2 MAR 07: BLESS THIS MESS

Should I or shouldn't I? That was the basic question I asked several colleagues late Thursday night. Should I blog in the wake of a severe storm, including what many people say was a series of tornadoes? Or would the "movers and shakers" among our readers think I was shaking things up too much?

The colleagues were split about what I should do - but more of them said I should go ahead. To be honest, I wish most had said no. It's not easy to write a humor blog after an evening of destruction. I tried to be funny for LaughLine.com subscribers in the days after the September 11 attack, and one person complained about it. It can take time to heal a wounded funny bone.

Muscogee County Schools are closed today, in the wake of Thursday night's destructive storms. And Columbus Police are asking people NOT to drive, especially on the north side of town-- although I have the feeling you'd be welcome if you drove up with a front end loader.

Whatever the "big wind" was, it blew down the wall of a drug store on Double Churches Road. It blew a couple of overhead signs off the J.R. Allen Parkway. And it blew in and out of Columbus so fast, I'm not sure some drivers of hot-rod pickup trucks could keep up with it.

The calls I took Thursday evening about the storms could be classified in several categories:

+ The people with survival stories to tell. One woman talked about being ordered into the kitchen of Smokey Bones Bar-B-Q at the height of the severe weather. I hope that was the most windproof place - especially since there could have been big knives lying around.

+ The "American Idol" fans, who were upset because their favorite show was interrupted for severe weather bulletins. A couple of them even told me the singers were more important than whether people lived or died from the storms. Ryan Seacrest needs to give his fan club a talk.

(These fans could pray for God to move the storms away, so they don't interfere with their show. But then again, they're more interested in "idols" than God, aren't they?)

+ The Art Garfunkel fans, who wondered if the concert at the RiverCenter was still on. As far as I know, Garfunkel performed as scheduled - proving his song true: "I am a rock."

(But uh-oh, someone forgot to tell the Ledger-Enquirer that Fantasia had canceled her Sunday night show at the Civic Center. Her appearance in Thursday's paper was a To-Don't.)

+ The people wondering if school was canceled - first for Thursday night, then for today. Maybe in this part of the country, we shouldn't say the school year has extra "snow days."

It appears there will be a lot of "spring cleaning" ahead in several Columbus neighborhoods. And it's not the first time, as I was reminded tornadoes struck parts of Columbus ten years ago this month. If someone still has a list of shady repair companies from 1997, please send them to us - so we'll all know whom to avoid.

So there - I did my duty, and blogged on "the day after." If you're not ready to laugh just yet, I perfectly understand. Come back when you're ready. We'll still be here - unless a line of storms hits the other half of Columbus as well.

If you still want this blog to be funny today, here's a great way to have "added humor." We found this link on the blog of a man in Memphis. If it works correctly, you'll still be smiling - although some people might wonder where you found such a backwoods guy.

E-MAIL UPDATE: We found this storm-related message at our post time:

Richard - this is my own account Thursday evening

On the hill lookng southwest I could see the clouds that had come down low enough to the touch the trees, the wind had stopped and the fog was everywhere and no rain.

I looked at the cell phone and the time was 6;15 - then the wind was coming hard in waves and the clouds looked like they were lost - some going north, some east and some appeared to be rising straight up and the lightning was close.

I know, you're suppose to stay inside and hide, but, I stayed out and watched. right above me the clouds started chirning and as they moved east they were gathering in like a barrel roll. some real dark clouds , most medium to light gray clouds and a few whtie clouds that seemed to be coming from the ground.

The clouds were spinning faster as they moved away to the east by northeast and staying real close to the ground, I kepted up with the movement until the rain started fast and hard.

some 20 minutes later I turned the TV on and heard about the damage it did in north Phenix City and in Columbus.As I'm writing this - more alerts are coming across the TV.

My late father used to go outside and watch developing severe storms, too -- while Mom hurried me down to the cellar/crawl space. I don't recall her ever pulling Dad down there. Perhaps it was because he would have been reminded of how dusty all the old Mason jars of fruit were.

This blog has thousands of visitors each month, from people in Columbus and around the world. To advertise to them, offer a story tip or comment on this blog, write me - but be warned, I may post your e-mail comment and offer a reply.

BURKARD BULK MAIL INDEX: 4402 (+ 149, 3.5%)

If you mention this blog in public, please be polite enough to let me know.

© 2003-07 Richard Burkard, all rights reserved.