Dreams Interrupted, Why,, oh Why?

It was the strangest thing, a day that started with a quiet, gentle rain shower. It was kind of peaceful, and kind of jarring. A peaceful dream of rolling hills, missed exits and giant, monolithic facades carved into the hillsides of Eastern Nebraska was interrupted by the polite pitter patter of the refreshing spring rain.

It was an odd dream. I was driving across Eastern Nebraska by myself, in my car (a RAV4). We are from Nebraska so it is not that odd, but we don't go there often so it is kind of odd. I never go by myself so that is a little odd. But my car is a lot better than my wife's car so that is not too odd.

I missed an exit, which is not strange, I miss exits, turns, landmarks all the time. I took the next exit, which is normally my reaction to a missed exit, and I have a lot of experience. But, I missed the ramp back on the freeway, which is a little unusual. I am so experienced at ending up in the wrong place starting over is almost as natural as starting.

Then, in my dream, I improvised, which is not that strange, because improvising is what gets me so many places that are not the destination. I went cross country, reasoning, in my dream that I have a four wheel drive vehicle, which is a little strange, I do have four wheel drive but I never use it, it just came on the car. I would never use it to cut across a field to get back on the highway.

And here is where it got strange. It was not just cutting across a field, it was driving up the side of snow covered hill, a big hill. Bigger than most of the hills in the part of Eastern Nebraska that I was dreaming about driving through. On the top of the big hill was a small path, not a freeway, just a small road, barely big enough for my car. So, I drove along the narrow road, on top of the snow covered hill until it became so narrow that there was no longer enough room for my car.

I had no choice, I started backing up. which is not normal at all, because I am awful driving

backwards, even worse than when I drive forward which is an adventure. If this had happened in real life I would probably be forced to leave my car, and walk back to Ohio. I love my car, but leaving it would be much better than backing off the side of the cliff the hill had become and dying in the flaming wreck at the bottom.

But here is where it gets odd. As I was backing up I noticed a huge, ornate, exquisite, wonderfully detailed building carved out of the mountain side, the mountainside in eastern Nebraska. Which is odd, there are no mountains in Nebraska. Even if there were nobody would have spent the time to carve such a masterpiece out of the stone.

Naturally, I stopped backing my car along the harrowing, dangerous single lane mountain top road and got out to take a picture. Which is exactly what I would do if confronted by something so odd, so that is not odd, at all. But, the rain woke me up before I could take the picture. Dammit, I was so close. It was so cool, you would not believe it. But, you will have to trust me.

And now a word from our sponsors.

And now for today's weather here in lovely downtown Piqua Ohio.

Spring has finally sprung in our small corner of the world. With temperatures in the low 50s and rain passing through it is time to think about prepping the garden spot for tomatoes.

Don't plant just yet. A cold front is moving through, and temperatures toward the end of the week will dip below freezing at night on Thursday and Friday.

But, next week it will rebound to highs in the sixties and lows in the fifties.

After a brutal winter it is time to move forward with a smile on our faces...

Wait, breaking news. This just in, it is only December, WTF???

Are you sure?

Friends, sources, well placed sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have assured me that it is only December, and putting away the snow shovels and tuning up the mower might be a little premature.

Over to Dan at the sports desk to talk about the Indians and the Reds, No, make that the Browns and the Bengals.

Dammit, why didn't somebody stop me? What do you mean my mic is still live....

A day of rain, followed by a little time in the park.

It was about 3:00 last night when the rain began.  About 6:00 it was still coming down, and drug me out of bed. Coffee, some fresh air and it was a new day. A rainy day to be sure,  but a new day. It rained until mid afternoon.

By the time it stopped cabin fever had taken hold and I needed to get out, and walk in the air, and see the sky, even if it was filled with clouds that it seemed only feet above our heads.

We went to the local park, and it was almost
ominous, and a little otherworldly. Branches so green and heavy with moisture they hung low and menacing over the trails.  The trees closed in on the path, and added to the bizarre aspect of the day.


It was beautiful, but odd.  Our little creek that dissects the little park was swollen, and spilling over the banks, and looked like a wild river.  There was even a small whirlpool that really seemed odd and had no clear explanation.

