Bamboozled By The Brewing Storm

Rain was in the forecast for Saturday. I knew that, because I saw several weekend events that had been postponed, or moved to an inside venue. It doesn't seem like a "ghost walk" would be nearly as much fun, even if it was held inside a building in a neighboring town called "heritage hall." I felt bad for the organizers of that event.

Anyhoo... in planning my trip to town, I consulted the weather radar of a news station. At first I was thwarted by a random hiccup of HIPPIE, who refused to connect me to the internet. Everything had been just fine for the first half hour I was on. Then the connection stopped. The weather was fine at the time. Bright and sunny. Of course I had also been planning to pay the gas bill for our Bargain House flip property online. Seems like I'm always inconvenienced when there's something important I need from HIPPIE.

Anyhoo... despite my efforts of restarting, shut down and start-up, tinkering with HIPPIE's innards including wi-fi and troubleshooters, and trying a different browser... nothing would let me connect. More infuriating, HIPPIE declared that I HAD an internet connection! No problems found.

After about 50 minutes, HIPPIE became compliant again. Nothing I did. Simply worked like normal when I tried a website. By now, my time was running short for getting two blog posts typed up, and checking the weather. So I tabled the bill-pay for the next day. It's not due until the 28th. Takes me 15-20 minutes by the time I get into the site, make the payment, record it, document The Pony's portion for tax records and reimbursement, and then file it with the Bargain House bills. I don't like to feel rushed, and I'd rather have my blog posts done before leaving for town.

I finally got the weather radar map loaded, and checked the futurecast. Indeed, the storms were coming. Even if I left home before showering, it would put me in a hot spot. So I looked for a window of just light green (light rain) across my section of that map. Aha! There it was. I could have about an hour before the next dark red wave entered Hillmomba. I had time to type up two blog posts, take my daily  20-minute nap, shower, and drive to town.

The storm came in waves, as I knew it would from the radar. When I left, there was just a light sprinkle falling on T-Hoe. As I approached town, there was a black cloud. I expected it. The weather was supposed to be passing north, before the next wave hit. I should be safely home by then.

WELL! That radar map, along with its cohorts, the lying meteorologists, had betrayed me! I went into the Gas Station Chicken Store without incident. No rain at all. I went across the street to the Liquor Store. No rain at all. Only one stop left, the Casey's.

With it being Saturday evening, people were buying their party supplies. I was lucky to be fourth in line. The three ahead of me were buying alcohol and vapes. Two were together. The next gal was with them but making her own purchase. She paid with cash. I stepped up. The cashier was a new girl. Really slow, but at least polite. I was almost tapping my toes, because it was taking SO LONG. It looked like she scanned my three winners and printed out the tickets separately, rather than with just the total winnings on one ticket. Somebody needs to show her how to do that!

Anyhoo... I heard thunder. I looked outside, and it looked like NIGHT! Car lights were on. That dashed my hopes that it was just tinted glass, even though I go there frequently and know it's regular glass. Lightning flashed! A second or two later, more thunder. Dang! This gal was taking so long!

It was indeed very dark as I went back to T-Hoe. A big dark cloud coming from the south. I went back across the street to Casey's. My rightful handicap space was open. As I turned off T-Hoe, rain began to fall. BIG drops. I got out and hobbled to the door, the rain falling heavier with each step. I looked like a drowned rat by the time I got the door open. I could hear the rain on the roof.

"Wow. It's really coming down!" said the young guy, one of the newest cashiers.

"I know! If only I had been here five minutes earlier! I'd like to cash in these winners, and get more tickets."

Young Guy took them, and turned to the terminal where they scan the winners. "Oh. The system is down. I can't scan them."

"Okay. But you can still sell tickets, right? For cash? So I can buy new tickets."

"No. It's all down because of the weather. I can't scan them."

"Really? You can't scan the price?"

"No. Sorry."

"Well, the weather is not YOUR fault! I just wish I could have been here a few minutes earlier. Now I have to go back out in that!"

[Here's my deal. When the Gas Station Chicken Store's lottery terminal is down, they can still sell tickets. That's at the cash register, same way they do it at Casey's. They just scan the PRICE section of the ticket, with the scanner they use on all their merchandise. It rings up just fine. It's separate from the lottery terminal where they print out draw tickets, and scan for winners. They can't sell DRAW tickets when it's down, but they can sell scratchers. So maybe this guy just didn't know. I seriously doubt that it works differently for Casey's.]

Indeed, it was black as night, rain slamming down. By the time I got to T-Hoe, I was as wet as a drowned rat that had been trapped under a log for 24 hours, floating down the Mississippi! Wetter than when I got out of the shower! I had to drive home with T-Hoe's windshield wipers on maximum speed, at about 25 mph, though it seemed much faster. According to my pre-planning, I should have still had 30 minutes of my "light rain" window left.

Of course you guessed it. By the time I got to the Mansion driveway, the sky had lightened, and the rain was just a sprinkle again. I didn't see Lucky at the end of his lead. So I figured he was in his dog house. I had made sure Farmer H allowed him enough cable. I had asked the night before, when I knew it was going to rain. He assured me it would reach.

Little Jack came out to T-Hoe, and went in the big garage door when I opened it. Jack was dry, so I figured he had been on the porch. It had obviously rained just as hard here, because the roads were running with water headed for the creek.

Farmer H got home about an hour later. He was dripping. Said it had poured on him all the way home from his SUS2.5. 

"I'm going out to check on Lucky. To make sure he can get to his house. He's standing out there in the rain."

"You told me he could! So you didn' even check? But I think Lucky is fine, because I didn't see him when I came home."

Farmer H took lucky a piece of bread and some ham chunks. Said he COULD reach his house, but was still standing outside. Of course! Lucky has learned how to make Farmer H come over and interact with him, heh, heh!

Anyhoo... it's bright and sunny this afternoon. But with winds gusting to 31 mph. I'm still planning on going to town. Just as soon as I pay the gas bill online...