Hurricane

In Today's Issue

Escaping the Hurricanes by Anne Rhodes
Hurricanes
Random Joke of the Day
That's Amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing
Tales of the Unaccepted now on Kobo
Finish with a Song

ESCAPING THE HURRICANES     ©  Anne Rhodes

Sometimes the bad things, sad things in my life

Loom large and take up all my precious thoughts

Sometimes depression blocks off reasoning

And I can curl up in my shell for weeks.

Then suddenly the outside world breaks through

Out in the outside world and seen from space

The warming world creates a deeper sea

And lands can flood or all their forests burn.

The wind blows stronger whipping into whorls

It grabs the extra water from the sea.

Faster spins the cloud to hurricane force

And drives itself towards the helpless isles.

Small low-lying helpless communities

Race away quite quickly by boat or plane.

Or hunker down through poverty and fear.

They pray they will not drown or lose their house.

The hurricane spins onward north-north-west

But to the south another one appears.

Tourists gone and all fishing boats destroyed

They tend the wounded, count the dead, and pray.

Now on the mainland, spins the whirling wind

Far ahead are long rows of fleeing cars.

Their money more, their houses better built,

So do they flee to save their precious skins?

Or is it that deep fear comes at us all

When faced with the unknown in any guise?

Our own small fears loom large inside our lives

As theirs who run from storm and hurricane.

We know not what goes on inside a mind;

A mind which keeps its counsel, hides its fears.

A trouble shared is halved, so it is said

Some of the weight lifted by listening ears.

1. Hurricanes are large, spiraling tropical storms that can pack wind speeds of over 160 mph and unleash more than 2.4 trillion gallons of rain a day.
2. The deadliest U.S. hurricane on record was a Category 4 storm that hit the island city of Galveston, Texas, on Sept. 8, 1900. Some 8,000 people lost their lives when the island was destroyed by 15-ft waves and 130-mph winds.
3. Over 1/3 of cat and dog owners don't have a disaster preparedness plan in place for their animals. Help neighbors and friends come up with a hurricane plan for their pets.
4. In the Atlantic, hurricane season starts June 1, while in the Pacific it starts May 15. Both end on November 30.
5. When they come onto land, the heavy rain, strong winds and heavy waves can damage buildings, trees and cars. The heavy waves are called a storm surge.

6. 0% of the hurricanes that occur in the United States hit Florida.
7. The difference between a tropical storm and a hurricane is wind speed – tropical storms usually bring winds of 36 to 47 mph, whereas hurricane wind speeds are at least 74 mph.
8. Hurricanes rotate in a counter-clockwise direction around the eye. The rotating storm clouds create the "eye wall," which is the most destructive part of the storm.
9. Hurricanes are classified into 5 categories, based on their wind speeds and potential to cause damage. Names can be "retired" if a hurricane has been really big and destructive. Retired names include Katrina, Andrew, Mitch and most recently Sandy.
10. When the National Hurricane Center began giving official names to storms in 1953, they were all female. This practice of using only women’s names ended in 1978.
11. The costliest hurricane to make landfall was Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 storm that slammed Louisiana in August of 2005. Damages cost an estimated $108 billion.

I really have to do something about my battery addiction, maybe I'll have to start going to AA meetings ..

At the start of World War I, the US Airforce (then a component of the US army) had only 18 pilots and 5 - 12 airplanes.

Now Available on Kobo as an e-book at the bargain price of £3.50 ($4.70)

Cheaper than a bottle of wine...... treat yourself !!

Finish with a Song

This is Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks released in 1990