Impossible to work

I’ve safely returned to Oklahoma. There’s a bit of road tar stuck to my car, but all in all, I’m in good shape. There was a microburst on Tuesday morning (that’s basically the opposite of a tornado) which turned a midtown neighborhood into a disaster area. Multiple houses razed. Multiple cars crushed.The ferris wheel at Bell’s Amusement Park down the street was literally bent in half by the storm”^a1a”. It’s sad that there was all this property damage, but the silver lining is that Bell’s will finally get some new rides once that insurance money rolls in. In the midst of all of it was my friend Siara’s parent’s house which, luckily, was more or less untouched. Siara’s family feel pretty lucky right now, since they are hosting a barbecue on Friday night for everyone in Siara’s wedding (which will be Saturday).

I went over there yesterday to help move the pear tree the storm knocked over (fortunately, away from the pool) to the curb. It was tricky getting into the neighborhood. In fact the first time I tried to get in I had the following exchange with one of Tulsa’s finest”^a2a”:

“How am I supposed to get into the neighborhood?”

“You’re not.”

“Then how am I supposed to help my friends clear their property of debris?”

“You can’t.”

I had a few nasty things to say in return, but instead decided to take my agression out on the road. I went over to another friend’s house and from there we decided to head back down to midtown Tulsa and attempt to enter the neighborhood. This time round, I followed an Asplundh truck into the neighborhood and was not stopped. As soon as we got there we started helping yet another friend of the family remove the fallen pear tree. An hour or so later, we both had to get going and the tree was removed, to the curb at least.

An insane Tuesday, but fortunately the pear tree was the only serious loss of property for my friends. They are without power for another day, but I think water service was restored last night.

Most important is that the damage the storm did to the fairgrounds adjacent to the neighborhood was not enough to prevent the Tulsa Drillers AAA ballclub from playing a game, which I attended, and which the Drillers lost to the Arkansas Travellers. Sure there was a nasty storm that tore up part of the outfield wall, left the stadium without power until 1 hour before gametime, but it didn’t stop QT free ticket night from happening. For the record, I love QT, almost as much as I love baseball.

1. It was the 25th Ferris Wheel ever built, the owner of the park said on the news last night aaa
2. I harbor no ill will towards the men and women of the Tulsa Police Department. I know there are many fine law enforcement officers in this city. I understand why I was being told to go away and think it was a good game plan on the city’s part. aaa