Ok, yesterday I told y’all about the tornado going through Dexter, Michigan.
Today when I took my usual route home I realized that several huge trees (3-4 feet in diameter) were now down and several buildings were demolished.
Had I been just a few minutes behind in going home I would have had a tornado in my lap. I couldn’t hear the siren until opening my window so the reality is I couldn’t tell you if I opened my window just as they went off or if they had already been going. I do know that it had been sighted before I got into town because I heard it on the radio.
My co-worker (The Butcher of Lansing) saw it up close and way too personal. So he called me last night and was thankful to be safe/alive.
As I was just leaving work tonight I was stopped about ten or fifteen cars behind the light. I looked up in time to see a car hurtling towards me and making no attempt to slow down, going 40 to 50 mph. At one point, almost the point of no return, as I said “Awww, **** me…” and then the guy stood up in his seat, wrenched the wheel, and stomped his brakes, locked them up entirely. I turned left and goosed it as much as I could without hitting the guy in front of me. The guy behind me continued his skid and shot to my right and only when he completely passed me did he finally come to a stop. He skimmed by me by mere inches.
With my neck as it is and with no collar hitting me that fast could have very easily left me paralyzed. This would have sucked, as you can well imagine.
Once I found my heart (it leaped out of my chest, Alien-style) I called The Butcher and said, “You know how you called me yesterday, glad to be ok and alive? Well, about that…”
It would have been a life-changing event. I had time before the potential impact to think “OK, it just took five years to recover from the last one… Not again… Noooo.”
So I was happy to pick up the kids and go make dinner with my daughter.
My guardian angel is out getting hammered tonight, I’m sure.
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My daughter, who is at this very moment making a “leprechaun trap”, says that I absolutely may not either BBQ or smoke any leprechaun that she may catch in the next 24 or so hours.
“No, Dad, you may not smoke a leprechaun – I want it for the gold!”
So it is apparently ok to mug one but not eat one. Bummer.
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Speaking of Alien-style, Bunk Strutts over at Tacky Raccoons posted a great animated GIF… Alien vs. Predator.
I saw what you did there.
BTW, tornados suck, literally. They’re nature’s vacuum cleaner. Glad you didn’t wake up to a bunch of f**kin munchkins mocking yer arse.
And speaking of sucking, how about that WorpDress hosing we got? Chen Zhen traced it to a Google bfd who bitched about nicjacking. What a boneheaded move on the part of WP. I hope they undo it while they watch bloggers by the thousands switch over to other platforms in desperation.
http://diaryofdaedalus.com/2012/03/16/update-wordpress-coms-clumsy-changes-to-commenting-was-a-knee-jerk-attempt-to-block-a-single-impostor-fail/
Since only about seventeen readers frequent this blog and rightfully so, it did not really impact me but it was REALLY annoying.
I am a bit slow today… What did you see that I did? Should I be embarrassed?
I’ve been in that situation, where you have what seems like hours but is actually only seconds where you see death barreling down at you.
Of course, I’ve usually been the guy flying by with inches to spare but I’ve been on the other end a couple times too.
Didn’t finish my comment.
I think it’s worse when you have time to anticipate your death.
When it happens quickly and I survive, I get the shakes afterward, but when I get to stare at it coming at me, well, that’s a freaky couple of minutes.
At an RR crossing the gate went down and I figured I had time, turns out, those things come down just before the trains get there in cities.
I looked right and saw nothing but the bottom half of a couple of lights and a massive train engine. It was probably 40 feet or more away, but it looked like about 5 feet. I was happy I had a clean pair of underwear in the glove box.
You lucky, dude. A good friend of mine through junior high and high school was late getting to work one day (about 7 years after HS) and decided he could beat the train. Nope. I guess when they are coming at you it is really hard to tell just how fast they are going.
I’ve had two people in the last nine years – one pulled in front of me and the other rear end me – both women. Then today, nearly getting rear ended. In all three cases I was in the right and minding my own business. All three of them I saw it in time enough for adrenaline-time to kick in and really analyze the situation and realize “I’m ****ed.” I’m told the accident five years ago would have gone better for me if I hadn’t seen it coming and tensed up.
So there’s the lesson kids – drink, don’t pay attention, and play loud music – and you’ll come out of those accidents unscathed.
I’ve been in two car crashes in the last year, neither my fault, and several close calls. All in the same car, which I purchased knowing it had been damaged and repaired prior to my acquiring it. The car was jinxed, and I’ve since gotten rid of it.
People just don’t seem to be paying attention as much nowadays. Too many distractions driving. I’ve noticed near-rearenders because someone’s watching the lane next to them moving while their lane is stopped, and they panicked.
Very glad that you’ve avoided injury or worse. You’ve got enough on your plate to be thankful for, especially the surgery!
“I want it for the gold!”
You have done well, Lemur King.
Yowza. Glad to hear things didn’t turn out badly. Your angel needs a bonus.
Holy shizznet on a rubber tire!!
Glad your angel was alert, my friend!