The Earth is in Turmoil

 Several weeks ago here in the Mat-Su valley, we were hit with a wind storm of such a magnitude that it was considered to qualify as a hurricane in terms of wind velocity. For several days the area was buffeted by winds that at times exceeded eighty miles per hour. It was NOT fun. The trees were shedding limbs by the armload. As I was laying in bed at night listening to the wind, every now and then a limb would strike the house with a loud bang. I was praying that the windows and door would be spared any damage. About nine in the morning on that Saturday I had just come down to the office and turned on the computer when we lost power. I wasn't overly concerned. I had spoken to my neighbor who has lived in Wasilla for years, and he mentioned that at the most the power in the past was only out for about three hours. No big deal. The outdoor temperature was hovering around zero with a wind chill of about thirty below. With the wind blowing steady at between forty and fifty miles per hour and even higher gusts, I assumed that the fellows manning the electrical trucks were going to be hard pressed to get the power up and around again. At it turned out there was something like twenty thousand folks left without power. It was kind of bizarre. Driving in my neighborhood, there was nothing but dark homes, but a few blocks over, there would be electricity. It turned out that the power in our home was out for thirty nine hours. Fortunately, my daughter Autumn had power at her house so we were able to retreat to there and spend several nights. I came back to the house to check on it at one point and the thermostat said forty degrees, but I think that it wouldn't register anything lower. As it was, we had some freezing of the water lines in the upstairs bathroom, but fortunately no damaged pipes. The grill that was sitting on the back deck blew off three times as well as some deck chairs. I finally gave up hope of keeping the grill intact after I had anchored it with bungie cords and it still blew off. The trip driving to Autumn's house that evening was a bit stressful. The wind was blowing sideways across the highway and was whipping up clouds of snow and debris and spewing it everywhere. The car was being sandblasted by the dust and snow and driving was a challenge as cars on both sides of the road struggled to stay on the pavement, which at times disappeared. Fortunately we survived that with minor damage at the house, mainly broken limbs all over the yard and a bit of damage to the grill. Some places weren't so lucky. One gal at church had a limb come through her sliding glass door, and the siding at the KFC building was ripped off. A new car wash that was still being built had multitudes of shingles ripped from the roof, and after the wind subsided, the crew was on the other side  of the highway cleaning up chunks of plastic sheeting and Tyvek that was littering the shrubs along the road. Over in Palmer the damage was more severe. I saw pictures of the Carrs grocery store encased in ice. The roof had been damaged and the water lines had frozen, causing the pipes to burst. I can't imagine the mess that it will be to clean up that fiasco. I heard a few planes were overturned at the airport and one fellow's garage door blew in.  All that damage just in this area. 

Just a few days ago I was laying in bed when I heard as well as felt what seemed to be someone or something pounding on the side of the building. It was really hard to isolate where it was coming from. I got up thinking maybe someone was trying to get in, and turned on the outside lights. I saw no evidence of any tracks in the snow. Then I thought maybe someone was trying to break in to my neighbor's house. She wasn't home at the time, but it looked OK too. It was just baffling to me. For about forty minutes the sound of pounding could be heard every few minutes. Finally it stopped. I found out the next day that an underwater volcano had erupted on the island of Tonga. It took hours for the sound wave to reach the west coast of America, but it finally got here. For all those who are convinced that people are causing climate change, I would like to ask, who is causing the increase in volcanic activity and earthquakes? Frankly, I see a direct connection between how we are becoming as a nation to how the earth is reacting. I believe it's much more a spiritual condition that is being reflected in the natural. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it might be worth considering.