our pantry and pulled out our Disaster Supplies Kit. From that I took out two flashlights and inserted fresh batteries. I also got out the battery-powered radio. Since we heard in advance that the storms were coming, we had already taken things like our picnic table umbrella and hanging plants that were outside to the garage, so they would not become missiles in strong winds and damage our house or the neighbor’s.

Then the NOAA Weather Radio began sounding an alert. I listened… a tornado watch was just issued. The radio stores previous alerts in memory, and I scrolled through them… all for severe thunderstorms. The phone rang, and I told the caller that I don’t take calls during storms with lightning, and hung up. Lightning can easily travel through telephone lines and zap someone on the phone, or cause a fire, or worse.

I put our personal disaster plan into action. I drew the blinds and shades, so that if a branch broke off a tree and hit a window, we wouldn’t have glass flying around to hurt us. I turned on the portable radio and tuned it to an all-news station to listen for updates. Because the power was out, I knew that my partner wouldn’t be able to open the garage door with his remote. I kept an eye out for him and then opened the door manually when he arrived.

The rain had stopped, but more storms were coming. We grilled our dinner outside, and only opened the refrigerator once to get everything out that we needed. The news reports were ominous, with stories about funnel cloud sightings, downed trees and power lines. Someone in a neighboring county was killed while driving by a large tree that fell on his car.

Since the news reports indicated that the power outage was very widespread, our experience indicated that we probably would not have power restored for at least a day, if not longer. So we put our “power option” of our disaster plan into action.

Years ago, we bought a generator. I built a special pad for it and protective housing out in our woods, about 100m away from the house. I had a licensed electrician install a transfer switch, which disconnects our household power on four circuits from the main power coming into the house. I connected the wire from the generator to the special outlet for it at the back of the house. I then carefully turned the generator on and followed the instructions to energize the four circuits that are in the subpanel connected to the transfer switch.

Note: unfortunately, a lot of people die from using a generator incorrectly, such as by placing it inside a garage or basement, or outside the house but near an open window. Carbon monoxide from the generator kills silently and quickly. If you use a generator, operate it away from the house in a well-ventilated area. Connect it according to local ordinances and codes. If you want to power circuits in a house, have a transfer switch installed by a licensed electrician. That’s important to do because power from a generator plugged into household circuits that are not cut off from the main power system can energize (backfeed) electrical lines and hurt repair workers attempting to restore power for everyone.

Our refrigerator, freezers, sump pumps, and other essentials came back to life. We had power for some lighting so we could see after dark. Considering it was so warm out, and since there were still tornado watches in our area, we decided to sleep in our basement, since it is our designated safe place for such storms and was cooler. I brought the flashlights, the portable regular radio, the NOAA Weather Radio (which would sound an alert if a Tornado Warning were issued even in the middle of the night), pillows and blankets, and we were all set.

We slept soundly. The power remained out this morning. Not wanting to leave a generator running completely unattended, I turned it off. My partner went to work and I went to a speaking engagement. When I returned home, the power was still out. Since it had cooled, I refueled it, and turned it back on. Power was restored about 5pm. I turned the generator off to let it cool and put other things away, including taking the batteries out of the flashlights (so they won’t drain when not in use).

We were safe, sound, and okay. Our food didn’t spoil, and water that entered the sump wells drained, so we didn’t have any flooding in our basement.

Preparedness pays. You never know when. Get ready … now… this is your warning time. Be safe!

Years ago I served as a volunteer emergency medical technician (EMT) and served with paramedics on a local volunteer rescue squad. Whenever there was a full moon, we encountered people who had the strangest things happen to them, more auto crashes, and just odd stuff.

Most folks don’t give credence to a full moon having an effect on people’s behavior. However just this week, the week of the Full Flower Moon, has proven once again, to me anyway, that there is some sort of link between odd behavior and a full moon.

Within the past two days, I received three come-on email messages for sex, which is absurd, and about which I blogged yesterday. I also have been dealing with some drama on an internet site that I once worked closely with, but now am backing off. (Plus, I really just don’t have the time for it as I once did.) Then at a public hearing the other night, someone testified about a project that we weren’t even discussing. Then I received a very strange phone call from someone who claims to know me but I didn’t know. Add to that some folks in a local group that I have worked with who got all bee-jeebered about picky little stuff, and I just have to wonder if the full moon is at work.

These are random things, but all seem to have occurred right at the peak of the full moon. I dunno, if I didn’t have to go to work I would be tempted to stay in bed and pull the covers up over my partner’s and my head. (Hmmm, that would be fun, but for a different reason [smile]).

May 3 is a day to remember as this was the day, years ago, when I donated a kidney to my “little” sister. Actually, she’s older than I am, but about half my size. She is a triplet, but her sisters don’t look a thing like her — they’re all fraternal.

She was the sister who always tormented me, drove me nuts, jumped out at me behind closed doors (and enjoyed my startled reaction.) She was the one who did something bad and arranged for Mom and Dad to blame me for whatever transgression. She was the one who chased my friends around on the front lawn to embarrass them. She would play that loud “Rock and Roll” music in the car while I would sit humming with my fingers in my ears.

