Wednesday, August 29, 2012
     I figured I've said enough about about natural disasters to last quite awhile. I learned today that country hitmaker and Hannah Montana's daddy Billy Ray Cyrus formed a band back in 2010 called Brother Clyde to perform alternative music. Not sure how many of you are Billy Ray fans, but I really do like the music after listening to the album. You can find out more about them here. And if you want to listen to the album and see what YOU think, you can do so on Grooveshark.
     Not familiar with Grooveshark? Click their logo below and check it out. Simply type 'Brother Clyde' in the search box and all 10 songs from the album should appear. Click on them to listen to each one.

     One other thing to mention today is the fact that it is the King of Pop's birthday. Michael Jackson would have been 54 today had he not left us back on June 25, 2009. His music changed the world, and he is sorely missed. Rest In Peace, Michael.

     That's pretty much it for today, so go enjoy the music of Brother Clyde—I dare ya!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012
     So what happened in the world today that's worth talking about? Well, Mitt Romney got the Republican nomination, only because everyone is scared spitless about the hurricane barrelling down on them in Florida! I can hear them now, "Give it to Mitt so we can get out of this s#%@!" Or something along those lines.

     So I wrote yesterday about all the earthquakes in California. The count is now "over 400" and still climbing. And then of course there's the hurricane I alluded to earlier. It's currently a Category 1 slamming into Louisiana with 100mph winds as I type this.

     All of these natural disasters remind me of one I was almost a part of in North Carolina during my senior year of high school. It was March—a fairly calm March as most of them go. You know the old idiom—"March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb". Well, I guess Mother Nature got her wires crossed that year, because it came in like a lamb on Valium. Nice, calm weather, hardly any storms, certainly not what we were used to from previous years. Then March 28th rolled around. And I do mean ROLLED AROUND! Here are the stats from that night—yes, night (they started at 7:15pm in South Carolina and worked their way north into Tarheel country—imagine hearing one coming and not being able to see it because it's pitch dark outside!)

STORM STATS
Duration: 3 hours
Tornadoes: 22
Killed: 57
Injured: 800
Approx. 1/3 of all victims lived in mobile homes.

     We knew something was going on that night. The power went out at our house around 8pm. One or more of the tornadoes came as close as 5 miles to our town. We knew nothing of the devastation and destruction until the next day. I had two friends who were directly involved in it. One was Jimmy Frost. He was at home when it came through their neighborhood, causing their chimney to collapse and part of it fell on him INSIDE the house. His spleen was badly damaged and had to be removed. The other was Todd Hewlin. His family lived next door to his grandmother, and when they went over to her house that night to check on her after a tornado passed over their farm, they couldn't find her anywhere. It wasn't until the next morning that Todd's brother found her on the roof of her own house. She had been sucked from her house—most likely through the front door—and dropped on the roof. She was probably already dead when she landed.

     But the worst devastation of all—and that I witnessed firsthand—was to a hog farm 10 miles from our house. Now those of you who know me know my love for hog farms, having grown up on one. This one looked like a battle scene from 'Saving Private Ryan'. Trees broken off 5 feet above the ground, and we're talking thick pine trees that are a good 50-60 feet tall. Pieces of pine straw embedded into the sides of trees like steel needles. And the most bizarre part of all, dead pigs—hundreds of them—in the tops of trees in the forest around the hog farm, where the tornado had dropped them after sucking them off the ground.

     I share this with you not to shock you, but to make you aware that you just never know when something of that magnitude could happen. It's always good to be prepared. That was the common story among the people that were interviewed after that storm—they wished they had been more prepared. Water, food, a first aid kit—things that you would need in such an event. Don't EVER say it could never happen to you—it certainly could, and quite possibly WILL. The Boy Scouts of America motto is 'BE PREPARED' for a reason. I think we should all pay attention to it.