And then the wind came . . . .

Now you have all heard me mention in my blogs and in my books, that things can get a little windy here in NoCo.

Indeed, the title of today’s blog is an often quoted line from TWA. In fact, it was the first line a reader ever quoted to me in person during a dinner. It was lovely.

Well, yesterday was a first for me to receive the above National Weather Service Emergency Alert.

My son also received another message concerning possible electrical shutdowns in the area.

But since I have already landed in the Land of Oz, and indeed, I was surrounded by Ozmandians from another Oz, and was inside a home built to withstand the worst NoCo winds, I thought, in the words of one of greatest minds that influenced my youth, Alfred E. Neuman –

– “What, me worry?”

Now, I should have considered that both Claire and Honey were particularly active in yesterday’s session of Roundup Ringalevio, absolutely exhausting in fact, before their mani-pedi.

And my farrier assured me that it was common in Equines given the weather’s low pressure system and wind. Indeed, he handled his work with additional speed and sensitivity, so that the mules were done as quickly as possible and released from their halters.

And, throughout the day, I watched the wind keep shifting my back deck furniture around like it was loose on a listing ship deck on the high seas during an episode of Deadliest Catch.

But as I mentioned, I am stubbornly t[h]ick, and not prone to worry.

Even after NSCU was knocked out of March Madness.

Until I received the following series of texts from my neighbors, which demonstrate that Berthoudians are the salt of the earth, and which exchanges also provide a spoiler alert that it all ended happily ever after. So, read on.

The first one is from Silja Knowles, a wonderful equestrian who was pivotal in helping me rescue Mr. Rogers and Honey, but who has since moved to Florida, where she obviously stays hooked into our NoCo Nextdoor.

The next was from the neighbor who actually now lives in Luke and Georgie’s old house, and first left a voice message, which arrived simultaneously with their text.

So I rushed outside to see that Jack the Spruce was orchestrating the wind chime band in a full crescendo –

– ran to the main front gate and saw that it had been blown open.

I grabbed the halters that were still wrapped on the fence and – like the Bard’s King Lear – ran off into the storm. Luke and Georgie followed in their car.

Lisa stayed behind with the rug rats.

Now given that I was intent on the job at hand – nighttime Roundup Ringalevio in another neighbor’s yard – I couldn’t snap cute photos. Needless to say, it was another exhausting session with Luke helping me in the round up while Georgie stood guard at Home base – the gap in their fencing. Claire was being very protective of the much more nervous Honey, who were both demonstrating their hybrid, Seabiscuit type explosive speed, as they led me around the huge back property.

All this while the howling wind roared, which did wonders for Claire and Honey’s general skittishness.

I knew if I could corner and halter Claire, Honey would follow us at a safe distance back to Casa Claire.

And after twenty minutes, that’s what happened.

And once I got them both through the damaged front gate, I made sure to secure it firmly with the halters until I can get out there today and repair it.

But as I was dragging my now exhausted ass back through the front door – past the wind bent Jack the Spruce, I noticed something that truly rendered my blood cold – some supernatural force had attempted to lift my curse against the Boston Red Sox by righting the B symbol from its inverted position on JTS.

I immediately thought that it was the doing of my other Boston NoCo neighbors – Brian and Janice Erickson – who both appear as the comedic caretaker characters in Where The Ley Lines Meet – whose magnetic Boston B was originally affixed over the McCaffrey symbol on JTS in a Beantown act of Ex-Pat mischief – but has since sat inverted and cursed, preventing Boston from ever winning another pennant or World Series.

I only learned when I returned inside that it was actually an innocent correction applied by my loving granddaughter – Scarlett Rose – who is also a central character in The Claire Saga – and it turns out – Spoiler alert – a Sprite talker in WTLLM – who has been working hard on her penmanship during her vacation at Casa Claire.

I could forgive her because she never actually visited Da Bronx – but I warned her from crossing that magical line again and just hoped I could invert the B fast enough to maintain the curse. We’ll just have to see.

Anyway, I blame it all on the supernatural events relating to the upcoming Solar Eclipse tomorrow, like the NYC earthquake, which, if magic truly exists – and it does – will turn the entire state of Massachusetts into a massive horde of zombies as it passes. Definitely an upgrade.

When the night was all said and done, I was knackered.

So, I retreated to my temporary bed in the dungeon and quickly fell asleep.

But now another windy day lies before me. So, I better get moving.

Claire and Honey were safely ensconced in their Barn this morning when I went out to feed them.

Hope the cats were not blown to other locations.

You fine, five readers make sure you get your final end of the world preparations in place today. Make sure to include a paperback set of The Claire Saga amongst your prized possessions so you have a set of books that contain every relevant word in the English language – including “Fuck” – as you help put society back together after the Solar Eclipse. After all, the survivors will all need to read and learn how to laugh.

But no matter what else we get up to, let us make today a great one.