The new icons of Annapolis, Md.
Das mushrooms
It's been raining for hundreds of days and it feels like Ray Bradbury's short story, "The Long Rain," set on Venus where it never stops and finally drives astronauts stark raving mad.
It's rained so much here that mushrooms survive being constantly kicked down by humans, the mosquitoes are wearingly floating in one-foot distances in my patio and imaginary snakes are dropping from trees.
Speaking of weather...like an evil lawnmower, it came in the night..
Tornado damage right across the Bay Bridge on Eastern Shore, July 24
Morning, July 25
Same scene on Monday
A water spout in the Chesapeake Bay off Kent Island on July 24 at 1:30 in the morning, shape-changed into a tornado with 125 miles per hour winds and took out about 14 houses just south of Rt. 50. It hit the beach and leapfrogged into this community of new townhouses taking off top floors with their roofs. Then, it mowed a 150-yard wide path for two miles before taking a flying leap into the ether four minutes later.
Of course, your little professor did extensive research and found:
- It was an EF2. EF stands for the Enhanced Fujiti scale, which is named after Dr Tetsuya Theodore Fujita, which means (I'll get back to you on that)
- The Bay Bridge was closed over night due to the storm
- Tornados don't usually happen much at night, but this one did
- And, the answer to a long-asked question: tornados and water spouts can morph into each other.
Boy and dog on tornado-stricken roof
On the way to the waterway....
It's prep time for going down the ICW (called by some The Bataan Death March).
Unexpectedly, we are renting our Dreams Landing townhouse, which is great in case the basement starts filling up with water. But there is no free lunch.
It's called "Making Your Footprint Disappear." Or..... pretending that you are de-cluttering your house so your kid won't have to do it when you die. (Jim will be so happy.)
So, it's on to the next adventure, which will be.....
The solar eclipse from the deck of the Eastport Yacht Club
(fake photo)
Your little professor did extreme research to find American Astronomical Society-approved glasses that will prevent us from going blind. As a result of high demand, I had to pay $150 for 25 of them, which comes to $6.00 each for the ugliest paper goggles ever made.
