Stormy Sactown

Figured I should get a blog in while I still have power.

Autumn tends to drop like a hammer here in Sacramento and squash the remains of the extended summers we have. Such was the case today, for sure. We've been having clear skies and sunshine, with lots of warm weather, and particularly spring-like these past couple of weeks, hitting highs only in the 70s and 80s (where we were 90s and triple-digits just before the cooling trend began). But today, it's time to pay our dues.

The storm has come.

I was out on the patio last night, late, when the winds first began, and the force of them started to get pretty frightening. I kept waiting for trees to start going over. I got to sleep, and by the time I woke up today, we had a full-on storm raging. Heavy rains, 40 mph winds. And wouldn't you know it, today was the day I absolutely had to go out and hit and ATM machine for a deposit I had to do. Staying home, as much as I'd have preferred it, was not an option. So I put my positive-attitude gears in motion, decided not to whine about going out into it, and decided to look at it as an adventure.

I'd been hearing the storm blowing outside, but didn't really appreciate it until I opened my front door. Immediately, I could see downed branches all over the complex. I could seen rain blowing sideways in the winds. And, my favorite part (always) - I could see that the walkway in front of my building was, as it always is during heavy rainfall, totally flooded. Greeeat. This is loads of fun with my wheelchair situation. I can only use my left arm to wheel myself (right arm, locked at 90 degrees as it is, can't reach). So I end up using that left arm for some propulsion, but also use my feet, and they do most of the steering. The flooding problem means that if I put my feet down, they're going to be underwater (it gets that deep). And I can't steer/move forward with just the arm.

So I did my best. I could getting a fast-rolling start, but I still have to make the sharp left turn to head toward my van, so momentum wasn't going to do much good. I tried to do what I could with the arm, and tried to use just the heel of my left foot in the water to minimize shoe soakage. But soakage there was. Add to this having to fight against the ridiculous wind. On this first part of my journey, I was dumb enough, too, to try to use my umbrella. As soon as I straightened myself out, I got hit with a massive gust that nearly took away both my umbrella and my Kings cap. But I managed to get through the water, and to get to/into the van without getting TOO wet. But it was ugly out there, believe me. But I told myself it was just a quick trip to the bank, so I'd be home before I knew it.

I got to the Wells Fargo, and the storm had gotten even worse. While sitting there parked, the van was getting rocked back and forth, and I started to wonder if I was going to get tipped over. I knew the umbrella wasn't a good idea, so I left it and pulled the hood up on my favorite Kings hoodie instead, opened the doors, and rode the lift down in the rain. I rolled quickly to the small (almost useless at this point) overhang at the bank and tried to use my remote control to raise the lift and close the doors back up, but my battery's low, and the range ain't great, so the snickering universe was making me roll juuuust far enough out where the rain would be coming down on me as I waited for the van to seal up.

I had just finished that, and had just turned toward the ATM machines, when the boom happened.

I saw the flash out of the corner of my eye, and with it came a sound like a cannon going off right next to me. It was so loud that, immediately, car alarms in the parking lot started going off. I'd never been that close to a transformer blowing before. It's quite a sight...and a sound.

And guess what that blown transformer meant? As I feared, I rolled up to the ATM machine, and the power was now out. So I'd left my nice, dry, warm home to come out into this mess because I HAD to use the ATM machine. And then when I got just a few feet from it, the block lost power, and I could therefore NOT use the ATM machine. Again...universe snickering.

Part of me thought about going into the bank, but I quickly put together that they didn't have any power INSIDE now, either, so there wouldn't be anything they could do in there for me. As in answer to my thought, someone ran up and tried to go in, but the bank manager opened the door and advised the woman that due to the power being out, they're not allowed to let anyone into the bank, for security reasons.

Fighting the wind and rain again, I waited the excrutiatingly long time for the lift to come back down so I could sit on it, getting drenched, as it just as slowly carried me back up. I got in the driver's seat and waited for a few minutes, trying to calculate how long it would be before power could be expected to return there, and watched as a number of people ran up to the ATM, did the confused, indignant huffing at its non-operation, and tried to get into the bank, only to be turned away by the manager. The answer to the "how long it would be" question was pretty obvious, of course...too long to bother waiting around. So I started the van up, drove across Carmichael (dodging fallen branches and flooded-out areas on the streets along the way) and headed for the Bel-Air where I often use the Wells ATM inside.

They, thankfully, still had power. But the rain got gotten even worse, and there was no protection to be had from it here. Just had to sit and take it for the lift ride, and put up with it blowing into my face as I waited for the doors to close back up. I hurried inside, fearing that another power outage (and another universal gag) might follow me, and handled my deposit. Whew. With one more umbrella-less lift ride, I'd turned into quite the sponge. The sponge headed home.

Back at my place, the wind seemed to have died down a little, though the rain hadn't, so I decided to risk the umbrella again, holding it tightly as I disembarked and headed for my apartment. Now I had to deal with the walkway flood again, but this time, as I'd hoped, the wind was on my side. I actually did a little better on distance by using the umbrella as a sail, the wind blowing from behind me and all, and it helped pull me along through the water. That did good to get me to the right turn to my front door, but the turn itself ended up requiring both feet, so my shoes got fully sogged.

With all my clothes drenched, and me paranoid about getting sick right now, I went ahead and got into a hot shower. After, while I was sad not to be able to use the hoodie that I all but live in right now, I switched over to my warm Kings pullover that I haven't worn in quite some time. And switched to an alternate pair of (dry) shoes to go with some dry socks. All this just to hit an ATM machine. No wonder I stay home as much as I do.

The storming seems to have died down quite a bit, but it's due to be with us the rest of the night and through tomorrow. My hope as that I won't have to deal with any power outage (and the boredom that comes with it) here at home, and I really don't want a repeat of big several-day blackout from a couple of years back (which led to several days of whiny blogging from me, where you'd have thought that I was the last survivor after a nuclear holocaust or something). But I've got my flashlights and candles all ready, just in case. For now, just happy to be warm and dry, and happy that I shouldn't need to worry about going anywhere else for a couple of days.

Sorry to see you go, summer. I'll miss you. But let's get together next year, shall we? Trust me, my feelings for you will have grown even stronger.