Call me weird but I’ve never considered Friday the 13th as an unlucky day. Monday the 13th, however? Well, you can make up your own mind. We’re almost half-way through December. Christmas is less that two weeks away. I’m not doing the muppet flail yet. Yet  being the operative word. This also means that the New Year is about 3 weeks away. Not that I’ll be sad to see 2021 bite the dust. Frankly, it and 2020 have done a pretty good job of biting me in the @$$.

Stuff happened. Not much. At least not here. East of here? Yikes! The footage from Arkansas, especially Kentucky, and Illinois are just…boggling. Tennessee was also hard hit and I finally saw footage from there. The pictures and video looks like historic pictures of WWII war zones after massive bombing runs and/or artillery attacks. Or in my case, a little closer to home, Moore, twice. The first time Moore was hit with a big one, I ended up in the command center as the Resource Commander. My job was to locate people, equipment, and supplies and get them into the working crews’ hands. There was no game plan, no blueprint. We sort of made it up as we went along. Every time I hear one of the local officials interviewed, I just want to get in the car and get there and say, “Here, this is where we start!” It’s the things you don’t really think about–Porta-potties (for rescuers and volunteers certainly, but also for the locals because–no running water! Another pressing need they won’t think about until they’re desperate is tires. And flat tire repair. There are nails, screws, and other debris everywhere. You can’t move trucks, crews, or equipment around on flat tires. Gas and diesel. And propane. We got lucky. The transportation director for the county showed up and offered fuel tanker trucks capable of pumping the fuel directly into vehicles. There’s more but unless you’re in EOC, you probably won’t be too interested.

While I’m on the topic, though, here’s a bit of personal advice: have copies of all your personal info–birth certificates, IDs, medical cards, prescriptions, etc. in a “go bag” and know exactly where it is. Even with little advance warning, you can grab the bag and keep it with you. Other things for the bag: phone and battery backup. A charger won’t work until you get somewhere with electricity, but doesn’t hurt to have one with you too. We recommend a case of bottled water for each person and pet in the family. In your go bag, have work gloves, a long-sleeve shirt, sturdy boots/shoes (unless you wear such most of the time and your first thought is to shove your feet into sturdy footwear), and a baseball cap. It helps keep dirt and sun out of your eyes. Eyeglasses/contacts. Any life-necessary medicines (like insulin) need to be grabbed on your way to shelter. Have a plan. Practice it. A lot. Because trust me, you need to run on instincts if the worse happens. Hearts and prayers to those in need.

In other news, I got a wild hair. I started with the idea of Sade and Sinjen (The Penumbra Papers) taking a pre-Christmas trip to New Orleans for some R&R. The whole Schooby Gang ends up there because Santa is involved. The good news is, I have just over 2K written on this free Christmas story. The bad news is, I still have no real idea of the plot. Hopefully, Santa will help me out. The Boston Wolves are on hold while I’m working on the unnameed Christmas freebie. Shoot. I need a “cover” too. Argh. I’m insane. Obviously.

Book listening was productive last week. I finished up with Jayne Castle’s Harmony/Ghost Hunters/Rainshadow/Illusion Town series. GUILD BOSS was pretty good. I then skimmed through a paranormal anthology that I thought I’d read back in the day. If I had, I didn’t remember any of the 3 novellas. It was okay. I’m currently back with Jayne, listening to her St. Helen’s series, which is also a SciFi/Paranormal romance, and precursor to the Harmony series. I’ll still need 7 books to hit my goal by the end of the year and I have no clue what I’ll pick up after this trilogy. Ah well.

Christmas shopping is going. Stormy’s last present arrives this week. We have ideas for Only and Baseball Boy, and maybe Uncle Fix-It. Aunt Hooey? Not a clue-y. LG and I are giving little stuff to each other during the family gift exchange because we are doing upgrades on some stuff around the house that benefits us both–like the Deco Wi-Fi Mesh System. It’s like a magic Wi-Fi booster for the computers, phones, and TVs. We have AT&T U-verse and there were times when the net slowed up and the streaming didn’t stream. Now that the mesh is installed, it’s awesome! There are other things on the list that we’ll grab as prices hit good spots. I suppose I should start wrapping. Oh, and stay on the hunt for stocking stuffers. That gets harder every year! Tis the season, Ho, Ho, Ho. I need to start watching Hallmark Christmas movies.

And that’s it for me. Question for the day: Christmas movies, yay or nay? And a bonus question: “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie, yay or nay?