She was also the one who got sick. So sick that we thought we were going to lose her. So sick that all of us lined up and got tested, and I was the lucky winner to be informed that we had the closest match when it came to the kidney she needed since hers had shut down. Truly, I believe I am the lucky one. It was weird that her triplet sisters were not as close a match as I was. Fa bene, sic volvere parcas.

She’s living well now, enjoying life, having fun. Best of all, she’s my best friend.

Be an organ donor. Sign up with your state motor vehicle office so “organ donor” appears on your driver’s license, but most of all, discuss your intent with those who will be asked at a time of crisis. It’s sad but true: even if you have signed a donor card and indicated your intent to donate organs upon death, your loved-ones who make decisions for you at a hospital will still need to give permission. Make sure they know your intent, so your organs can save as many lives as possible — and enable people to live longer, more productive, and happier lives with the beneficence of your gift.

Happy Kidney Day!

This is part of an essay that appeared in The Washington Post on Thursday, April 24, 2008. It is written by someone I know and have served with on a community group. The essay so clearly describes why I love living where I do, much better than I have done in previous blog posts.
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… There are so many ways of life here that the phrase [diversity] starts to lose its meaning. Friends and neighbors adapt to one another’s ways without judging. People look for the goodness in one another and respond to that. It adds up to a county scintillating with energy, a prosperous place where some of the world’s greatest scientific breakthroughs are routinely made, where the nation’s and the world’s leaders rest their heads at night, where cultures interact to produce a new thing — an integrated, high-energy, peaceful approach to living that makes better people of all of us.
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What is most meaningful to me is what I titled this post, “Casual and Mature Kind of Tolerance.” Seriously, most everyone who I deal with, and with whom my partner and I interact as neighbors and in community activities, look at who we are and what we can do, and are well beyond judging based on one’s sexual orientation. It’s refreshing to live openly in our community and contribute to the betterment for all, and not have to worry about being judged based on misguided perceptions that some narrow-minded people may have.

It’s just a real shame that housing costs so much that even in today’s depressed market, those who really work hard to keep our community safe and educated can’t afford to live here. Recent stats have shown that more than 65% of the police officers, firefighters, and public school teachers live outside the county where they work.

I try hard to make a difference in the community where I have lived my whole life. I own some houses that I rent out. I work with a county agency which identifies employees in public service who would like to rent a home in the county, and whose incomes are below a certain threshold. There are some other things the agency does for me as a landlord, and in exchange, I rent my homes to these important employees so they can live here. I don’t make market rent, but I feel good about providing affordable housing to cops, firefighters, and teachers. There are some tax incentives to do this, which make up somewhat for the lower rental income.

Today, I rented a house to a motor officer. He’s a great guy. I’m sure he will take good care of the house and the neighbors will feel a bit safer, too. Great day — especially when he came to my house on his motor and in uniform to sign the lease. My own neighbors were all watching out their windows. Te he…

It was a close race, but my guy won the primary election yesterday. Pictured, there I am at the victory party looking at election returns on the web.

A lot of volunteers put in many hours of hard work, which paid off. My guy won out over special interest funding that attempted, but didn’t succeed, in buying the position.

I’m very happy, though very tired today. I was out until 10:00 last night! That’s very late for me. I turn into a pumpkin usually by 8:30 or 9.

Tonight will again be a late one — I have the pleasure of attending a national awards dinner where my dear friend who was in a county elected position and who died on Feb. 1 will receive a big award being bestowed up her posthumously. I am driving her family to the event tonight and celebrating with them. Her husband is the one who won the primary election yesterday to carry out the term and fulfill the vision of what us community activists wanted our elected leader to accomplish.

Hmmm… perhaps I can go to bed early tomorrow night. I sure hope so. I’m draggin’.

Have you ever had one of those weekends where on Friday you think about all the things you want to accomplish, and on Sunday night as you’re going to bed, you wonder where the weekend went and why all the plans you had weren’t fulfilled? I just had one of those weekends. It wasn’t wasted, but it was different from what I expected it to be.

I spent much of the Easter weekend working on my friend’s political campaign. He had done a mailing that was received by many voters on Friday, which generated a ton of email which had to be processed. Requests for appearances, offers of volunteering and support, etc., all had to be forwarded to the appropriate member of the campaign team. I also had a two-hour campaign meeting. And yes, I was in leather — my Naked Leather plain black jeans and my Chippewa Hi-Shine Engineer Boots. As I have often said, nobody cares if you’re in boots and leather — it’s what you do that counts. Most everyone is so accustomed to seeing me in leather that they don’t think a thing about it.

Oh, um, I’m also working on renovating a house and did the usual grocery shopping trip with my aunt. And one other thing — I completed and posted a complete refresh of my professional website where I keep myself before the public for what I do for a living. Typical of my life — I’m a multi-tasker.

I had hoped to have time on sunny Easter Sunday to take some more pics for my website, but just didn’t have time. But I made the time to prepare a wonderful prime rib dinner with all the trimmings for my partner and me to share for our Easter dinner. It was great — and then almost put me to sleep instantly. I went to bed at 8:30 and stayed up that late only because I was still processing more email…. g’nite, zzzzzzzz.