big huge rainstorms are sweeping through the area, and we seem to be between them at the moment. A little rain comes and goes, but the pounding thunder-boomer and lightning, and pounding rain, is gone for the moment. that was about a half hour ago, and it is due to come back - or rather, another one is due to come through.

at the gas station they said pumps were down, and were down across town. oow that's a little confusing to me - is water getting into the gas? is saturated ground preventing gas from being pumped upward? i don't get it and get nervous about getting gas right after a flood. last thing i want is water in my gas.

i do a lot of driving - mostly taking supplies to a 21-year-old disabled boy unable to get them himself. he may be able, but instead calls my wife mercilessly so she'll get me to bring stuff out to him. it's about three miles, most of it state highway, so very wet but not too badly flooded. our cars can easily be overwhelmed by high water. i get nervous but not nearly as bad as my wife, who gets very nervous. she's not crazy about tornados either. since she's been here she's taken great comfort from the idea that our town is protected by a saint whose body was brought here from europe and who makes sure that no tornados flatten our town. tornados can flatten any town though. people may be getting very nervous but they will either show up or not and they will either flatten you or brush by like you don't matter at all. it doesn't matter if you're catholic or not, or whether you are irish, german or czech catholic as those three had a huge rivalry and the tornado only flattened one school but it also hit a certain sorority and several other things. if you think it has a mind of its own well maybe but don't pretend you can read it. the other stuff it flattens has to just be collateral damage.

my wife is at a meeting; the girls are at a visit. one teenager remains but she's somewhat happily occupying the wife's spot in the light by the kitchen, where one can kind of keep track of the whole house and still work or get something done. i like to sit downstairs but sometimes the girls make such a racket that anything but the most trivial reading is impossible. i have some trivial reading though. and some good. reading. that's mostly what i do, i read a lot, and it keeps me calm, if not well-informed about what passes as indie writing these days.