21st century [first world] problems: Sitting in a meeting during a severe thunderstorm while various people’s smart phones send multiple alerts. The LSCHP King? “If I don’t stop getting these alerts, I’m gonna tornado some of the people sending them.” I wonder if he wants to borrow my battle axe?

Reading the rest of this post will be like watching paint dry, even if you are familiar with navigating The Planet Ann Arbor in an automotive vee-hickle. The short version is something like, “The Planet Ann Arbor was grid-locked today and it took me an hour to do my eight mile commute even though it wasn’t snowing.” You are welcome to stop at that!

• Took three (or four?) lights just to get out of Avis Farms. Not nearly as bad as the Polar Vortex days when people couldn’t get enough traction to get through the stoplight but pretty bad.
• Inched along S. State St. all the way from Avis to the S. State / Ellsworth roundabout. Relatively smooth trip through the roundabout but not without a little godless-style praying.
• Nasty indescribable mess getting through the next half mile or so to the I94 18-Wheel Slogway.
• Eyeballed westbound traffic and made the executive decision to get ON the Slogway. (Big ugly dark clouds to the north and west. Yeek.)
• Saw taillights ahead as I approached the Saline Rd. exit (1.5 miles from my starting point). Made the executive decision to get OFF and [gulp] head north on clogged surface streets into what looked like armageddon. Luckily the Saline Rd. exit was OPEN, since major road construction is just beginning there.
• Next few intersections were slow but not slower than usual. Left onto Scio Church. Cars backed up ALL THE WAY TO THE SEVENTH STREET STOPLIGHT! What is going on here? This is not the usual. Well except maybe on Football Saturdays, when I AVOID THAT AREA LIKE POISON! Peeled off and did some “fancy” neighborhood maneuvers in order to approach the stoplight from a different (and not backed up) direction.
• Busy but not backed up all the way up Seventh to Huron. Left turn onto Huron. I was home free! Or not. Dexter was backed up all the way from N. Maple (my turnoff) to the Dexter-Jackson-Huron “Y” intersection. I hung a QUICK right, hoping against hope that I wasn’t turning the wrong way onto a one-way street, and zig-zagged through the neighborhood I walk in every morning…
• …over to Miller. Miller was also waaaaay backed up but I somehow managed to piggy-back onto it behind a Prius and it only took me three lights to make the left turn onto N. Maple, although it felt like about an hour. Smooth sailing from there.

As awful as the skies looked, I did not encounter armageddon today. By the time I got home, things had lightened up considerably although I have been hearing thunder off and on ever since. The Landfill backyard is flooded. The Landfill Dungeon is dry (Yay for Terrafirma!). The Landfill Chitchen is fine (thank you Zeus). My impatiens look beautiful!

Oh yeah, click and click again to see the ants in the photo. Or don’t click and click again if you are squicked out by insects. Your choice.

Love y’all,
KW

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2014 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.