I don’t know how much science goes into weather forecasting or how much education the average TV weather forecaster has to have in order to pronounce the day’s weather for the entire world to know. I’m sure it’s a lot and, in all probability, far beyond my own abilities.
Now, the TV weather forecasters are very good at what they do and I appreciate their service to the community. I could, however, do without some of the drama. For example: my neck of the woods had multiple storms pay a visit to us the other night. They were serious storms and, having lived through a tornado myself, I took them serious. We have a designated “safe spot” in the house and I went about making sure my wife and our temporary houseguest would be protected in case of a severe storm.
To hear the weather forecaster on TV tell it, we were not far from a cataclysm. To add to the fear, it was only a few days since some fellow out west proclaimed that judgment day would be upon us on the 21st of this month. This particular event took place a few days after that. I wondered to myself if he perhaps had misheard the Almighty and was off a few days. Could this be THE end?
There were two storms cells scheduled to come through town. The first one came through our little neighborhood and all we got was a touch of rain for ten minutes or so. Oh, and we had some pea sized hail that lasted less than five minutes. The second storm, so the man on TV said, was larger and fiercer. It was not scheduled to come through until 2:00AM or so. That’s past my bedtime and I had to work the next day. What to do?
Toby is twelve years old give or take a day. He is an ornery orange cat that we got at the pound. We have had him since he was a kitten. In cat years, he is pretty old but remains as sociable as a cat would or could be. His health is sound though he is a little on the fat side. He does not seem to care much about that. Toby doesn’t do much other than sleep, eat, and attack me when I walk by the bannister. We have no mice in the house but we do have rabbits outside. I will allow him out once in awhile so he can pursue his own evil designs against the rabbit. I digress.
When the weather in our immediate neighborhood is threatening, Toby disappears. He is always found under the sink in the kitchen or the sink in the bathroom. As I sat in my chair and pondered whether to stay up or risk life and limb and go to bed, I suddenly remembered Toby. Where was he at this moment, I asked myself. If he was under one of the sinks, I could rest assured that there would be a rough storm tonight. A quick search found him asleep on the couch in the front room. I decided Toby was probably the better weather forecaster at our house.
I went to bed and slept through the night. I don’t know what Toby did.