Twister!

OMG, OMG – I can’t believe it!. Dad just woke me up to say there was a tornado forming down the road in the direction of Twister Diner! Have tried to ring Dom to see if him and his mom are okay, but the lines are down and my mobile isn’t working. Dad reminded me they’ve got a state of the art storm shelter and told me they’ll be fine. I’m just praying he’s right.

Anyway, right now I’m in our shelter with Dad, and writing this blog entry on my laptop… To be honest the real reason is I’m doing this is I’m trying to keep myself distracted. Between you and me, I’ve never been so scared in all my life! Once the internet is back online, I’ll post this…if we survive the night – which right now I’m not so sure about. It sounds like all hell is breaking loose outside! 

Okay, deep breaths, Jules, think happy thoughts…  Mustang, that will do. Finally finished the rocker cover and presented it to Dom earlier today. You should’ve seen his face. He looked like a kid at Christmas. Great to make his day like that, and even better to see that great smile of his come back. That’s been missing for too long.

That didn’t work for long – the rain is now pelting down so hard, I can’t think about anything else. It sounds like someone is trying to smash up the roof of our shelter with a hammer. But trying to think positive, at least it’s rain – you can bet a few farmers are probably dancing in their fields right now. Please, let this be the end of the drought.

Dad is arranging buckets around the shelter at the moment. Water seems to be getting in everywhere. If the storm doesn’t let up soon, this place is going to be resembling a swimming pool— Jeez, something in the yard just crashed over. Even if the twister itself doesn’t directly hit us, you can bet it’s going to take days to clean up all the mess outside. I go cold knowing what a twister can do – smashing up houses like they are made out of matchwood. And if a person gets caught up by one… *Shivers* 

I know you’re not here, can’t experience this like I can, but I want to try and capture what it’s like to be here right now. There’s a really damp, earthy smell in the air and listening to the howling wind and the storm siren in the distance, is raising the hairs on my neck. It’s hard not to imagine it as a living creature, something alive that’s angry and tearing everything that it can… Okay, I’ve just had an awesome idea – I’m going to record the storm so you can at least hear what I can:

I told you! Scary or what! Hang on, the wind is starting to die down – the twister is running out of steam! Yep, Dad, thinks so too…

…Okay, another five minutes and it’s gone real quiet out there. Dad’s cracking the hatch open. I’ll report back in a moment…

…We’re back in the house! The sky is clear again and that’s really odd. I know tornadoes can disappear quickly, but the storm clouds that go with them don’t just vanish like that. If it wasn’t for everything scattered all across our yard and the ground still being soaked, I wouldn’t be able to quite believe a tornado had almost hit us. Strange, really strange.

Dad’s just come into my room pointing out it’s 2am and I need to sleep. He’s also promised that we’ll head over Twister Diner first thing in the morning. If there’s any damage to the diner, I’ll do all I can to help them fix it up. Know Dad will too.

So I guess for now this is your storm-chasing reporter, Jules Eastwood, signing off. Take care, everyone.

Black Blizzards!

So much for hoping things might get better…around here it’s been getting worse – much worse! The weather reports have been filled with forecasts for black blizzards and they’ve been striking right across the mid-west. Seems we’re not alone in this party in Oklahoma. Turns out Mr Mathews was right – this is like a replay of the dust bowl of the 30s. It’s all because the farmers have been ploughing their crops back in. The problem is when you also have no rain for months on end, that means oven-baked topsoil. Throw in a bit of wind and jackpot, you’ve won the dust storm lottery. 

Everybody is hoping, praying, for rain, and everyone seems to think it’s all the weathermen’s fault. Talk about shooting the messenger! All I know is that farms are going bust real quick. A few are still managing to ride it out somehow, but they are barely making enough money to cover their costs. Of course the price for things like bread have gone through the roof. Now we have to import a lot of the wheat we use from abroad. Some people say, and I think they may be right, if things carry on like this for another year, we’ll see people fighting for food in the supermarkets. Now in this country with so many people owning a gun, rioting and personal firepower make a pretty bad mix. So like I was saying, for all sorts of reasons it’s gotta rain or it’s going to start getting ugly, fast.

Things are grinding everyone down. I’ve even picked up on Dom’s habit when I visit Twister Diner. They have an old barometer there that he taps every time he walks past to see if the needle moves. I’ve found myself doing the same, but that stupid needle keeps pointing to fair, like it’s been glued there. All the pictures of twisters they’ve got plastered over the walls of the diner, seem an impossible memory now. But of course they were real, much too real. This vid reminds me reminds me just how scary tornadoes can be in real life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6JL1W9wZHg

Hard to believe that people like the Sky Hawks would deliberately go chasing after them. Brave and crazy all wrapped up together. Of course Dom’s dad was the bravest of them all…Sigh. Let’s just say is there’s been far too much suffering around here – and this drought is making it just worse. For all of us caught up in this, here’s praying there will be some light at the end of tunnel soon. Keep the faith, people.

Dust Storm!