We did not stay long, it was thick and the air was close. It was good to get out of the house, and the exercise it had been a lazy, slow day with little activity.

Another treacherous commute, sort of.

Last night the weather people on TV predicted a "wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow" for this morning.  In this part of the country that is meteorologist crack cocaine.  You can feel the excitement build as they talk about the potential rain, mixing with the potential snow, and falling on our city.  Excitement can overcome even a seasoned television weather person, causing them to swoon, and the sports guy will have to rush over and fan them with the sports page from the local paper he was using to write his report.  But, as excited as they find the possibilities it can make my morning drive less enjoyable.

Since, a decent "wintry mix" can throw traffic into chaos the safe bet was to wake early, check the morning traffic report, and adjust my schedule accordingly.  The first thing we saw was the weather.

Al, the morning weatherperson said it was raining, and showed, with the help of a full screen radar image, a large swath of rain clouds passing over the area, with some snow showers mixed in towards the end.  Clouds producing snow stand out because of color variation, and there was a small batch of lightly colored clouds following closely on the heels of the wide, traveling amoeba looking bunch of rain clouds.  But, it was enough, and Al was thrilled.  After his breathless presentation, he passed the screen time baton to Mona the traffic reporter.

"With all of the rain we have had over the last several hours traffic is really slow, here are images from around the metropolitan area."  Four images, almost identical from the cloudy, rain drop smeared lenses, covered the screen and she described, in detail, what each camera was showing.  "There are no accidents to report, yet," you could almost sense the sorrow in her voice, and she slumped a little, "but, you know with wet, hazardous roads like this it is only a matter of time.  And I will bring it to you as soon as it happens."  She perked up a little there, and passed the all important air time to Bob, the anchorman.



"We have a camera crew and Ken, the reporter, loaded and ready to roll, as soon as there is an accident," Bob said, a little breathless, and the television screen showed Ken, the reporter, and a camera crew waiting in a van, in the rain, ready to roll.

Bob talked about the coming election, and the levees on the ballot, moving quickly to results of the online poll conducted by the station, an overnight robbery, and a local dog named Fritz who climbed a tree to rescue his friend, a cat named Hans, which was kind of cool.

"And, back to the Storm Center, and Al.  Hey, Al, how about giving this rain the boot and gettin' us some sunshine?"  He joked.

Al talked about the rain, predicting it would be out of the area sometime in the morning and the sun would appear in the afternoon, "How about that, Bob?  Now on to Mona, at the Traffic Control Console."

Mona was trying hard to keep a positive demeanor, but her voice, quavering, belied her concern.  "Nothing to report so far, but, with wet, awful roads like this it is only a matter of minutes, and we are ready to bring you the news.  Right, Ken?"

Flash to Ken, standing in the rain, beside the van, right outside the station, "that's right, Mona.  We are just waiting to bring you the film from the first accident of the day."

Mona was back on the screen, promising to bring us reports of the first accident, which, she assured was coming quickly.

Another round of news and weather and we were back to Mona, who was beginning to show signs of desperation.  She was wringing her hands, and sweat was beginning to streak her makeup.

"Look, the roads are terrible, and we are going to have an accident, soon.  Why wait?  The first person to run their car into a pole gets this $10.00 gift card to "Bill's House of Good Coffee."  If you involve another car the good people at "Terri's Style Boutique" will throw in a cut and color.  Look, we all drive the same roads, and we all know how irritating it is when some fool cuts you off, like they are more important, their time is more valuable.  Today is the chance to show them.  Ram them hard enough to require a wrecker, and "Ted's Towing" will throw in dinner for two at "The Powder House Grill."  We are going to throw open the phone lines, and take bids, if you are interested in a morning crash, but don't like the gifts you see here, call in and make a request, we will do our best to make it happen.  No reasonable offer will be refused.  What other station can make that claim?"

I was going to hold out for a new TV, but duty called, I take my job seriously.  I never heard who won the lottery, but, I am sure it was a great prize, and a grand accident, and Ken did a superb job reporting.