HM Demands A Field Trip

That fun little half of my brain that I like to call, "Hysterical Mind" is a tricky monkey to manage. 9 times out of 10 she is making mountains out of molehills and propelling me towards panic where a cool head would solve the minor problem quickly. Rational Mind wins out more than her counterpart, but there are many, many occasions where she is completely overruled by HM's high pitched keening.

And yet, on that 10th try, HM can make a few good points. It is hard to trust her, though. She is so often The Brain Hemisphere That Cried Wolf, after all. I ignore her as best I can most of the time, really. But, for the past couple of days she has been in overdrive. She was on a tangent and not going to tolerate being set aside in favor of a cooler head.

Yesterday, she drove me out the door bright and early to buy batteries and peanut butter. She was satisfied with that for a while, but began clamoring again last night for some attention. It seems that she wanted me to go out again this morning. And she wanted this to happen sometime around 7:00 in the a.m. I'd made a grievous error. I knew it, but there was no going back.

I'd let her see the weather report.

Hysterical Mind loves the weather report. She watches it avidly for signs of natural disaster and the opportunity to put her emergency preparedness plans into action. She had her chance a couple of weeks ago during what was being called, "The Big Storm Of The Season" and I'd hoped this would be enough to keep her happy until next winter. Not so. She got a gander at today's and tomorrow's planned assault from Mother Nature and immediately dug out her hard hat and official safety officer badge. She has been directing operations ever since.

Unbeknownst to Hysterical Mind, though, I did a quick consultation with Rational Mind to make sure that my staggering out the door and making another grocery store run at such an early hour was somewhat within reason. Surprisingly, RM was in agreement with this. The prospect of fighting the hordes of panicked shoppers as they prepared for the deluge is enough to make even my more rational side do the unthinkable.

So, off we went in search of double A batteries (we forgot those yesterday), self-heating coffee containers, extra candles and kitty litter. The store was quite empty of other shoppers and the deed was done in short order. Now it is just a waiting game, really. The rain began at noon or so. The heavy, wet, tree-bustin' snow began to mix in around 2:00. If all goes according to plan then we will soon be experiencing high winds with destructive gusts and what the nice people at the weather service are calling "astronomical" tides. At least we won't be getting the foot (and then some) of snow that they are getting in other areas. But they tell me it is highly likely that I will be losing the power sometime tonight and that the beach-dwellers will have to be evacuated. (I live far enough away from the actual shore that I can avoid that...I hope) Hysterical Mind is pleased with our level of preparedness for this weather event and seems calmer than she has been in days. So much so that I was even able to enjoy a little nap this afternoon. As if I had a choice...I was shopping at 7:30 in the morning for cryin' out loud!!!

I'm all set. I've got the edibles, the potables and the combustibles. And, if that isn't enough...

I've a sock in progress. That should help kill a few hours.

SA