A photo of the dust storm hitting from the 1930s!

So the big news this week is an actual dust storm hit school today! It all started when Miss Malory was droning on about compound fractions in math, when the kids near the window started hollering to come and see. It was instant chaos, with Miss Malory shouting at us to keep away from the windows (which was just as well)!

The entire horizon, which to be honest, is pretty boring with its endless baked cornfields, had been replaced by a huge cloud of dirt rolling towards us like a tidal wave. I managed to capture this brief vid of it on my phone. 

I mean, how awesome is that! One minute we were in daylight and the next that dust storm hit and it was like someone had turned off the sun. Luckily there was no one near the windows when they blew in, but there was glass everywhere. Of course Clara (the cheerleader who makes my life hell) screams her head off. I also heard a few tough-guy jocks whimpering, one doing the full-nine-yards, falling to his knees and praying. I have to admit that dust storm howled loud enough at one point to make me think the school might be ripped off its foundations. Then as Miss Malory was telling everyone to keep calm, it blows over and it’s all blue sky again outside. But as the dirt storm swirled away you should have seen the car lot. It looked like somebody had gone mad and decided to give every vehicle a brown paint job. Had to admit it put a smile on my face when the jocks-with-wheels, were the first out of the door to examine their scratched-up paintwork. Seems mother nature has a sense of humor after all.

Of course after the dust storm everybody was excited and wondering if this meant the rain would come back next. But that hope didn’t last long. Mr Mathews told us during English, that dust storms like that had hit during the Great Depression. Apparently, the drought back then had gone on for so long that the wind blew up the topsoil into the awesome sounding black blizzards. Mathews said that the book, Grapes of Wrath, by Steinbeck, is all about the  people who had to live through it all. Will have to give that a look sometime. Anyway, check out Wikipedia about it all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl

So trying to lighten the note (yet again), here are my favourite ideas of yours for the two songs to and from school. 

For heading to school: Rebel Rebel by David Bowie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U16Xg_rQZkA&feature=player_embedded

And escaping home: School’s Out by Alice Cooper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMe0P_DqmCg

You guys have an ironic sense of humor and have obviously been talking to your parents! ;o)

Here’s to better times ahead.

Breaking Point!

Okay, once again I’m afraid I’m going to bust the party mood from the start. I need to vent steam about something that’s happened. I knew it was only a matter of time until things boiled over at school for Dom and today it finally happened. I so don’t blame him, and to be honest, I’m actually really proud of what he did. They say violence never changes anything, but I say that neanderthal had it coming.

What am I talking about? Dom for once not turning the other cheek! I was doing laps on the school track and saw everything.

To set the background to this little story, I’ll start with the lame nickname the idiots at school have christened Dom with, which is twisted. Of course we’re talking the same geniuses who labelled me grease monkey. Oh how they laughed when they came up with that original title. 

I guess my name is obvious enough, but before you think Dom’s handle is to do with his family being storm chasers, you’d be wrong. They’re actually referring to the fact he spends all his spare time in the diner helping his mom try and keep the family business going. In the teeny, tiny minds of the rich kids, that means he’s a loser. Their kind, with all their family money, have no idea what it means to have to work hard to just make ends meet. In my book, Dom is a regular hero for supporting Sue like that. Of course I guess I do my bit with dad’s garage as well.

But back to Dom… I suppose things at school were going to reach breaking point eventually. You see he plays, or I should say, played for the football team. Okay, I know technically that makes him a jock, but he’s so not typical of most of their breed. Anyway, it’s meant to be a sport and anyone can drop a pass. It happens. Get over it. But when Dom did it today, the team cap shouted at him, saying he’d dropped it because he’d got greasy fingers (lame reference to him flipping burgers). 

I mean who can blame Dom for what he did next? As punches go, it was worth it just for the way it wiped the sneer off cap’s face. Then off course the rest of the cap’s cronies beat the crap of Dom. By the time coach got there, it was all over. Everyone blamed Dom for starting the fight, which I suppose  technically he did, but he was provoked! Thing is, did Dom stand up for himself. In a word, no! Why? Because of some sort of warped honor code (I really wish I could shake some sense into him, sometimes). So of course, Coach has no choice but to kick him off the team. I tried to tell Coach I’d seen it all, but he wouldn’t listen, told me that it was down to Dom to come forward and say his piece. Which of course he refuses to (give me strength).

Okay, rather than strangling the whole football team with my bare hands, I need to cool my heels a bit and think fluffy thoughts. So some homework for you all… 

What’s the best soundtrack to listen to on the school bus to drown out the brain-dead banter from the back seat? You can have two songs. One for the way into school, probably full of hope, and the second for the way back, where that same hope has been crushed from your soul. I expect you to have your answers for me next week.

Right I’m off to give my best buddy a lecture.

Touchdown!

As you may have guessed I love tinkering with V8 engines. I guess most girls my age wouldn’t have a clue if they stuck their heads under the hood of a car about how it works, but I’m not most girls. Of course I blame dad. We’ve always been close, even more so since Mom died two years ago— 

Sorry zoned out there for a moment. I know this is a public blog, but it’s hard not to talk about my life without the personal bits creeping in. 

