Today I had classes from 11;30 until 4 p.m. at UMD. I left the house about ten a.m. and walked 3 blocks to my bus stop. I heard a fox sparrow and robins and crows. I had time to walk farther but I didn't want to. Rain was falling and the roads and sidewalks were slippery. I stood on the road where the bus stops and waited. Most of the wind was coming from east so I put the east behind me. My face was dry and out of the wind. The bus comes from the west anyway. A postwoman had parked her truck in the bus stop so I stood away from the curb to see around it. I watched her walking around in snow pants and a winter hat and a rain poncho and was grateful to have had an inside job before I retired. I waited about twenty minutes. I keep telling myself I should look at the bus schedule before I leave the house but I don't because I think spring is coming and I won't have to take the bus anymore. Cars were going by and the rain on the road was kicked up by the tires and splashing me so I kept walking back and forth from the sidewalk. Strong gusts of wind blew the rain on the street to the west. I could see waves of rain on the pavement. Sometimes I had to plant my feet wide so I wouldn't get blown over. I got to campus by 10:30. I removed my very wet raincoat and walked the hallways and the stairs for a half hour before I ate my lunch. I went to my classroom. I took my notebook and papers out of my backpack. My backpack is not waterproof. The papers were all wet. The two halves of the pocket folder were separated. I had meant to bring my book to the second class because I was making a presentation but now I was glad I forgot the book. My creative writing class at 11:30 was fun. During the writing class the power went out a few times but the generators kicked in. Then the power went out completely. In class we use microphones that hook up to the speakers in the ceiling. Some people have hearing aids or cochlear implants that interact with those speakers via Bluetooth technology. With the power out we had to forget the microphones and just use our outside voices. Someone said a large tree fell down on a power line. Most of Duluth, from campus on down to the side of Lake Superior was without power. I hoped my laundry I had drying in my spare bedroom would be dry by the time I got home. I had a break between classes. The bathroom was dark. I couldn't refill my water bottle in the water fountain. I had only 3 people in the second class so we decided to start early so we could leave early. Normally we have 4 or 5 in this class but the weather kept a couple people away. We sat by the window so we could see our papers with natural light. We could also see the trees bending in the wind. Sometimes big squares of snow fell by the window. I thought I was seeing doves but it was only snow. Our topic was Beatlemania - a review of the early work by the Fab Four. I remembered the Beatles. I loved the Beatles. I thought they could have chosen a better name than that of an insect but I loved their music. I loved the long bangs. I loved the lyrics. I stood on my Grandma's slanted cellar door playing my badminton racquet like a guitar. I was Paul. My aunt and I sang, "I Want To Hold Your Hand." I loved John, Paul, Ringo and George. I was 8 when they arrived in the United States. I remember the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. The other two ladies were 14 when the Beatles "invaded" our country. An employee of the university came in the room to check on us. At that time the Internet was still working. Staff were checking on the generators to see why they were not functioning. We saw a woman using a walker go by. How was she going to get down the stairs without an elevator? Next a police officer walked by. I heard someone ask, "How are our seniors?" Then I saw a firefighter in full uniform walk by. One lady went to check out the situation. When she came back she said the campus was closing because the situation wasn't safe. So we packed up to leave. One lady's husband is a professor here so she was waiting for him. The other lady lives in Wisconsin. She has to drive over that high bridge that links Duluth and Superior. She offered me a ride home. I accepted. We walked by the campus book store. The store was closed because of the power outage. Many students were milling about waiting for buses. My driver had a nice orange Toyota SUV that handled the road well. My road and my side road are so full of deep, deep potholes so I had her drop me off on the busy street and I walked the rest of the way. Mud from the potholes had splashed out of the pothole and into the yard, across the sidewalk, and three feet into the lawn past the sidewalk. I was happy no one passed by as I walked. Being wet is bad enough. I didn't want to be muddy too. When I got home I took out the shovel and scraped some of the precipitation off our sidewalk and driveway. I seriously think Mother Nature is telling me to pack up my belongings and move to the beach.
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