Sam Cooks: Apocalyptic Death Storm

Despite living in Ohio, which is prone to tornadoes and not so much hurricanes, we had quite a storm last Sunday as a result of Hurricane Ike. The day started out being pretty windy, and it only got crazier from there.

I went in to campus to do a few things and then run a few errands. Although the wind was picking up in the afternoon, it was still sunny and seemed ok. As I made my way around town to the library and the store, it became obvious that something was wrong. Most traffic lights, including the one at the end of my street, were no longer working. I figured that meant my house had no power, and I was right.

When I got home, I finally came to my senses and realized this was a serious storm and not just a blustery day. The wind was getting so bad! I decided not to park my car near our backyard because there is this terrible, old black walnut tree there. It had already dropped a small branch and a few hundred walnuts on my neighbor's car, so I decided to try my luck under a smaller, non-threatening tree. By then, I had already seen several larger trees that had fallen down.

The winds just picked up from there. This was the strangest storm I've ever seen! No rain, just wind. I felt like I was in the Wizard of Oz or something. I never actually saw the wicked witch, but I managed to look out the window at the very moment that our Obama sign flew across the backyard never to be seen again.

After the storm, the backyard was not in good shape. Some of my plants were crushed by falling sticks and walnuts, some toppled over, and some just got beat up in the wind. Trying to walk through the yard was like walking on marbles thanks to the stupid walnuts everywhere!

This wasn't the worst thing, of course. With the power out, I quickly got bored and restless. Finding and lighting every candle in the house didn't keep me occupied long enough. Neither did taking pictures of it all. I started feeling trapped inside my own house.

Even Olive got bored

I realized my life depends way too much upon power. I wanted music, internet, lights... I couldn't even cook because our stove is electric! I was actually most upset by the fact that everything in my refrigerator was likely going to spoil. I managed to bring some of it to my lab on campus. We have a small refrigerator there, and campus did not lose power. On the second day without power, we devised an interesting meal of our then defrosted food from the freezer that was entirely made on the grill. We had chicken, french fries, and we even steamed broccoli on the grill. It wasn't the best meal, but I felt a little better that my food wasn't totally wasted.

Our power sort of came on during the 2nd night without. Our lights and refrigerator turned on, but no other appliances or electrical outlets worked! That was also bizarre, but I was thankful for light again. Then, 2 days later, we messed with our breakers again and all was well. Although we weren't lucky enough to not have the power go out or to have it return the day of the storm, we got ours back earlier than many other people. In fact, some people didn't get power back until today, which is a week after the storm!

Here are some pictures I took earlier in the week. You can see why things were so bad...