But like I was saying, Dad’s a fantastic mechanic and taught me everything I know about engines. I guess that was always going to happen when I grew up in the workshop and watching him work on car after car. I think I got hooked from the moment I was six and found my own toolbox waiting for me under the Christmas tree. Nowadays, the only mascara my face knows is the engine oil variety. Okay, I know what you’re thinking, but before you accuse me of being a Tomboy, I’ll have you know I do also have a girly side. I’ve even been known to wear a dress. Problem is everyone around here is to used to seeing me a grease monkey and not a lot more.

A good example happened today at school. I had a run in with one of personifications of everything I’m not, Carla, one of the cheerleading b-list celebrities. She made this comment to her friends, ‘Julia dresses like her dad picks out her wardrobe for her. Oh hang on – I guess that’s because her mom can’t do it anymore!’ Yeah, I know, I know. And of course she said it just loud enough for me to catch it as I walked past in the hallway. Normally, I would’ve let her nasty jibe slide, but any mention of Mom, hurts, really hurts, and I froze, like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

Anyway, then I noticed Dom by his locker just the other side of her. He’s heard everything and is shaking his head. Do you know what he went and did? It was priceless. If I knew he was going to do that I would have filmed it on my phone. Anyway, Dom as calmly as you like, strolls up to Clara. He looks her straight in the eye and says, “Nice shade of lipstick you’ve got there.” She gives him the whole dipped chin and eye fluttering routine. Of course all the girls fancy Dom rotten, loner or not. But it’s his next line that nailed it for me.

He just leans in close and whispers loud enough for the whole hallway to hear. “You can put lipstick on a pig…but it’s still a pig.”

Everyone fell about laughing. I even caught a few of her friends grinning. Clara stares at him, face the color of tomato soup, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, but no comeback in sight. And Dom as calmly as you like just turned and winked at me as he walked away. God, I could have kissed him! Today he definitely helped make school a fraction more tolerable. That’s what I call being a true friend.

Okay, time for me to get back to the serious nasty math that the teacher set us for homework. Jeez, thanks, Miss Malory. Just because I’m good at it, doesn’t give you permission to keep pushing me until my brain bleeds out of my ears.

So think of me whilst I’m suffering, peeps. Catch you soon.

Hello World

Well here it is – my blog! But first I need to get some disclaimers out of the way as I’m really not your typical @girlnextdoor. You see, I help out my dad in his garage fixing cars and have done since I was old enough to lift a spanner. You wouldn’t believe the state of my nails – actually, maybe you would. 

So yes, I’m a petrol head, but I’m also a bit of tech geek too – computers are just a different sort of engine as far as I’m concerned. Apart from that, I’m Jules Eastwood, run of the mill teen girl from Oklahoma. With that out of the way, here are my thoughts for the week.

First up, how about this drought that’s been dragging on forever across parts of the US, not to mention the mixed up weather systems across the rest of the world? I don’t know about the rest of you, but no rain got boring fast in our little corner of Oklahoma. I never thought I’d hear myself say this but I even miss the twisters. Of course Dom (my best friend and neighbour) misses them too, but he would as he comes from a family of storm chasers. Yeah, he’s hardly the typical @boynextdoor either. Guess that’s one of the reasons we get on as well as we do – two social outcasts who kinda see the world in the same oddball way. But as long as people leave us alone, everything’s cool, which unfortunately doesn’t always happen, specifically at school. 

Anyway, back to what’s been happening… Thing is, it’s hard seeing the people around here struggling because of the drought, especially the farmers. Couldn’t believe it when Mr Ellis next door called it a day and hung up the for sale sign. I never had him pegged as a quitter, but I guess he had no choice when his corn harvest failed. Reckon it’s only a matter of time before the other farms around here go the same way. Then what? Answers on a postcard please.

At least Dad’s work has kept steady, but of course even during the hard times, people still need their wheels fixing. Mind you, Dom’s mum, Sue, hasn’t had it so lucky. She runs Twister Diner and if you haven’t been there you should. Her food is to die for. She cooks an incredible chili that’s the best this side of Mexico, not to mention barbecue so delicious that you think you’ve died and gone to heaven. But the problem is that no storms equals no twisters, which equals no storm chasers, which equals no storm chasing fans, etc, etc. In other words a drought is pretty bad for business when you run a diner themed on twisters. So do me and your stomach a favour – get yourself over there right now. Just say Jules sent you, and Sue might just give you a extra big slice of the best baked cheese cake in this part of the US of A!

Anyway, got to dash. Working with Dom on restoring his 1969 Mustang green 390 GT Fastback again tonight, which is usual for our social life these days. Sometimes think we’ll never get that car finished. But helping him restore it is the least I could do after what happened last year.

Okay, be good to each other peeps, because that’s all that really matters, especially when times are tough like they are now. Talk to you soon.