Gale Force Winds?

We knew there was a storm coming in last night after midnight...what we didn't know what the amount of wind that came with it. According to the Beaufort Wind Scale (which I learned about in my middle school teaching career assisting LD students in 7th grade science class--I learned a lot I didn't get the first time around--thank you Mrs. Miller!) we've got "near gale force" winds--this scale is a nifty old school chart that standardizes wind speed based on conditions at sea. It was invented by a guy back in 1805 and they still use it today in an updated and more modernized form. Winds starting gusting so badly last night about 2:00 AM  that my brain was rattling in my head on my pillow from the vibrations of the coach and I'm not kidding! Those awning toppers make a tremendous racket in a wind storm as any RVer will tell you. Neither Eldy nor I was getting much sleep, so we decided to pull in just the bedroom slides....that makes for a cozy little tight compartment, and it was much quieter. We slept much better once the slides were in. When the bedroom slide is closed, the bed is all the way up against the dresser drawers, so if you have to get up in the middle of the night, you have to climb over the other person to get out. Eldy was the first one up this morning..."Unh!" Grunt. "Oh!" "Uh!" "Sorry!" That's Eldy climbing over me to get out of bed, accidentally squishing me as he climbs over, (he's the earlier riser of the two of us) We don't worry about the wind too much, we weigh a TON! (the coach, guys, the coach!) Seventeen tons, as a matter of fact. But we do worry about the awning toppers, which could rip or tear in a severe wind storm.....when in doubt, pull in the slides! Many people have left on this side of the park where we are or are requesting to be on the other side away from the bayou..smaller units like camper trailers and popups..we can totally understand that.

We don't have rain today...just a nasty wind, there are whitecaps but no foam spray, you can barely walk down the street without being blown to one side, the trees and low bushes are being blown almost sideways during strong gusts and it's 49 degrees. Ok, quiz time...what's the classification on the Beaufort Scale? (Hint: the temperature is a bit of unnecessary information!) Just wanted to see if you were paying attention, the answer is right up on top! (Once a teacher, always a teacher)  Sigh.... says Eldy......

Where's Eldo going to take us today? To the movies! We haven't seen a movie in a theater for quite some time....I think we're going to see True Grit. We'll let you know what we think of it later today. Heck, we can see true grit on the motor home and car--sand and salt from the wind!....ok, it's later, and we liked it...Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin were in it, along with an outstanding young actress we've never heard of...Hailee Steinfeld. She was excellent and held her own against the major stars. Jeff Bridges seemed to mumble his lines a lot, or else my ears are not what they used to be. Or let's just say the sound man didn't do his job here 'cuz I heard a couple others complain about the same thing on the way out of the theater. One interesting side note--this little theater in St. Pete's Beach serves alcohol--wine and beer at the movies! Geesh! It was a little disconcerting to hear glass beer bottles careen down the aisles as people got up from the movie and bumped them with their feet. Interesting concept, serving alcohol, I'd say. If the movie is crummy, does that mean there will be more drinking? Hmmmm.... As the weather was rotten today, the small movie theater, The Beach Theater, in St. Pete's Beach was packed. I would have had a glass of wine because the soda machine didn't work, but they ran out of wine..The guy who took the tickets was also the projectionist...I think they were a little overwhelmed today. Tomorrow is more cold and wind, we're going to check out the permanent display of Chihuley glass in St. Petersburg, and the Pier, which looks interesting from afar. What? No photos today? Well, after an hour of trying to upload a video of the palm trees on our site blowing sideways, I gave up! don't know what's the matter with that..my camera, or the mac or the format..rats! No photos today except for the birds lined up at the Fort DeSoto little bridge for loose fish that might get away from the anglers! You know, birds are smarter than you think. I once saw two little sparrows trying to set up a nest in my rafters of my garage back in Fremont, IN. Every day they built a nest, and every day I tore it down because it was right over my car and whenever I opened the door, the messy nest and bird droppings came down on me. This went on for what seemed about two weeks. Every time I tore it down, I heard a mad chattering from the little birds up above. it was almost like they were saying, "Now see here! Quit tearing our hard work down and leave us alone! We have every right to be here! She did it again!"  "Well, we'll show YOU!"  If you read Birds and Blooms, a great birding magazine, people report these "conversations" a lot. I'm not crazy....really!  Anyway, doesn't it look like these birds are saying, "Hey, big guy, have you gotten any?" "Nope." "How 'bout you?" "You did?"  "Where's the guy that's got fish?"    Yeah, I know, it's what old retired people do, imagine bird conversations....(sigh, she's really going around the bend for sure, says Eldy)                          See you tomorrow....

Where's the beginning of the line?